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Harbor vs Kubernetes: What are the differences?
Introduction:
Harbor and Kubernetes are both open-source containerization platforms that serve different purposes. Harbor is a container image registry, while Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform. Understanding the key differences between these two technologies is essential for organizations to effectively manage containers and streamline their containerization strategies.
Integration with container runtimes: Harbor primarily focuses on managing container images, whereas Kubernetes is designed to orchestrate containerized applications. Harbor integrates with container runtimes like Docker and containerd to store and distribute container images securely. On the other hand, Kubernetes manages the deployment, scaling, and monitoring of containers across a cluster of nodes, ensuring the availability and efficient utilization of resources.
Functionality: Harbor provides features like image scanning, vulnerability assessment, and access control policies to ensure the security of container images. It allows users to push, pull, and manage images with versioning and replication capabilities. Kubernetes, on the other hand, offers functionalities like automatic scaling, load balancing, service discovery, and rolling updates to ensure high availability and resilience of containerized applications.
Scope of operations: Harbor is a container registry, primarily used for storing and distributing container images within an organization. It serves as a centralized repository where developers can push, pull, and manage container images. Kubernetes, on the other hand, goes beyond just storing container images. It manages the entire lifecycle of containerized applications, handling deployment, scaling, monitoring, and orchestration of containers across a cluster.
Level of abstraction: Harbor operates at a lower level of abstraction compared to Kubernetes. It deals with container images and focuses on image management, security, and access control. Kubernetes, on the other hand, operates at a higher level of abstraction, handling the deployment and management of applications composed of multiple containers. It provides abstractions like pods, services, and deployments to simplify the container management process.
User base and community support: Kubernetes has a larger user base and an extensive open-source community supporting its development and maintenance. It is widely adopted by organizations for their container orchestration needs and enjoys continuous improvements and contributions from the community. Harbor, while also having an active community, has a smaller user base as it serves a specific purpose as a container registry.
Adoptability across platforms: Kubernetes is a platform-agnostic container orchestration platform. It can run on various cloud providers, on-premises data centers, and even edge devices. It provides a consistent and standardized way to manage containers across different environments. Harbor, on the other hand, can be used with Kubernetes as its container registry, making it compatible with Kubernetes deployments, but it is not limited to Kubernetes and can be utilized with other container orchestrators as well.
In summary, Harbor is a container image registry focused on securing and distributing container images, while Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform that manages the deployment, scaling, and monitoring of containerized applications. While Harbor focuses on container images, Kubernetes handles the overall management and orchestration of containers.
Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:
- GitHub (incl. GitHub Pages/Markdown for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
- Respectively Git as revision control system
- SourceTree as Git GUI
- Visual Studio Code as IDE
- CircleCI for continuous integration (automatize development process)
- Prettier / TSLint / ESLint as code linter
- SonarQube as quality gate
- Docker as container management (incl. Docker Compose for multi-container application management)
- VirtualBox for operating system simulation tests
- Kubernetes as cluster management for docker containers
- Heroku for deploying in test environments
- nginx as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
- SSLMate (using OpenSSL) for certificate management
- Amazon EC2 (incl. Amazon S3) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
- PostgreSQL as preferred database system
- Redis as preferred in-memory database/store (great for caching)
The main reason we have chosen Kubernetes over Docker Swarm is related to the following artifacts:
- Key features: Easy and flexible installation, Clear dashboard, Great scaling operations, Monitoring is an integral part, Great load balancing concepts, Monitors the condition and ensures compensation in the event of failure.
- Applications: An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services).
- Functionality: Kubernetes as a complex installation and setup process, but it not as limited as Docker Swarm.
- Monitoring: It supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster (Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK), Heapster/Grafana, Sysdig cloud integration).
- Scalability: All-in-one framework for distributed systems.
- Other Benefits: Kubernetes is backed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), huge community among container orchestration tools, it is an open source and modular tool that works with any OS.
Pros of Harbor
- Good on-premises container registry4
- Container Replication1
- Nice UI1
- Vulnerability Scanner1
- Supports LDAP/Active Directory1
- Supports OIDC1
- Support multiple authentication methods1
- Perfect for Teams and Organizations1
Pros of Kubernetes
- Leading docker container management solution164
- Simple and powerful128
- Open source106
- Backed by google76
- The right abstractions58
- Scale services25
- Replication controller20
- Permission managment11
- Supports autoscaling9
- Cheap8
- Simple8
- Self-healing6
- No cloud platform lock-in5
- Promotes modern/good infrascture practice5
- Open, powerful, stable5
- Reliable5
- Scalable4
- Quick cloud setup4
- Cloud Agnostic3
- Captain of Container Ship3
- A self healing environment with rich metadata3
- Runs on azure3
- Backed by Red Hat3
- Custom and extensibility3
- Sfg2
- Gke2
- Everything of CaaS2
- Golang2
- Easy setup2
- Expandable2
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Cons of Harbor
Cons of Kubernetes
- Steep learning curve16
- Poor workflow for development15
- Orchestrates only infrastructure8
- High resource requirements for on-prem clusters4
- Too heavy for simple systems2
- Additional vendor lock-in (Docker)1
- More moving parts to secure1
- Additional Technology Overhead1