What is Rancher?
Rancher is an open-source container management platform that simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications. It provides tools for managing multiple Kubernetes (K8s) clusters across different environments, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. Rancher offers features such as centralized authentication, monitoring, and deployment pipelines, making it easier for organizations to adopt and manage containerized infrastructure efficiently.
Rancher is an open-source container management platform that simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications. It provides tools for managing multiple Kubernetes (K8s) clusters across different environments,
including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. Rancher offers features such as centralized authentication, monitoring, and deployment pipelines, making it easier for organizations to adopt and manage containerized infrastructure efficiently.
It abstracts away much of the complexity involved in deploying and managing containerized applications, allowing teams to focus on building and scaling their applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
Who owns and develops Rancher? What support options are available for Rancher?
Rancher Labs developed and maintained Rancher. In 2020, Rancher became part of SUSE. SUSE offers paid for enterprise level support contracts for Rancher, but use of the product remains free of charge and there are no paid for additional features. Support options are detailed on the Rancher support web pages, see: Rancher Support FAQ | Support | SUSE.
Rancher vs Kubernetes? What is the difference between Rancher and Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is a container orchestration technology whilst Rancher is a technology for managing Kubernetes clusters. Rancher adds an additional layer of abstraction and management on top of Kubernetes, making it easier for organizations to adopt and operate Kubernetes clusters.
How does Rancher work? A practical example of using Rancher to manage a Kubernetes environment.
Let’s walk through a practical step-by-step example of how Rancher works. Consider the scenario whereby you want to deploy and then manage a web application using Kubernetes managed by Rancher.
Installation and Setup: You start by installing Rancher on a server or a cluster of servers. This can be done by downloading the Rancher server image and running it in a container or using Rancher's installation scripts.
Once installed, you access the Rancher web interface through a browser.
Cluster Provisioning: In the Rancher web interface, you create a new Kubernetes cluster. This involves specifying details like the number of nodes, the cloud provider (if applicable), and any other configurations needed.
Rancher uses its orchestration capabilities to provision the required infrastructure for the Kubernetes cluster, such as virtual machines or cloud instances.
Cluster Management: After the cluster is provisioned, Rancher provides you with a dashboard to manage the cluster. You can view the status of nodes, monitor resource usage, and access logs and metrics.
You can also manage cluster settings, such as configuring networking, security policies, and storage options, all through the Rancher interface.
Application Deployment: Next, you deploy your web application to the Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher. This typically involves creating Kubernetes manifests or Helm charts that describe the application's deployment, services, and any other resources it requires.
You can either upload these manifests directly to Rancher or use Rancher's built-in catalog of applications to deploy common services like databases or monitoring tools.
Scaling and Updates: Rancher makes it easy to scale your application by adjusting the number of replicas or making other changes to the deployment configuration.
When updates or patches are available for your application or Kubernetes itself, Rancher provides tools for rolling out these updates safely and efficiently, ensuring minimal downtime.
Monitoring and Logging: Rancher integrates with various monitoring and logging solutions, allowing you to monitor the health and performance of your applications and infrastructure.
If your monitoring tools do not provide alerting out of the box, you should set up alerts and notifications to be notified of any issues or anomalies in real-time.
- Maintenance and Troubleshooting: Rancher simplifies maintenance tasks such as node upgrades, backups, and disaster recovery.
If any issues arise, Rancher provides troubleshooting tools and documentation to help you diagnose and resolve them quickly.
Rancher vs OpenShift vs Tanzu? What alternatives to Rancher are available for Kubernetes?
Many organizations choose Rancher owing to its extremely user-friendly and easy-to-use interface, its strong support for Docker containers and its very strong Helm integration.
Most organizations will find that managing plain, vanilla Kubernetes is extremely hard work, and many will choose a platform such as Rancher rather than attempt to build their own tools. Other popular options for managing Kubernetes are available, including VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift. Many articles exist comparing alternatives, for example:
Some of course will opt for managed Kubernetes services, often provided by hyperscale cloud providers such as Amazon (EKS) or Azure (AKS).
What is Helm?
Helm is a popular way to find, share, and use software built for Kubernetes. Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that includes all the necessary code and resources needed to deploy an application to a cluster. Helm uses a packaging format called "charts," charts contain all the Kubernetes resources needed to run an application, along with customizable templates and configuration files. For more details, see: Helm.
