Keeping up-to-date with Kubernetes
5 min read
Keeping up-to-date with Kubernetes
Kubernetes development and adoption continues to grow at a rapid pace, and keeping current can be difficult without the right process and tools. For example, IBM Cloud Container Service launched with support for Kubernetes v1.5.6 earlier this year. Since that initial launch, the Kubernetes community provided 3 minor releases (v1.6, v1.7, and v1.8) and over 25 patch releases. By year’s end there’s likely to be another minor release and numerous patches. So with all this change, what’s the best way to keep your cluster and apps up-to-date and secure?
Update process
To help you stay current, IBM Cloud Container Service provides both process and tools. For process, IBM automatically applies patch updates to your cluster’s Kubernetes master components. You must initiate updates to your cluster workers. In general, patch updates provide fixes that should not disrupt the apps and resources that you’ve deployed to your cluster.
Also, to view your cluster’s master and worker versions and any update notifications, simply run bx cs clusters
and bx cs workers <cluster-id>
or log into IBM Cloud Dashboard. You are notified of a master update available if your cluster’s master version is behind the default version. And if your workers are behind the master version, then you receive worker update notifications.
Name ID State Created Workers Datacenter Version
* Run cluster-update to update to version 1.7.4_1503. For update steps and Kubernetes version notes, see the docs: https://console.bluemix.net/docs/containers/cs_cluster.html#cs_cluster_update
Update tools
When you are ready to update your cluster to the default or latest available version, follow Updating the Kubernetes master to first update your cluster’s master (i.e. bx cs cluster-update
) then proceed with Updating worker nodes (i.e. bx cs worker-update
. If, before updating, you don’t have the patience to review Kubernetes CHANGELOGs for all of the great new features and the sometimes, admittedly, cumbersome actions required, IBM has highlighted some of the common checks that you need to make in Kubernetes versions for IBM Cloud Container Service.
Name ID State Created Workers Datacenter Version
ID Public IP Private IP Machine Type State Status Version
* Run worker-update to update to version 1.7.4_1503. For update steps and Kubernetes version notes, see the docs: https://console.bluemix.net/docs/containers/cs_cluster.html#cs_cluster_worker_update
ID Public IP Private IP Machine Type State Status Version
Back to app development
As a result, the streamlined update process and tools provided by IBM Cloud Container Service help you stay focused on developing great cloud applications on Kubernetes.
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