k3s is not a fork of Kubernetes or a stripped-down imitation — it is a CNCF-certified, fully conformant Kubernetes distribution that happens to ship as a single sub-70MB binary and run the control plane in a few hundred megabytes of RAM. So 'k3s vs k8s' is really a packaging and operations question, not an API question: your manifests and Helm charts run unchanged on both. This post breaks down what k3s actually changes (the kine datastore shim, SQLite instead of etcd by default, bundled batteries like Traefik and ServiceLB, removed legacy in-tree drivers), the real resource and operational differences, high-availability options, where each one wins, and where k3s's conveniences can surprise you.
Orchestration
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k3s vs k8s: Lightweight Kubernetes or the Full Thing? -
Apache Airflow Deep Dive: DAGs, Executors, and Production Realities A production-focused guide to Apache Airflow — how DAGs, schedulers, and executors really work, where Airflow shines and where it hurts, and what you need to know to run it reliably rather than inherit it and suffer.
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HashiCorp Nomad: A Simpler Kubernetes Alternative HashiCorp Nomad as a simpler alternative to Kubernetes — a single binary that schedules containers, VMs, and raw binaries — covering its model, where it beats Kubernetes on operational overhead, and where its smaller ecosystem costs you.
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Temporal for Durable Workflows: Replacing Fragile Cron Jobs and Distributed Sagas A comprehensive guide to Temporal — the durable execution engine that makes long-running, fault-tolerant workflows simple. Covers activities, workflows, signals, queries, schedules, child workflows, and running Temporal in production on Kubernetes.
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Kubernetes Basics: Getting Started with Container Orchestration Learn the fundamental concepts of Kubernetes and how to deploy your first application.