That makes sense. I tried microk8s, but personally was not comfortable with it as they try to handle all the automation for you, but then when things go wrong, I find myself googling snap package issues and or docker containerd vs k8s ocntianerd issues… Some ones I have considered or tinkered with in this case are listed below with my opinion on them, and disclaimer – only experienced hands-on with RKE.
- Platform9 - looked good, but only support old versions of Ubuntu; Ubuntu 20.04 not yet supported.
- KubeSpray - built around kubadm with Ansible.
- RKE - doesn’t use kubeadm, but it’s own set of automation; very easy to set up, once requirements are met
The advantage for any automation the leverages off of kubeadm is that any tools that test compliance of your K8S implementation or security typically work with kubeadm setups. For other platforms, there needs to be customization, for example using a tool like Sonobuoy test harness to run Aqua CIS benchmark tests or K8S E2E tests.