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Kubernetes Patterns: Reusable Elements for Designing Cloud-Native Applications

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The way developers design, build, and run software has changed significantly with the evolution of microservices and containers. These modern architectures use new primitives that require a different set of practices than most developers, tech leads, and architects are accustomed to. With this focused guide, Bilgin Ibryam and Roland Hu� from Red Hat provide common reusable elements, patterns, principles, and practices for designing and implementing cloud-native applications on Kubernetes.

Each pattern includes a description of the problem and a proposed solution with Kubernetes specifics. Many patterns are also backed by concrete code examples. This book is ideal for developers already familiar with basic Kubernetes concepts who want to learn common cloud native patterns.

You'll learn about the following pattern categories:



Foundational patterns cover the core principles and practices for building container-based cloud-native applications.

Behavioral patterns explore finer-grained concepts for managing various types of container and platform interactions.

Structural patterns help you organize containers within a pod, the atom of the Kubernetes platform.

Configuration patterns provide insight into how application configurations can be handled in Kubernetes.

Advanced patterns covers more advanced topics such as extending the platform with operators.

266 pages, ebook

Published April 9, 2019

112 people are currently reading
541 people want to read

About the author

Bilgin Ibryam

4 books3 followers

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5 stars
98 (46%)
4 stars
83 (39%)
3 stars
25 (11%)
2 stars
4 (1%)
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0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
99 reviews
December 22, 2021
Engaging and easy to understand. Well structured and concepts are explained/discussed in detail. Worth to reread multiple times.
Profile Image for Jimbo.
54 reviews6 followers
May 26, 2020
If I could find tech books like this on every subject I need, I'd be a happy hacker indeed. Doesn't waste time taking you through the basics - which you can easily learn from the official documentation, or the minutae of implementation - which you'll figure out at the keyboard when you need to. Instead gives high level overview of the big ideas and best practices around Kubernetes. I still don't consider myself an expert, but I now have a library of ideas to reach for, research and refine as needed. This book has allowed me to go from Kubernetes beginner to being comfortable holding my own in design discussions in a very short space of time.
Profile Image for Sumit Gouthaman.
93 reviews17 followers
March 30, 2024
If you interact with Kubernetes in any way this is a great book to read.

Depending on your existing level of expertise, not all sections would be equally valuable. But I think everyone would find something or the other that is new and interesting. I would especially recommend the Security related bits.

1 review1 follower
September 18, 2019
This is one of the best tech books I have read in recent times.
1. If you liked reading "The Timeless Way of Building", "Pattern Oriented Software Architecture", and "Design Patterns" books you will like this one.
2. It is written in Problem - Solution - Discussion style which makes it easy and interesting to consume.
3. The language is simple and covers all the concepts without omitting important details. Simplifying complexity is a challenging feat but the authors have managed to do it.
4. Some books give you new facts, some new techniques and some a new perspective. This book will change the way you view cloud-native.
5. My mindset changed from mild liking for k8s to a great love for it. I hold the book and the authors responsible for this transformation.
6. More motivation to read the book:
"... A developer has to be fluent in a modern programming language to implement the business functionality, and equally fluent in cloud-native technologies to address the non functional requirements." Pg. 237

If you are serious about building cloud-native, hybrid-izable, scalable, and distributed apps then you need to pay attention to the crown-jewel of container orchestration technologies. Make kubectl your ally.
Profile Image for Jakub.
270 reviews
December 12, 2019
Patterns felt like they were forced to be fitted into Kubernetes or to be exact, force to be extracted from the Kubernetes.

"Patterns" in the book are not really patters, but a way to structure Kubernetes book in a different way.

The pattern is something re-usable, guidance not a set to resources that are "creating a pattern".

This is more like a cookbook: you need scaling? use HPA or VPA.

If you are fluent in Kubernetes or at least you passed CKAD or some basic tutorials, this book is not for you. I would say it might be useful for managers who would like to see what they can do with Kubernetes, but then... they can just read TOC.

Three stars: things that Authors write in the book are important and they are providing a way to solve a given problem, hence 3 stars.
Profile Image for Alexandros.
1 review1 follower
May 10, 2020
If you’re an application developer looking for an entry-mid level book on Kubernetes, this book is for you. A well-structured view with practical examples of what Kubernetes brings as the defacto platform for running services. Apart from learning how basic concepts like the pod, deployment, and service work, the book tries to take you to the next level and teach you how to design and develop cloud-native apps. Great read.
32 reviews
April 19, 2022
Great book on Kubernetes. Will definitely use this when implementing best-practices for Kubernetes. Both in a professional and personal setting.
Profile Image for Saran Sivashanmugam.
34 reviews5 followers
January 26, 2020
A must-read if you're planning to run or already running Kubernetes. The patterns are applicable to both Kubernetes operators and platform developers. Many of the patterns describe can be applied to the real world. Save your time by having this book as a reference at your desk, instead of searching through tonnes of internet articles or listening to many conference talks. Bilgin and Roland have written from their real-world experiences of implementing the cloud-native platform for enterprise customers. Some previous understanding of Kubernetes working is important before reading this.
Profile Image for Babak Ghadiri.
34 reviews9 followers
May 16, 2020
در مؤخره کتابش این دو جمله جالبه:
We truly believe kubernetes and the concepts originating from it will be as fundamental as object-oriented programming concepts are. This book is our attempt to create the Gang of Four Design Patterns but for container orchestration.
Profile Image for Yifan Yang.
45 reviews7 followers
October 18, 2023
As a coder diving into Kubernetes, this book was quite an eye-opener for me. It doesn't just list off what K8S can do; it shows you how to do it through a set of practical examples or "patterns." To be fair, some of these so-called "patterns" are really just straightforward uses of K8S features, but that's not a knock on the book. It goes a step further than most intro texts by framing these features in a way that helps you think like a DevOps or a platform engineer.

The book isn't overly verbose, which I appreciate. It gets straight to the point, quickly highlighting the capabilities and best practices of K8S. Sure, the tech landscape changes rapidly, and some parts of the book may be outdated in a year or two. But the core insights will still serve as a useful jumping-off point for diving into the official docs when you need to.

In a nutshell, if you're a developer still getting the hang of K8S or an ops person with some experience under your belt, this book offers a great mix of theory and practical tips. It's a valuable resource that I'll likely refer back to as I continue to work with Kubernetes.
150 reviews3 followers
December 21, 2019
The book intends to be like the Gang-of-four but for Kubernetes. I think the book is quite interesting and I've learned a lot. But I think it fails in its objective. From my perspective, the GoF is a set of patterns that are not really tied to an implementation. In my opinion, this book often seems to come with the implementation first AND THEN, it formulates a pattern that sometimes fit as a pattern and sometimes it is just an excuse to mention something. To me, a good hint of that is that it has little to no reference to the 12 factors which are key to Cloud Native.
But it also has really good examples. The elastic scale pattern is some of those.
Anyway, if you forget the title and the aim, and you focus on "a book on Kubernetes", I perceived it is a really interesting book. It gives a new spin to others (Kubernetes Up and running second edition is another very interesting book on the topic, and they are complimentary)
1 review1 follower
November 28, 2019
O livro entrega o prometido no prefácio de Brendan Burns, cofundador do Kubernetes: ir além do quê são os componentes a nossa disposição chegando ao por quê e como construir sistemas com esses componentes.

Bora ajudar os autores a cumprir um desejo ambicioso, que só a comunidade tem o poder de fazer:

"This book is our attempt to create the
Gang of Four Design Patterns but for container orchestration."
Profile Image for Madhukara.
Author 6 books5 followers
July 30, 2020
A really good book to understand Kubernetes concepts in step by step manner. Kubernetes comes with quite a lot of concepts. This book provides a good conceptual way to categorize those concepts like design patterns. These patterns help to build different aspects of cloud-native applications. Even if you know the Kubernetes, this book is worth reading.

Get it for free from RedHat site

https://www.redhat.com/cms/managed-fi...

Profile Image for Damian Zydek.
43 reviews4 followers
October 3, 2020
Not what I expected.

Quote from the book: "This book is our attempt to create the Gang of Four Design Patterns but for container orchestration."

For me, most of the patterns are too tight-coupled to Kubernetes features. Doing that with GoF Design Patterns would end up with the "Java Patterns" book.

I think there is still a place for the unwritten book "Container Orchestration Patterns" ;)
Profile Image for Ibrahim.
6 reviews
August 10, 2021
I have an overview understanding of Kubernetes with a little experience before I read this book. Now, I can get the motivation for each Kubernetes capability ( the pattern or the problem which Kubernetes try to solve )

I highly recommend it for reading but you need first to have some prior Kubernetes knowledge
Profile Image for Paul.
81 reviews3 followers
May 25, 2023
A brief introduction to different design approaches in Kubernetes environments that may be useful for architects or developers needed to make architectural decisions. Anyway, this book works best for the people with low Kubernetes experience. It should be quite obvious for the most of qualified SREs
Profile Image for Avraam Mavridis.
133 reviews23 followers
January 7, 2021
Solid but not exceptional. Some of the things mentioned as patterns I wouldn't really consider them "patterns" but basic building blocks or features of K8s (like health probes), some others were kinda too specific to the OpenShift distribution of K8s (like building image inside the cluster).
Profile Image for Chih-Chieh.
36 reviews1 follower
April 18, 2021
This is a great book for developers and system administrators that want deeper understanding of Kubernetes. Some of the content overlaps with Kubernetes online document but it is presented in a more organized way.
Profile Image for Tom.
41 reviews1 follower
October 31, 2020
Good overview for people who want to get started with Kubernetes. Although I've used it for years, it still thought me a few things as well.
Profile Image for A.
24 reviews
December 11, 2020
Great resource to get up to speed w/ k8s
29 reviews1 follower
August 7, 2023
If you are in devops and use kubes this book is a must read
Profile Image for Michael Milawski.
12 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2024
a book showing various problems and solutions with kubernetes. For example you see what an Ambassador pattern is and what it can solve. And many more.
Profile Image for Max Wolffe.
231 reviews14 followers
January 20, 2021
Good. I found it well written and it used an information layout which I generally like: "Here's the problem we're trying to solve; here's how it's solved you might solve it in Kubernetes / how it is solved in Kubernetes". The material isn't suitable for someone who is an absolute beginner, but isn't overly complex. Material is broken into sections which are right to the point ("Operator Pattern", "Controller Pattern", "Sidecar", "Adapter"). I felt like I understand some of the design decisions in Kubernetes better than I did before and definitely have a stronger grasp of ideas like Controllers and Operators.

The one thing which irked me is that some of the patterns feel more like descriptions of Kubernetes features than guides on how to structure solutions / applications (e.g. "PeriodicJobs" - CronJobs) and I'm not sure I got more than what I'd gotten from the docs.

13 reviews
October 12, 2023
A very nice read. I really enjoyed the approach of explain exciting based on the problems they solve, rather than just listing what can be done.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews

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