WebAssembly beyond the browser: Let's conquer the cloud with Wasm in Kubernetes

WebAssembly (Wasm) is the next big thing on the server and in the cloud. Although Wasm has been around for quite a while now, significant investments and improvements happen on platforms other than the browser. We are finally able to leverage the Wasm as a secure application sandbox using tools like krustlet. With krustlet, we can run Wasm workloads directly in Kubernetes without any container being required. What does that mean? What can you achieve today, and what is still experimental? And how can you get hands-on right now? Join this talk by Azure MVP and cloud-native enthusiast Thorsten Hans to get those and other questions answered.

Transcript

1. Cloud-Native vNext with WebAssembly?! Using Krustlet & Fermyon Spin Thorsten Hans @ThorstenHans Cloud-Native Consultant
2. Consultant @ Thinktecture #Azure #Kubernetes #CloudNative #Docker thorsten.hans@outlook.com thinktecture.com thorsten-hans.com @ThorstenHans Microsoft MVP | Docker Captain Thorsten Hans
3. What we will cover today • Introduction • WebAssembly beyond the browser • Running WebAssembly workloads in Kubernetes • Running WebAssembly without Kubernetes • Conclusion Talking Points
4. What we will cover today • Introduction • Hello Spin & Hello Krustlet • Run Wasm modules with Spin • Run Wasm workloads with Krustlet • Conclusion Talking Points
5. • WebAssembly (Wasm) • WebAssembly System Interface (WASI) • WebAssembly Gateway Interface (WAGI) Introduction
6. WebAssembly (Wasm) • It’s virutal machine that processes stack-based instructions • Instruction are in binary format • For us as devs It’s a compiler target – so we compile our code into WebAssembly modules Introduction
7. WebAssembly (Wasm) • Fast 🏃‍‍‍ • Near native execution performance, leveraging available hardware capabilities • Safe 💪‍ • Wasm is a sandboxed, memory-safe execution environment • Portable 🧊 • All major browsers support Wasm & multiple ”server” Wasm runtimes available Introduction
8. WebAssembly System Interface (WASI) • Platform Integration 🧬 • WASI is a wrapper for underlying platform (OS) capabilities • Think of things like File:: open() • Portable 🚀 • WASI could become the default compiling target for EVERYONE! • Secure 👮‍ • Permissions can be defined per app (module) Introduction
9. Portability Introduction https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/03/standardizing-wasi-a-webassembly-system-interface/
10. Security Introduction https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/03/standardizing-wasi-a-webassembly-system-interface/
11. Security Introduction https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/03/standardizing-wasi-a-webassembly-system-interface/
12. Security Introduction https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/03/standardizing-wasi-a-webassembly-system-interface/
13. Security Introduction https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/03/standardizing-wasi-a-webassembly-system-interface/
14. WebAssembly Gateway Interface (WAGI) • Use WebAssembly modules as HTTP handlers • Think of a hyper-focused microservices runtime • Comman Gateway Interface (CGI) implementation • HTTP headers become environment variables • HTTP payloads are piped to stdin • HTTP responses must be written to stdout Introduction
15. What we will cover today • Introduction • WebAssembly beyond the browser • Running WASM with Krustlet • Running WASM with Fermyon Spin • Conclusion Talking Points
16. Kubernetes-rust-kubelet • Krustlet is a kubelet written in Rust 🦀 • It responds to well-know Kubernetes requests like kubectl logs, kubectl describe, kubectl delete, … • Krustlet communicates with Kubernetes API server using HTTPs and reports status back like a regular kubelet, • Krustlet comes with providers. A provider specifies requirements for underlying Wasm runtime. Krustlet uses wastime by default, but you can choose a different provider such as WasmCloud or CRI What is krustlet
17. Kubernetes-rust-kubelet • It’s a binary – which attaches compute power to a Kubernetes cluster • Krustlet can be added to a wide variety of different Kubernetes distributions • Start small with dev environments like minikube or KIND • Grow to full blown Kubernetes distributions like bare metal Kubernetes or managed Kubernetes offerings like AKS, EKS, GKS What is krustlet
18. • Install krustlet with your Kubernetes cluster • krustlet is “Kubernetes-vendor” agnostic • Check https://docs.krustlet.dev/ for detailed installation guidance • Gain access to a container registry (must be OCI distribution spec compliant) • Azure Container Registry is used during this talk • Compile your code against wasm32-wasi • rustup target add wasm32-wasi && cargo build --release --target wasm32-wasi Krustlet
19. Krustlet integration with Kubernetes - Add krustlet to Kubernetes - Inspect krustlet nodes in a cluster Demo
20. What we will cover today • Introduction • What is krustlet and how can I get it • Running WebAssembly workloads in Kubernetes • Running WebAssembly without Kubernetes • Conclusion Talking Points
21. WebAssembly beyond the server in Action 🎉 - Running simple Wasm workloads in Kubernetes - Running WASI workloads in Kubernetes Demo
22. What we will cover today • Introduction • What is krustlet and how can I get it • Running WebAssembly workloads in Kubernetes • Running WebAssembly without Kubernetes • Conclusion Talking Points
23. • Fermyon (https://www.fermyon.com/) is massively driving Wasm for cloud computing • Spin – a framework to build microservices with WebAssembly • Fermyon Platform is a platform for running WebAssembly workloads • Could be hosted in your private datacenter too using Nomand • No hazzle with managing underlying Kubernetes • Feels ”serverless” for the developer Running WebAssembly without Kubernetes
24. Let’s give spin a spin 🚀 - Create a microservice with spin - Run microservices with spin Demo
25. What we will cover today • Introduction • What is krustlet and how can I get it • Running WebAssembly workloads in Kubernetes • Running WebAssembly without Kubernetes • Conclusion Talking Points
26. • Running Wasm workloads in the cloud will allow better resource utilization • We don’t need to package applications in containers • Strict sandboxing (WASI) will enahnce overall platform security and robustness • It’s still early – especially in managed Kubernetes (where we’ve limited control) • Spin and Fermyon Platform currently drive developer adoption in the community Conclusion
27. further questions?!?! Thorsten Hans @ThorstenHans Consultant Don’t be afraid. Shoot your question now in person, or later at thorsten.hans@outlook.com or @ThorstenHans thorsten-hans.com