<p>There are a lot of options available for deploying kubernetes including Redshift, CoreOS,  hosted options.   I was wondering if there is anyone exploring kubeadm for non-prod enironments.   Is it a viable option for standing up a multi-node k8s cluster.   Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Yes, kubeadm is a viable option for a non-production cluster, but it is currently (late 2017) undergoing significant development.  Two features that I would watch closely are support for <a href="https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/50872" rel="nofollow noreferrer">upgrades</a>, and support for <a href="https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/261" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HA masters</a>.  Currently <a href="https://github.com/kubernetes/kops" rel="nofollow noreferrer">kops</a> has support for both, so you might consider that as an alternative if you need those features.  </p>

<p>There are many other differences between the two, so its impossible to recommend one over the other, but in general, I would recommend kubeadm for learning about kubernetes (especially the provisioning aspect, and what is required for a running cluster) and kops if you just need a mostly-production-ready cluster.  </p>

<p>(I don't have experience with other provisioning tools, so I can't comment on them, but there are many worth looking at.)</p>

<p>In the future, the kubeadm maintainers want kubeadm to provide the plumbing and so that other provisioning tools can build off of it in a more opinionated way.  </p>
