Kublr Integrates K8s Management Platform with Microsoft Arc

Kublr has extended the reach of its open source platform for managing Kubernetes to include integrations with the Microsoft Azure Arc service.

Oleg Chunikhin, Kublr CTO, says Kublr worked closely with Microsoft to make sure that Kubernetes clusters managed by its platform would be able to interoperate with Microsoft’s Azure Arc cluster management service in the cloud or an on-premises IT environment. The goal is to provide IT teams with greater flexibility, he says.

Kublr already supports a range of Kubernetes-based services that reside on Azure. The integration with Arc deepens that relationship at a time when Microsoft is attempting to extend the reach of Azure Arc across hybrid cloud computing environments, notes Chunikhin.

By assigning an Azure Resource Manager ID via the Azure Portal, Azure Arc attaches a standard Azure subscription to a Kubernetes cluster. That enables it to participate in a resource group and be assigned tags like any other Azure resource. Azure application services extend that capability to enable developers to employ an Azure Function to target a specific Kubernetes cluster, rather than an Azure region, to launch Azure Functions pods.

Heading into 2022, Chunikhin says it has become apparent that more traditional IT administrators will be managing Kubernetes clusters alongside DevOps professionals. IT administrators typically don’t have a lot of programming expertise, so they prefer to employ management platforms that expose a graphical user interface, notes Chunikhin.

Less clear is to what degree this will drive hybrid cloud computing in 2022. Most organizations today are employing multiple clouds that are usually managed in isolation from one another. Microsoft is positioning Arc as a control plane through which IT teams can unify the management of public cloud and on-premises IT environments that share a common Kubernetes foundation. The ultimate goal is to reduce the total cost of IT by centralizing the management of Kubernetes clusters. As an extension of Arc, Kublr adds an open source management platform that makes it easier for IT administrators to manage fleets of Kubernetes clusters across an extended enterprise.

Microsoft, of course, is not the only major cloud service provider with similar ambitions. In addition, providers of IT management frameworks that are deployed on-premises are extending the reach of their platforms into cloud-based Kubernetes environments. As a result, 2022 is shaping up to be one of the most pivotal years in terms of strategic IT decisions in the enterprise.

No matter how many Kubernetes clusters there are to manage, however, the number of legacy platforms that still need to be managed is not likely to decline. Most Kubernetes clusters are running new classes of workloads that IT teams still need to manage. The challenge is finding a way to simplify the management of Kubernetes clusters in a way that limits the number of additional specialists an IT organization needs to hire and retain.

Mike Vizard

Mike Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist with over 25 years of experience. He also contributed to IT Business Edge, Channel Insider, Baseline and a variety of other IT titles. Previously, Vizard was the editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise as well as Editor-in-Chief for CRN and InfoWorld.

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