Kubernetes Platform Design

This page covers the basics of designing a Kubernetes platform for teams and applications.

Why It Matters

Running Kubernetes well requires more than creating a cluster. Teams also need networking, access control, observability, deployment standards, and failure handling.

Core Platform Areas

• Cluster architecture
• Node design and scaling
• Ingress and service exposure
• Storage choices
• Security controls
• Monitoring and logging

Basic Design Approach

1. Define the workload types you need to support.
2. Choose cluster size and node pools based on those workloads.
3. Design networking for internal and external traffic.
4. Add logging, metrics, and alerting early.
5. Standardize deployment patterns for teams.

Important Decisions

• Single cluster vs multiple clusters
• Managed Kubernetes vs self-managed
• Ingress controller choice
• Storage class and persistence strategy
• Namespace and RBAC model

Common Risks

• One cluster serving too many unrelated workloads
• Missing resource requests and limits
• Weak RBAC boundaries
• No clear backup or disaster recovery plan

Practical Advice

• Start simple and add platform layers gradually
• Standardize ingress, logging, and deployment conventions
• Make troubleshooting workflows part of the platform design