Introduction to the Cloud-Native World with Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) - Series Part 2

Digital transformation has led companies to organize their infrastructure and development processes in entirely new ways. To address the challenges of modern cloud-native applications, concepts like Platform Engineering are gaining increasing importance. Especially in environments using Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS), platform engineering plays a crucial role in efficiently managing and scaling containerized applications.

What is Platform Engineering and Why is it Important?

Platform engineering is the process of designing, implementing, and managing internal platforms that provide developers with a stable and efficient environment. These platforms bundle all the necessary resources and services to ensure smooth development and operation of applications. A well-developed platform engineering team ensures that recurring tasks are automated, allowing developers to focus on writing code without dealing with the underlying infrastructure.

In a container environment like AKS, automation and standardization are critical. Platform engineering provides the framework to simplify these complex workflows.

How Does Platform Engineering Support AKS Deployments?

A key advantage of platform engineering is the ability to standardize the entire lifecycle of applications—from development to testing and deployment. When working with AKS, the main task of the platform engineering team is to create a seamless and scalable environment for container orchestration.

Here are some key aspects of how platform engineering supports AKS:

1. Standardizing and Automating Deployments

   1. Platform engineering enables the automation of Kubernetes cluster deployments in AKS using best practices and tools such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) (e.g., Terraform or Azure Resource Manager templates).

   2. This automation reduces human errors and accelerates the time needed to deploy applications in production environments.

2. Self-Service Platforms for Developers

   1. A well-designed platform engineering team builds self-service platforms that allow developers to independently provision Kubernetes clusters and deploy containers. This increases efficiency, as developers can work faster and more autonomously, while the central platform engineering team maintains control over the infrastructure.

   2. Azure DevOps and GitOps approaches are popular options for integrating CI/CD pipelines that enable automated deployment for developers.

3. Optimizing Development and Operations Processes

   1. Platform engineering helps standardize development environments so that all teams work with the same tools and standards, reducing complexity and ensuring consistency.

   2. With AKS, the platform engineering team can control and monitor resource scaling, ensuring that application workloads are adjusted according to demand.

4. Monitoring and Maintaining Kubernetes Clusters

   1. Monitoring AKS deployments is another key aspect of platform engineering. Tools like Azure Monitor or Prometheus help track the health of container workloads and the performance of clusters.

   2. Additionally, the platform engineering team facilitates the management of maintenance tasks, such as regular cluster patching, security monitoring, and ensuring compliance.

Best Practices for Platform Engineering in AKS Environments

To fully leverage the benefits of platform engineering in AKS, companies should follow a few best practices:

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Automate the provisioning and management of AKS clusters using IaC tools like Terraform to ensure consistency and repeatability.

• CI/CD Integration: Use a robust CI/CD pipeline (e.g., Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions) to automatically build container images and deploy them to AKS.

• Monitoring and Logging: Implement centralized monitoring and logging solutions like Azure Monitor and Grafana to monitor the performance and security of your AKS clusters.

• Security Policies: Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and network security policies to manage access to Kubernetes resources and minimize security risks.

Conclusion

Platform engineering is key to ensuring the stability and efficiency of Kubernetes clusters like AKS. By standardizing and automating processes, platform engineering creates a flexible and scalable environment that optimizes the development and operation of containerized applications.

By establishing self-service platforms for developers and automating the operations of Kubernetes clusters, companies can deploy their cloud-native applications faster and more reliably.

In our next post, we will explore how to build an internal development platform based on AKS. We’ll show you which components you need to provide your developers with a powerful and efficient environment.