Rafay Kubernetes Lifecycle Management with Cluster Templates

In our Kubernetes journey, where Rafay makes it easy to provision and manage cluster lifecycle, we have seen end-users creating unique and sometimes unusual Kubernetes cluster configurations that do not comply with corporate security guidelines and generate increased infrastructure costs. This blog will teach you how to consistently deliver Kubernetes clusters across multiple roles and objectives using Rafay’s Cluster Templates to ensure compliance and standardization.

Currently, with Kubernetes, there is no simple way to enforce security and standardize the configuration that an end-user can use to create clusters. As a result, it is common for Kubernetes administrators to struggle with “rogue” clusters that encounter failures due to a lack of optimized settings for the correct allocation of resources. In addition, the consumption of misconfigured resources generates additional unplanned costs along with the added hours that Kubernetes Admins have to allocate to fix them.

Rafay addresses these challenges with Cluster Templates. Cluster Templates allow the creation of standard and reusable configurations with best practices in place for end-users to apply when provisioning clusters. The Admin-user defines Cluster Templates, which can be later assigned to other standard users. Cluster Template configurations can include restrictions on resource values like regions, instance types, and cloud credentials so Admins can have more control of infrastructure, security, and add-on configurations to ensure consistency. In addition, Templates can be easily maintained by updating the template Helm charts and adding new versions to an artifact repository.

By standardizing configurations, there are fewer settings users have to worry about, and administrators can guarantee uniformity whether clusters are created through the UI, the API, GitOps, or an automated process. The other benefit of Cluster Templates is that provisioning of misconfigured clusters by end-users simply does not happen anymore in a Kubernetes environment.

Cluster Templates can provide flexibility during the cluster creation phase by allowing Admins to add variable parameters. Parameters can be specified in the Rafay Web Console, or on YAML manifests to provision customizations, such as security options, network configurations, and credentials. In addition, dynamic parameters in a cluster template can manage other settings outside of a cluster template. For example, you can add a placeholder for values like ‘{{ var_name}}’.

Cluster template creation on Rafay is supported in multiple ways:

• Using the Rafay Console UI
• Using the Rafay CLI (RTL)
• Using the Rafay swagger API

Learn more about Cluster Templates in our product documentation and our video showcasing how you can manage cluster templates and easily create clusters using cluster templates using Rafay’s Kubernetes operations platform.

Are you ready to find out why so many enterprises and platform teams have partnered with Rafay for consistent and simplified Kubernetes Operations Management? Sign up for a free trial.