How to Integrate Kubernetes with Your Internal Development Platform: Self‑Hosted vs Managed

Kubernetes is an open‑source container orchestration system that automates deployment, scaling, and management of applications, and 95% of internal development platforms (IDP) are built on it.

Integrating Kubernetes with Your IDP

Integration is typically done via the cluster’s API, which must be well‑documented. Some IDPs use Infrastructure as Code to apply any changes, isolating clusters into namespaces and updating configurations.

Self‑Hosted vs Managed Kubernetes

There are two main hosting options:

Self‑hosted Kubernetes

Managed Kubernetes services

Self‑Hosted: OpenShift

OpenShift is an enterprise‑ready Kubernetes platform that supports hybrid, multi‑cloud, and edge deployments. It offers well‑documented APIs and security features, but requires significant setup and maintenance effort.

Managed Services

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

Amazon EKS provides a fully managed control plane on AWS, offering high availability and near‑parity with GKE, though its permission model is complex.

Azure AKS enables rapid container deployment and scaling on Azure, continuously adding features, but it is not the top choice for all scenarios.

Google GKE is the managed Kubernetes offering from the creators of Kubernetes, delivering a reliable environment on Google Cloud. It is recommended for its technical robustness, despite automatic updates that can increase maintenance overhead.