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K3s – Lightweight Kubernetes

k3s.io

11–20 of 194 posts

Re: K3s – Lightweight Kubernetes

#12
post #2

Do you think kubernetes are necessary for small businesses?

Necessary, no. But with the hardware almost free, a 3 x Raspberry Pi cluster, switch, access pointer, and a small UPS would be a few $100 which allows for some interesting possibilities.

Pretty much any business will want inventory tracking, tracking staff hours, monitoring cameras, sensors for detecting flooding/doors left open/freezers dying, running point of sales terminals, keeping the supply chain running smoothly, handling customer loyalty cards, handling returns, etc.

An on site cluster can help with much of that, even if there's a hardware failure or the network is out.

Question is how will these business find the apps they need that run turn key on some small k8s cluster?

Re: K3s – Lightweight Kubernetes

#15
post #10

Not trying to be snarky, just a sincere question - why would you use kubernetes for something like IoT?

I attended KubeCon China last year and there was a very good example of a K8s setup for IoT that scales pretty well. Check these links if you’re curious:

- https://schd.ws/hosted_files/kccncchina2018english/18/ShengL...

- https://thenewstack.io/rancher-takes-kubernetes-management-t...

Disclaimer: not affiliated with any of the companies above. Edit: formatting.

Re: K3s – Lightweight Kubernetes

#16
post #10

Not trying to be snarky, just a sincere question - why would you use kubernetes for something like IoT?

Because I want my doors, windows, garage door, smoke alarms, security system, and any other smart thing in my house even when the IoT controller dies. I also want as much functionality as possible if my ISP (Comcast) decides on another "maintenance" window.

So that basically means local smarts and fall over in the case of a hardware failure.

Re: K3s – Lightweight Kubernetes

#17
post #2

Do you think kubernetes are necessary for small businesses?

Most likely not, as it adds quite a bit of complexity. It might be easier to start with simpler abstractions such as e.g. AWS ECS or similar alternatives (cloud or on-prem) if you want to use containers.

Re: K3s – Lightweight Kubernetes

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, for the same reason that Martin Fowler argues you should start with a monolith first before moving to a microservices architecture.

What is currently a good alternative for a small business who needs to distribute containers on a handful of nodes? Docker swarm mode?

Kube is fine for this, but don't roll your own, use GKE.

Perhaps you'd be better served using more managed services, though?

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