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IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service

Overview

What is IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service?

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is a managed Kubernetes offering, delivering user tools and built-in security for rapid delivery of applications that users can bind to cloud services related to IBM Watson®, IoT, DevOps and data analytics. As a certified K8s…

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Recent Reviews

Excellent service

10 out of 10
January 15, 2023
Incentivized
In my organization, we use IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service to manage and deploy our microservices-based application. It allows us to easily …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 9 features
  • Container Orchestration (14)
    8.2
    82%
  • Cluster Management (14)
    7.7
    77%
  • Security and Isolation (14)
    7.5
    75%
  • Storage Management (14)
    7.5
    75%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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What is IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service?

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is a managed Kubernetes offering, delivering user tools and built-in security for rapid delivery of applications that users can bind to cloud services related to IBM Watson®, IoT, DevOps and data analytics. As a certified K8s provider, IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://cloud.ibm.com/kubernetes/catalo…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Features

Container Management

Features commonly found in Container Management software.

7.5
Avg 7.8
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Product Details

What is IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service?

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is a managed Kubernetes offering, delivering user tools and built-in security for rapid delivery of applications that users can bind to cloud services related to IBM Watson®, IoT, DevOps and data analytics. As a certified K8s provider, IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service provides intelligent scheduling, self-healing, horizontal scaling, service discovery and load balancing, automated rollouts and rollbacks, and secret and configuration management. The Kubernetes service also has advanced capabilities around simplified cluster management, container security and isolation policies, the ability for users to design their own cluster, and integrated operational tools for consistency in deployment.

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported Countrieshttps://console.bluemix.net/docs/containers/cs_regions.html#regions-and-zones
Supported LanguagesA managed Kubernetes offering to deliver powerful tools, an intuitive user experience and built-in security for rapid delivery of applications that you can bind to cloud services related to IBM Watson®, IoT, DevOps and data analytics. As a certified K8s provider, IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service provides intelligent scheduling, self-healing, horizontal scaling, service discovery and load balancing, automated rollouts and rollbacks, and secret and configuration management. The Kubernetes service also has advanced capabilities around simplified cluster management, container security and isolation policies, the ability to design your own cluster, and integrated operational tools for consistency in deployment. Visit our Docs pages for pricing and support information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Google Kubernetes Engine, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) are common alternatives for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service.

Reviewers rate Container Orchestration highest, with a score of 8.2.

The most common users of IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)0%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)50%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)50%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(318)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-1 of 1)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is part of our testing environment for multi-cloud projects. By using ISTIO mesh to span to multiple Kubernetes clusters across multiple cloud providers, we can test the HA capabilities of the deployments and offer high HA solutions to our customers.
Also, by integrating IBM CKS to Google Cloud using Google Anthos GKE Connect, we can manage all our deployments in one place. IBM CKS offers one of the most powerful Kubernetes services: stable, powerful, easy to use and HIGH availability.
  • Easy to use and configure
  • ISTIO and KNATIVE installation by just clicking one button.
  • Use of CONTAINERD (CRI-O)
  • Choose the OS of the nodes
Well suited:
  • DEV / QA / SIT deployments: You can use IBMCKS for DEV / QA or SIT environments. Since IBM CKS is a managed service, you can let the deveolping team to be in charge of the infraestructure.
  • Multicloud deployments: Working with ISTIO mesh works perfect on IBM CKS.
  • Network intensive deployments: IBM's network is quite powerfull.
  • Docker containers
Less appropriate:
  • Production Workloads: Is never a good idea to use K8s for production if you don't have a team that fully understands how to operate K8s. K8s is one of the hardest techonologies to use due it's complexity.
  • Workloads that requieres KERNEL tunning: You can't modify Kernel parameters on Managed K8s like CKS. If you are running a workload like REDIS that needs certain KERNEL parameters to be set, I highly advice you to use K8s Open Source.
  • High performance workloads (GPU): IBM CKS does not offers GPUs on their nodes.
  • No additional training needed: IBM CKS works out of the box.
IBM's CKS GUI is not quite intuitive. In my opinion, it lacks a lot of useful information like performance or letting the users tune ISTIO configuration.
Using third-party services is one of the greatest advantages of IBM's CKS. Other managed K8s do not offer that.
OpenShift is AMAZING and the integration with IBM cloud is unique. OpenShift is more powerful than IBM Kubernetes for production workloads.
3
Testing new products in order to evaluate adding them to the product portfolio.
1
K8s needs very specific knowledge.
  • Testing
  • Google Anthos
  • Deploy K8s clusters in Mexico! AMAZING!
No
  • Product Features
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
Be in touch with a IBM vendor. We just began to use the product like a "normal" user. Maybe the next time I will look for assistance from an IBM vendor that can help us to fully undestand the capabilities of the product.
  • Don't know
No
Change management was minimal
  • Incomplete documentation
  • Basic support
It was not the worst part but it was not the best.
  • Online training
  • no training
IBM's documentation is the WORST. It is very difficult to follow and very poorly designed.
NO, never. K8s is one the most difficult technologies to learn. I mean it!
No
K8s needs certified experts. IBM does not offer or guarantee that each of the Customer Service Agents is well trained. If I pay for Premium support, I need a confirmation from IBM that the agent is AT LEAST certified in K8s (CKA) and is not just a contact center agent that was hired to answer the chat/email.
No
My last interaction was through chat. It was very robotic and repetitive. I'm almost sure that I was chatting with WATSON instead of a human.
The support is quite basic.
  • ISTIO easy install
  • KNATIVE easy install
  • Kernel tunning
  • Automatic autoscaling
The GUI is very simple (in the good way) and easy to use.
IBM's CKS does not offers automatic autoscaling nor vertical scaling (automatic). Other services like Google Kubernetes Engine scales up and down very well.
IBM's cloud is almost infallible.
IBM's cloud has a site in my conuntry (MEXICO) so the network latency was almost 0.
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