Six months ago, our development team was bogged down in complexity. We managed numerous Kubernetes clusters across multiple cloud environments.
With engineers frequently working overtime and on-call responsibilities causing anxiety, we made a decision that many thought was radical — we began the process of removing Kubernetes from our tech stack.
Today, our deployment success rate has soared, infrastructure costs have dramatically decreased, and for the first time in years, our team is enjoying proper vacations.
Let me share our journey.
The Kubernetes Ideal vs. The Harsh Reality
Like many tech companies, we embraced Kubernetes three years ago, enticed by its promises:
- Robust container orchestration
- Cloud-native architecture
- Infrastructure as code
- Automated scaling and recovery
Kubernetes fulfilled these promises, but it came with hidden challenges that were often overlooked.
The Breaking Point
Our breaking point arrived during the holiday peak season. Despite having:
- A talented team of senior DevOps engineers
- A dedicated SRE team on standby
- 24/7 on-call support
- Enterprise-grade support contracts
- A comprehensive monitoring setup
We still faced:
- Major outages that disrupted services
- A myriad of false alerts
- Emergency deployments under pressure
- Staff turnover due to burnout
Clearly, a change was necessary.
The True Cost of Kubernetes
When we assessed our actual expenses, the figures were staggering:
Infrastructure Overhead:
- A significant proportion of our nodes were allocated to Kubernetes
- Ongoing costs for control plane management
- Redundancy measures that were inefficacious
Human Capital Cost:
- Extensive training requirements for new hires
- A majority of time spent on maintenance tasks
- Increased on-call incidents
- Loss of experienced team members
Complexity Issues:
- Numerous deployment files contributing to confusion
- Multiple monitoring solutions that complicated operations
- Version compatibility problems causing delays
A Simpler, More Efficient Approach
We decided to take measured steps. We picked a less critical service and transitioned it to a simplified stack:
- Using AWS ECS for container management
- Employing CloudFormation for infrastructure setup
- Opting for managed services where feasible
- Deploying with straightforward scripts
The impact was immediate:
- Deployment time was significantly reduced
- Infrastructure configurations were streamlined
- Monthly expenses saw a sharp decline
- Alert notifications decreased substantially
Comprehensive Migration Efforts
Motivated by our initial successes, we formulated a detailed four-month migration strategy:
Phase 1: Assessment
- Created a map of services and their dependencies
- Distinguished between critical and non-critical workloads
- Calculated true operational costs
- Documented sources of team pain
Phase 2: Tool Selection
- Chose appropriate technologies for each workload:
- Simple applications → AWS ECS/Fargate
- Stateful services → EC2 with Docker
- Batch jobs → AWS Batch
- Event-driven processes → AWS Lambda
Phase 3: Gradual Migration
- Started with non-critical services
- Migrated incrementally
- Conducted parallel systems initially
- Monitored performance metrics continuously
Phase 4: Team Adjustment
- Streamlined team roles
- Facilitated cross-training among team members
- Simplified on-call procedures
- Updated system documentation comprehensively
Results After Six Months
Technical Benefits:
- Substantial reduction in infrastructure costs
- Noticeably quicker deployment times
- Fewer production incidents
- Significant drop in alert noise
Team Improvements:
- No weekend deployments
- A decrease in on-call incidents
- Retention of all team members
- Streamlined onboarding process for new hires
Business Advantages:
- Faster delivery of features
- High uptime reliability
- Reduced hiring time for DevOps roles
- Annual savings on infrastructure costs
When to Use Kubernetes
Kubernetes is not inherently bad; it may be the correct choice in certain scenarios:
- When managing a large number of microservices
- For complex auto-scaling needs
- In multi-cloud environments
- For advanced deployment architectures
However, Kubernetes might not be suitable if:
- Your service count is low
- Your operational scale is steady
- You primarily utilize managed services
- Your DevOps team is small
The Path Forward
Our new technology stack is straightforward and pragmatic. While it may lack the glamour of more complex setups, it effectively meets our needs and keeps our team content.
Our focus now includes:
- Leveraging managed services effectively
- Prioritizing simplicity in solutions
- Automating only essential processes
- Ensuring operational transparency
Key Takeaways
Question the Norms:
- Just because a popular technology is widely adopted doesn’t mean it’s right for you
- Complexity can sometimes generate more issues than it solves
- Total costs should include the well-being of your team
Appropriately Size Your Tools:
- Begin with simplicity and evolve as needed
- Use established technologies for straightforward challenges
- Consider your team’s expertise and size
Prioritize Team Satisfaction:
- Content teams tend to be more productive
- Simpler systems are often easier to maintain
- Allocating less time to crises allows for more focused innovation
Ultimately, sometimes the best decision a development team can make is to simplify rather than complicate. Our choice to depart from Kubernetes has proven to be one of our most beneficial technical moves.
In summary, while Kubernetes is a powerful tool, for many teams, the complexity it introduces can overshadow its advantages.
Understanding this can profoundly reshape your engineering strategies.
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