Enhancing the Kubernetes Platform with a Load-Aware Orchestration Strategy

Microservice architecture is increasingly favored for building large-scale applications designed for deployment in distributed and resource-constrained cloud-to-edge computing environments. As a cloud-native approach, microservices are particularly powerful due to their loosely coupled, independently deployable, and scalable characteristics. These features enable distributed deployment and flexible integration across robust cloud data centers and heterogeneous, often resource-limited, edge nodes. To fully leverage these advantages, there is a need for advanced placement algorithms that can optimize application performance by utilizing the strengths of microservices. In response to these challenges, we propose to extend Kubernetes with a load-aware orchestration strategy, which enhances its capability to deploy microservice applications within shared clusters characterized by dynamic resource usage patterns. Our approach orchestrates applications dynamically, based on real-time resource usage, allowing for continuous adjustment of their placement to match evolving conditions. Evaluation of a prototype system in a testbed environment demonstrates that this approach offers substantial benefits compared to the standard Kubernetes scheduler.