Is Kubernetes killing tools like Ansible?
I was going through some of the interview experiences shared by people for DevOps and SRE positions on LinkedIn, Blogs and Youtube and many of them mentioned that Kubernetes is the only technology which employers are asking for at this moment and not even bothering to ask about tools like Ansible, Chef, Jenkins, etc. and that made me think if Kubernetes is killing tools like Ansible, Chef, etc. which were in huge demand when Virtialization was at peak and Containerisation & Orchestration was not there?
In recent years, Kubernetes has emerged as one of the most popular tools for managing containerized applications at scale. At the same time, Ansible, a configuration management and orchestration tool, has also gained widespread adoption. Given their overlapping functionality, it is natural to wonder how Kubernetes and ansible compare to each other and whether one tool has "killed" the other.
To understand how Kubernetes and ansible compare, it is important to first understand the key differences between the two tools:
Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform that allows you to manage the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It provides a range of features and tools for scheduling and deploying containers, scaling applications, and monitoring and managing the health of applications.
Ansible, on the other hand, is a configuration management and orchestration tool that allows you to automate the deployment and management of software and infrastructure. It uses a simple, declarative language to describe the desired state of a system, and then applies the necessary changes to bring the system into that desired state.
So, how do Kubernetes and ansible compare, and has Kubernetes "killed" ansible?
The short answer is that Kubernetes and ansible are different tools that serve different purposes, and they can be used together to complement each other.
Let's see what stats says:
According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation's (CNCF) 2020 survey of Kubernetes users, Kubernetes is the most widely used container orchestration platform, with 76% of respondents indicating that they use Kubernetes in production. Ansible, on the other hand, is primarily used as a configuration management and orchestration tool, with 44% of respondents indicating that they use Ansible in production.
According to the 2021 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, Kubernetes is the most popular container orchestration tool, with a usage rate of 43.8%. Ansible, on the other hand, is the third most popular configuration management tool, with a usage rate of 27.3%. While these numbers do show that Kubernetes is more popular than ansible, it is worth noting that both tools are widely used and have a significant user base.
Furthermore,
Kubernetes is not a replacement for ansible: Despite their overlapping functionality, it is important to note that Kubernetes is not a replacement for ansible. Both tools have their own strengths and use cases, and they can be used together to achieve different goals.
Kubernetes and ansible can be used together: Kubernetes and ansible can be used together to complement each other. For example, ansible can be used to automate the provisioning and configuration of Kubernetes clusters, while Kubernetes can be used to manage the deployment and scaling of applications within those clusters.
Conclusion:
Overall, while Kubernetes is certainly a popular and powerful tool, it is not accurate to say that it is "killing" other tools like ansible. Both Kubernetes and ansible are widely used and have their own strengths and use cases, and they can be used together to achieve different goals.