Creating a Kubernetes cluster is not trivial. We have to make many choices, and we can easily get lost in the myriad of options. The number of permutations is getting close to infinite and, yet, our clusters need to be configured consistently.

Cluster Setup

Let’s compare Docker Swarm and Kubernetes for setting up a cluster.

Docker Swarm

Unlike Docker Swarm that packs almost everything into a single binary, Kubernetes clusters require quite a few separate components running across the nodes. Setting them up can be very easy, or it can become a challenge. It all depends on the choices we make initially. One of the first things we need to do is choose a tool that we’ll use to create a Kubernetes cluster.

If we’d decide to install a Docker Swarm cluster, all we’d need to do is to install Docker engine on all the servers, and execute docker swarm init or docker swarm join command on each of the nodes. That’s it. Docker packs everything into a single binary. Docker Swarm setup process is as simple as it can get.