A Decision-Making Framework for Evaluating Orchestration Systems in Microservices Applications

This paper introduces a decision-making framework for the systematic evaluation and ranking of orchestration systems for microservices applications. Key evaluation parameters such as performance, cost and operational complexity are identified based on a comprehensive analysis of orchestration systems and used to develop a qualitative multi-attribute decision model in DEXi. The model is applied to two orchestration systems, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and K3s, and tested against the needs of three hypothetical companies with distinct operational profiles. Results demonstrate that the proposed model enables nuanced decision-making by balancing organizational priorities with the technical and operational capabilities of orchestration systems.