The New Stack Podcast How cert-manager Got to 500 Million Downloads a Month
Dec 19, 2024
Matt Barker, co-founder of Jetstack, and Ashley Davis, staff software engineer at Venify, dive into the fascinating journey of cert-manager, an open-source project that revolutionized Kubernetes certificate management. They recount how a job interview challenge sparked its creation, leading to over 500 million downloads monthly. The discussion highlights cert-manager's CNCF graduation, upcoming sub-projects like trust-manager, and the importance of managing machine identities in cloud-native environments, while also addressing the challenges of community engagement and scaling.
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Cert-manager's Origin
- Cert-manager originated from a job interview challenge at Jetstack, tasking a candidate with automating Let's Encrypt in Kubernetes.
- This candidate created kube-lego, which evolved into cert-manager and became a widely adopted tool.
Joining CNCF
- Cert-manager's widespread use and community support led to its donation to the CNCF.
- It became the de facto standard for certificate lifecycle management, highlighting its importance in the cloud-native ecosystem.
Community Challenges and CNCF Benefits
- Managing a large community involves navigating differing opinions, particularly regarding breaking changes.
- The CNCF helped establish processes for consensus-building, improving decision-making.