Did containers become heavy cargo? Comparing 3 managed Kubernetes service providers

Kubernetes are an extremely efficient tool to schedule, run and monitor containers, and offer a wide range of benefits, from resource optimization to security enhancement. However, Kubernetes can be quite difficult for an enterprise to handle on its own.

If you want to run Kubernetes, but not manage the infrastructure or install the platform from scratch, don’t worry: there are a variety of managed Kubernetes services available today that handle these tasks for you.

In this article, we compare the three major managed Kubernetes service providers: Red Hat OpenShift, Rancher and DigitalOcean Kubernetes.

Content Summary

Red Hat OpenShift
Rancher
DigitalOcean Kubernetes

There are a variety of managed Kubernetes services available today. However, managed Kubernetes service providers vary greatly in terms of what they offer. To understand the differences, let’s compare three major providers: Red Hat OpenShift, Rancher and DigitalOcean Kubernetes.

Red Hat OpenShift

A special administration tool called oc which replaces kubectl. It provides additional tooling, such as the ability to initiate a new application deployment using oc’s new-app command.
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The ability to operate as a complete CI/CD platform with the OpenShift Pipelines feature, can manage all aspects of application delivery and deployment
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Support for a broad selection of deployment modes. It also provides its own version of managed OpenShift, called OpenShift Online.

Rancher

Integration with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and Active Directory. This makes it easy to manage access control policies based on external frameworks.
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Tools to simplify management of Kubernetes RBAC policies, network policies and pod security contexts. Easier to manage then others.
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Simplified DNS management. This eliminates much of the hassle required to manage network configurations for public-facing applications.

DigitalOcean Kubernetes

Fully automated upgrades. Most other managed Kubernetes services can automate aspects of Kubernetes version upgrades but require more manual oversight.
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Configuration guidance: provides one of the easiest setup processes to create a Kubernetes environment.
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Provides optional managed Kubernetes support services from human beings — a feature that might be beneficial for smaller organizations that lack extensive in-house Kubernetes expertise.