Orchestration with Kubernetes coming to macOS

MacStadium has announced "Orka," allowing users to apply native Kubernetes commands for macOS virtual machines on genuine Apple hardware.

Prior to the announcement, popular orchestration and container technologies like Kubernetes and Docker have been unable to leverage Mac operating systems. Using Orka, Apple OS development teams can use container technology features in a Mac cloud the same way they build on other cloud platforms like AWS, Azure or GCP.

"The reality is that most enterprises need to develop applications for Apple platforms, but these enterprises prefer to use nimble, software-defined build environments," said Greg McGraw, chief executive officer at MacStadium. "With Orka, MacStadium's flagship orchestration platform, developers and DevOps teams now have access to a software-defined Mac cloud experience that treats infrastructure-as-code, similar to what they are accustomed to using everywhere else."

Orka will ship with a plugin for Jenkins. Jenkins is an open source automation server that enables developers around the world to reliably build, test and deploy their software using continuous integration and continuous delivery techniques.

Neither Kubernetes nor Docker are new technologies. The implementation welcome to the DevOps community, but is somewhat of a catch-up overall.

"No one has done this at scale on Apple hardware before, and it represents a big shift in scalability for customers who need their cloud services to run on macOS without the overhead of full virtualization," DevOps Engineer Duane Sibilly told AppleInsider regarding the roll-out. "However, that remains a niche market, and this merely brings Apple in the datacenter on par with where Windows & Linux have been for the last several years."

MacStadium is presenting sessions about the roll-out at the DevOps World conference. Topics covered will include how Orka integrates with Jenkins, and how it utilizes Docker and Kubernetes in a Mac environment.