Using Kubernetes to deploy PostgreSQL can reduce the time needed to deploy an application, scale it up or down, and perform rolling updates. It can also help reduce data loss due to ransomware attacks.
Kubernetes uses immutable application containers and supports various storage systems, including Hostpath, NFS, and dynamic storage classes that automatically provision persistent volumes based on the pod’s requirements.
Scalability
Modern cloud-native applications are often built with microservices — small, self-contained software that functions as a unit and can be deployed independently. As a platform for managing containerized applications, Kubernetes can deploy and scale these microservices, including PostgreSQL as the database.
Kubernetes’ smallest computing unit is called a pod, which holds multiple containers that share storage and memory and are managed as if they were one application. It allows developers to simplify deployments and reduce costs by deploying components at a larger scale than possible with individual VMs, or virtual machines.
With Kubernetes PostgreSQL, you can be confident that your application processes will continue to work even if a container fails. It is because it can automatically replace the failed unit with another running pod. It guarantees your business can provide a consistently available user experience, even during hardware failures.
Kubernetes is also highly efficient at utilizing resources, allowing companies to scale up during peak hours and back down when demand subsides. It enables enterprises to save on costs by not over-provisioning resources for a brief burst of activity. In addition, the system automatically refreshes interfaces between containers and hosts to allow traffic to flow smoothly between them. It helps organizations avoid costly performance bottlenecks and provides a flexible, stable environment for application development.
Modern cloud-native applications are built with microservices — small, self-contained services designed to be deployed and scaled independently. Kubernetes provides a way to manage and orchestrate these microservices and the database they depend on.
Containers are much smaller than traditional VMs and can run faster with instant access to system resources. It allows for a faster software CI/CD cycle, more efficient resource utilization, seamless performance regardless of computing environment, and automated self-healing by restarting or replicating containers as needed.
Kubernetes uses a set of abstractions to manage apps and workloads: pods, replica sets, deployments, and services. A pod is a containerized application that can be deployed on multiple machines. A replicaset manages pods, ensuring the desired number of replicas runs at all times and providing rollout and rollback capabilities. A deployment is an object that contains a set of replicasets and exposes them to other resources inside and outside the cluster.
A service is a collection of pods configured to interact with each other and can route traffic to them. A service can also be used to manage access to a database or provide backup and restore functionality. Finally, a scalability feature is provided by the fact that all components of a Kubernetes cluster are transient and can be moved between servers when necessary. It can significantly reduce the need to bring down an application for maintenance and can be accomplished without any disruptions for end users.
Flexibility
Kubernetes is designed to scale with you, allowing you to deliver production workloads consistently and quickly, no matter how large your organization gets. It’s based on 15 years of running production workloads at Google and best-of-breed ideas from the community. The open-source system automates containerized applications’ deployment, scaling, and management. It groups containers into logical units called pods that can be scheduled, rescheduled, moved, copied, and replicated across multiple nodes in a cluster.
A cluster of containers can run in any public cloud environment, in a virtual machine, or on bare metal. It is portable and allows teams to scale up and down with a command, through a UI, or automatically based on CPU usage. The system also provides high availability and seamless performance regardless of the computing environment.
Kubernetes also helps to prevent data loss with built-in replication and rollback capabilities. It also has a unique feature called write-ahead logs (WAL). It makes disaster recovery easier by storing the complete operational and user updates in a database log before they are written to the primary storage system.
With all this flexibility, it’s crucial to have a full-stack observability solution that can monitor and alert DevOps teams about the state of their Kubernetes infrastructure. dynatrace, for example, is the only fully automated, model-driven Kubernetes monitoring platform that automatically identifies and prioritizes alerts based on the impact on your applications and infrastructure.
Automation
Kubernetes is built by the world’s most skilled software engineers for large-scale architectures. Unlike docker swarm mode, Kubernetes can be used to run stateful applications like PostgreSQL. It is an excellent choice for enterprise and IoT deployments, even for complex and mission-critical databases.
However, deploying and managing a fully-featured Kubernetes environment for production can be challenging. It is mainly because of the scale and complexity of large Kubernetes deployments. In addition, specialized software engineers are in short supply and command high salaries.
To overcome these challenges, organizations need a comprehensive platform to automate and simplify Kubernetes management. For example, a centralized control plane with full automation and a simple web GUI must ensure all teams can manage the platform efficiently and at scale.
Another important factor is a robust solution for monitoring Kubernetes. IT teams need a full-stack observability platform to get visibility into how their containers are running, so they can pinpoint performance issues quickly and avoid unplanned downtime. While Kubernetes and other orchestration platforms collect telemetry data that can provide insights into application behavior, they often need more context to understand what is happening inside the container and how these metrics relate. IT teams need a platform that can automatically analyze and prioritize alerts based on the specific conditions of each cluster.
