There is no single, best set of tools for continuous integration / continuous development (CI/CD) with Kubernetes — each organization will use the tools that are best suited for its specific use case. For this reason, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) does not advocate for one toolset over another when it comes to building, deploying and managing applications on Kubernetes, says Ihor Dvoretskyi, developer advocate at the CNCF. However, they do analyze what integrations and support are needed in the Kubernetes core and identify CI/CD trends in the process.

“The hardest thing [about running on Kubernetes] is gluing all the pieces together. You need to think more holistically about your systems and get a deep understanding of what you're working with,” said Chris Short, a DevOps consultant and CNCF ambassador. “There [must be] a greater understanding of what your business is considering key metrics, or some people call it true north, and bringing that into the operations and development world more closely.”

In this podcast, we talk with Dvoretskyi and Short about the trends they’re seeing in DevOps and CI/CD with Kubernetes, the role of the Kubernetes community in improving CI/CD and some of the challenges organizations face as they consider the plethora of tools available today.