Kubernetes Is Complex Because You Want Complex Things

Is Kubernetes unecessarily complicated?

I frequently get asked on LinkedIn if Kubernetes is complicated. In this post, I'll walk through the arguments and answer. I'll also explain you when you do and don't need Kubernetes.

When not to use kubernetes

You don't need Kubernetes when the following four conditions are true:

1. You are deploying a very small number of containers to a very small number of machines (hosts).
2. The number of containers and machines is static and does not scale up or down.
3. Your containers and machines do not fail often.
4. You do not need additional features like persistent storage, LoadBalancing, configuration management, service discovery, autohealing, autoscaling, etc.

Complex requirements require complex solutions

You do need Kubernetes when you have the usual set of real-world requirements that every fast growing team eventually runs into:

1. Your app needs to handle variable amounts of load
2. You require the use of additional cloud services beyond compute
3. Stuff goes wrong frequently and your app needs to recover
4. You want to manage multiple applications and systems in a coherent manner

The most popular form of that infrastructure is Kubernetes. Why not run Kubernetes if those are your requirements? Sure it is complex, but every solution that satisfies those requirements will have similar complexity.