We launched Project Astra at the end of April because it was obvious to us that running stateful applications in Kubernetes is still too difficult for many users.
The technology promise of Kubernetes lies in changing how applications and providing portability. Meanwhile from business perspective, IT teams have been moving to models that deliver on-premises and in the cloud, typically in an as-a-service model. Project Astra seeks to extend that Kubernetes technology promise to stateful workloads and enable IT to deliver easy to consume storage for Kubernetes in a multi-cloud, as-a-service world.
With the larger Kubernetes community coming together at the first virtual KubeCon Europe, we wanted to share some lessons learned from our early access program, how stateful workloads fit in their multi-cloud world, and also our own lessons building for Kubernetes - while relying on it ourselves.
These lessons, which we’ve learned alongside a group of early access participants made up of the world’s leading companies in digital entertainment, biopharmaceuticals, online media and other demanding industries, are shaping our roadmap for the beta launch of Project Astra in the coming months.
Eric Han is a VP of CDS Product Management for NetApp’s cloud portfolio. Prior to NetApp, he ran product management at a container-native storage company. Eric started his container journey as the founding product manager for Kubernetes at Google, where he also co-founded Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) service. Eric began his career at Microsoft in the product teams for Windows Server and Zune music.