148 lines
7.0 KiB
Markdown
148 lines
7.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Cloud Native Infrastructure with Kubernetes and Pulumi"
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date: "2018-09-12"
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meta_desc: "Pulumi for Kubernetes lets you create, deploy, & manage Kubernetes apps using programming language across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and native environments."
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meta_image: "meta.png"
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authors: ["joe-duffy"]
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tags: ["Kubernetes"]
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---
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Kubernetes has quickly become the "gold standard" for running containers
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in production, spanning public, private, and hybrid cloud scenarios.
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It's been remarkable to watch its explosive growth just this
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past year alone. Every cloud vendor now supports an easy-to-use managed
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Kubernetes solution --- Google GKE, Azure AKS, and AWS AKS --- making it
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easier than ever to start writing and deploying Kubernetes
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applications.
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[Pulumi for Kubernetes](https://info.pulumi.com/press-release/pulumi-cloud-native-sdk-delivers-cloud-native-infrastructure-as-code-for-kubernetes) is
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a way to create, deploy, and manage Kubernetes applications using your
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favorite programming languages.
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that works across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, OpenStack, and other clouds,
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now to Kubernetes and cloud native architectures. You can
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[dive right in here](/docs/clouds/kubernetes/get-started/) and
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look at some
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[powerful things Pulumi enables here](/blog/program-kubernetes-with-11-cloud-native-pulumi-pearls/).
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<!--more-->
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## Why Pulumi?
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Kubernetes is essentially the "POSIX" for the cloud and unlocks the
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potential for a true cloud native development platform to be built on
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top. We at Pulumi are tremendously excited by this opportunity -- it
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aligns perfectly with our vision for the future, and our language-driven
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and true platform approach.
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Despite these advances, Kubernetes can still be intimidating to use.
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This is true for newcomers and experts alike. The use of YAML for
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configuration has led to the "Wall of YAML" problem, giving way to many
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quasi-languages, often rudimentary templating systems bolted on top of
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YAML. The lack of true end-to-end deployment support -- including
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orchestrated rollouts, knowing when a deployment has completed
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successfully, or even managing resources outside of Kubernetes itself
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like databases, container registries, and other hosted services -- has
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led to the "Mountains of Bash" problem. All aspects, from creation to
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deployment to management, can be difficult, particularly at scale.
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We envision a future where all developers and DevOps engineers
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seamlessly leverage Kubernetes to program the cloud. To get there, we
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need to bring joy, ease of use, and simplicity to the entire Kubernetes
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software development lifecycle. We must eliminate toil and maximize
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productivity. This is precisely what Pulumi for Kubernetes aims to do.
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## Familiar Languages
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Our favorite way to program Kubernetes is using TypeScript, as it
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delivers strong typing where possible and dynamic typing where needed.
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This delivers great IDE support out of the box, no matter your IDE of
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choice, complete with auto-completion, interactive documentation and
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error reporting, refactoring support, and more. The result is a
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radically improved inner development loop. In addition to TypeScript,
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JavaScript works too, and Python and Go are on the way.
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Perhaps the best part of using a familiar language is instance access to an
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ecosystem of libraries. Any NPM module is an npm install away. And you
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can create your own libraries -- classes to encapsulate full
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components, and functions to capture repeated patterns of code --
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helping to reduce boilerplate, maximize reuse and sharing, and make you
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more productive. The standard Kubernetes guestbook shrinks to a mere 20
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lines of code thanks to abstraction!
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Many of our customers have already used this capability to capture best
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practices within their own team, shrinking 1,000s of lines of
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copy-and-pasted YAML to just a handful of lines of real code.
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We are just getting started with our own Kubernetes abstractions, but
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we're most excited to see where you, the community, take things.
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## End-to-End Deployment Orchestration
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Pulumi programs are deployed using a single CLI command
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`$ pulumi up`
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This command works the first time -- when all resources will be created
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-- in addition to all subsequent updates. Each update will show a full
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diff of what has changed before you deploy anything:
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Because Pulumi also supports resources for all clouds -- including AWS,
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Azure, Google Cloud, OpenStack, and VMWare vSphere -- you can mix and
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match all of your infrastructure needs using one consistent programming
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language, model, tool, and workflow. This means, for example, that a
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single program can provision your Kubernetes resources alongside Azure
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CosmosDB, a Google Container Registry to publish your Docker builds to
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before pulling them in your cluster, an AWS S3 Bucket for your
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application, or even CDN and DNS entries for your cluster. Pulumi's
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notion of stacks makes it easy to multi-instantiate your application for
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different environments.
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Programs are just code, unlocking sophisticated cloud native scenarios;
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e.g.
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- Deploy a canary, wait for Prometheus health checks to pass, and then
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promote
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- Create a base class that injects Envoy sidecars automatically for
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any pod in your org
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- Manage your Envoy config as code, and version it alongside your
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Kubernetes config
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The Pulumi Delivery Platform works in tandem with the CLI to ensure
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continuous delivery of your infrastructure. This supports robust
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deployments in a team environment with state checkpointing and
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concurrency control. It integrates with any CI system and supports a
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GitHub App that you can install to get previews of changes inside your
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Pull Requests. This enables a true GitOps workflow -- for both
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Kubernetes config updates, and your cloud infrastructure.
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## What's Next
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With Pulumi's
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support for Kubernetes and cloud native architectures, we hope that familiar languages will
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bring you more joy, reduce toil, and ultimately lower the barriers to
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entry for using Kubernetes with real components and reuse.
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We can't wait to hear what you think. To learn more or give it a try,
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please check out these resources:
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- [EKS Quickstart](/registry/packages/kubernetes/how-to-guides/eks/)
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- [GKE Quickstart](/registry/packages/kubernetes/how-to-guides/gke/)
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- [AKS Quickstart](/registry/packages/kubernetes/how-to-guides/aks/)
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These two tutorials will walk you through your first Pulumi for Kubernetes project:
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- [Tutorial: Deploy a Stateless Nginx Application](/registry/packages/kubernetes/how-to-guides/stateless-app)
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- [Tutorial: Deploy a Load-Balanced Guestbook App with Redis and Nginx](/registry/packages/kubernetes/how-to-guides/guestbook)
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[Program Kubernetes with 11 Pearls](/blog/program-kubernetes-with-11-cloud-native-pulumi-pearls/):
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a companion blog post with 11 exciting examples.
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[Pulumi: A Better Way to Kubernetes](/blog/pulumi-a-better-way-to-kubernetes): A walkthrough on how Pulumi can make Kubernetes more accessible, using your favorite languages and tools.
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If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you in our
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[Community Slack](https://slack.pulumi.com) or over on
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[GitHub](https://github.com/pulumi).
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Happy cloud native hacking!
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