Kubernetes Setup & Consulting
Production-ready Kubernetes from scratch — or a health check on what you have. GitOps, security hardening, autoscaling, service mesh, multi-cluster. Your team ships with confidence on day one.
What we cover
Six domains — every layer of a production Kubernetes environment.
Cluster Provisioning
Right-sized, production-ready cluster from scratch. Managed or self-hosted. Multi-AZ, private networking, node group strategy.
GitOps & Deployment
Declarative, git-driven deployments. Every change tracked, every rollback one command. No manual kubectl apply in production.
Networking & Ingress
CNI selection, ingress controllers, TLS automation, DNS management, load balancing strategies, and cross-cluster connectivity.
Security & Policy
Defense-in-depth: pod security, network policies, admission control, runtime threat detection, image signing enforcement.
Autoscaling & Resources
Scale workloads and nodes automatically based on traffic, queue depth, or custom metrics. Never over-provision or under-provision.
Backup & DR
Automated backup of cluster state, PVs, and namespaces. Tested restore procedures. Cross-region disaster recovery.
Full tool coverage
Every major distribution, CNI, ingress, security, and operational tool in the Kubernetes ecosystem.
Managed Distributions
Self-hosted Distributions
GitOps
Packaging
Networking (CNI)
Ingress & Gateway
Service Mesh
Security
Autoscaling
Storage
Backup & DR
Multi-cluster
Developer Experience
Observability
What you get
| Aspect | Managed (EKS / GKE / AKS) | Self-hosted (k3s / RKE2) |
|---|---|---|
| Control plane ops | Fully managed by cloud provider | You manage etcd, API server, scheduler |
| Cost | Control plane ~$70–150/mo | Free software, your infra cost only |
| Upgrades | One-click, minimal downtime | Manual, requires careful planning |
| Multi-cloud / on-prem | Cloud-specific | Runs anywhere: bare metal, VMs, edge |
| Support SLA | Cloud provider SLA | Community + commercial (Rancher) |
| Best for | Most teams — less ops overhead | On-prem, edge, cost-sensitive, air-gapped |
Common scenarios
Startup going cloud-native
Moving from bare VMs, Heroku, or ECS. We set up the full stack — cluster, GitOps, monitoring, security — and train your team to operate it independently.
Cluster security audit
Existing cluster with unknown security posture. We run kube-bench, Kubescape, Trivy Operator, and Falco — deliver a prioritized remediation report.
Multi-environment GitOps
Separate dev/staging/prod clusters with consistent ArgoCD ApplicationSets, environment promotion workflow, and drift detection.
Zero-downtime migration
Migrate workloads from old cluster to new with blue/green traffic shifting. No 2am maintenance windows.
Cost rightsizing
Cluster over-provisioned but team is unsure what to cut. We run Goldilocks + VPA analysis and deliver concrete right-sizing recommendations.
Multi-tenancy for SaaS
Isolate customer workloads with namespace-per-tenant, network policies, Kyverno guardrails, and resource quotas. Safe and auditable.
Questions
EKS, GKE, AKS, or self-hosted — which one?
Managed control plane (EKS/GKE/AKS) for most teams — you don't want to manage etcd. EKS if you're AWS-first, GKE if you want the most mature managed K8s, AKS for Azure shops. k3s or RKE2 for on-prem or edge. We help you decide and implement.
Do we actually need Kubernetes?
Not always. If you have fewer than 5 services and a small team, ECS or App Runner might serve you better. We'll be honest about this. Kubernetes adds real value at 10+ services, multiple teams, or complex deployment requirements.
ArgoCD or Flux — what's the difference?
ArgoCD has a better UI and is easier for teams new to GitOps. Flux is more Kubernetes-native, lighter weight, and better for multi-tenancy at scale. Both are excellent. We default to ArgoCD for most teams.
Do we need a service mesh (Istio / Linkerd)?
Probably not at first. Service meshes add real value for mTLS between services, advanced traffic management, and fine-grained observability — but they add operational complexity. We recommend starting without one and adding it when you have a specific need.
What's Karpenter and should we use it?
Karpenter (AWS) is a next-gen node autoscaler that provisions exactly the right instance type for pending pods — much faster and more cost-efficient than Cluster Autoscaler. We recommend it for EKS clusters with variable workload patterns.
How do you handle cluster upgrades?
We set up a documented upgrade runbook: test on staging first, upgrade control plane, then node groups one at a time with cordon/drain. Managed clusters (EKS/GKE/AKS) make this much safer. Velero backup runs before every upgrade.
What security standards do you apply?
CIS Kubernetes Benchmark (via kube-bench), Pod Security Standards (restricted mode), network policies default-deny, Falco runtime detection, image signing with Cosign, and Kyverno admission policies. We deliver a Kubescape score before and after.
How long does a full setup take?
Typically 2–4 weeks for a production-ready cluster with GitOps, security, monitoring, and documentation. Complex setups (multi-cluster, service mesh, multi-tenancy) take 4–8 weeks.
Ready to get started?
Book a free 30-min call. We'll review your current setup (or start from scratch) and give you an honest recommendation.
Book Discovery Call30 min · Free · No commitment