This blog offers some guidelines for running a production grade Kubernetes cluster in an environment like an on-premise data center or edge location.

What does it mean to be “production grade”?

The installation is secure
The deployment is managed with a repeatable and recorded process
Performance is predictable and consistent
Updates and configuration changes can be safely applied
Logging and monitoring is in place to detect and diagnose failures and resource shortages
Service is “highly available enough” considering available resources, including constraints on money, physical space, power, etc.
A recovery process is available, documented, and tested for use in the event of failures

In short, production grade means anticipating accidents and preparing for recovery with minimal pain and delay.

This article is directed at on-premise Kubernetes deployments on a hypervisor or bare-metal platform, facing finite backing resources compared to the expansibility of the major public clouds. However, some of these recommendations may also be useful in a public cloud if budget constraints limit the resources you choose to consume.

A single node bare-metal Minikube deployment may be cheap and easy, but is not production grade. Conversely, you’re not likely to achieve Google’s Borg experience in a retail store, branch office, or edge location, nor are you likely to need it.

This blog offers some guidance on achieving a production worthy Kubernetes deployment, even when dealing with some resource constraints.