The Kubernetes
State of Play
A Civo white paper into the challenges and
opportunities of Kubernetes in 2021
Download the Civo Kubernetes 2021 Report
Complexity heads up the main challenges
There are, of course, challenges in adapting to Kubernetes. Any IT professional will know the benefits are huge but it is a whole new way of approaching development, with its own buzz terms and new methodologies which provide a very steep learning curve.
Our research makes clear that it is far from straightforward for enterprises to realise the benefits of Kubernetes. A majority (57%) of cloud developers pointed to the steep learning curve/issues with staff knowledge as their top challenge when working with Kubernetes.
Developers rely on minimal wasted time to ensure the testing and running of applications can proceed with minimal interruption for the end-user. It is a concern, therefore, that 41% cloud developers told Civo that they are slightly frustrated or very frustrated by the time it takes to spin up a working cluster.
Container orchestration through Kubernetes is an invaluable way for IT teams to automate provision, deployment, scaling, networking and load balancing across multiple containers. It also allows teams to deploy the same app across different environments without having to be totally redesigned.
The trouble is, nearly half of IT professionals, 47%, are reporting back to Civo that complexity around using Kubernetes is holding back their company’s use of containers. It is undeniable that Kubernetes is complex and requires new ways of working which IT teams have not always adopted across the board. It is also layer-based, meaning a change to one container will often mean another will need updating, and that can be time consuming.
Crucially, there is a message of optimism from our research. Our research asked IT professionals what they would like to see to encourage greater use of Kubernetes. The resounding answer was 85% would be more inclined to use the technology, or use it more, if adopting the platform was easier. There is clearly an opportunity for significant growth for Kubernetes and containers when these lingering issues with complexity and accessibility are addressed.
