Kubernetes (k8s)
An open source system that runs containers across many machines and keeps them running, scaled and connected.
k8s is the numeronym: k, eight letters, s. You describe the desired state (which containers, how many, how they are exposed) and Kubernetes keeps reconciling the cluster toward it, restarting and moving workloads when something fails. It is powerful and it has a real operating cost: upgrades, networking, security and people who understand them.
Related terms
- Observability (o11y): Being able to tell what a running system is doing, and why, from the data it emits: logs, metrics and traces.
- Numeronym (a11y, i18n, k8s): A word shortened to its first letter, the number of letters in between and its last letter, like a11y for accessibility.
- OpenTelemetry (OTel): An open, vendor-neutral standard and set of SDKs for producing and sending traces, metrics and logs.
