KubeFM KubeFM

In this KubeFM episode, Alexander Block delves into the intricacies of Kubernetes templating and deployment tools, sharing his journey from frustration with existing solutions to creating his tool, kluctl.
Alex also discusses the challenges and solutions in Kubernetes templating and deployment, emphasizing the need for more adaptable tools in the Kubernetes ecosystem.
You will learn:
The fundamental flaws of Helm and how they impact Kubernetes deployments and tools packaging.
How tools such as Kustomize, CUE, jsonnet are only a partial solution to templating.
Alternatives to Helm and the future of Kubernetes resource templating and distribution.
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Komodor — simplify cluster management and troubleshooting to unlock the full value of Kubernetes.
More info
Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/kluctl-templating-codablock
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With the rapid pace of the cloud-native ecosystem, staying current with Kubernetes updates and managing upgrades becomes a daunting task for many organizations.
In this KubeFM episode, Mat discusses the necessity of long-term support for Kubernetes and explores the intricacies of managing Kubernetes upgrades in a fast-evolving landscape.
You will learn:
The importance of long-term support (LTS) for Kubernetes and how it can alleviate the challenges associated with the platform's rapid release cycles.
Strategies for managing Kubernetes upgrades, including insights into the release cycle and the potential pitfalls of the upgrading process.
The role of managed services and semi-automatic upgrades in simplifying Kubernetes maintenance for organizations, especially in cost optimization and resource constraints.
The implications of charging for support of older Kubernetes versions and the potential for a community-based approach to navigating the complexities of Kubernetes upgrades.
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — expert Kubernetes training for your team
More info
Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/kubernetes-lts-mat
Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

Ensuring the repeatability of your infrastructure is a crucial aspect of managing Kubernetes clusters.
This allows you to swiftly tear down and set up a new one, a practice that is quite handy.
However, there are exceptional circumstances when your cluster becomes more than a disposable tool.
Dan shared, "A Kubernetes cluster will be treated as disposable until you deploy ingress, and then it becomes a pet."
In this episode, you will delve into the concept of 'disposable' and 'pet' Kubernetes clusters and learn:
How you can use GitOps to create a repeatable infrastructure that syncs.
How resources such as the Ingress and external-dns require careful maintenance and monitoring to make your cluster special.
How Crossplane and vCluster help you define repeatable environments that are disposable.
All the flavours for Argo: Workflows, Autopilot, CD, etc., and "Project" a newer abstraction to manage apps across environments.
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — become an expert in Kubernetes
More info
Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/ingress-gitops-dan
Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

Service meshes and the community's opinion of them have changed drastically over the years.
From being perceived as unnecessary, complicated and bloated, they matured into security and observability powerhouses (while still retaining much of their complexity).
In this KubeFM episode, William deep dives into the world of service meshes and explains a few of the technical choices and trade-offs of service meshes in simple terms.
You will learn:
What is a service mesh and its design (i.e. control plane and data plane).
How Ambient mesh departs from the traditional sidecar model and how it affects reliability and security.
Why there's more than just eBPF in sidecarless service meshes and the limitation of this technology.
The direct costs (compute) and human factors involved in operating a service mesh.
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — become an expert in Kubernetes
More info
Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/service-mesh-william
Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

Can you run databases on Kubernetes and survive to tell the story?
Or should you refrain from running stateful workloads as much as possible?
In this KubeFM episode, Steven argues that you should run databases on Kubernetes.
He also goes further and demonstrates how to build your custom operator to manage your database.
Listen to the episode and learn how:
You can use Kubebuilder and the Operator Framework to build your operator.
Custom Resources lets you create higher abstractions to manage your infrastructure as code.
Steven's operator manages hundreds of databases at scale at QuestDB.
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — become an expert in Kubernetes
More info
Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/operators-steven
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Structured Authentication Config is the most significant Kubernetes authentication system update in the last six years.
In this KubeFM episode, Maksim explains how this is going to affect you:
You can use multiple authentication providers simultaneously (e.g., Okta, Keycloak, GitLab) — no need for Dex.
You can change the configuration dynamically without restarting the API server.
You can use any JWT-compliant token for authentication.
You can use CEL (Common Expression Language) to determine whether the token's claims match the user's attributes in Kubernetes (username, group).
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — become an expert in Kubernetes
More info
Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/structured-authentication-maksim
Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.