The latest Kubernetes update targets advancements to the security and stability of what has become the market's leading container orchestration platform.

For security, the Kubernetes 1.8 release moved on granting “stable” support for role-based access control (RBAC). This is designed to allow cluster administrators to dynamically define roles to enforce access policies through the Kubernetes API.

The latest update also includes beta support for outbound traffic filtering through network policy alongside current support for inbound filtering of traffic to a pod.

A handful of workload APIs were also promoted to beta in the latest release. They are designed to help in the migration of existing workloads to Kubernetes and in developing cloud-native applications.

Specific workload support includes native Kubernetes in Apache Spark as a way to run big data sets. Also, there is now support of custom resource definitions (CRDs) that provide an extension of the Kubernetes API to support non-core features as if they were part of the Kubernetes core. Basically, this makes it easier for developers to migrate and create their current work to Kubernetes without needing to rewrite code.

Kubernetes 1.8 also includes a stable release of the CRI-O container runtime. The runtime supports Open Container Initiative (OCI) container images and is an alternative to Docker’s Moby.

Entities involved in crafting the latest release included Microsoft, Avi Networks, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), CoreOS, Google, Heptio, Huawei, and Samsung SDS. Container distributions are expected to begin tapping into the latest updates in the coming weeks.

Recent reports have shown Kubernetes controlling more than 70 percent of the container orchestration market. This far outpaces other platforms such as Docker Swarm and Mesosphere.

The Kubernetes team highlighted a recent survey from RedMonk that showed 54 percent of Fortune 100 companies were running Kubernetes “in some form.” Containers in general were being used by 71 percent of those companies surveyed.

However, the report noted it was still difficult to tell the exact depth of container and Kubernetes usage, as much of the use is limited to the developer community.

“At this point it is not possible to definitively say how many of the Fortune 100 have Kubernetes in production,” wrote RedMonk analyst Fintan Ryan. “What is clear is that ‘The Docker Pattern’ is occurring in many large organizations with both Docker and Kubernetes playing their part.”

The previous Kubernetes update, which was released in late June, included a focus on security, storage, and extensibility features designed to target growing enterprise use of the open source technology.

Updates to the platform are currently on a three-month cycle. The next iteration should be unveiled by year-end.

Kubernetes was the first pet project taken under the wing of CNCF when it formed in mid-2015. The container orchestration platform was donated by Google to CNCF, having emerged from Google’s Borg project.