January 2018 Summaries

Developing traditional monolithic web applications has improved over the years, but microservices and cloud native architectures present challenges for developers configuring realistic development environments efficiently. Frontend developers often struggle with running Kubernetes on resource-limited machines, backend developers face issues with dependencies and integration testing, and all developers encounter limitations in terms of local environment setup and management. To address these constraints, solutions like buying more powerful hardware, migrating to cloud-based IDEs, or using tools like Telepresence can help alleviate resource limitations and improve developer productivity.

Docker for Mac with Kubernetes` is a beta version of Docker that includes support for Kubernetes, allowing users to run a local cluster on their Macs. The installation process was straightforward, and the user experience was simple, enabling a working Kubernetes cluster in no time. The author experimented with `Edge Stack`, a Kubernetes-native API Gateway built on Envoy Proxy, and successfully deployed an Ambassador LoadBalancer, routing traffic to `httpbin.org`. However, some rough edges were encountered, including collisions between competing services and the need for compiling a binary to get a list of open ports. Overall, Docker for Mac with Kubernetes shows promise as a useful alternative to Minikube, and the author is excited to see updates and improvements in the future.