Scaling Dynamic Workloads with GKE and CTO.ai

by Tola Ore-Aruwaji

As businesses grow, the applications they rely on must be able to scale dynamically to handle increased workloads. Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a managed Kubernetes service that provides a platform to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications using Google Cloud resources. When combined with CTO.ai, a DevOps automation platform, businesses can easily scale dynamic workloads efficiently and effectively.

Getting Started with Google Kubernetes Engine

GKE abstracts away the complexities of managing a Kubernetes cluster. It automates tasks such as cluster provisioning, scaling, and updates. GKE comes with native support for both cluster and pod auto-scaling. This means as your application workloads increase, GKE can dynamically scale the number of nodes or pods to meet the demand.

With GKE, developers have access to a suite of powerful tools and integrations like Stackdriver for logging and monitoring, CTO.ai for CI/CD, and Cloud Source Repositories for version control; with CTO.ai GCP GKE workflows, developers can deploy and manage their Kubernetes workloads. To get started, clone the GCP GKE Pulumi workflows repository, download the Ops CLI, and create your GCP keys and your Pulumi token in your project settings.

Run and set up your Infrastructure

Next, you need to build and set up the infrastructure that will deploy each resource to GCP using the Pulumi Python framework. Set up your infrastructure using ops run -b . This will provision your stack and set up your GKE infrastructure.

  • Select setup Infrastructure over GCP
  • The process will build your Docker image and start loading up your GCP-GKE Stack so you can provision and maintain your resources in the GCP console.
  • Next, select the services you want to deploy from the CLI. We will select the GKE service and install all the dependencies.
  • Back in the GCP GKE console, you see your Kubernetes Cluster is ready for usage.

With this workflow, you can auto-scale your workloads and directly set up your GKE sample application in the ops.yml file. Using the CTO.ai workflows, you can automatically adjust scaling parameters based on custom metrics or events. For instance, you could scale up your GKE nodes during high-traffic events and scale down during off-peak hours.

In your Kubernetes cluster, you can create your ConfigMap and Deployment.

ConfigMap

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: my-app-config
data:
  DATABASE_URL: "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mydb"
  DATABASE_USER: "user"
  DATABASE_PASSWORD: "password"

Deployment 

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-app-deployment
  labels:
    app: my-app
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: my-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: my-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: my-app-container
        image: my-app-image:latest
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
        env:
        - name: DATABASE_URL
          valueFrom:
            configMapKeyRef:
              name: my-app-config
              key: DATABASE_URL
        - name: DATABASE_USER
          valueFrom:
            configMapKeyRef:
              name: my-app-config
              key: DATABASE_USER
        - name: DATABASE_PASSWORD
          valueFrom:
            configMapKeyRef:
              name: my-app-config
              key: DATABASE_PASSWORD

When you are done, apply the changes to your cluster using kubectl apply -f finename.yaml

Advantages of Using GKE and CTO.ai Together

  • Dynamic Scaling: With GKE's auto-scaling and CTO.ai's custom workflows, you can ensure your applications are always running with the resources they need.
  • Reduced Operational Overhead: Automate repetitive DevOps tasks, allowing your team to focus on what they do best - building great products.
  • Cost Efficiency: By scaling dynamically and automating operations, you can ensure that you're only using and paying for the resources you need.

Conclusion

Scaling dynamic workloads is a challenge that many growing businesses face. With the combination of Google Kubernetes Engine and CTO.ai, businesses have powerful tools at their disposal to handle these challenges efficiently. With the strengths of both platforms, developers can ensure that their applications are scalable, resilient, and cost-effective.