Investigate GKE vs. own Kubernetes masters
An important decision to take is to whether to run our own Kubernetes master nodes or to rely on GKE for the cluster lifecycle.
This comparison should be updated with data that we're either discovering (feel free to edit) or decisions taken in the comments below.
GKE
Pros
- Extremely easy to provision. It can easily be automated via Terraform or via API requests.
- We would delegate the lifecycle of the clusters, saving us time and moving parts.
Cons
- There is a cost of about $100/month for clusters with more than 5 worker nodes.
Notes
- The worker nodes are also managed by GKE.
Own masters
Pros
- We would own the whole stack.
Cons
- We would have to manage the lifecycle of the master as well as the worker nodes, adding more possible points of failure to the stack.
Notes
- We need to identify the benefits of owning the master nodes.