Platform teams aim to establish common standards across organizations while enabling developer autonomy through internal developer platforms (IDPs), but this can impede innovation.
In Kubernetes-native development, balancing standardization and freedom often hinges on the architectural decisions of platform teams regarding workload execution.
A multitenant Kubernetes architecture with virtual clusters can preserve autonomy while upholding norms, allowing platform engineers to go beyond typical solutions.
Single-tenant architectures with multiple clusters per team are costly and limit autonomy, while Kubernetes multitenancy via shared clusters can hinder autonomy and self-service.
Virtual clusters introduce a compromise, virtualizing Kubernetes to offer autonomy within a controlled framework, enhancing platform engineering success.
Platform teams can grant tenants virtual clusters, granting autonomy as cluster admins without compromising organizational consistency.
Virtual cluster multitenancy combines standardization, security, and autonomy, reducing the number of traditional clusters needed for operations.
This approach empowers developers with experimentation opportunities inside virtual clusters while maintaining strict isolation and security.
By adopting innovative solutions like virtual clusters, platform builders can enhance developer productivity and ensure application security in complex systems.
The shift towards smarter approaches, such as virtual clusters, in platform engineering is crucial for fostering innovation and productivity while maintaining consistency.