Kubernetes has quickly gained enterprise-wide adoption, becoming the standard technique for deploying and managing cloud applications in less than five years. One of Kubernetes’ key strengths is its capacity to match computing resources with the demands of services in the prevailing infrastructure paradigm. But how does this tool function when dealing with the blockchain, a brand-new infrastructural layer? Can the two technologies coexist alongside one another? If so, would deploying blockchain networks using Kubernetes actually hasten adoption, or will this only serve to wow investors and shareholders with technical speak?
Due to three factors, Kubernetes clusters will be the foundation for blockchain networks’ adoption in both the public and private sectors.
(1) Simpler Deployments
(2) Interoperability
(3) Upgradeability
We will take a deep dive into these factors later on.
Kubernetes as a tool:
A portable, adaptable, open-source platform, Kubernetes allows for declarative setup and automation of containerized workloads and services. Its ecology is vast and expanding quickly. The tools, services, and support for K8 are widely accessible.
The management environment offered by Kubernetes is focused on containers. The processing, networking, and storage infrastructure are coordinated in support of the user workloads. The convenience of Platform as a Service (PaaS) and the flexibility of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) enables mobility between infrastructure providers.
Kubernetes Architecture Diagram
The Blockchain:
A decentralized, unchangeable, and open database is essentially what the blockchain is. Due to the peer-to-peer network architecture of blockchain technology, transaction data is not under the control of a single centralized organization. All participants in the blockchain network have trustworthy public access to all transactions stored in a chain of blocks.
Blockchain ensures that connected blocks are resistant to changes and alterations by using consensus procedures and cryptography.
How can Blockchain applications utilize Kubernetes?
Blockchain is beginning to be adopted by businesses due to its many applications, like transferring cryptocurrency, information, agro blockchain, or purchasing and selling NFTs. Due to its streamlined pod, container deployments and, Kubernetes (or K8s) can assist enterprises in implementing blockchain.
Being cloud independent in business operations enables all parties participating in a service or product to access the same data stored on a blockchain without disclosing confidential and internal information. Kubernetes can configure, install, and maintain a company’s private blockchain with less manual labor while still providing the necessary components to keep the network secure, scalable, and fail-safe because of its distributed performance and pod deployments.
Although Kubernetes aids in the deployment of blockchains, a few configurations must be made by developers manually. These include choosing a protocol image and additional components, creating YAML manifests and Helm charts, and using Helm-install to test the Blockchain technology in Kubernetes clusters before it is made available to the general public.
Kubernetes clusters are being adopted by many companies in the blockchain space due to the following factors:
Simpler Deployments:
The deployment and management of the network itself must be easy to use in order to create blockchain applications.
You must choose from a bewildering amount of options while creating a straightforward dApp on the Ethereum network: Will your main coding language be Solidity or Vyper? What development framework should you use—Truffle Suite or OpenZeppelin SDK? The sheer number of developer tools is enough to put both newbies and seasoned programmers off.
With Kubernetes, It will be simple to deploy blockchains by selecting a protocol image and the required component images, creating YAML manifests and doing so using helm install.
Interoperability:
Applications running in Kubernetes clusters are compatible with all forms of infrastructure, allowing service interoperability between enterprises with various architectural styles. The same application can be dispersed and hosted by various cloud providers.
Blockchain applications are no different in this regard. Through their respective Kubernetes engines, IBM Cloud and AWS already offer comprehensive templates for creating blockchain networks.
Upgradeability:
Helm charts offer a more subtle benefit of blockchains on Kubernetes. Organizations have the option to swiftly launch new networks with updated functionality, upgrade network artifacts, and backup/restore a network’s whole state by architecting networks using Helm charts.
Use Cases
Docker:
By utilizing Docker, each blockchain node is guaranteed to be operational and running without requiring individual virtual machines to be configured. The Docker Hub offers Hyperledger, Ethereum, and Quorum images as starting points for swiftly and securely setting up the blockchain network.
Using Docker to set up a blockchain network allows for quicker software delivery and release, saving time, effort, and money.
Microsoft and Helm:
Helm is a package manager that enables you to discover, share, and use applications created for Kubernetes. The Kubernetes package management’s Helm charts, offer a higher-level construct that enables users to create, upgrade, and roll back entire applications without managing each Kubernetes resource separately (services, deployments, etc.)
Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) gives users the ability to customize virtual machines and the number of nodes to use Hyperledger Fabric to make blockchains fail-safe, just like any other Kubernetes Managed services.
IBM Cloud:
Businesses may deploy the development, testing, and production environments however they see fit using the IBM Blockchain Platform, which speeds up the release cycle for new blockchain technologies.
By controlling all blockchain nodes from a single dashboard and streamlining the deployment process, IBM’s Blockchain Platform enables businesses to deploy their blockchains in any cloud ecosystem, whether it be on IBM’s clouds or with another cloud service provider.
Additionally, using IBM Cloud Kubernetes Services and its current administrative technology enables developers to easily grow the ecosystems employed in a Blockchain.
Here is the guide to installing Blockchain on Kubernetes
Final Thoughts:
Even if blockchain is becoming more and more relevant every day, it has a long way to go before it is widely adopted. Its considerable complexity and integration with the current infrastructure architecture that enterprises utilize today will be one of the barriers to adoption. By using Kubernetes clusters to deploy blockchain networks and their individual components, these difficulties may be largely abstracted. But when examining significant infrastructure firms and case studies, the overall opinion points to Blockchain on Kubernetes as the preferred method for adoption.
Organizations can establish the following roles in order to successfully utilize Kubernetes in a blockchain service:
1. Kubernetes-based cloud administrator: provides and keeps an eye on the blockchain’s architecture.
2. Blockchain Administrator: uses Hyperledger Fabric to manage the blockchain platform.
3. Blockchain developer: creates the apps that are used in a blockchain.
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