Elevating Cloud Strategies: EKS + an Internal Development Platform

Amazon's Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) stands as a leading choice for deploying Kubernetes-native applications in the cloud, offering a great solution to the inherent complexities of Kubernetes. Despite its advantages, certain organizations struggle with EKS's deployment and operations, citing cost and a perceived lack of features that make it easy to use as the main challenges.

This scenario has prompted enterprises to consider alternative platforms that promise enhanced control over cloud infrastructure costs and operational simplicity.

For IT leaders needing to refine their approach to cloud-native technology, investigating alternatives to EKS might offer insights to what is possible. Choosing the right cloud service is just part of the puzzle. What really makes a difference is having a solid game plan for Platform Engineering.

The integration of a Platform Engineering solution, which includes EKS as a key part, has the potential to dramatically improve cloud deployments. Overlaying an Internal Development Platform (IDP) on top of EKS allows for the orchestration of Kubernetes infrastructure in conjunction with multi-cloud networking, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), security measures, upgrade practices, and observability tools.

Thinking of EKS as part of a broader system with an IDP changes the conversation from whether EKS is the right option to knowing it is an excellent choice. This shift highlights the strategic importance of platform engineering in transforming EKS into a fundamental element of a broader, cloud-native program.

A good cloud native strategy involves the adoption of an IDP, with the integration of GitOps and multi-cluster networking. The move towards an IDP changes the approach of IT leaders from piecing together individual open-source tools into a makeshift, solution—which often comes with considerable time and cost implications—to a more streamlined, efficient method of an implementing an IDP.

The solution to these challenges is KAOPS—Kubernetes Application Operations Platform. KAOPS addresses these issues in several ways: simplifying the management of infrastructure, monitoring applications/infrastructure and offering extensibility. KAOPS's intuitive design enables organizations to quickly become adept at utilizing EKS, along with the added features and functionalities offered by KAOPS – CI/CD, IaC, networking, and observability, etc.

KAOPS's commitment to extensibility through Git positions it as an essential platform for organizations looking to improve their cloud-native operations while ensuring flexibility and adaptability with open-source tools in a single platform.