Google has teamed up with OpenStack pure-play vendor Mirantis Inc. in order to make it easier to use the Docker cluster manager Kubernetes on the cloud platform.

Mirantis, one of the major OpenStack vendors, said today it’s added support for Kubernetes, an open-source technology built by Google that’s designed to manage containerized applications. The integration relies on OpenStack’s Murano application catalog that simplifies the process of deploying and configuring Kubernetes-based clusters and the Docker containers they manage.

Mirantis CEO Adrian Ionel told ZDNet that one of the problems with Kubernetes is that it is extremely difficult for the average developer to deploy on OpenStack.

Using Murano, it’s now possible to deploy Kubernetes on OpenStack with just a few clicks, says Mirantis. The big advantage for developers is they’ll now be able to move workloads between OpenStack and other clouds, including Google’s Cloud Platform, with considerable ease. And, as Google notes, it also means customers will have more options if they wish to take a hybrid approach to their applications.

“[Developers] don’t need to be worried about container orchestration and networking and storage and all the low-level stuff underneath,” said Ionel. “They just have a visual orchestrator and pick the components they want, the containers they want, and they can immediately enable their deployment via Kubernetes.”

When deploying Kubernetes on OpenStack, Murano automatically provisions the resources the Kubernetes’ clusters will need. It also helps to integrate Kubernetes clusters within OpenStack’s built-in firewall, load balancing and monitoring tools.

If nothing else, the announcement underlines just how rapidly Google’s Kubernetes is being adopted within the industry. In addition, it also demonstrates the continued growth of OpenStack’s ecosystem, and how its open-source model means the project can be easily adapted to meet the needs of developers. Ionel told ZDnet the Murano-Kubernetes integration would be made open-source, in line with Mirantis’ pure-play OpenStack philosophy.

In addition, Mirantis will soon offer an enterprise-grade version of the tool with full support to all of its customers. The software will be availabile in preview mode this April on Mirantis OpenStack Express.

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