{"id":213,"date":"2021-09-29T14:20:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T12:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.greenboxdesigns.com\/cloud-direct-learning-hub\/wp\/?p=213"},"modified":"2024-11-25T21:37:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T21:37:11","slug":"the-evolution-of-azure-kubernetes-service-and-benefits-for-application-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clouddirect.net\/learning-hub\/the-evolution-of-azure-kubernetes-service-and-benefits-for-application-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"The evolution of Azure Kubernetes Service and benefits for application migration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Leach, one of our expert Azure Consultants, has penned this blog all about the growing IT trend for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and how your cloud environment could benefit from this open-source container-orchestration system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

But before we skip to the good the bit we need to jump back and explain a bit more about where Kubernetes came from and how it works.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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First off, what is containerisation?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Containerisation in brief terms is a method of splitting up a machine into multiple layers which are all isolated. Containers allow for a portable approach for application development and offer increased flexibility. Whether it\u2019s important for your business to be able to take your application to any cloud hosting provider, or maybe you would like to use different services such as Kubernetes, Docker, Azure Web App for Containers \u2013 containers offer this flexibility and portability. Lastly, containerisation provides a method of moving away from monolithic application architectures and allows you to move to a microservice-based application architecture, which in return, allows you to modernise your web applications.<\/span><\/p>

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Why should you use containerisation?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you imagine your application as it currently stands, it is likely that you are hosting it on virtual machines. If you have 3 applications, you may be running it on 3 virtual machines. The same applies if you have a large application environment that may be running tens if not hundreds of applications. You will need a lot of virtual machines to host these applications. The downfall of hosting all these virtual machines is the fact that someone needs to patch and maintain\u00a0all of\u00a0these machines. If you are using Windows virtual machines, you will also need to license all these virtual machines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

This is where containers thrive. Whether you\u2019re running Docker, Kubernetes, AKS as your container orchestration tool, you can run multiple containers on a cluster containing as little as one virtual machine. Of course, we recommend you think about high availability and performance when planning how many virtual machines you need, however, if you\u2019re running hundreds of applications, you will\u00a0definitely see\u00a0the benefit of running them (if compatible) on containers as opposed to individual virtual machines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Where does Kubernetes come into this?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kubernetes is an open-source system to allow containerised applications to be deployed into a controlled environment \u2013 as all of us tech enthusiasts call a cluster. Kubernetes was originally developed and designed by Google, however, in 2015 it was released as an open-source project for the wider community to contribute towards. If you\u2019ve heard of Docker before, it\u2019s a very similar concept to that.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Welcome, Azure Kubernetes Service!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 2018 Microsoft released AKS as a managed Kubernetes offering. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Cloud Direct welcomed AKS with open arms. AKS brought more simplicity to the product for customers. Allowing them to spend more time developing their applications \u2013 for greater business benefit \u2013 instead of having to manage various aspects of Kubernetes that could break at any time. At a high level the following components are required for a Kubernetes cluster:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n