Working with Self-Managed Nodes and Managing Kubernetes Deployments

In this episode, hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham speak with senior OCI instructor Mahendra Mehra about the capabilities of self-managed nodes in Kubernetes, including how they offer complete control over worker nodes in your OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes environment. They also explore the various options that are available to effectively manage your Kubernetes deployments. OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes Specialist: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/oci-container-engine-for-kubernetes-specialist/134971/210836 Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00:00

Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let’s get started!

00:26

Nikita: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs.

Lois: Hi everyone! Last week, we discussed how OKE virtual nodes can offer you a complete serverless Kubernetes experience.

Nikita: Yeah, and in today’s episode, we’ll focus on self-managed nodes, where you get complete control over the worker nodes within your OKE environment. We’ll also talk about how you can manage your Kubernetes deployments.

00:57

Lois: To tell us more about this, we have Mahendra Mehra, a senior OCI instructor with Oracle University. Hi Mahendra! Welcome back! Let’s get started with self-managed nodes. Can you tell us what they are?

Mahendra: In Container Engine for Kubernetes, a self-managed node is essentially a worker node that you personally create and host on a compute instance or instance pool within the compute service.

Unlike managed nodes or virtual nodes, self-managed nodes are not grouped into node pools by default. They are often referred to as Bring Your Own Nodes, also abbreviated as BYON. If you wish to streamline administration and manage multiple self-managed nodes collectively, you can utilize the compute service to create a compute instance pool for hosting these nodes. This allows for greater flexibility and customization in your Kubernetes environment.

01:58

Nikita: Mahendra, what are some practical usage scenarios for OKE self-managed nodes?

Mahendra: These nodes offer a range of advantages for specific use cases. Firstly, for specialized workloads, leveraging the compute service allows you to configure compute instances with shapes and image combination that may not be available for managed nodes or virtual nodes.

This includes options like GPU shapes for hardware accelerated workloads or high frequency processor cores for demanding high-performance computing tasks. Secondly, if you require complete control over your compute instance configuration, self-managed nodes are the ideal choice. This gives you the flexibility to tailor each node to your specific requirements.

Additionally, self-managed nodes are particularly well suited for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure cluster networks. These nodes provide high bandwidth, low latency RDMA connectivity, making them a preferred option for certain networking setups.

Lastly, the use of compute instance pools with self-managed nodes enables the creation of infrastructure for handling complex distributed computing tasks. This can greatly enhance the efficiency of your Kubernetes environment. Consider these points carefully to determine the optimal use of OKE self-managed nodes in your deployments.

03:30

Lois: What do we need to consider before creating a self-managed node and integrating it into a cluster?

Mahendra: There are two crucial aspects to address. Firstly, you need to confirm that the cluster to which you plan to add a self-managed node is configured appropriately.

Secondly, it's essential to choose the right image for the compute instance hosting the self-managed node.

03:53

Nikita: Can you dive a little deeper into these prerequisites?

Mahendra: To su...