What is Kubernetes (k8s)?

The following information depicts the advantages and disadvantages of kubernetes as described by Kubernetes, Overview. [1]

Kubernetes often referred to as "k8s" is a great way to ensure resource allocation and reliability, for example if you have a container go down another will need to start in its place. K8s (Kubernetes) has these functions baked into it.

Here are the main reasons Kubernetes is a great way to orchestrate your containers :

• Service Discovery

• Storage Orchestration

• Automated Rollouts and RollBacks

• Automatic Bin Packing

• Self-healing

• Secret Configuration and Management

• Batch Execution

• Horizontal Scaling

What is does not do :

• Does not build the application

• Does not provide application-level services  such as MySQL or Data processing services like Spark. Instead these are services that can be orchestrated by kubernetes pods but are not available by default.

• Does not dictate logging procedures.

• Does not provide or adopt any comprehensive self healing mechanisms

The progression of service deployment over the last couple decades has heavily leaned into the multiple micro services one box ethos in stark contrast to the earlier days where it would be one service per physical hardware box. [1]

References:

[1] Kubernetes, "Overview," Kubernetes. https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/ (accessed Mar. 24, 2026).