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​Oracle to use Kubernetes to manage its cloud containers

Oracle wants to be a cloud power, but instead of branding their own cloud DevOps program, they'll be working with CoreOS on Kubernetes.
Written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Senior Contributing Editor

Seven years ago, Oracle wanted to be a Linux power. So, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and the company cloned Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) into Oracle Linux. Then, Oracle, after Ellison first dismissed the cloud, decided it would be a cloud power.

Neither move has worked out that well. Now that managing containers has become a de rigeur for serious cloud companies, Oracle is partnering with CoreOS to do the heavy open-source lifting.

At CoreOS Fest in San Francisco, Bob Quillin, VP of the Oracle Container Group, announced Oracle would support Kubernetes for both its customers and in-house. As for containers, Oracle, like most companies, has already committed to Docker.

Timothy J Fontaine, the Oracle software engineer in charge of all things Kubernetes for the database giant, blogged, "We are ... teaming up with CoreOS to bring CoreOS Container Linux to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. As such, developers will be empowered to leverage the performance and secure features of CoreOS Container Linux for enterprise workloads by combining the leading optimized Linux operating system and the industry's most comprehensive and high performance cloud platform."

Oracle won't let CoreOS do all the Kubernetes work. Oracle acquired Wercker, a Dutch startup that specialises in Docker and Kubernetes management tools, earlier this year. One of the first fruits of this is Click2Kube, a one click Kubernetes cluster installer for the Oracle Bare Metal Cloud.

Fontaine continued, "Over the next few weeks we'll be phasing in our efforts, starting first with participating in community channels. We understand that helping the community succeed will improve Kubernetes for everyone, including Oracle. So, we will demonstrate our commitment to improving Kubernetes and bolstering its community by helping to answer questions on Slack, StackOverflow, and GitHub issues."

"The continued interest of organizations in Kubernetes reflects the people, the customers and the users that are getting on board with the whole container and orchestration system," added Brandon Philips, CoreOS's CTO.

This strategic partnership comes on the heels of CoreOS wrapping Kubernetes into its Linux platform. In March, Kubernetes 1.6 became the first release led by a CoreOS developer. With CoreOS's latest release of Tectonic, its Kubernetes platform, CoreOS has become a Kubernetes leader and its Oracle partnership only cements its move from Linux company to container manager power.

I expect both companies to benefit from their new relationship.

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