Automated Kubernetes Infrastructure on Azure

“bespinian helped us shape and realize a vision for a modern, standardized and declarative infrastructure setup with a strong focus on Kubernetes and Open Source software”

Cyril Nusko, Software Architect

Customer

Zeilenwerk develops custom software and advises organizations from the private and public sector on the sustainable and human centered digitalization of their processes.

Background

Zeilenwerk’s existing infrastructure setup was scattered across multiple service providers and technologies. As more and bigger applications were realized, it became tedious and costly to maintain this infrastructure. The manual processes and complex configurations required significant time and resources, taking focus away from their core business of software development. It became increasingly clear that the current approach was not sustainable in the long term.

Project Goal

The main objective was to modernize and standardize Zeilenwerk’s infrastructure to reduce costs and operational complexity. One goal was to establish a declarative, automated setup using open-source software that would enable the team to deploy and manage multiple applications efficiently. Another was the standardization of tooling with a clear focus on the Kubernetes ecosystem to reduce complexity and increase the independence from service providers. Together, this would allow Zeilenwerk to focus their resources on delivering value to their customers.

bespinian’s Role

bespinian played a key role in transforming Zeilenwerk’s infrastructure through the following contributions:

Infrastructure Automation with OpenTofu

We automated the provisioning of the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) infrastructure using OpenTofu (an open-source Terraform fork). This included defining all cloud resources as code, enabling reproducible and consistent deployments across environments. The infrastructure as code approach eliminated manual configuration errors and significantly reduced the time required to provision new environments.

Application Deployment with Helm

We implemented Helm-based deployment workflows for Zeilenwerk’s applications, creating reusable charts and establishing best practices for application lifecycle management. This provided a standardized, declarative approach to deploying applications on Kubernetes, making it easy to manage configurations across different environments and applications.

Architecture Simplification

We worked closely with Zeilenwerk to simplify their overall architecture, identifying opportunities to reduce complexity while maintaining functionality. This included consolidating redundant components and establishing clear separation of concerns between infrastructure and application layers.

Knowledge Transfer and Best Practices

Throughout the project, we ensured that Zeilenwerk’s team gained the knowledge and confidence to operate the new infrastructure independently. This included training on Kubernetes, OpenTofu, and Helm best practices, as well as establishing documentation and operational guidelines for ongoing maintenance.

Technologies Used

• Infrastructure: Azure
• Infrastructure as Code: OpenTofu
• Container Platform: Kubernetes (AKS)
• Deployment: Helm
• Monitoring: Grafana