Clustering in 2026

Kubernetes :
mainly Linux :
orchestrates node pools ( roups of hosts, with the same configuration ), and pods ( groups of containers, on the same host ) :

/ smallest overheads /

: control plane, [ 600 MB ],

: data plane, per-host agent, [ k0s, k3s @ 150 MB ], [ EdgeCore @ 80 MB ]

: applications get run IN data plane CONTAINERS 

OpenTelecomPlatform/Erlang :
application platform is OS agnostic :
orchestrates P2P clusters ( OTP VMs on any host, which are linked to each other ) :

/ smallest overheads /

: BEAM VM [ minimal startup flags @ 16 MB ], [ stripped compilation @ 5 MB ]

: AtomVM [ microcontroller scale, e.g. ESP32 @ 100 KB ]

: these register-based VMs run INTERPRETED bytecode applications, though there also exists BeamAsm which does JIT compilation

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Provisioning & Orchestration tools ( I'm catching up ) : 

• A1. Docker :
• ( no host provisioning ), 
• Swarm ( schedules work )
• A2. HashiCorp : 
• Terraform ( provisions hosts ), 
• Nomad ( schedules work )
• A3. Kubernetes : 
• itself ( schedules work ), 
• has an Addon called CrossPlane ( provisions multicloud hosts; and controls ( regulates ) hosts, which Terraform does not ); 
• control nodes can init at 600 MB RAM, worker nodes can init at 150 MB RAM; 
• has an Addon called KubeEdge for managing EdgeCore worker nodes initing at 70 MB RAM.
• B. Erlang/OTP : application layer : P2P cluster of VMs, not hosts; 
• VMs can spin up at 5 MB - 16 MB RAM;
•  has a fandom AtomVM which can spin up a VM at 100 KB RAM on an ESP32 chip
• C. GitOps has become a formal thing : 
• Kubernetes even has well established controllers ( regulators ), like ArgoCD ( has GUI ) and FluxCD ( CLI only ).
• D. Around 2021, linux LXD feature released ... physical host migration of a running VM, persisting a live Remote Desktop client GUI session; 
• present example : Canonical's open source MicroCloud ( which can de/provision hosts on public clouds too ).