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Managing Kubernetes shouldnt be hard.
You may have compliance, regulatory, or specific requirements to manage Kubernetes on-premises.
In the emerging cloud-native landscape, Kubernetes is everywhere without a doubt.
It has become the standard for orchestrating containers.
Therefore, the need of Kubernetes management tools arises.
Lets explore some of the popular solutions to manage Kubernetes efficiently.
K9s
k9sis a terminal-based resource dashboard.
It has only a command-line interface.
Dashboard + Kubectl + Kubeadm
TheKubernetes dashboardis a web-based interface to deploy containerized applications.
It troubleshoots your applications and manages the cluster itself along with the resources.
Kubectlis a command-line tool to communicate with the API service and send commands to the master node.
Its covert commands to API calls to the Kubernetes cluster API server.
Get familiar with Kubectl command examples.
Kubeadmis a tool with built-in commands to start a minimal Kubernetes cluster.
It is used for bootstrapping a cluster and not provisioning machines.
Helm
Helmis the package manager for Kubernetes.
It allows developers and operators to package, configure, and deploy applications and services on the Kubernetes cluster.
it’s possible for you to find multiple helm charts available to be usedhere.
KubeSpray
KubeSprayis a cluster lifecycle manager that helps you deploy a production-ready Kubernetes cluster.
It usesansible-playbookto automate the Kubernetes cluster provisioning.
Kubespray is best suited if you need flexibility in deployment; it gives a lot of custom configuration options.
Also, if you are familiar withAnsible, then Kubespray is very easy to use.
Kontena Lens
Kontena Lensis a smart dashboard for Kubernetes.
Its the only management system youll ever need to take control of your Kubernetes.
Its available for Mac OS, Windows, and Linux operating systems free of charge.
Once the lens software is started, youll see a list of all associated clusters in the interface.
It is the most powerful IDE for people who really need to deal with Kubernetes daily.
It is one of the best tools out there for managing and visualizing Kubernetes clusters.
WKSctl
WKSctlstands for Weave Kubernetes System control.
It is a part of the Weave Kubernetes Platform.
WKSctl is a tool that uses GitOps for Kubernetes configuration management.
Using WKSctl, you’re able to manage Kubernetes clusters via Git commits.
you’ve got the option to upgrade the cluster or add/remove nodes from the cluster.
you’ve got the option to run this tool in 2 modes: Standalone mode and GitOps mode.
In Standalone mode, it creates a static cluster.
In GitOps mode, it configures the cluster according to cluster.yml and machines.yml information present on git.
Choose any one of the tools mentioned above and try it out on your Kubernetes cluster!