SUSE integrates Harvester into SUSE Rancher. Rancher includes a platform for provisioning, deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters. Harvester’s integration enables organizations to manage virtual machines in the same environment as Kubernetes clusters.
Harvester belongs to a new generation of hyperconverged infrastructure solutions. If we spoke of such an infrastructure fifteen years ago, virtualization was the basis. Today, Kubernetes clusters play a growing role. Applications are developed as microservices, packaged in containers and directed with Kubernetes.
Kubernetes is open source and organizations are developing several variants of the base. AWS EKS, Microsoft AKS, and Google’s GKE are three popular examples.
The goal of each variant is the same: a platform for deploying, scaling and managing containerized applications in an infrastructure of your choice. Some variants, including the aforementioned EKS, AKS, and GKE, take care of the hosting of Kubernetes. Employing organizations do not need to set up the platform on-premises or in the cloud. The cloud provider does that, resulting in uptime.
Once Kubernetes is up and running, the actual use remains. The original distribution of Kubernetes is accessible with an API and command-line tool. Often the complex remote control returns in third-party distributions. This creates a market of software to simplify the use of Kubernetes.
SUSE Rancher
SUSE is one of the organizations that successfully serves the new market. In 2020, the organization acquired Rancher Labs. Rancher Labs develops Rancher, an interface for using every major distribution of Kubernetes. Developing, deploying and managing clusters simply becomes easier. AWS, Google and Azure recognize this – they all offer integrations with Rancher.
Now SUSE is announcing the integration of Harvester into SUSE Rancher. Harvester is a side project of Rancher Labs. While SUSE Rancher focuses entirely on managing Kubernetes, Harvester serves as an interface to manage both virtual machines and Kubernetes clusters in a central environment.
The proposition is not unique. Nutanix and VMware (vSphere) have been doing it for years. Harvester, on the other hand, is open source. By integrating the solution into Rancher, SUSE increases Rancher’s appeal to organizations that rely on both containers and virtual machines.
An important move, because although Kubernetes has the future, the world is not tacking from day to night. Virtual machines remain the beating heart of various organizations. The importance of Kubernetes increases, but does not replace anything for the time being.
