Hello, Cloud Gurus. I'm Nigel. Poulton the author  of The Kubernetes Book and Quick Start Kubernetes,   and welcome to Kubernetes This Month.  The show that keeps you bang up to date   with all the important goings on in the  Kubernetes world. Now, in this episode,   we're diving into exciting things happening with  SUSE's ever growing range of Kubernetes products.   We're gonna talk a little bit more about the  looming dockershim deprecation, and we'll look   into the potentially slowing use of serverless.  Now, while you’re here, be sure to subscribe,  

so you’re always up-to-date with everything going  on in the world of containers and Kubernetes. Right. So I'm expecting 2022 to be a  big year for Kubernetes security, or   at least the big security shift left  where we're not only talking security,   but we're integrating it from day  one, and then every day after that.   Well, on that topic SUSE, the company who owned  Rancher, have released their recently acquired   NeuVector security platform as the industry's  open-source container-centric security platform.   Now that's magic. The community loves open-source  and it opens the platform up to more developers  

and it gets more people using and testing it. But  as well as this, they're integrating it with their   own Rancher container management platform. So  actually maybe we should define NeuVector first.   So it is a container-focused security platform  that does things like continuous vulnerability   scanning throughout the entire life cycle of a  container. It does end-to-end runtime security,   properly good network visibility, and  it can even do container segmentation. Anyway, that's all getting integrated with the  Rancher platform. So, if you are a potentially  

new user, you're getting something that is much  more enterprise-y with a security-centered focus.   But if you are an existing user well, yeah you'll  be getting all of that in a future release and it   just makes Rancher even stickier than before.  And I think that's the aim here. So instead of   container management platforms like Rancher  just offering up Kubernetes-native features,   but packaged better and with a support contract,  we're seeing more and more that they're bringing   way more than that to the table. Now, for me, that  can be good or bad. And I think you need to keep   an eye out for this as things move forward.  But look, I have had more than my fair share   of big ugly enterprise apps that become honestly  untameable beasts. So I really hope that Rancher  

and all the other platforms out there don't  make the mistake of trying to boil the ocean. Now look in no way am I saying we're even close  to that here. Right now I actually think there's   positives in integrations like this, but  let's not forget the mistakes of the past.   Lest we repeat them again and again and again.  Okay, switching gears, but sticking with SUSE and   Rancher. Last month saw the Rancher Desktop  project hit the coveted 1.0 milestone. So  

massive congratulations to the community and the  team involved in that. And I know historically   Rancher have contributed an absolute ton to the  community and it seems, at least from the outside,   that it's more of the same since the acquisition  of SUSE. Brilliant. Anyway, look, Rancher Desktop   is Kubernetes for well, your laptop and your  desktop. And actually I'm using 1.0 on my own   laptop. And I've gotta say I'm loving how it  works, especially with the latest versions   of Kubernetes, but it also works with the older  stable ones. As well, it lets me choose between  

containerd and Docker as a runtime. And I get  to choose the Docker command line if I want that   or nerdctl. So if you are a developer needing a  pretty configurable Kubernetes experience on your   laptop, or I don't know if you're just looking for  a quick and easy way to play around with and learn   Kubernetes, then honestly, Rancher Desktop is  deffo worth a look. And, in line with what we've   just said about integrating NeuVector security  with the main Rancher platform for stickiness,   I don't know, I think having a slick, local  desktop experience that will also potentially   integrate seamlessly...well look, it just adds  gravity to the whole of the Rancher portfolio.   I mean, they are properly out there leading the  way as a go-to Kubernetes company for on-prem,   in the cloud, on the edge, on your desktop,  and even more. They're definitely worth a look.

Okay. So time for my top picks from January.  Talk around the dockershim deprecation just   refuses to go away. I mean, it was announced  way back in December 2020 with Kubernetes 1.20.   I think it was originally gonna be pulled out in  1.23, but then it wasn't, I don't think people   were ready at that point. But as things stand it  slated for removal in Kubernetes 1.24, which is   due in about April, but I'm still not convinced. I  mean, don't get me wrong. The community is working  

hard putting resources together, but I don't know.  Just still seems a bit scary for me. And look,   I know we said it last month, but get testing now  and get things switched over nice and early before   you even think about Kubernetes 1.24. Cause if  you don't, well, we don't even want to go there. Well, last but not least for this month,  is serverless in decline? I've seen chatter   around the 2021 State of Cloud Native Deployment  report talking about serverless apparently losing   popularity among developers. And I think that is  in part due to the lack of standards and potential   lock-in. Now I'm personally a fan of severless,  or function-as-a-service, depending on how you   like to call it. I would just say buyer beware.  I mean, it is still a highly fractured area,  

in my opinion, with too many people getting  locked into proprietary vendor offerings. So yes,   serverless is great and it brings a lot to the  table. Just don't get carried away in the hype,   and do your best to choose a platform that doesn't  lock you in. Brilliant. And that wraps things for   this month. If you liked this episode, you can  check out more of our original series with an   ACG free plan. You’ll also get access to our  learning paths, and new courses every month,  

like our newly added free course this month  Hands-on Kubernetes Troubleshooting. Best   thing is, you don’t even need a credit card  to sign up - check out the links below.   And on that note, stay safe. I'll see you all  again next month. Same kube time, same kube place.