Stateful Service Migration Support for Kubernetes-based Orchestration in Industry 4.0

The convergence of multi-access edge computing and fog computing in industrial settings offers benefits such as scalability, low latency, availability, and high-level management. In this context, service virtualization plays a pivotal role, and the Kubernetes microservice orchestrator performs the platform role in numerous industrial environments. However, Kubernetes does not provide advanced support for service migration and service data synchronization. The management of application migration, whether stateless or stateful, between cluster nodes is crucial, and it is not currently addressed. To fill this gap, we propose stateful service migration support entirely managed within Kubernetes. The approach we present in this article enhances platform awareness by integrating a proactive preparation mechanism for migration. This mechanism manages information and makes it available for applications, dynamically applying specific policies. We tested the solution in a challenging real industrial environment, stressing the mechanism with demands such as availability requests, network congestion, and a high volume of data to migrate. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed solution in terms of reliability, good uptime, and easy applicability to Industry 4.0 stateful services.