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Getting Started with FME Flow and Kubernetes

Liz Sanderson
Liz Sanderson
  • Updated

Introduction

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration tool that can automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. If you’re unfamiliar with containers, check out Getting Started with FME Flow and Docker.

When deploying FME Flow (formerly FME Server) on Kubernetes, two tools are required:

  1. Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that helps you define, install, upgrade, and manage Kubernetes applications.
  2. Kubectl is a command-line tool for controlling Kubernetes clusters. It needs to be configured to communicate with your cluster.

Why use Kubernetes?

For information on the benefits of Kubernetes and why you might want to use it for FME, see this article: Why would you use a Kubernetes deployment for FME Flow?

Terminology

There are some common terms that you should know when working with Kubernetes. All definitions are taken from the Kubernetes documentation.

Kubernetes Terminology Definition Kubernetes Documentation Reference
Cluster A Kubernetes cluster consists of a set of worker machines, called nodes, that run containerized applications. Every cluster has at least one worker node. Kubernetes Components
Containers A container is a runtime instance of a docker image. Containers
Ingress An ingress is an API object that manages external access to the services in a cluster, typically HTTP.
Ingress may provide load balancing, SSL termination and name-based virtual hosting.		 Ingress
Namespace Kubernetes supports multiple virtual clusters backed by the same physical cluster. These virtual clusters are called namespaces. Namespaces
Nodes Kubernetes runs your workload by placing containers into Pods to run on nodes. A node may be a virtual or physical machine, depending on the cluster.  Nodes
Pods A Pod is a group of one or more containers with shared storage and network resources, and a specification for how to run the containers. Pods
ReplicaSet A ReplicaSet's purpose is to maintain a stable set of replica Pods running at any given time. As such, it is often used to guarantee the availability of a specified number of identical Pods. ReplicaSet
Scheduling In Kubernetes, scheduling refers to making sure that Pods are matched to Nodes so that Kubelet can run them. Kube Scheduler
Secrets Kubernetes Secrets let you store and manage sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and ssh keys. Secrets
Services An abstract way to expose an application running on a set of Pods as a network service. Services

Useful Resources

Documentation

Knowledge Articles 

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