I'm also a fan of Rancher. Especially the newer versions. It significantly simplifies the process of spawning up and managing a Kubernetes cluster.
I do think that Kubernetes is overkill if you just want to spawn a couple of server instances.
But if you want to build a complex system which scales and you happen to have experienced developers on the team who understand how to build scalable systems and who have experience with Kubernetes then you'd be foolish not to use K8s IMO.
That said, having that specific talent and experience on the team is critical or else you're just wasting your time and money with K8s - And that talent is very hard to find.
There is no point building some complex architecture for Kubernetes if that architecture is not designed to scale linearly from the ground up.
Kubernetes can allow you to operate highly scalable systems easily and elegantly, but simply using Kubernetes doesn't itself guarantee in any way that your systems will be scalable and will benefit from K8s at all (aside from pretty UI).
Very few people can build systems that scale and also meet business requirements.
I do think that Kubernetes is overkill if you just want to spawn a couple of server instances. But if you want to build a complex system which scales and you happen to have experienced developers on the team who understand how to build scalable systems and who have experience with Kubernetes then you'd be foolish not to use K8s IMO.
That said, having that specific talent and experience on the team is critical or else you're just wasting your time and money with K8s - And that talent is very hard to find. There is no point building some complex architecture for Kubernetes if that architecture is not designed to scale linearly from the ground up.
Kubernetes can allow you to operate highly scalable systems easily and elegantly, but simply using Kubernetes doesn't itself guarantee in any way that your systems will be scalable and will benefit from K8s at all (aside from pretty UI). Very few people can build systems that scale and also meet business requirements.