Cloud computing has changed business and software development practices forever. The “big three”
cloud providers — Amazon, Google and Microsoft — and many niche providers offer unprecedented
levels of agility and scalability through cost-effective IT solutions for new and transforming
businesses.
- Enterprises with a hybrid strategy combining public and private clouds grew to 58% in 2019 1.
- Of enterprises surveyed, 94% use cloud 1.
- Only 32% of enterprises that use cloud consider themselves as “advanced” in cloud maturity 1.
With the shift to cloud computing, the fundamentals of software development have changed.
Containerization and microservices orchestrated by Kubernetes are recognized as a robust
framework for portable, cloud-native development and organizations are seeking the training and
certifications they need to build, deploy and manage these modern applications.
- The worldwide cloud microservices market is projected to grow by a compounded growth of
22.5% between now and 2025 2.
1. RightScale, “Cloud Computing Trends: 2019 State of the Cloud Survey,” Feb. 2019, https://www.flexera.com/blog/cloud/2019/02/cloud-computing-trends-2019-state-of-the-cloud-survey/
2. Research and Markets, “Cloud Microservices – Market Analysis, Trends, and Forecasts,” Aug. 2019, https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/4804268/cloud-microservices-market-analysis-trends
A new kind of application development
Containerized application development has a high appeal factor. Development teams see the promise of rapid feature release and reduced break-fix cycles. Deployment teams see containerized applications as a lower risk for production updates, as well as being a positive step toward automated CI/CD. And operationally, containerized applications can simplify problem management and accelerate incident response.
The most compelling feature of containers is their unmatched level of abstraction from their operating environment. With containers and microservices, application teams can deliver operating system-agnostic code that can run on bare metal or virtualized environments with little to no rework. Application teams can then choose the best cloud or bare metal environment for each microservice based on requirements for scalability, fault tolerance, latency, cost-effectiveness and more. These modern applications open the doors to maximizing infrastructure-as-a-service while allowing developers to take advantage of best-of-breed solutions across multiple clouds.
However, containers are only one part of the equation. Deployment across a multi-cloud architecture introduces complexity, requiring advanced orchestration and management. Application development teams have chased environmental neutrality for decades. The ability to “write code once and run it anywhere” has been a promise of many frameworks and programming languages, yet none have fully delivered.
That is, until now. Kubernetes makes environmental neutrality a reality by providing a single framework for container orchestration in nearly any operating environment.
Kubernetes and the cloud-neutral application
The shift to containerized development and Kubernetes orchestration is both challenging and rewarding. Like nearly every disruption to the industry, leading service providers have created proprietary implementations to simplify adoption. Solutions such as AWS EKS and Google GKE offer ready-made plug-ins to accelerate integration and streamline orchestration — but the speed you gain comes at a price. You modernize your application, but development, deployment, and operations teams are at risk of being locked into working with a single cloud vendor.
To truly harness the power of cloud development, your architects, developers, integration team and operations staff will benefit greatly from understanding Kubernetes at a fundamental level, even if you are using a service provider’s framework. With the right training, your team can avoid the common pitfalls of container development and Kubernetes orchestration that result in cloud-vendor lock-in.
The basics of Kubernetes training
While Kubernetes can orchestrate containerized code in nearly any environment, at its core, the framework is Linux. Sound Kubernetes training starts with an understanding of the Linux operating system across the entire application architecture and development, deployment and operations team. Team members who lack Linux experience can improve their training success by taking a primer course before Kubernetes training.
Additionally, development teams — especially those who are established and experienced in traditional development models and architectures — need to take a step back and understand how containerization, microservices, and Kubernetes orchestration work together to achieve cloud neutrality.
The Kubernetes framework challenges fundamental assumptions that have been followed for decades, and adopting modern development practices requires unlearning old habits. A Kubernetes framework training and certification program must provide hands-on experience that breaks apart monolithic application structures to show how they would be architected, developed, deployed or maintained in a containerized, cloud-neutral environment. Further, operational training must give students practical instruction that demonstrates both the capabilities and limitations of the basic Kubernetes framework.
Get your team ready for the future of application development
The Linux Foundation partners with ExitCertified to offer Kubernetes training for your entire IT organization, from your architects and developers to your deployment and operations professionals. With courses built to the industry-leading Cloud Native Computing Foundation training and certification standards, your teams come out of ExitCertified with the foundational knowledge and hands-on skills they need to modernize your applications and improve cloud portability. Whether you need Kubernetes training for application developers or administrators, ExitCertified offers interactive in-person classroom or iMVP® virtual training to fit your team’s diverse needs and busy schedules. If your Kubernetes professionals want to take their training further, the Linux Foundation offers courses and certification for Kubernetes Fundamentals, Certified Kubernetes Administration and Certified Kubernetes Application Development.
Ready to train your team and harness the power of cloud-neutral application development and orchestration? Contact ExitCertified today, and we’ll help you get started with the Kubernetes training you need to build future-proofed, modern and truly portable applications.
Authors-
Myles Brown, Cloud Consultant, ExitCertified and Mike Stapleton, Cloud Instructor, ExitCertified
