Portainer News and Blog

When Kubernetes Feels Like a Burden: Understanding the Challenges and How to Avoid Them

neil.cresswell@portainer.io (Neil Cresswell, CEO) — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 20:02:12 GMT

I recently read about an organization that abandoned Kubernetes (in their case, in favor of AWS ECS), and how it led to a noticeably happier DevOps team.

Stories like this are becoming more common, and it's tempting to see such a move as the only solution when Kubernetes doesn't meet expectations. However, swiftly shifting away from Kubernetes might be more of an emotional response to immediate pain rather than offering strategic, long-term benefits.

Let's explore why this happens and how organizations can prevent reaching a point where Kubernetes feels more like a burden than a benefit.

The Platform Engineering Team - Skills and Experience

geoff.olliff@portainer.io (Geoff Olliff) — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 21:44:58 GMT

This article is part of our ongoing series on the importance of Platform Engineering. Earlier articles discuss the nature of a Software Delivery Platform and thoughts on successful Platform Engineering.

In this article we look at the skills and experience that need to come together in the Platform Engineering Team. Given the wide range of technologies assembled into a platform, the team responsible will need to maintain (or have access to) an extensive range of skills at a deep level. Generally, combining the skills required with sufficient real-world experience with those skills in a small team is hard.

But its possible to get this right, and a great platform team (and a great platform) will revolutionize IT's ability to make a difference

Gartner Presentation: Gaining Operational Maturity for Effective Docker/Kubernetes Implementations

Portainer team — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 02:39:32 GMT

Adopting a containerized platform like Docker/Kubernetes requires significant organizational changes. At Neil's Gartner IOCS presentation in Las Vegas, taking place from December 10-12, 2024, he will explore the essential changes, timelines, and potential challenges required for successful platform operations.

The importance of keeping your Portainer version up to date

rich.sharples@portainer.io (Rich Sharples) — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:51:56 GMT

This is a quick reminder about the importance of keeping software up to date. Whether you are using Portainer in your home lab, or managing a large fleet of Kubernetes clusters in the data center or cloud - it’s essential to ensure Portainer and other software you deploy is kept up to date.

Portainer: The Essential Tool for Docker Swarm Users Facing a Kubernetes Future

neil.cresswell@portainer.io (Neil Cresswell, CEO) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:01:02 GMT

Mirantis recently announced the release of Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE) 4, signaling a strategic pivot toward Kubernetes. In their official press release, Mirantis stated:

Building a Bare Metal Kubernetes Cluster: Hardware Specifications and Best Practices

neil.cresswell@portainer.io (Neil Cresswell, CEO) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:48:55 GMT

If you’re gearing up to build a bare metal Kubernetes cluster, you’ve probably got a lot of questions: What kind of servers should I buy? How much storage is enough? How do I make sure a single hardware failure doesn’t ruin my day?

Good news—you’re not alone! Let’s walk through the key decisions you’ll face when building your cluster and how to set yourself up for success.

Filling an Often-Unspoken Gap in Container Management

Guest Post — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 03:09:30 GMT

This article was first published on: https://www.hostingadvice.com/blog/filling-an-often-unspoken-gap-in-container-management/

Does Platform Engineering Leadership Need a Rethink?

neil.cresswell@portainer.io (Neil Cresswell, CEO) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:28:26 GMT

In today’s cloud-native era, a surprising yet common misalignment often arises within platform engineering teams: they’re led by someone from an IT infrastructure background rather than someone who has "lived the life" of the platform's primary users—developers.

This structure typically leads to a “build and mandate” approach, where the engineering team chooses all the platform tools, the platform is built to their specifications, and its use is enforced through policy.

This approach is seen repeatedly, and at the recent Gartner IT Symposium, several talks were given on this topic. The talks explained how Platform Engineering teams need to rethink their behaviors, stop designing to their wishes, and instead design to the explicit needs of their users.

Excel in Platform Engineering by designing efficient self-service delivery platforms

geoff.olliff@portainer.io (Geoff Olliff) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 01:23:29 GMT

A software development and delivery platform enables an organization to centralize and coordinate the entire software delivery chain. In previous articles, we have idealized this as an IT ‘Vending Machine’ as this idea captures the simplified self-service nature of the ideal software delivery platform. (See the previous article here)

DevOps: A Stop-Gap, Not the Future

neil.cresswell@portainer.io (Neil Cresswell, CEO) — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 15:13:23 GMT

In the world of software, DevOps emerged as a necessary crutch; a way to bridge the gap between the code developers create, and the production deployment of that code. But here’s the reality: DevOps, as most of us know it, is temporary. It exists because the technology we rely on is incomplete, not because it’s the ideal solution. And NO, platform engineering is not the successor to DevOps, as much as marketing strategies would have you believe, they serve different purposes!