Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates containerized applications’ management, deployment, and scaling. It groups logical units that make up an easy management and discovery application.

Kubernetes is an advanced tool that can help you automate many of the processes involved in managing your applications. There are many ways to automate your Kubernetes processes in 2022 and beyond to ensure you’re using your tech and human resources to their fullest potential. 

Cluster Building

You can build Kubernetes clusters using various tools, including:

  • Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE) 
  • Terraform
  • AWS CloudFormation

Each tool has its benefits and issues, so choosing the right one for your needs is essential.

Rancher Kubernetes Engine is a free, open-source tool that helps you provision, manage, and monitor Kubernetes clusters. RKE provides a console-based UI that makes it easy to deploy your Kubernetes clusters. You can use Kubernetes engine projects like this one to automate the building of new clusters.

Terraform provides an infrastructure on cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. Terraform can be used to provision Kubernetes clusters using a variety of providers, including AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure.

AWS CloudFormation is a tool that can automate the creation of AWS resources such as EC2 instances, S3 buckets, and IAM policies.

With AWS CloudFormation, you can easily create a Kubernetes cluster on AWS by defining all the resources you need in a template file.

Use a Managed Kubernetes Service

Managing your Kubernetes cluster can take up time and resources. As a result, many companies turn to managed Kubernetes services to automate many aspects of the Kubernetes lifecycle.

These services can take care of tasks such as provisioning and managing clusters, upgrading Kubernetes versions, and monitoring the health of your applications.

Automate Application Deployments with Jenkins

Jenkins is a popular open-source automation server that works to automate various tasks related to your software development workflow.

With Jenkins, you can easily set up continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines to automate the process of testing, building, and deploying applications.

Jenkins also provides plugins for automating tasks in Kubernetes, such as deploying applications to clusters, managing secrets, and more.

Use Prometheus for Monitoring and Alerting

Prometheus is an open-source alerting and monitoring tool explicitly built for Kubernetes environments. It can monitor various system metrics, such as CPU usage, memory consumption, load average, network bandwidth utilization, etc.

Prometheus also has built-in support for alerting when specific metrics exceed defined thresholds.

Use Helm for Application Management

Helm is a popular tool that can help you automate many of the tasks involved in managing your microservices-based applications. It provides an easy way to package and deploy your applications and allows you to roll out updates to existing applications quickly.

Helm also makes it easy to share your applications with others and easily install and manage dependencies.

Use Ansible for Hardening Kubernetes Deployments

Ansible is a popular open-source automation tool that can manage your infrastructure and deploy applications on various platforms, including Kubernetes.

It allows you to easily automate tasks such as setting up TLS certificates, enabling Seccomp profiles, and configuring network policies.

Ansible also provides several other benefits, such as easily sharing playbooks with others and running playbooks on multiple platforms.

Use a CI/CD Pipeline to Automate Quality Assurance Processes

Continuous integration and continuous delivery are vital for delivering high-quality software products regularly.

By automating these processes with tools such as Jenkins, you can reduce the chances of errors and ensure that your applications are always up-to-date.

Wrap Up

Kubernetes is a complex system, but many tools and services are available to help you automate the processes involved in managing your applications.

Using these tools can save time and resources and make it easier to manage your Kubernetes deployments.