Centralised Cleanup Service for Kubernetes and Cloud Resources

Abstract

The architectural style of developing a software application using loosely coupled and highly cohesive services can be termed as microservices architecture. The microservices allow agile software development and enable businesses to build and deliver applications quickly. To achieve the benefits of microservices, an underlying infrastructure that supports them must exist. This includes CI/CD pipelines, execution environments like virtual machines and containers, logging and monitoring, communication mechanisms, and so on. Containers are lightweight, enable multiple execution environments to exist on a single operating system instance, and provide isolation. Container Orchestration Engines such as Docker swarm or Kubernetes automate deployment, scaling, fault tolerance, and container networking. Many organizations use containers to spawn resources in public or private clouds. Different engineering teams perform various kinds of tests by bundling the test code and dependencies into containers. However, cleaning up these containers is necessary for the efficient utilization of hardware resources. This paper discusses the need and benefits of a centralized cleanup service for Kubernetes and cloud resources. It analyzes the value additions this service can bring to the software development process of large organizations.