Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) — An Overview
Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS):
AKS is an open-source fully managed container orchestration service and is available on the Microsoft Azure public cloud that can be used to deploy, scale, and manage Docker containers and container-based applications in a cluster environment.
Azure Kubernetes Service offers provisioning, scaling, and upgrades of resources as per requirement or demand without any downtime in the Kubernetes cluster and the best thing about AKS is that you do not require deep knowledge and expertise in container orchestration to manage AKS.
AKS is certainly an ideal platform for developers to develop their modern applications using Kubernetes on the Azure architecture where Azure Container Instances are the pretty right choice to deploy containers on the public cloud. The Azure Container Instances help in reducing the stress on developers to deploy and run their applications on Kubernetes architecture.
So why use Azure AKS solutions:
Ø Hosts your Kubernetes environment.
Ø Easy integration with Azure services such as Load balancing, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Active Directory, Application Gateway, Azure Traffic Manager etc.
Ø Quick and easy to deploy.
Ø Hosted control plane.
Ø Easy and secure containerized applications management.
Ø Continuous Integration by adopting Azure Pipeline concept for Docker images creation for faster deployments and reliability.
Ø Create resources and infrastructure inside the Azure Kubernetes cluster through Deployments and services manifest files.
Ø AKS management service is free of charge in Microsoft Azure.
Azure Kubernetes Service Features:
Ø Microsoft Azure offers Azure Kubernetes Service that simplifies managed Kubernetes cluster deployment in the public cloud environment and manages health and monitoring of managed Kubernetes service.
Ø Customers can create AKS clusters using the Azure portal or Azure CLI and can manage the agent nodes.
Ø Some additional features such as advanced networking, monitoring, and Azure AD integration can also be configured.
Features that Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) offers are as follows:
Nodes and clusters:
In AKS, apps and supporting services are run on Kubernetes nodes and the AKS cluster is a combination of one or more than one node. And these AKS nodes are run on Azure Virtual Machines. Nodes that are configured with the same configuration are grouped together called node pool. Nodes in the Kubernetes cluster are scaled-up and scaled-down according to the resources are required in the cluster. So, nodes, clusters, and node pools are the most prominent components of your Azure Kubernetes environment.
Role-based access control (RBAC):
AKS easily integrates with Azure Active Directory (AD) to provide role-based access, security, and monitoring of Kubernetes architecture based on identity and group membership. You can also monitor the performance of your AKS and the apps.
Integration of development tools:
Another important feature of AKS is the development tools such as Helm and Draft are seamlessly integrated with AKS where Azure Dev Spaces can provide a quicker and iterative Kubernetes development experience to the developers. Containers can be run and debugged directly in Azure Kubernetes environment with less stress on the configuration.
AKS also offers support for Docker image format and can also integrate with Azure Container Registry (ACR) to provide private storage for Docker images. And regular compliance with the industry standards such as System and Organization Controls (SOC), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and ISO make AKS more reliable across various business.
Running any workload in Azure Kubernetes Services:
You can orchestrate any type of workload running in the AKS environment. You can move .NET apps to Windows Server containers, modernize Java apps in Linux containers, or run microservices in Azure Kubernetes Service. AKS will run any type of workload in the cluster environment.
Removes complexities:
AKS removes your implementation, installation, maintenance, and security complexities in Azure cloud architecture. It also reduces substantial costs where no per-cluster charges are being imposed on you.
Advantages of AKS:
Ø Deploy your applications quickly and predictably and easily coordinate deployments of your system.
Ø Constraint communications between containers.
Ø Continuously monitors and manages your containers.
Ø Improves reliability and availability.
Ø Scales your application to handle changes in load on the fly as needed.
Ø Better use of infrastructure resources.
Ø Cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of modern applications and businesses. AKS integrates with Azure Active Directory (AD) and offers on-demand access to the users to greatly reduce threats and risks.
Ø AKS is also completely compliant with the standards and regulatory requirements such as System and Organization Controls (SOC), HIPAA, ISO, and PCI DSS.
