This article is based on a press release originally published by D2iQ via PR Newswire on October 30, 2019.
D2iQ Expands Ksphere with KUDO and Kommander for Smarter Kubernetes Day 2 Operations
D2iQ (formerly Mesosphere) announced a significant expansion of its Ksphere portfolio—its suite of Kubernetes technologies, services, and support offerings—at the end of October 2019. The preview included the upcoming general availability of KUDO, an open-source declarative framework for deploying stateful data services on Kubernetes, as well as the forthcoming launch of Kommander, a multi-cluster management and governance tool.
What Is KUDO?
KUDO (Kubernetes Universal Declarative Operator) is an open-source project that provides a universal, declarative framework for building and deploying Kubernetes operators—particularly for stateful data services. Rather than requiring teams to write complex, service-specific operators from scratch, KUDO offers a shared controller model that simplifies the process of packaging operational knowledge into reusable operator definitions.
Key characteristics of the KUDO approach include:
- Declarative operator definitions: Operators are described in YAML-based plan files, reducing the need for custom Go code for every service.
- Universal controller: A single shared controller handles the lifecycle management of multiple data services, promoting operational consistency.
- Stateful service focus: KUDO is specifically designed to address the complexity of running stateful workloads—databases, streaming platforms, and analytics engines—on Kubernetes.
D2iQ announced that KUDO was expected to reach general availability in early November 2019.
KUDO Operators: Kafka, Spark, and Cassandra
Alongside the KUDO framework itself, D2iQ announced three data service operators targeting IoT and edge infrastructure use cases:
- KUDO Kafka Operator (GA, early November 2019): The first generally available KUDO operator, supporting open-source Apache Kafka distributions. It leverages KUDO’s universal controller to deliver high-throughput, low-latency event streaming within Kubernetes-based applications. Full end-to-end operational support was included.
- KUDO Spark (Beta, late November 2019): Targets distributed data processing workloads, with a full support offering planned alongside the beta release.
- KUDO Cassandra (Beta, late November 2019): Targets distributed NoSQL database workloads, similarly bundled with support options at beta release.
The three operators collectively aim to provide a consistent operational model for end-to-end data pipelines—from ingestion (Kafka) through processing (Spark) to persistence (Cassandra)—running on Kubernetes, whether on-premises, at the edge, or in the cloud.
Kommander: Federated Multi-Cluster Management
D2iQ also previewed Kommander, described as a tool for federated management, governance, and visibility across multiple Kubernetes clusters spanning an organization’s on-premises and cloud environments. Managing many independent Kubernetes clusters—often called the “multi-cluster problem”—is a recognized Day 2 challenge at enterprise scale, and Kommander was positioned as D2iQ’s answer to providing a single operational pane of glass across heterogeneous cluster fleets.
Kommander was described as forthcoming at the time of the announcement, with a launch expected in the weeks following the October 2019 preview.
The IoT and Edge Context
D2iQ framed these announcements around the growing adoption of Kubernetes in IoT and edge computing architectures. CTO Tobi Knaup commented:
“As organizations look to create new monetization streams and to create greater efficiencies in existing ones, many are finding unique value leveraging small footprint compute technologies (IoT). By leveraging Kubernetes within IoT initiatives, organizations are able to deliver a unified operational strategy across on-premises IoT/OT and public/private cloud architectures. Our expanded Ksphere offerings, including KUDO, and very soon, Kommander, help make that a reality.”
Tobi Knaup, Chief Technology Officer, D2iQ
D2iQ cited its experience with large-scale real-time data deployments, including IoT workloads, as the practical foundation for the design decisions behind KUDO and the associated operators.
What Is “Day 2 Operations” in a Kubernetes Context?
D2iQ’s marketing language centers on “Day 2 operations,” a term used broadly in the Kubernetes community to distinguish post-deployment operational concerns from initial cluster provisioning (Day 1). Day 2 challenges typically include:
- Upgrades and lifecycle management of cluster components and workloads
- Monitoring, alerting, and observability at scale
- Policy enforcement and governance across clusters
- Backup, recovery, and disaster planning for stateful services
- Scaling and capacity management
- Multi-cluster and multi-cloud coordination
KUDO addresses the stateful service lifecycle management aspect, while Kommander targets cross-cluster visibility and governance—both squarely Day 2 concerns for enterprise Kubernetes teams.
Ksphere Portfolio Overview
Ksphere is D2iQ’s umbrella Kubernetes offering, encompassing:
- Konvoy: D2iQ’s production-ready Kubernetes distribution
- Kommander: Multi-cluster management and governance
- KUDO and KUDO Operators: Declarative stateful service management
- Professional services, training, and support for the full cloud-native stack
D2iQ positioned the portfolio as providing end-to-end coverage for organizations at any stage of their Kubernetes adoption—from initial workload deployment through mature, multi-cluster enterprise operations.
Conference Demonstrations
At the time of the announcement, D2iQ indicated that KUDO (including the Kafka, Spark, and Cassandra operators) and Kommander would be demonstrated live at two upcoming industry events:
- KubeCon North America – November 18–21, 2019
- AWS re:Invent – December 2–6, 2019
About D2iQ
D2iQ, formerly known as Mesosphere, is an enterprise cloud platform vendor headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Hamburg, and Beijing. The company was rebranded from Mesosphere to D2iQ in 2019. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Khosla Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Microsoft, and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
D2iQ’s product portfolio spans Kubernetes distributions, data engineering tooling (Apache Spark, Jupyter), and associated professional services and training—targeting enterprises running large-scale cloud-native and hybrid infrastructure.