What is an Application Management Platform?

Production-Ready Platforms

The right management platform is going to have all features ready to start and deploy your application. This will include security, automation, scalability, high availability and self-healing. Kubernetes often doesn’t include features that fully cover these areas in the way you need them for a reliable and secure app.

You need a production-ready platform, and most will claim that they offer it. Part of the process is going to be sifting through weeds from flowers. By asking the right questions about what their tool will cover, you can start to narrow down the right choices for your company. You don’t want to strain your resources or budget by needing to make up for what a platform doesn’t include.

Infrastructure and Scaling

Kubernetes doesn’t provide infrastructure provisions by default. New nodes aren’t created if an old node crashes, unless the platform has already established this in their own tool. Kubernetes will simply reorganize pods, automating their shift to available nodes and if the resources are running low, Kubernetes won’t be able to make up for that crashed node. With a vendor tool, you want to find this feature that helps support adjustments and provisions on the node level.

Whether you are small or enterprise, you want a platform that is going to adapt to your application needs and resources. You want something that is efficient while being cost-effective. An unnecessarily big app infrastructure can be clunky and overly complicated. But an infrastructure that constricts your application is problematic as well. The right vendor is going to have a lot of experience with scaling and their platform is going to adjust to whatever your needs are for your specific application. Every app will have different requirements and need a platform that is going to meet those requirements without excess or falling short.

Self-Healing and Automated

Most platforms are going to promise the feature of self-healing, but there are layers involved. Infrastructure, clusters and pods all need that self-healing and Kubernetes only ensures pods are given this vital ability. Choose a vendor that is implementing self-healing on all levels.

The right vendor is going to have most of the key aspects ready for automation. The value of Kubernetes largely lies in being able to automate the busywork of your application. You need a management platform that is going to help you automate your scaling, healing, creation, garbage control and other aspects of your application. You need a structure in place that is going to help you scale resources in an automatic, but reliable way.

Adapting and Insightful

You need an active vendor that is part of the cutting edge solution. With the current dash for technology change, there is a rat race in the approach to developments and inclusions. You need a vendor that is going to be on top of these changes because your own needs will likely shift too. Future readiness is a vague term, but a key part of finding a vendor that will meet your demands as you pivot with the market.

Some of the important aspects of being adaptable will lay in how they approach the open-source aspect of the project. You don’t want to choose an opinionated vendor that locks you into a direction. The value of Kubernetes in the first place is the flexibility and rapid change to whatever the market demands. As vendors try to slot themselves into different directions, they face the reality that the market may later move away from their chosen refuge. Instead, choose a vendor that will be as open-source and adaptable as Kubernetes allows.

Configuring and Control

You are choosing a vendor for a management platform so that you don’t have to do the configuring on your own. However, you don’t want to give up full control. There is no way a vendor can accurately configure for all scenarios and nail the default settings. While you want that pre-configured benefit from your vendor, you need the ability to override the parameters as you go.

Clarity and Usability

Choosing a platform that is user-friendly is key here. It is going to be hard to use the tools well if the platform is complicated. If you are new to Kubernetes, selecting a user-friendly interface is especially important. The right user interface (UI) is going to simplify the building process as much as possible and remove a lot of beginner errors that lead to faulty clusters and freezing.

Kubernetes automates a lot of raw data that you need to decode in order to understand what’s going on with your application. When issues arise, alerts are sent out. Catching those issues quickly and intervening with a solution is key to preventing disaster within your application. A good vendor is going to provide easy-to-decipher monitoring messages and alerts to decode what Kubernetes is reporting.

Activity and Support

Of course, it will also come down to just how active your vendor is. Eventually, things will go wrong or issues will arise. When you need support, you do not want to find out that your vendor isn’t very good at it. Many vendors will offer 24/7 support and even training. As much as you might need answers in a pinch, preventing errors with solid Kubernetes training can go a long way in preventing major issues from occurring.

An inactive vendor isn’t going to be very on-board with what is happening in the dynamic Kubernetes scene. You need to choose a company that continues to build and keep up with the changes of application creation, container architecture, security and other key issues. Your vendor might be as active as can be, but if they aren’t knowledgeable, you are stuck without any real help. On the flip side, your vendor could be highly knowledgeable and active within the Kubernetes world, but slow to respond to support requests and you are still stuck without any real help.

Finding the Right Kubernetes Development Company

It is vital that you find a company to help you navigate the waters of Kubernetes. A development service is going to provide you with an expert on cloud-native applications and architecture. We offer a lot of knowledge and actively work with our clients to improve their experience with Kubernetes. We can help you take full advantage of the benefits that Kubernetes has available, without all the confusion and struggle to get started.

With Prolific, you get the end-to-end services you need for the full development of your app. We can help you create an application that is reliable, scalable, dynamic, automated and always up-to-date.

We understand how important this cutting edge technology is to your company. And we know just how big of a deal it is to dip your toes into the water of creating an app that represents your company. You want it to be right and you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. We offer:

Clear direction and support: With our help, your path towards success is visible. You don’t need to worry about what tools you should use or platforms you should turn to. We will support you every step of the way and use our expertise to help guide your decisions.

Fixed pricing and clear costs: We aren’t going to pull the rug from under your feet. We will help you set a budget and then stick to it. Our pricing is clear from the start and our deadlines won’t have you guessing. We want to provide stability for a process that could have a lot of variables.

No catches or strings: You aren’t going to get roped into a direction or stuck in our service. We believe that the best way to build clients is by supporting them and offering exactly what they need. We have no interest in tricking clients into feeling stuck with us.

Innovative design: If you are new to Kubernetes (or even if you aren’t), then you may not be fully aware of everything you can do with it. We offer expert opinions that can help you design an application worthy of your company. We can help you with creative ideas to solve specific problems you face for your company or clients.

Testing and deploying: Getting the application off the ground can be a challenge. Sometimes there are stalling and error issues that you will need to navigate. We can help you get moving with a faster deployment of your application. We can help you make sure it is scaling and adapting in the way it should be to work reliably across multiple clouds and on various devices.

Support disaster recovery: We can help you backup your key data and application to safeguard it against anything that could threaten it. Any major breach could spell a huge disaster for your company in lost data, damaged resources or compromised information. So, we always plan for the worst and look for the best! With our cloud architecture services, we provide optimized disaster recovery solutions and help you prepare for worst-case scenarios.

Resources and learning: Maybe you’ve already caught this from our in-depth guide to Kubernetes, but we are committed to supporting your growth and development. We offer plenty of free resources to help guide your Kubernetes journey. We offer workshops and events too. We won’t take your project and run with it—we will be here to help you understand it and manage it.