Kakao Releases Open-Source Kubernetes-Based CaaS Platform 'Cite'

Kakao has open-sourced Cite, a Container as a Service (CaaS) platform based on Kubernetes. Cite is a web service that automates the build, deployment, and operation of source code, focusing on reducing the burden of complex Kubernetes installation and operations.

Deployment Method and Architecture

Cite integrates GitHub with Kubernetes to allow developers to deploy and roll back services without managing clusters. For deployment, it adopts an A-B switching method instead of the built-in Kubernetes rolling-upgrade. This structure involves starting all new containers and then changing the LoadBalancer's upstream. While it uses more resources than rolling-upgrade, it offers the advantage of fast rollback by maintaining existing containers for a certain period. Unused containers are periodically terminated to reclaim resources.

Operational Status and Use Cases

As of December 2016, Cite is operated using 10 physical equipment nodes, 3 master nodes, and Citrix NetScaler load balancers. Currently, 184 services and 332 pods are running, and skraper, a service that extracts representative images from URLs in KakaoTalk and Story, is operating as the first public service utilizing Cite.