Chapter 4 The Power of Kubernetes Inside » Understanding the importance of containers » Defining the value of microservices » The advantages of Kubernetes » The technical building blocks of Kubernetes Kubernetes has become the industry standard cloud plat- form supported by every major cloud provider. Based on an open source architecture, this container orchestration platform provides a powerful foundation. In this chapter we will explore why Kubernetes is so important and the elements that are included to support portability and manageability of a container environment. We will define containers and the role Docker and microservices play in the overall container environment. Finally, we will get into the details about the elements of the Kubernetes platform. Defining containers A container is an image based on a lightweight executable collection of software elements that are packaged with all of the software needed to run the workload, regardless of the environment of origin. One of the benefits of contain- ers is that they provide a software environment that brings all the elements needed to run a piece of code to- gether into a filing system. 42