Earlier this year, we showed how one can use Rancher to orchestrate Docker containers on a cluster. We even had a small piece where we highlighted Rancher versus Portainer and Shipyard. Rancher has one of, if not the best, orchestration platforms for containers. With Rancher 2.0 Tech Preview, the company did something amazing. The company rebuilt Rancher on Kubernetes.
Rebuilding Rancher 2.0 on Kubernetes
Rebuilding Rancher 2.0 on Kubernetes is no small feat and comes with it provides a few intriguing data points. The move has two key implications. First, for those looking to get their feet wet in Kubernetes, Rancher has a very nice GUI and an emphasis on ease of deployment and management. Second, and more importantly, this is one of the signs that Kubernetes is about to win. At STH, we liked Docker Swarm for its out-of-the-box ease of implementation, but Kubernetes is seen as the higher scaling solution. Kubernetes had been much harder to implement but as those barriers have eroded, it is gaining mindshare at an increasingly rapid pace.
Rancher Labs built Rancher as a platform that could handle many types of orchestration and many deployment scenarios. This latest move by Rancher Labs we see as a clear signal that Kubernetes is on the verge of complete domination. Just before technologies become dominant, you see vendors supporting a basket of technologies finally take a leap, and that is what we are seeing here.
If you want to check out our video on Rancher (1.x) v. Portainer v. Shipyard GUIs, we have a short video posted on YouTube:
At the end of our evaluation of the three, we used Portainer as a management GUI for single hosts but deployed Rancher in the STH lab to manage containers. Count STH as a Rancher fan since we use it daily. We plan to update this in the next quarter with Rancher 2.0 and newer Portainer versions.
If you want to get started with Rancher 2.0 Tech Preview, check out the Rancher Labs site here.
