Mirantis Inc. today introduced k0rdent, an open-source platform designed to help enterprises manage their Kubernetes clusters.

The company has released the tool’s code on GitHub.

Google LLC created Kubernetes to ease the task of managing containerized applications. The platform automatically recovers from infrastructure outages, distributed workloads across servers and performs related tasks. But managing Kubernetes can nevertheless be complicated, particularly for large enterprises that operate multiple container clusters powered by the software.

Mirantis’ new k0rdent project is designed to ease the task. It provides a single pane of glass for managing a company’s Kubernetes clusters. Mirantis says it doubles as a tool for creating IDPs, or internal developer platforms.

An IDP is a kind of app store through which a company’s developers can download the technical assets they require for their work. An IDP might, for example, include preconfigured interface components and debugging tools. It can also host other types of resources, such as scripts for quickly provisioning cloud instances.

IDPs have a self-service interface, which enables developers to deploy technical assets on their own without the help of the information technology team. That can significantly speed up the provisioning process. Additionally, the fact that technical assets are hosted in a centralized app store makes it easier for IT teams to manage them.

Under the hood, k0rdent is powered by three main components.

The first is a tool called the k0rdent Cluster Manager. It’s responsible for configuring a company’s Kubernetes clusters, downloading updates and performing other maintenance tasks. A built-in disaster recovery feature allows users to back up the tool’s data to external infrastructure and recover it in the event of an outage. 

A second component, the k0rdent State Manager, manages the configuration files that define a Kubernetes cluster’s behavior. It also enables companies to install external software on their Kubernetes clusters. The third core component of k0rdent is an observability tool that monitors for technical issues and saves system activity logs.

Several of k0rdent’s features are powered by Cluster API, a sub-project in the Kubernetes code base. Cluster API automates some of the manual work involved in changing a container cluster’s configuration settings. That saves time for administrators and reduces the risk of human error.

Mirantis says k0rdent can manage Kubernetes clusters deployed in the cloud, on-premises and at edge locations. The company has tested the platform on multiple Amazon Web Services and Azure services, as well as VMware LLC’s vSphere hypervisor and OpenStack. According to Mirantis, k0rdent has an extensible design that enables users to add support for more infrastructure types with relative ease.

“At a time when software architecture, development tools, and services are becoming increasingly complex, we are sharing the k0rdent open source project to deliver capabilities that accelerates innovation for modern distributed workloads,” said Mirantis Chief Executive Officer Alex Freedland.

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