Ending the year with a bang

Kubernetes 1.9 is here

December 18, 2017 Gabriela Motroc

#kubernetes

The fourth and final Kubernetes release of 2017 is here. Kubernetes 1.9 brings a bunch of changes, including the fact that the Apps Workloads API is now stable. Let’s have a look at the highlights.

Kubernetes 1.9 is the fourth and final release this year — if you want to see the complete list of changes, check out the release notes.

Kubernetes 1.9 is available for download on GitHub.

Let’s have a look at the highlights:

Workloads API GA

The apps/v1 Workloads API is now enabled by default. The Apps Workloads API groups the DaemonSet, Deployment, ReplicaSet, and StatefulSet APIs together to form the foundation for long-running stateless and stateful workloads in Kubernetes, according to the blog post announcing the release. However, keep in mind that the Batch Workloads API (Job and CronJob) is not part of this effort, which means it will have its own separate path to GA stability. Furthermore, Deployment and ReplicaSet are now stabilized.

SIG Apps has applied the lessons from this process to all four resource kinds over the last several release cycles, enabling DaemonSet and StatefulSet to join this graduation. The v1 (GA) designation indicates production hardening and readiness and comes with the guarantee of long-term backwards compatibility.

Windows Support (beta)

Work to support Windows Server in Kubernetes began roughly one year ago. Now that this feature has been promoted to beta status, the team can evaluate it for usage.

Storage enhancements

Although a lot of storage options became available as the project grew bigger, adding volume plugins for new storage systems “has been a challenge.”

Enter Container Storage Interface (CSI), a cross-industry standards initiative that aims to lower the barrier for cloud native storage development and ensure compatibility. SIG-Storage and the CSI Community are collaborating to deliver a single interface for provisioning, attaching, and mounting storage compatible with Kubernetes.

This release introduces an alpha implementation of the Container Storage Interface (CSI), which aims to make installing new volume plugins as easy as deploying a pod. Furthermore, it should also enable third-party storage providers to develop their solutions without the need to add to the core Kubernetes codebase. However, since the feature is alpha in this release, users need to explicitly enable it. Furthermore, it’s not recommended for production usage.

Additional features

The graduation to beta continues with Custom Resource Definition (CRD) Validation — its purpose is to help CRD authors give clear and immediate feedback for invalid objects. Meanwhile, SIG Node hardware accelerator hs moved to alpha, enabling GPUs and consequently machine learning and other high performance workloads

Kubernetes on DC/OS

Three months ago, Mesosphere announced the beta availability of Kubernetes on DC/OS.

This moves also means that there is no restriction on features you can use, and you will always have the latest version of Kubernetes available through DC/OS. According to Knaup, you’ll also be able to run multiple Kubernetes clusters (of different versions) alongside each other.

Find out more about what this means for users here.

Author

Gabriela Motroc

@GabrielaMotroc

All Posts by Gabriela Motroc

Gabriela Motroc is editor of JAXenter.com and JAX Magazine. Before working at Software & Support Media Group, she studied International Communication Management at the Hague University of Applied Sciences.