This educational blog presents a high-level overview of Kubernetes on OpenStack for private clouds. For more technical information on Lightbits for Kubernetes, start with our solutions page, Kubernetes Persistent Storage Management, and for Lightbits with OpenStack environments, start with OpenStack Storage Solutions.
What Is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is an open-source platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Originally developed by Google and now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Kubernetes is widely recognized as the leading solution for container orchestration, helping you handle complex application environments with ease.
Through Kubernetes, containers are grouped into “pods,” which can be managed collectively as a single unit. This setup allows Kubernetes to scale data center infrastructure resources automatically based on workload demand, distribute traffic efficiently through load balancing, and self-heal by restarting or replacing failed containers. It also simplifies deployment and updates by automating application rollouts and rollbacks.
A key advantage of Kubernetes is its flexibility across environments. It can operate seamlessly across on-premises data centers, public clouds, or hybrid implementations, making it a valuable tool for managing applications consistently, even in multi-cloud strategies.
For more information on what Kubernetes is, go to “Persistent Storage for Containers.”
What is the Adoption Rate of Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is one of the most widely used container orchestration platforms globally, with adoption that is not only widespread but also growing rapidly. It is extensively used across various industries, including technology, finance, healthcare, retail, and telecommunications due to its ability to efficiently manage containerized applications at scale. Its importance is further underscored by its integration into major cloud services such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, making it a cornerstone of modern cloud-native architecture.
Statistically, Kubernetes adoption is pervasive, as of 2023, over 90% of organizations using containers also utilized Kubernetes in some capacity. [2024 Kubernetes Benchmark report] Kubernetes usage is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20% through 2030, reflecting its critical role in enterprise IT and cloud strategies.
What Is OpenStack?
Like Kubernetes, OpenStack is also open-source. While the Open Infrastructure Foundation provides the governance and coordination for OpenStack, contributions come from individuals and companies, including major cloud providers and technology companies such as Red Hat OpenStack Platform, Canonical, Huawei, Intel, Mirantis, and IBM.
Open-source technologies such as OpenStack are gaining significance in data centers, reflecting organizations’ need for greater flexibility, innovation, and cost savings in managing today’s complex workloads at scale. As cloud-native application development accelerates so does the desire for on-premises cloud architecture and hybrid cloud strategies, where open-source software plays a crucial role in managing diverse environments, offering interoperability across different platforms. The flexibility afforded by open-source solutions like OpenStack offers greater control over how infrastructure is deployed and managed without being locked into a single vendor’s ecosystem.
Organizations that integrate OpenStack into their infrastructure gain the benefits of automation, orchestration, and self-service capabilities, which can streamline operations and enable faster deployment of applications. For these reasons and more, OpenStack has become a highly compelling solution in cloud computing.
For more information on what is OpenStack, go to “Open-Source Cloud Architecture: OpenStack vs OpenShift.”
What is the Adoption Rate of OpenStack?
OpenStack adoption continues to grow, driven by its versatility for private and hybrid cloud deployments. As of 2022, OpenStack powers over 40 million compute cores globally, marking a 60% increase from 2021 and a 166% rise since 2020. [2022 OpenStack User Survey Report] It is widely used in industries like telecommunications, retail, and manufacturing, with deployment sizes ranging from small clusters to environments with millions of cores. Additionally, 80% of OpenStack deployments now integrate hybrid cloud environments, aligning with broader cloud adoption trends.
Notably, since the Broadcom acquisition of VMware, OpenStack has gained traction as an alternative thanks to its scalability and cost efficiency. Many enterprises are leveraging it for workloads like AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing, further broadening its appeal.
What are the Business Benefits of using Kubernetes on OpenStack?
Combining OpenStack/Kubernetes delivers significant business benefits by leveraging the strengths of both platforms to create a scalable, flexible, and cost-effective cloud infrastructure. Here are the key benefits of using Kubernetes on OpenStack:
- Scalability and Flexibility: OpenStack provides a robust foundation for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), while Kubernetes adds container orchestration capabilities. Together, they enable you to scale workloads dynamically based on demand. This flexibility is critical for handling unpredictable traffic patterns or seasonal workload spikes, particularly in industries like e-commerce and media and entertainment.
- Cost Efficiency: Using Kubernetes on OpenStack reduces reliance on proprietary solutions, which lowers your acquisition and operational costs. You can deploy Kubernetes clusters on existing OpenStack environments, maximizing the value of your on-premises hardware investments. This setup also supports hybrid cloud models, allowing you to move workloads between private and public clouds for better cost optimization.
- Improved Application Portability: The combination enables seamless deployment and migration of containerized applications across environments. OpenStack provides infrastructure abstraction, while Kubernetes ensures application consistency, making it easier for you to adopt a multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud strategy.
- Enhanced Performance for Modern Workloads: OpenStack’s support for I/O-intensive workloads at scale and its ability to integrate with Kubernetes make it ideal for workloads requiring GPU acceleration, such as AI/ML and data analytics. Kubernetes provides efficient container management, optimizing resource utilization for these compute-intensive tasks.
- Streamlined DevOps: OpenStack’s infrastructure management tools combined with Kubernetes’ orchestration simplify DevOps workflows. Your developers can provision resources and deploy applications more efficiently, reducing time-to-market for new features and services.
What are the Technical Benefits of using Kubernetes on OpenStack?
Running Kubernetes on OpenStack combines container orchestration with cloud infrastructure capabilities, providing several technical advantages. Here are a few:
- Integrated Infrastructure Management
- Dynamic Resource Allocation: OpenStack’s IaaS capabilities provide virtual machines (VMs), networks, and storage, which Kubernetes can dynamically consume to deploy and manage containerized applications. Seamless integration with Kubernetes ensures optimized resource scheduling.
- Elasticity: OpenStack enables scaling of underlying infrastructure, while Kubernetes scales containerized workloads, ensuring seamless resource provisioning.
- Hybrid Cloud Flexibility: Kubernetes orchestrates applications across OpenStack private clouds and public clouds, supporting hybrid deployments. OpenStack’s APIs simplify moving workloads between environments while maintaining infrastructure control.
- Enables I/O-Intensive Workloads: OpenStack offers support for GPUs, NVMe storage, and high-speed networking, which Kubernetes can leverage for AI/ML, real-time analytics, and other performance-intensive applications.
- Multi-Tenancy: OpenStack supports multi-tenancy at the infrastructure level, and Kubernetes extends this to container orchestration, enabling isolation between users or projects. This is crucial if you are hosting diverse workloads.
What are Data Center Modernization Considerations for using Kubernetes on OpenStack with Software-Defined Storage?
One might ask if they have to make a choice between OpenStack vs Kubernetes. The answer is no. As you’ve read in this blog OpenStack with Kubernetes delivers compelling business and technical benefits. OpenStack and Kubernetes integration with software-defined storage amplifies the benefits. Kubernetes requires persistent storage for stateful applications, and software-defined storage (SDS) can provide highly available and scalable persistent volumes (PVs), ensuring data consistency and durability across containerized applications. Dynamic provisioning of these persistent volumes in Kubernetes helps allocate storage on-demand from OpenStack-managed SDS. For high availability and disaster recovery, SDS features such as data replication and mirroring should be leveraged to ensure business continuity while implementing backup and recovery mechanisms to protect critical data. Consider implementing robust security protocols, including role-based access control (RBAC), encryption of data at rest and in transit, and secure API access.
Effective resource management is essential to optimize infrastructure costs, and OpenStack’s ability to manage compute, storage, and network resources should be utilized to provision and run Kubernetes clusters on cost-effective infrastructure. SDS’s ability to allocate storage based on workload demands helps reduce over-provisioning and improve cost efficiency. Additionally, monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana should be implemented to track performance, storage utilization, and issues.
Lightbits software-defined block storage with OpenStack Kubernetes clusters offers unrivaled price/value. Our customers report staggering results: a 50-75% reduction in storage costs while achieving up to 2x the performance of proprietary storage appliances. By implementing Lightbits with open-source solutions like Kubernetes on OpenStack, you can modernize applications, regain control over your data, and optimize infrastructure resources on your terms. Today, some of the world’s largest cloud providers and enterprises are confidently choosing Lightbits software-defined storage with Kubernetes on OpenStack.
For more information on OpenStack and Kubernetes integration with software-defined storage, go to “A Journey in Cloud Storage Optimization with Kubernetes, OpenStack, and Database Integration.”
Ready to supercharge your Kubernetes on OpenStack environment with Lightbits? Contact us today for a personalized demo and see the difference for yourself.
