Remocal Development: The Future of Efficient Kubernetes Workflows

The rise of Kubernetes and microservices, while hugely beneficial for operations teams, added another layer of complexity to the development pipeline. Engineering teams working on Kubernetes applications often need help with the interdependence of services, highly fragile local development environments, delays in testing changes in remote environments, and competitive access to staging environments.

Within the constraints of Kubernetes, how do we create a development environment that fosters efficiency by enabling a fast, reliable feedback loop?? Should we stick to local development with mocked data, rely on remote environments, or find a hybrid approach (remote + local development)?

In this article, we explore all the options, benefits, and drawbacks. Then, we look at remocal development, how it can be leveraged to optimize the entire software development pipeline, and the future outlook for teams looking to adopt this concept.

What Is a Kubernetes Developer Environment?

A Kubernetes Developer Environment (KDE) is a specialized setup designed to streamline development for applications running on Kubernetes. It provides developers the tools and resources to efficiently develop, test, and debug these applications.

Types of KDEs

KDEs can be broadly categorized into two main types based on where the Kubernetes cluster runs.

Local KDE:

The local development environment runs on personal computers, leveraging your computer’s resources, and is ideal for quick experimentation and development iterations without the need to access the cloud.

Popular tools include minikube, K3s, micro8s, and Kind.

Benefits:

• Fast setup and easy to use.
• No need for cloud provider accounts or configurations.
• No cloud costs
• Suitable for initial prototyping.

Drawbacks:

• Limited resources compared to a cloud environment.
• Limited interactions with external services make it impossible to simulate real-world conditions.
• Requires developers to manage and maintain the environment, resulting in a long learning curve for developers who need extensive Kubernetes expertise.
• It can be incompatible with specific processor architectures (ARM/x64).

Remote KDE:

A remote development environment enables developers to execute applications in cloud-based environments. These offer more robust resources and a closer simulation of a production environment.

• Benefits:

• • Developers can access computing resources from anywhere and easily scale them up or down based on project requirements.
  • Developers don’t need to install language runtimes, databases, or other tools locally, and new developers can quickly start working without complex setups.
  • Consistent development experience across multiple cloud providers compared to local environments.

• Drawbacks:

• • It may only partially reflect your entire production environment in terms of infrastructure, configuration, and third-party integrations.
  • It has fewer resources than the production environment, which could result in inaccurate performance testing since it does not simulate the loads and stresses the application will face during production.
  • Getting your code to the cloud via Docker build and deployment can be slow.
  • Remote debugging can be cumbersome.
  • Can incur high cloud costs.

The Rise of Remocal Development 

These development environments each have specific strengths or capabilities that appeal to different types of developers or particular development needs. However, it’s nearly impossible to replicate a Kubernetes-based application in a local development environment due to resource disparities between a developer’s machine and the cloud environment. Additionally, using remote KDEs introduces a slow feedback loop as every code change requires containerization, pushing to a registry, and deployment to a remote cluster before the final result.

Happy developers build the best applications, and industry leaders are gearing towards a smooth self-service development environment that’s quick to start, easy to iterate upon, and closely matched to production’s characteristics. This raised the need for a solution that provides teams with the best of both worlds: Remote/Local development (Remocal development).

There are some misconceptions among the developer audience about this rising concept, raising the question: “WTF is remocal development“?

What Is Remocal Development?

Remocal development environments bridge the gap between local and remote development. It describes an efficient and streamlined development process where developers can make code changes on their local computers and seamlessly build and deploy using remote infrastructure. As a result, developers can test the code in a realistic environment that simulates cloud conditions.

Benefits:

• Developer Experience: Developers can leverage their familiar local development environment with their preferred IDEs and debugging tools. The remocal setup allows teams to seamlessly test their code in a more realistic, production-like environment provided by the remote Kubernetes cluster.
• Efficiency and productivity: Remocal environments eliminate the need for complex setups and configurations on the developer’s machine. With a simple command, developers can quickly observe the impact of their code changes without waiting for the build-push-test cycle. This allows developers to catch and fix issues early, leading to fewer bugs and smoother deployments. Hence, the development process is streamlined, and developers can focus on core coding tasks.
• Cost-effectiveness: During the development phase, you can utilize the developer’s local machine resources, reducing the need for additional cloud resources and the associated costs of managing and maintaining them.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Remocal development environments allow developers to enjoy remote and local development advantages. Teams can quickly scale the Kubernetes cluster, locally or remotely, to meet their specific needs. It also empowers developers with the flexibility to select their preferred tools and technologies, allowing them to work in their desired environment and process.

Optimize Your Software Development Life Cycle With mirrord

Amongst the numerous emerging solutions for remocal development, mirrord is one solution that stands out for its ability to ensure smooth development, testing, and debugging in the cloud environment.

Mirrord offers a shift in how we approach application testing and deployment to improve the entire developer experience. Its features enable teams to seamlessly mirror the state of the remote cluster while providing access to resources (environment variables, file access, and networking), giving your local code access to everything the pod has access to, including cluster-external APIs.

Your development teams can quickly adopt the remocal development approach in their workflow with a few clicks in the IDE. Mirrord’s can optimize your workflow, ensuring consistency,  and a tight feedback loop. With mirrord, developers can now iterate and test changes quickly, translating to faster release cycles, better development experience, saved cost, and quicker time-to-market.

Future Outlook of Kubernetes Development

Several critical trends influence the future of Kubernetes development, which is focused on improving its performance, making it user-friendly, and adaptable to modern application architecture. Many engineering teams strive to improve their developer experience and time to market while reducing costs by migrating to remocal development. For instance, Lyft has implemented the remocal development approach into their workflow to eliminate the complex setup and configuration and increase team productivity while saving costs.

Remocal development solves a major problem that many engineering teams face when working with cloud-based applications on a daily basis.

It has the potential to revolutionize the Kubernetes workflow for teams and enterprises. Remocal development offers a compelling solution that optimizes the development process by addressing the challenges of managing complex dependencies. This makes it a valuable asset for companies looking to optimize their Kubernetes development processes.

Are you finding the right balance that works for your team? Are you looking to explore the remocal development approach in your microservice workflow? Reach out to us for a demo or explore the mirrored quick start guide.