Kubernetes

ForgeRock Blue-Green Deployment is a strategy using two identical production environments to minimize downtime during upgrades. This method allows you to deploy new versions of your application with minimal risk and disruption to your users. What is Blue-Green Deployment? Blue-Green Deployment involves running two identical production environments, referred to as “blue” and “green.” While one environment (blue) handles live traffic, the other (green) is idle. After deploying updates to the green environment and validating them, you switch traffic from blue to green. This process ensures that there is always a stable environment available to handle requests, thus minimizing downtime. ...

Kubernetes Operators have become a cornerstone in the modern cloud-native landscape, offering a powerful way to manage complex stateful applications and custom resources. By leveraging the Operator pattern, developers can encapsulate domain-specific knowledge into reusable components, enabling declarative management of Kubernetes resources. In this article, we’ll delve into the intricacies of managing custom resources with Kubernetes Operators, exploring their architecture, benefits, and best practices. Visual Overview: graph LR subgraph "CI/CD Pipeline" Code[Code Commit] --> Build[Build] Build --> Test[Test] Test --> Security[Security Scan] Security --> Deploy[Deploy] Deploy --> Monitor[Monitor] end style Code fill:#667eea,color:#fff style Security fill:#f44336,color:#fff style Deploy fill:#4caf50,color:#fff Understanding Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) At the heart of Kubernetes Operators lies the Custom Resource Definition (CRD). A CRD allows you to extend the Kubernetes API by creating custom resource types that encapsulate the desired state of your application or system. For instance, if you’re managing a distributed database, you might define a DatabaseCluster CRD to represent the desired state of your database deployment. ...

In the dynamic world of container orchestration, Kubernetes stands out as a leader, offering scalability and flexibility for modern applications. However, with this complexity comes the need for effective observability—centralized logging and monitoring are essential components. This blog post will guide you through the implementation of a comprehensive logging and monitoring system for your Kubernetes cluster. Visual Overview: graph TB subgraph "Kubernetes Cluster" subgraph "Control Plane" API[API Server] ETCD[(etcd)] Scheduler[Scheduler] Controller[Controller Manager] end subgraph "Worker Nodes" Pod1[Pod] Pod2[Pod] Pod3[Pod] end API --> ETCD API --> Scheduler API --> Controller API --> Pod1 API --> Pod2 API --> Pod3 end style API fill:#667eea,color:#fff style ETCD fill:#764ba2,color:#fff Introduction to Centralized Logging and Monitoring Centralized logging and monitoring in Kubernetes involve collecting, storing, and analyzing logs and metrics from all components within your cluster. This setup allows you to gain insights into system health, troubleshoot issues, and ensure compliance. ...

Visual Overview: graph LR subgraph JWT Token A[Header] --> B[Payload] --> C[Signature] end A --> D["{ alg: RS256, typ: JWT }"] B --> E["{ sub, iss, exp, iat, ... }"] C --> F["HMACSHA256(base64(header) + base64(payload), secret)"] style A fill:#667eea,color:#fff style B fill:#764ba2,color:#fff style C fill:#f093fb,color:#fff Introduction: Why IAM Matters in Kubernetes and OpenShift In the modern DevSecOps era, Identity and Access Management (IAM) is no longer a secondary concern—it is foundational. As container orchestration becomes central to enterprise cloud strategies, the ability to control who can access which resources, and under what conditions, becomes critical. ...

Visual Overview: graph LR subgraph "CI/CD Pipeline" Code[Code Commit] --> Build[Build] Build --> Test[Test] Test --> Security[Security Scan] Security --> Deploy[Deploy] Deploy --> Monitor[Monitor] end style Code fill:#667eea,color:#fff style Security fill:#f44336,color:#fff style Deploy fill:#4caf50,color:#fff Introduction As cloud-native development becomes the backbone of modern software delivery, two container orchestration platforms dominate enterprise adoption: Kubernetes and OpenShift. While Kubernetes is the de facto open-source standard, OpenShift—Red Hat’s enterprise-ready Kubernetes distribution—offers an integrated, opinionated stack for security, developer experience, and multi-cloud deployment. ...

deploying-15b60113.webp alt: “Helm for Java Microservices: Packaging & Deploying Made Easy” relative: false In the rapidly evolving landscape of cloud-native development, Java microservices have become a cornerstone of modern applications. However, the complexity of packaging and deploying these services on Kubernetes can be daunting. Enter Helm, a powerful tool that streamlines the process of packaging, configuring, and deploying applications on Kubernetes. In this blog post, we’ll explore how Helm can make your Java microservices deployment process more efficient and scalable. ...

I’ve destroyed production twice by manually clicking through AWS IAM console to update Kubernetes cluster permissions. After rebuilding everything with Terraform, we haven’t had a single IAM-related outage in 18 months. Managing Kubernetes alongside IAM policies using Infrastructure as Code isn’t just best practice—it’s the difference between controlled deployments and 3 AM emergencies. Visual Overview: flowchart TB subgraph "Terraform + Kubernetes IAM" TF["Terraform"] --> EKS["EKS Cluster"] TF --> IAM["IAM Roles"] subgraph "IAM Roles" ClusterRole["Cluster Role"] NodeRole["Node Role"] PodRole["Pod Role (IRSA)"] end EKS --> OIDC["OIDC Provider"] OIDC --> PodRole NodeRole --> Nodes["Worker Nodes"] PodRole --> Pods["Application Pods"] end style TF fill:#667eea,color:#fff style EKS fill:#ed8936,color:#fff style OIDC fill:#764ba2,color:#fff style PodRole fill:#48bb78,color:#fff Why This Matters According to the 2024 State of DevOps Report, teams using IaC like Terraform deploy 46x more frequently with 440x faster lead times. When it comes to Kubernetes and IAM specifically, manual configuration errors account for 63% of security incidents (Gartner Cloud Security Report 2024). I’ve helped 30+ enterprises migrate from ClickOps to Terraform for K8s/IAM management, and the results are consistent: fewer outages, faster deployments, and audit-ready infrastructure. ...

I’ve set up 50+ GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines deploying to Kubernetes. Most teams spend weeks debugging permission issues, image pull errors, and failed deployments. Here’s what actually works in production. Visual Overview: graph LR subgraph "CI/CD Pipeline" Code[Code Commit] --> Build[Build] Build --> Test[Test] Test --> Security[Security Scan] Security --> Deploy[Deploy] Deploy --> Monitor[Monitor] end style Code fill:#667eea,color:#fff style Security fill:#f44336,color:#fff style Deploy fill:#4caf50,color:#fff Why This Matters According to the 2024 State of DevOps Report, teams with mature CI/CD practices deploy 46x more frequently with 7x lower change failure rates. Yet I’ve seen teams abandon Kubernetes deployments after hitting GitHub Actions’ notorious “ImagePullBackOff” errors and RBAC nightmares. ...

Visual Overview: graph TB subgraph "Microservices Authentication" Client[Client] --> Gateway[API Gateway] Gateway --> Auth[Auth Service] Auth --> TokenStore[(Token Store)] Gateway --> ServiceA[Service A] Gateway --> ServiceB[Service B] Gateway --> ServiceC[Service C] ServiceA --> ServiceB ServiceB --> ServiceC end style Gateway fill:#667eea,color:#fff style Auth fill:#764ba2,color:#fff In today’s fast-paced digital environment, deploying Java microservices on Kubernetes has become a cornerstone for building scalable, resilient, and efficient applications. This guide will walk you through the process of deploying highly available Java microservices on Kubernetes, ensuring your applications are robust and capable of handling increased traffic and potential failures. ...

Visual Overview: graph LR subgraph JWT Token A[Header] --> B[Payload] --> C[Signature] end A --> D["{ alg: RS256, typ: JWT }"] B --> E["{ sub, iss, exp, iat, ... }"] C --> F["HMACSHA256(base64(header) + base64(payload), secret)"] style A fill:#667eea,color:#fff style B fill:#764ba2,color:#fff style C fill:#f093fb,color:#fff Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestration, enabling organizations to deploy, scale, and manage containerized applications with ease. As applications grow in complexity and scale, the need for robust identity and access management (IAM) solutions becomes critical. OpenID Connect (OIDC), an extension of OAuth 2.0, provides a secure and standardized way to authenticate and authorize users and services. In this blog post, we will explore how to integrate Kubernetes with OIDC tokens for seamless automation, enabling secure and efficient workflows. ...