I am evaluating Kubernetes (with Docker containers, not Kubernetes) and Docker Swarm and could use your input.
If I'm looking at 3 (8.76 hours) or 4 (52 min) 9's reliability in a server farm that is < 100 servers, would Kubernetes be overkill due to its complexity? Would Docker Swarm suffice?
On
It really depends on your real needs, Kubernetes or Swarm orchestrators are not silver bullets. To take real advantage from the container technology, the applications have to be properly designed. A design guideline for these cloud native apps are the Twelve Factor app principles made by Heroku.
In case you want to scale and achieve global scaling, Kubernetes is a great framework to run distributed apps at scale. In case you have a lot of Java apps, maybe containerized traditional applications then Swarm is a best option.
The business requirements can drive you to make the right choice.
Hope this helps!
Docker swarm will be able to meet your requirements. I recommend you start with Docker swarm as it is robust and very straightforward to use for anyone who has used Docker before.
For a Docker user, there are many new concepts that you need to learn to be able to use Kubernetes. Moreover, setting up Kubernetes on premise without using a preconfigured cloud platform is not straightforward
On the other hand, Kubernetes is more flexible and extensible. Kubernetes is older than Docker swarm and the community for kubernetes community is really big.