k3s Has a Free Lightweight Kubernetes Distribution

#kubernetes #devops #opensource #cloud

k3s is a free, lightweight Kubernetes distribution that runs in 512MB of RAM. It is production-ready and certified by the CNCF.

What Is k3s?

k3s is Kubernetes stripped down to the essentials. It packages everything into a single binary under 100MB.

Key features:

Single binary (<100MB)
512MB RAM minimum
Production-ready and CNCF certified
Built-in Traefik ingress
Built-in local storage
Built-in load balancer
Embedded SQLite (no etcd needed)
ARM support (Raspberry Pi!)
Automatic TLS
Easy cluster setup

Install in 30 Seconds

Server (master)

curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -

Agent (worker)

curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | K3S_URL=https://server-ip:6443 K3S_TOKEN=YOUR_TOKEN sh -

That is it. Full Kubernetes cluster.

k3s vs Full Kubernetes

Feature	k8s (kubeadm)	k3s
Install time	30+ minutes	30 seconds
RAM minimum	2GB	512MB
Binary size	1GB+	<100MB
Dependencies	Many	None
ARM support	Limited	Full
Default ingress	None	Traefik
Default storage	None	Local path
CNCF certified	Yes	Yes

Deploy an App

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx
        image: nginx
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: nginx
  ports:
  - port: 80
EOF