Kubernetes
software to manage containers on a server-cluster
Kubernetes (), also known as K8s, is an open-source container orchestration system for automating software deployment, scaling, and management. Originally designed by Google, the project is now maintained by a worldwide community of contributors, and the trademark is held by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
The name Kubernetes comes from the Ancient Greek term κυβερνήτης, kubernḗtēs (helmsman, pilot), which is also the origin of the words cybernetics and (through Latin) governor. "Kubernetes" is often abbreviated with the numerical contraction "K8s", meaning "the letter K, followed by 8 letters, followed by s".
Kubernetes assembles one or more computers, either virtual machines or bare metal, into a cluster which can run workloads in containers. It works with various container runtimes, such as containerd and CRI-O. Its suitability for running and managing workloads of all sizes and styles has led to its widespread adoption in clouds and data centers. There are multiple distributions of this platform—from independent software vendors (ISVs) as well as hosted-on-cloud offerings from all the major public cloud vendors.
The software consists of a control plane and nodes on which the actual applications run. It includes tools like kubeadm and kubectl which can be used to interact with its REST-based API.
History
Kubernetes was announced by Google on June 6, 2014. The project was conceived and created by Google employees Joe Beda, Brendan Burns, and Craig McLuckie.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kubernetes” is software to manage containers on a server-cluster. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kubernetes, software and manage, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22661306. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kubernetes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.