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Alessandro Pomponio from IBM Research explains how his team transformed their chaotic bare-metal clusters into a well-governed, self-service platform for AI and scientific workloads. He walks through their journey from manual cluster interventions to a fully automated GitOps-first architecture using ArgoCD, Kyverno, and Kueue to handle everything from policy enforcement to GPU scheduling. You will learn: * How to implement GitOps workflows that reduce administrative burden while maintaining governance and visibility across multi-tenant research environments * Practical policy enforcement strategies using Kyverno to prevent GPU monopolization, block interactive pod usage, and automatically inject scheduling constraints * Fair resource sharing techniques with Kueue to manage scarce GPU resources across different hardware types while supporting both specific and flexible allocation requests * Organizational change management approaches for gaining stakeholder buy-in, upskilling admin teams, and communicating policy changes to research users Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Testkube—the ultimate Continuous Testing Platform for Cloud Native applications. Scale fast, test continuously, and ship confidently. Check it out at testkube.io [https://ku.bz/lnxYK3s0L] More info * Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/5sK7BFZ-8 [https://ku.bz/5sK7BFZ-8] * Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more. [https://kube.fm/sponsorships]

Mac Chaffee, a platform engineer and security champion, examines why developers often underestimate the complexity of running modern applications and how overconfidence leads to expensive technical mistakes. You will learn: * Why teams reject Kubernetes then rebuild it piece by piece - understanding the psychological factors, like overconfidence, that drive initial rejection of complex but proven tools * How to identify the tipping point when DIY solutions become more complex than adopting established orchestration tools, especially around scaling and high availability challenges * The right approach to abstracting Kubernetes complexity - why hiding the Kubernetes API often backfires and how to build effective guardrails instead of reinventing interfaces * Why mentorship gaps lead to poor technical decisions - how the lack of proper apprenticeship programs in tech results in teams making expensive mistakes when building infrastructure Sponsor This episode is sponsored by LearnKube — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training. [https://learnkube.com/training] More info * Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/9nFPmG85f [https://ku.bz/9nFPmG85f] * Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more. [https://kube.fm/sponsorships]

Marc Campora, a systems consultant with experience in high-throughput platforms, shares his analysis of a real customer deployment with 500+ microservices. He breaks down the cost implications, technical constraints, and operational trade-offs between Kubernetes containers and AWS Lambda functions based on actual production data and migration assessments. You will learn: * Cost analysis frameworks for comparing Lambda vs Kubernetes across different traffic patterns, including specific examples of 3x savings potential and the 80/20 rule for service utilization * Migration complexity factors when moving existing microservices to Lambda, including cold start issues, runtime model changes, and why it's often a complete rewrite rather than a simple port * Decision criteria for choosing between platforms based on traffic consistency, computational requirements, and operational overhead tolerance Sponsor This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training. [https://learnk8s.io/training] More info * Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/5gMTkzLhV [https://ku.bz/5gMTkzLhV] * Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more. [https://kube.fm/sponsorships]

Molly Sheets, Director of Engineering for Kubernetes at Zynga, discusses her team's approach to platform engineering. She explains why their initial one-cluster-per-team model became unsustainable and how they're transitioning to multi-tenant architectures. You will learn: * Why slowing down deployments actually increases risk and how manual approval gates can make systems less resilient than faster, smaller deployments * The operational reality of cluster proliferation - why managing hundreds of clusters becomes unsustainable and when multi-tenancy becomes necessary * Practical multi-tenancy implementation strategies including resource quotas, priority classes, and namespace organization patterns that work in production * Better metrics for multi-tenant environments - why control plane uptime doesn't matter and how to build meaningful SLOs for distributed platform health Sponsor This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training. [https://learnk8s.io/training] More info * Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/Rmpl8948_ [https://ku.bz/Rmpl8948_] * Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more. [https://kube.fm/sponsorships]

A sophisticated GitLab CI/CD pipeline integrated with Argo CD was ultimately rejected in favour of simple FTP deployment, offering crucial insights into the real barriers facing cloud-native adoption in traditional organisations. David Pech, Staff Cloud Ops Engineer at Wrike and holder of all CNCF certifications, shares his experience supporting a PHP team after a company merger. He details how he built a complete cloud-native platform with Kubernetes, Helm charts, and GitOps workflows, only to see it fail against cultural and organizational resistance despite its technical superiority. You will learn: * The hidden costs of sophisticated tooling - How GitOps pipelines with multiple moving parts can create trust issues when developers lose local control and must rely on remote processes they don't understand * Cultural factors that trump technical benefits - Why customer expectations, existing Windows-based infrastructure, and team readiness matter more than the elegance of your Kubernetes solution * Practical strategies for incremental adoption - The importance of starting small, building in-house operational expertise, and ensuring management advocacy at all levels before attempting cloud-native transformations Sponsor This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training. [https://learnk8s.io/training] More info * Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/_MWX5m6G_ [https://ku.bz/_MWX5m6G_] * Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more. [https://kube.fm/sponsorships]