Why LKE

In this article, we’ll answer two key questions to help you build and scale containerized applications:

1. What problems does Kubernetes solve?
2. How does Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) make Kubernetes even easier?

What Is Kubernetes and Why Use It?

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform designed to automate deployment, scaling, and management of containerized workloads. If you’re running a multi-VM web application and need high availability, Kubernetes lets you:

• Define your application as containers grouped into Pods
• Distribute Pods across a cluster of nodes
• Automatically scale based on desired replica count
• Self-heal by replacing or restarting unhealthy Pods

Example: Scaling with a Deployment

Below is a simple Deployment manifest that runs five replicas of a web application. Kubernetes handles scheduling, health checks, and rescheduling automatically:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: web-app
spec:
  replicas: 5
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: web-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: web-app
        image: my-web-app:latest
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

You can also scale on the fly:

kubectl scale deployment/web-app --replicas=10

Why Choose Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE)?

Deploying “upstream” Kubernetes means you’re responsible for every control-plane component:

• API server, Controller Manager, Scheduler
• etcd datastore
• Networking (kube-proxy, CNI plugins)
• Certificate management and RBAC
• Upgrades, backups, and security patches

Maintaining these at scale demands time and expertise. Linode Kubernetes Engine abstracts away the operational overhead so you can focus on your applications:

Key Benefits of LKE

• Managed Control Plane: API server, etcd, Controller Manager, and Scheduler—all maintained by Linode.
• Automated Upgrades: One-click cluster upgrades keep you on the latest stable release.
• Integrated Add-Ons: Built-in logging, monitoring, and autoscaling.
• Simplified Networking & Storage: Linode’s CNI and Block Storage integrates seamlessly.

Next Steps

In the following lesson, we’ll walk through:

1. Creating your first LKE cluster
2. Configuring kubectl access
3. Deploying a sample application

Stay tuned for a hands-on tutorial that takes you from zero to running workloads on Linode Kubernetes Engine!

References

• Kubernetes Basics
• Linode Kubernetes Engine Overview
• kubectl Cheat Sheet