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reviewer1867368 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager-Platform Team / Technical Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Reseller
Always up-to-date, stable, and offers good community support
Pros and Cons
  • "There's a lot of community support if you need to get help."
  • "There are features in Google Cloud or AWS that aren't in Azure. They need to implement a couple more tools in Azure."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for hosting applications. Customers are hosted on the Kubernetes Service AKS.

What is most valuable?

They've introduced an enterprise option, which is quite helpful. 

It is always up to date. They're also automatically updating when the new version is ready.

There's a lot of community support if you need to get help. 

What needs improvement?

There are a couple of improvements there also need to be at play.

For example, if we deploy without RBACs to the cluster, it can't be deployed. When there's like GCPW or AWS, there is room. Even though we have deployed the clusters without RBACs enabled, we can add the RBACs later. However, Microsoft has limitations. There are features in Google Cloud or AWS that aren't in Azure. They need to implement a couple more tools in Azure. 

The application gateway, app gateway, needs to be improved. It's not fully developed yet.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for around two years. 

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. It's always up to date and running well. There are no glitches and it doesn't rah or freeze. We did have one bug once however it has since been fixed. It is reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 18 to 20 people using the solution and they are in DevOps. However, I've never tried to scale it. I'm not sure how well it would scale or not. 

How are customer service and support?

We have used community help in the past and found it useful. They are helpful and responsive when you need to get a hold of them.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The deployment has a moderate level of difficulty. It takes around 30 minutes to 40 minutes to get everything up and running.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay a monthly fee in order to sue the solution. 

What other advice do I have?

We're not a partner. We are end-users.

I'm not sure of the exact version of the solution we are using. 

Microsoft is hosted on their environment. We can't host it in our own environment. We are using the Azure Kubernetes AKS. If it's Azure, it needs to be hosted on its own Azure Cloud. We can't host it, for example, on-premises. 

I would advise potential new users to learn about it and try it out.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner/reseller
PeerSpot user
Multi-Cloud Consulting at a construction company with 5,001-10,000 employees
MSP
You can deploy a container pretty quickly compared to a virtual machine
Pros and Cons
    • "One feature I would actually like to see is the network monitoring part. When we talk about communities, it's mostly the computer side. But it does have some enhancements on the networking side which they have recently released. I would like to see more enhancement where we can monitor the networks of the Kubernetes cluster or the Kubernetes workloads."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are not using the Google version, but the open source Kubernetes.

    This product can be deployed both on cloud or on-premises.

    Our use case is mostly for multi-services or the applications which you will try to modernize. Investors will come from monolithic applications to mostly cloud-native applications. When I say cloud-native applications, that means each service component will be part of one container. You need a container orchestration or a management platform. So Kubernetes is actually a management or an orchestration platform for containers. Basically, it works with microservice applications.

    What is most valuable?

    One of Kubernetes' top features is its agility, it is very fast. You can deploy a container pretty quickly compared to a virtual machine. That is one strong feature. A second feature is its flexibility because you can use it on any platform. You can use it on Google or AWS or Microsoft or IBM or any clouds. So flexibility of deployment and agility are the top features. It also helps in your maintenance cycles when you do maintenance on your environment.

    What needs improvement?

    For improvements, I would say it's actually still evolving so they are already making a lot of improvements along the way. Each and every release comes with new features so I think they're doing well.

    One feature I would actually like to see is the network monitoring part. When we talk about communities, it's mostly the computer side. But it does have some enhancements on the networking side which they have recently released. I would like to see more enhancement where we can monitor the networks of the Kubernetes cluster or the Kubernetes workloads.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    This Kubernetes product is new so I would say I have been using it around two years.

    I am using version 1.18, not the latest one.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Stability is still a question because it depends upon which flavor you're installing. It could be on-prem or it could be cloud, it could be open source. It's still debatable.

    That said, stability-wise I haven't seen any problem myself up to now, but I might not be right. There are many other people who are deploying this in a production environment. I haven't done it myself in production so I would not be the correct person to answer that. But for me, I haven't found any stability issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Kubernetes definitely has good scalability. 

    The number of users on it can vary. It can be used by very small organizations to very large and complex organizations. There is a customer I was working with who has more than 80,000 employees around the globe. But not everyone is a user of this technology. If you're asking about the users of this technology, I would say around 1,000 - 5,000.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Their technical support depends upon which flavor you're installing. Mostly, if you're going to the cloud version, support is definitely provided by the vendors. Like Microsoft provides its own support, AWS provides their own, and even IBM does the same. But if you're deploying on your own prem, that's where the question is. It depends. It's not a product sold by a single company, it's an open source, so big companies like J.P Morgan or Citibank have it deployed on their own premises and support will be their internal teams who will be working on that.

    How was the initial setup?

    Installation is not a straightforward thing. It's a process that you have to follow step by step. On-prem is a little tedious because you have to spend some time to get this installed and create a platform. But people are mostly inclined towards cloud. They use Kubernetes on the cloud.

    I did install it myself in my lab and the install itself doesn't take much time, about a couple of hours. But to go through the documentation takes time. You have to understand each and every component and then try to install that. So it's a combination of both understanding the documentation and then installing. Because it's a new technology, it does take a little bit of time.

    What about the implementation team?

    It depends. If you talk to a customer and you get a project with them that they want to deploy, you're going to need a project manager or a technical architect, and then you'll need at least one or two guys who can do the hands on deployment. It's not a fairly large team, but you will need a project manager, a technical architect and an engineer.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    There are different types of licenses. You have a subscription-based license if you are talking about cloud. This has both yearly or monthly available. Or you can go on number of workloads, based on how much workload you're putting on the cloud.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would definitely recommend Kubernetes for others who want to start using it.

    I would say it is no longer in its inception phase, but it is still in the early phase. The product hasn't matured enough. There are customers who are looking to take this maybe around two years down the line. On a scale of one to ten, I would give Kubernetes an eight.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
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    Frank Tingle - PeerSpot reviewer
    Solutions Architect at Sonatype
    Real User
    Scalable, stable, but complicated product
    Pros and Cons
    • "Once you get it configured properly, it's a stable solution."
    • "Honestly, there is not much I like about Kubernetes. It's very complicated to deal with. I just do it because I have to."

    What is our primary use case?

    We deploy our software solution in the Kubernetes environment. 

    What needs improvement?

    Honestly, there is not much I like about Kubernetes. It's very complicated to deal with. I just do it because I have to.

    There is plenty of room for improvement with the configuration and runtime monitoring. That would make Kubernetes much easier to use. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been dealing with Kubernetes for almost two years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Once you get it configured properly, it's a stable solution. The problem is that getting there is complicated.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Kubernetes is scalable, but again, it's such a complicated product.

    How are customer service and support?

    I've never had to use the tech support.

    How was the initial setup?

    I would not say that the initial setup is straightforward: the configuration can take me either 45 minutes or a week and a half. 

    What about the implementation team?

    I try to do it by myself, but I often wind up having to look up directions.

    What was our ROI?

    I have not seen a return on investment with Kubernetes.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1548447 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Architect Watermanagement at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Easy container management, affordable, and majority of installations straightforward
    Pros and Cons
    • "The easy management of containers is one of the main features I have found useful."
    • "This solution is not very easy to use."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the solution to modernize our IT landscape. We use infrastructure and platform surfaces for our data center. More recently we have added a container as a surface, which is this solution.

    What is most valuable?

    The easy deployment of containers is one of the main features I have found useful. In large scale developments, it is less hassle working with containers than virtual machines. It is easier to manage these containers instead of virtual machines, although there is a steep learning curve to graps the benefits of it.

    What needs improvement?

    This solution is not very easy to use. We are looking also for some tools surrounding this solution to manage the environment and to secure it better. These two are areas that have caused some issues. We want to integrate it with what you call continuous integration and delivery. 

    It must be scalable, cost-effective, more agile when it comes to developing and managing the environment for DevOps. All these things go together, it must be cured to allow better manageability. That is what we all are doing in most large companies.

    In a future release, the solution could become more like a core engine, in which tools like OpenShift are centered. You could see how all kinds of tools could help to better improve the management, security, or scalability of the product. Additionally, we will need more than the core in our organization, there needs to be more additional management tools moving forward.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for approximately one year.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    When it comes to my own environment, I have had no issues with scalability but it is not easy. This is just the development environment. Regarding my company, within my department, we are running a sandbox environment just for testing and that is going well. I am not sure how things will go if you go fully into production with this solution.

    We will look for additional products to deal with the difficulties with scalability. There are several vendors that offer these products. Although this solution was made for scalability, it does not come out of the box this way.

    We currently have approximately 30 users using the solution in my organization.

    How was the initial setup?

    I am not aware exactly how the on-premises installation went for the IT team at my organization. For my local environment where I am testing this solution myself, the installation has been very easy. This is mostly because it is a local environment. We also have a cloud environment, where we have a hybrid data center and this cloud environment installation was fairly easy too.

    What about the implementation team?

    The deployment was done by an internal team in my organization. 

    Maintenance is required for all software versions. We need to manage different areas of the solution such as the cloud-native landscape tooling, registry, DevOps environment, and security toolings. There are three areas that need upgrades, versioning, scalability, and the toolset surrounding the solution. You can not run it on its own, you need additional tools. All of this maintenance is taken care of by our administration IT department.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The solution is affordable.

    What other advice do I have?

    We plan on using the solution in the future. We are a large data center and we just need to have several options available. We need to have a traditional deployment of Infrastructure as a service, with virtual machines. We need also a platform as a service for very rapid and smaller applications and container management, container as a service which is this solution for all others. We expect that the virtual machines in the next 10 years will decrease and container-based services will increase.

    I recommend the solution to others. It is a very good product and the strength can be that other vendors can create their security and management toolings around it allowing it to become a type of core engine. If those other vendors were not there, I think I would be more critical. Within my department, we were a bit late adopting the solution than other parts of the organization. We are still growing and experimenting, we have some clusters already in production. A lot of the product tools are open source which in some cases means the support is also not readily available. You have to adapt to it, but also be cautious when it comes to the support and the steep learning curve issues that you can expect.

    I rate Kubernetes an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1224282 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Sales Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    I like the built-in redundancy and scalability, but deploying on-prem distributions is a little complicated
    Pros and Cons
    • "I like Kubernetes' scalability, built-in redundancy, and ease of deployment."
    • "Community-based Kubernetes is quite hard to set up."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Kubernetes for hosting microservices-based applications. Kubernetes varies depending on which distribution you use. We have distributors that make these custom distributions, and I don't have any special requirements.

    What is most valuable?

    I like Kubernetes' scalability, built-in redundancy, and ease of deployment.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been working on Kubernetes for maybe five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It depends on how you set Kubernetes up, but it's usually stable.

    How was the initial setup?

    Community-based Kubernetes is quite hard to set up. We usually use a version of Kubernetes provided by some distributor because they have built-in assistance for the installation. It's much easier, and most of the installation is done automatically.

    If it's a cloud-based solution, you just set up a cluster, then click a button, and it's done in 20 minutes. But if it's an on-prem solution where you have to configure the hardware and hypervisor, it can take longer. If you have a cloud solution, then it's just to a click of a button, but the on-prem version could be simplified.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate Kubernetes seven out of 10. More and more applications will be based on virtual machines using container-based solutions. That's the way forward, so I would recommend Kubernetes.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    CTO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
    Real User
    Reliable, straightforward to set up, and offers good performance
    Pros and Cons
    • "The implementation, and the way that they can, with a few clicks, load hundreds of machines without any trouble is very useful."
    • "The pricing could be improved. It would be ideal if it was a bit less."

    What is our primary use case?

    If you have a lot of nodes and you want to be able to change the node that you are using, you can use Kubernetes. Kubernetes services allow users to be able to run multiple designs as well.

    What is most valuable?

    The stability of the solution is very reliable. The performance is good.

    The implementation, and the way that they can, with a few clicks, load hundreds of machines without any trouble is very useful. We found the initial setup to be very straightforward.

    There are a lot of benefits.

    What needs improvement?

    At this time, there is nothing that I would want to be added to a future release.

    The pricing could be improved. It would be ideal if it was a bit less.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using the solution for three years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability of the solution is very good and the performance is excellent. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have about 200 people on the solution at this time.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I'm not using Kubernetes support. I am using Amazon support. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive Kubernetes support would be having no experience with them.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We did not previously use a different solution. We have only ever used Kubernetes. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not overly complex.

    The deployment itself took a few weeks. 

    We have seven engineers and they're all going to be able to handle Kubernetes.

    What about the implementation team?

    We handled the installation with the assistance of an integrator. We did not handle the process alone. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    We'd like the pricing to be lower than what it is now.

    We pay a yearly licensing fee. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We've been very happy with its capabilities so far.

    I would recommend the solution to other users.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1515015 - PeerSpot reviewer
    General manager at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    A scalable solution which is easy to use and to install
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution is easy to use."
    • "The solution could be more stable."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the latest version. 

    We use the solution for deployment purposes.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution is easy to use.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution could be more stable. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Kubernetes for about two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable, although it could be more so. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    When it comes to technical support, overall, we have managed with the community.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    For this project, we started out with Kubernetes. We started only two years back.

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution was easy to install, although I was not involved in the process and cannot comment on how long it took. 

    What about the implementation team?

    There are around five people involved in the deployment and maintenance, consisting of workers and engineers.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    There is no licensing fee. The solution involves the use of an open source tool.

    What other advice do I have?

    There are around 300 people using the solution in my organization.

    I would recommend this solution to others. 

    I rate Kubernetes as a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1607766 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Solution Leader - Cloud Native and Container Platform at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Easy to install, good configuration, stable, and scalable
    Pros and Cons
    • "I like the replication center and the configuration."
    • "The dashboard, monitoring, and login need improvements."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution to orchestrate our applications.

    If for example, you want to use a Microservice for replication, you host it on Docker then you will need to orchestrate your application. This might include autoscaling, security, and traceability for the user.

    What is most valuable?

    I like the replication center and the configuration.

    What needs improvement?

    The dashboard, monitoring, and login need improvements.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Kubernetes for five years.

    We are using versions 1.15 and 1.20.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Kubernetes is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It's a scalable solution.

    This solution is being used in large organizations from the financial sector.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We have not contacted technical support.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I have some experience with OpenShift and Azure.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward.

    It can be deployed in 45 minutes to one hour.

    There are several teams required for different areas that communicate with each other such as security teams, work teams, and maintenance teams. There are anywhere from five to nine people that we communicate with, who are engineers from each division.

    What about the implementation team?

    I completed the installation and implementation myself. I did not use the help of an integrator or consultant.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    There are no licensing fees.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others.

    I would rate Kubernetes an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
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