Azure EKS for Cloud App Development and Management

Azure EKS is a managed container service that allows you to run Kubernetes on Azure. It provides a highly available and scalable platform for deploying and managing containerized applications.

With Azure EKS, you can use your existing Kubernetes skills and tools to deploy and manage applications on Azure. This means you can leverage the expertise you already have to build and deploy cloud-native applications.

One of the key benefits of Azure EKS is its ability to integrate with other Azure services, such as Azure Active Directory and Azure Monitor. This allows for seamless authentication and monitoring of your applications.

By using Azure EKS, you can simplify the process of deploying and managing containerized applications on Azure.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a fully managed Kubernetes service that automatically configures all Kubernetes nodes for you during deployment. It also handles other tasks such as governance, cluster scalability, and connections to monitoring services.

One of the primary benefits of AKS is flexibility, which allows you to customize node configurations to adjust operating system (OS) settings or kubelet parameters, depending on the workload.

AKS supports graphics processing unit (GPU)-enabled node pools for additional processing power to run resource-intensive workloads. You can also define user node pools to support applications with different compute or storage requirements.

To simplify runtime and portability, AKS provides prebuilt cluster configurations for Kubernetes, built-in code-to-cloud pipelines, and guardrails that make it easy to spin up managed Kubernetes clusters, develop and debug microservices applications, and set up a test deployment strategy.

Here are some key features of AKS:

Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) prioritizes security and compliance, making it a trusted platform for organizations. AKS includes Kubernetes role-based access control (RBAC), which limits resource access to users, groups, or service accounts based on their roles.

With Microsoft Entra ID and Azure RBAC, you can enhance security and simplify user permission management. This integration provides fine-grained identity and access control.

AKS is integrated with Azure Policy, enabling organizations to enforce regulatory compliance controls. This ensures that your cluster adheres to your organization's policies and standards.

Just-in-time cluster access can be used to grant privileged access to your AKS cluster. This feature provides an additional layer of security by only allowing access to your cluster when it's needed.

Microsoft Defender for Containers helps maintain and monitor security in your AKS cluster. This feature ensures that your containers are secure and free from potential threats.

Azure offers a range of container solutions designed to accommodate various workloads, architectures, and business needs. You can choose from managed and unmanaged Kubernetes options, including Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Red Hat OpenShift, and Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes.

Here are some key container solutions offered by Azure:

For more information comparing the various solutions, you can check out the resources listed in the article, including comparing the service models of Azure container solutions and comparing Azure compute service options.

Container solutions in Azure offer a range of use cases that can benefit various organizations. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed Kubernetes environment that can automate and streamline the migration of applications into containers.

AKS is useful for deploying, scaling, and managing diverse groups of containers, which helps with the launch and operation of microservices-based applications. This can be particularly helpful for organizations that want to modernize their infrastructure.

Lift and shift to containers with AKS is a common use case. This involves migrating existing applications to containers and running them in a fully managed Kubernetes environment.

Microservices-based applications can also benefit from AKS. It simplifies the deployment and management of microservices with streamlined horizontal scaling, self-healing, load balancing, and secret management.

Secure DevOps for AKS is another use case. This involves efficiently balancing speed and security by implementing secure DevOps with Kubernetes.

Here are some common use cases for AKS:

Docker is a technology that creates and runs containers, made up of a client CLI tool and a container runtime. The CLI tool executes instructions to the Docker runtime, while the Docker runtime creates containers and runs them on the OS.

Docker contains container images, which are essentially blueprints for creating containers.

The Docker CLI tool executes instructions to the Docker runtime, which is the core of Docker's functionality.

Docker is used to create and run containers, but it doesn't group them into a single unit like Kubernetes does.

Unless the application under development relies heavily on the Microsoft technology stack, a cloud-agnostic orchestration service like Kubernetes is more appropriate for most containerized apps.

Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a great tool for building and deploying cloud-native applications. It allows you to run containers without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

If you're planning to adopt a multi-cloud strategy, consider the best practices outlined by Michael Levan, which include leveraging Kubernetes as a common layer across clouds. This approach can simplify management and reduce complexity.

For Kubernetes management, you have several options to consider. According to Emily Foster, there are 9 managed Kubernetes services to consider, including Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

Cloud app development and management is a crucial aspect of modern IT. Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a great option to consider for containerized applications.

ACI allows you to run containers without provisioning or managing servers. With ACI, you can focus on developing and deploying your application, rather than worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a serverless container service that allows you to run containers without provisioning or managing servers. This can help reduce costs and improve scalability.

Here are some key benefits of using ACI:

Best practices for a multi-cloud Kubernetes strategy are also essential for cloud app development and management. Michael Levan's article on this topic provides valuable insights and advice for implementing a successful multi-cloud Kubernetes strategy.

A multi-cloud Kubernetes strategy can help you take advantage of the benefits of multiple cloud providers, while minimizing the risks and complexities associated with managing multiple environments.

Serverless Compute offers a convenient and faster way to develop and manage cloud applications. Both AKS and EKS support serverless computing resources.

AKS connects users to Virtual Nodes, a serverless feature that runs Kubernetes pods based on Azure Container Instances. This eliminates the need to run pods on a full virtual machine.

EKS provides integration with Amazon’s serverless container platform, Fargate. Fargate uses the Amazon Load Balancer (ALB) for implementation.

You can use the load balancer of your choice with AKS. This flexibility allows for more control over the deployment process.

Azure EKS is often compared to other cloud services, but it stands out from the pack. AKS is a managed service that simplifies the deployment, scaling, and management of Kubernetes clusters.

In contrast to other cloud services, AKS is designed specifically for organizations that want to build scalable applications with Docker and Kubernetes while using the Azure architecture. This makes it a popular choice for software developers and IT operations staff.

Kubernetes, on the other hand, is a free, open-source platform for container orchestration and workload management. Organizations do incur costs when using AKS, but these costs are tied to compute resources, not the use of the service itself.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) has a key difference compared to other container services. It exclusively focuses on the use of Kubernetes.

Prior to AKS, Microsoft offered Azure Container Service (ACS), which supported multiple open source container orchestration platforms, including Docker Swarm and Mesosphere Data Center Operating System, as well as Kubernetes.

Users who previously used ACS with a focus on Kubernetes can potentially migrate to AKS. However, they must address several differences first.

Migrating from ACS to AKS requires converting unmanaged disks to managed disks, and any persistent storage volumes or customized storage class objects associated with Azure disks must also be converted.

AKS is a managed service that simplifies the deployment, scaling, and management of Kubernetes clusters. It's designed for organizations that want to build scalable applications with Docker and Kubernetes while using the Azure architecture.

Kubernetes, on the other hand, is a popular platform for container orchestration and containerized workload management. It's extensible and highly configurable, making it suitable for various work environments.

One key difference between AKS and other cloud services is that AKS is specifically designed for Kubernetes, whereas other cloud services may offer different platforms or tools. AKS helps manage the overhead involved in using Kubernetes, reducing the complexity of deployment and management tasks.

Kubernetes has been open source since 2014, making it widely available for use. AKS, however, became generally available in June 2018.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is available in over 60 regions worldwide, including North America, Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, and South America.

You can deploy AKS in any of these regions to suit your application's needs.

AKS is a free service, so you won't be charged for Kubernetes cluster management.

However, you will be billed for the underlying compute, storage, networking, and other cloud resources consumed by the containers in your application.

AKS charges users for visible infrastructure only – on-demand, making it a cost-effective option. You can reserve particular services for a later time or pay for spot instances.

All other services, including master node and cluster management, are completely free of charge on a no SLA basis. If customers opt to add an uptime SLA with Azure AKS, the cost is of $0.10 per cluster per hour.

EKS also supports pre-paying for compute resources used for worker nodes through AWS savings plans or reserved instances and spot instances while charging a $0.10/hour fee per cluster for Kubernetes cluster nodes managing the control plane.

Both AKS and EKS charge users for visible infrastructure on-demand, but they differ in their pricing models.

AKS charges users for visible infrastructure only, and you can reserve particular services for a later time or pay for spot instances.

EKS also supports pre-paying for compute resources used for worker nodes through AWS savings plans or reserved instances and spot instances.

AKS charges a $0.10 per cluster per hour fee if customers opt to add an uptime SLA with Azure AKS.

EKS charges a $0.10/hour fee per cluster for Kubernetes cluster nodes managing the control plane.

All other services, including master node and cluster management, are completely free of charge on a no SLA basis with AKS.

Onboarding is a crucial part of the managed Kubernetes service experience. AKS makes it easy to create, upgrade, and delete clusters with just one command.

This streamlined process saves you time and effort, allowing you to focus on other important tasks.