[gkop]

I can't really answer your question, but will say if you're hosting on Google Cloud already, you have little to lose by using Kubernetes, since Google Container Engine provides a nice cluster out of the box, and many of Kubernetes' advantages hold true to monoliths.

[sheut]

Could you provides some insight into how an SMB who is using k8s would benefit? Most of the people I have talked to don't seem to think it is worth the added complexity. Do you agree?

[gkop]

For example, they might benefit from the set of opinions baked into k8s. I'm partial to convention over configuration, and I appreciate that there is a "Kubernetes way" you can follow and rapidly have a robust and conventional set of infrastructure. I like that Kubernetes encompasses a pretty large footprint of functionality. For example, I haven't used Terraform personally, but from what I understand, Terraform is not opinionated about secrets management; I imagine some Terraform users are using Vault for secrets, and some are using other solutions. Kubernetes has secrets management built-in, so most k8s users are going to use that functionality; it's one less decision for the team to debate.

Edit: to be clear, there are important things that k8s doesn't do, like templating, that run counter to convention over configuration, so this benefit is certainly arguable...

[sheut]

So much of the benefit comes from adopting Kubernetes in in entirety? As in it could potentially bundle and replace commonly needed operation tools like secret management, etc?

[gkop]

Yes, I think that's fair to say.

I thought of something else rather important: k8s is truly "containers-first", IE containers are first-class in k8s. So it allowed me to get containers in production in a rock-solid manner without being a Docker expert. This is nice if you're seeking the advantages of promoting the exact same docker image from staging to production, for example.

[sheut]

What if your application is not necessarily architected for containers? Have you heard of existing systems being successfully migrated without significant changes in software architecture?

[gkop]

Hmm, if it's a monolith, it should be dockerizable without too much trouble. Yes I've migrated several legacy ish systems. Sometimes you have to take shortcuts and be "un-dockerish", for example by running nginx alongside your app server in the same image, but that's not a big deal really in practice.