Earlier this year, Mirantis, the company that now owns the Docker business, acquired Lens, a desktop application that provides developers with something like an IDE for managing their Kubernetes clusters. At the time, Mirantis CEO Adrian Ionel told me that the company wants to give companies the tools to quickly build modern applications. Today, it's taking another step in that direction with the launch of an Extensions API for Lens that will take the tool far beyond its original capabilities.
In addition to this Lens update, Mirantis also today announced a new open-source project: k0s. The company describes it as "a modern, 100% upstream vanilla Kubernetes distribution designed and packaged without compromise."
It is a single optimized binary with no dependencies on the operating system (other than the kernel). Based on upstream Kubernetes, k0s supports Intel and Arm architectures and can run on any Linux host or Windows Server 2019 worker nodes. Given these requirements, the team argues that k0s should work for virtually any use case, from local development clusters to data private centers, telecommunication clusters and hybrid cloud solutions.
"We wanted to create a modern, robust and versatile entry-level for various use cases where Kubernetes is at stake. Something that leverages Kubernetes upstream vanilla and is versatile enough to cover use cases ranging from typical cloud-based deployments to various edge / IoT case types, "said Jussi Nummelin, Senior Principal Engineer at Mirantis and founder of k0s. "Building on our previous experiences, we didn't really want to start maintaining the configuration and packaging for various OS deployments. Hence the single track packaging model which allows us to focus more on the main problem rather than on different packaging tastes like debs, rpms and what-nots. "
Mirantis, of course, has some experience in the distribution game. In its first version, in 2013, the company offered one of the first major OpenStacks distributions, after all.
As for Lens, the new API, which will be available next week in conjunction with KubeCon, will allow developers to extend the service with support for other components and services integrated with Kubernetes.
"Extensions API will unlock collaboration with technology vendors and transform Lens into a complete cloud-native development IDE that we can extend and improve without limit, "said Miska Kaipiainen, co-founder of Lens open-source project and senior technical director of Mirantis. "If you are a seller, Lens it will provide the best channel to reach tens of thousands of active Kubernetes developers and get your technology delivered in a way that didn't exist before. At the same time, users of Lens Enjoying quality features, technologies and integrations easier than ever. "
The company has already aligned a number of popular CNCF projects and vendors into the cloud native ecosystem to create integrations. These include security vendors Kubernetes Aqua and Carbonetes, API gateway manufacturer Ambassador Labs, and AIOps Carbon Relay company. Venafi, nCipher, Tigera, Kong and StackRox are also currently working on their extensions.
"Introducing an Extensions API to Lens is a game changer for Kubernetes operators and developers, as it will foster an ecosystem of cloud-native tools that can be used in context with the full power of Kubernetes controls, at your fingertips. by the user's hand, "said Viswajith Venugopal, StackRox software engineer and developer of KubeLinter. "We look forward to integrating KubeLinter with Lens for a smoother user experience."