8 posts tagged with "Platform"

Many startups begin with one application and a hosted deployment service. That is usually the right decision. The team can ship without first building networking, deployment automation, or an operations layer.

The requirements change as the company adds services, environments, enterprise customers, private networking, and infrastructure ownership. The team still needs a short path to production, but the applications now need to run in infrastructure the company controls.

AstroPulse gives growing engineering teams a repeatable path from code to production in infrastructure they control, without requiring them to build the platform themselves.

From code in the editor to a healthy application, with one platform reused across multiple services.

Three ways to follow along. Each step below leads with the console walkthrough, with the CLI and AI equivalents in the tabs underneath:

• Console: point and click; the walkthroughs below are the real UI.
• CLI: astroctl …, copy-paste ready.
• AI: ask Nova in the console, or connect your editor's assistant to the AstroPulse MCP (platform.astropulse.io/mcp) and describe what you want. For building an image straight from a repo, the astro-deploy MCP does that too.

Before you start: one cluster with cloud identity​

You need exactly one thing: a Kubernetes cluster connected to AstroPulse, running with the cloud's own identity — IRSA on AWS, Workload Identity on GCP/Azure. That identity is what lets ExternalDNS manage DNS and cert-manager solve ACME challenges without ever handling a cloud credential.

The easy path is to let AstroPulse provision the cluster. It wires that identity up for you:

$ # one-time: connect your cloud account
astroctl cloud aws connect --account-id 123456789012 --region us-east-1 --cluster-name prod

# provision the cluster — IRSA / Workload Identity is set up automatically
astroctl infra k8s apply -f cluster.yaml

$ astroctl infra k8s register --cluster-name my-cluster

Step 1: Install the three add-ons​

On your cluster's Add-ons tab, choose Install Add-on and pick from the catalog. Each installs with production-sensible defaults; you tune only what matters.

• NGINX Ingress: routes public traffic. The default terminates TLS at the ingress (there's a passthrough option for backends that terminate their own). On a cloud cluster it comes up behind a real LoadBalancer with the right provider annotations already set.
• cert-manager: issues and renews TLS certificates. Turn on Create a Let's Encrypt ClusterIssuer and add a contact email for real, auto-renewing public certificates, with no manual cert wrangling.
• ExternalDNS: publishes DNS records for your apps. Pick your DNS provider and set the domain filter to your zone (e.g. example.com). It uses the cluster identity from the prerequisite step, so no keys are ever stored.

$ astroctl infra k8s addons apply -f nginx-ingress.yaml
astroctl infra k8s addons apply -f cert-manager.yaml
astroctl infra k8s addons apply -f external-dns.yaml
astroctl infra k8s addons get prod        # all add-ons + health

Installed together, they compose into automatic, production-grade HTTPS: cert-manager solves the ACME challenge through NGINX, ExternalDNS creates the DNS record, and NGINX terminates TLS at the edge with the issued certificate. Certificates renew themselves.

Step 2: Verify your domain, once​

In Settings → Domains, add a domain you control and publish the TXT record it shows you. Once it verifies, every internet-facing app can serve on it, on a hostname you choose (shop.example.com) or an auto-generated one.

$ astroctl domain add example.com      # prints the TXT record to publish
astroctl domain verify example.com   # run once DNS has propagated

See Custom Domains for the details.

Step 3: Deploy a container image on your domain​

Custom domains attach to Container Image applications; that's the exposure model. Here's a ready-made image so you can watch the whole thing light up:

1. Deploy Application → Container Image, image astropulse/latency:v1.0.0.
2. Under External access, pick your verified domain and a hostname (or leave it blank to auto-generate <app>-<id>.example.com).
3. Deploy.

Within a minute or two the app is running, its DNS record and TLS certificate are created for you, and it's live on https://<your-host>.example.com.

$ cat <<'EOF' | astroctl app apply -f -
apiVersion: platform.astropulse.io/v1
kind: Application
spec:
name: latency-demo
profileName: <YOUR_PROFILE_NAME>   # list: astroctl app profile get
source:
  type: image
  image:
    registry: docker.io
    repository: astropulse/latency
    tag: v1.0.0
externalAccess:
  domain: example.com              # verified domain → latency-demo-<id>.example.com
EOF

Test it locally: no cloud needed​

Want to validate the wiring before touching a cloud account? The whole flow runs on a local kind cluster, with a few local swaps:

• NGINX: install it with Expose via NodePort (Advanced settings). kind has no cloud LoadBalancer, so the controller is reachable on a node port instead. That's the only local-vs-cloud difference.
• cert-manager: enable a self-signed ClusterIssuer: no ACME account, no public DNS, no email. It's Ready offline, which is all you need to prove the TLS path.
• ExternalDNS: skip it locally; it needs a real cloud DNS zone.

Deploy any container image with an ingressClassName: nginx Ingress and it's reachable through NGINX exactly as it would be through a cloud LoadBalancer in production. Full steps are in the add-on docs' local testing section.

The point​

The blueprint still stands if you want to own every piece. But the ingress, TLS, and DNS plumbing is now something AstroPulse installs, keeps healthy, and upgrades for you, reachable from a console, a CLI, or a sentence to your AI. Push an image, get a live URL on your own domain with real HTTPS. That's the whole idea.

When I started AstroPulse, the problem was easy to name and hard to live with: teams moving to the cloud were drowning in tools. Every provider had its own consoles, its own primitives, its own way to deploy an app and stand up a cluster. The work that mattered, shipping software, kept getting buried under the work of operating it.

I wanted one place to deploy an application and run a cluster, on any cloud, without learning five different platforms first. That was the beginning. Everything since has been built on top of that one idea, one layer at a time.

Six months in as platform lead and you have a spreadsheet you haven't shown your manager. Eleven Kubernetes clusters. EKS for production. GKE for the ML team. Two on-prem clusters behind the firewall that predate your tenure. A handful of Kind clusters developers spun up locally. Each one has its own deployment pipeline, its own credentials rotation process, its own way of answering "is this service healthy?"

Your team isn't building features anymore. You're maintaining eleven slightly different versions of the same tooling.

astroctl infra k8s register --name my-cluster

Introduction​

You want the simplicity of "push code, get a live URL"—the developer experience Vercel pioneered—but with full control over your deployment, infrastructure, and compliance. This guide shows you how to build that experience on your own AWS infrastructure using AstroPulse and open-source tools: kpack, cert-manager, external-dns, and nginx-ingress.

You'll build a production-grade platform that delivers Git-push deployments with automatic TLS certificates, preview URLs, and complete observability—all running on infrastructure you own and control. Unlike hosted PaaS platforms, you'll be building on Kubernetes with full deployment control. That means you can run any workload: microservices (with or without public endpoints), stateful databases, WebSockets, long-running background jobs, AI/ML model training and serving, or traditional web applications in any language. You get the simple developer experience with complete architectural control.

How operations work: The infrastructure industry is moving toward an agentic era—AI agents autonomously handling complex workflows (MCP, A2A, multi-agent orchestration). We're heading toward infrastructure that self-configures, self-heals, and self-optimizes. We're not there yet, but Nova brings you AI-assisted operations today with human-in-the-loop. Day 1 (this guide): You build the platform. Day 2 (ongoing): Nova analyzes issues, diagnoses problems, recommends fixes—you approve. As AI matures, more becomes autonomous.

Platform engineering represents the natural evolution of DevOps and SRE principles, but it faces a fundamental challenge: how do you scale platform expertise across an entire organization without requiring every developer to become a cloud expert?

This is where Nova comes in — your AI platform engineer that makes infrastructure accessible to everyone through natural conversation.

The Platform Engineering Challenge: Scale vs. Expertise​

Platform engineering promised to solve the "you build it, you run it" scaling problem by creating Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs). But even the best platforms face fundamental limitations:

Enter Nova: Your AI Platform Engineer​

Nova is an AI platform engineer that helps you manage infrastructure through natural conversation. Ask questions, get answers, generate configurations, and troubleshoot issues — all through simple chat.

What makes Nova different:

• Works with your existing tools (Slack, GitHub, AWS, Terraform, Kubernetes, and more)
• Available however you want to work — browser, self-hosted, or in your editor
• Extensible through Skills and MCP integrations

What Can Nova Do?​

Example conversations:

• "How much would 10 t3.medium instances cost per month in us-west-2?"
• "Generate Terraform for an EKS cluster with autoscaling"
• "Why is my pod crashing in the production namespace?"
• "Create a Helm chart for a Node.js app with Redis"

Three Ways to Use Nova​

Nova is available however you prefer to work:

Nova Cloud​

Zero setup — just start chatting.

Go to Open Nova → and start asking questions. We handle everything.

• Full access to all Skills (Slack, GitHub, AWS, Terraform, and more)
• Conversation history and cross-device sync
• No installation required

Nova Direct​

Self-hosted with complete control.

Run Nova on your infrastructure via Docker. Your data and runtime stay in your environment.

• Browser-based local interface
• MCP Marketplace to add integrations
• Add any MCP servers you need
• Air-gapped environment support

Nova Connect​

Nova in your favorite editor.

Use Nova through the hosted remote MCP endpoint in tools like Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, and other OAuth-capable MCP clients.

• Hosted remote MCP for editor and CLI clients
• Managed sign-in through the hosted OAuth flow
• Same Nova capabilities in your development workflow

Extensible by Design​

Nova's power comes from its extensibility. Connect the tools you already use:

Available Skills:

• Cloud Providers — AWS, Google Cloud, Azure cost calculations and resource management
• Communication — Slack integration for team collaboration
• Development — GitHub for code search, issues, and PRs
• Infrastructure — Terraform and Helm configuration generation
• Kubernetes — Cluster management and troubleshooting
• And more — Add any MCP server for custom integrations

The Vision: Platform Engineering for Everyone​

The evolution from DevOps → SRE → Platform Engineering → AI-Assisted Platform Engineering represents more than technological progress — it's about democratizing expertise that has historically been scarce and expensive.

Get Started​

Welcome to our technical deep-dive podcast where we explore how Astro Platform is transforming cloud infrastructure management. Join us as we discuss the challenges, solutions, and future of cloud computing with industry experts.

Episode Highlights​

The Cloud Evolution​

According to Gartner's prediction highlighted in our discussion, by 2025, over 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms, up from 30% in 2021. This dramatic shift underscores the urgency for efficient cloud management solutions.

Key Challenges Addressed​

• Multiple tool management across different cloud providers
• Complex Kubernetes orchestration
• Resource optimization and cost management
• Security and compliance maintenance

Astro Platform Solutions​

1. Unified Management Interface

   • Single dashboard for all cloud providers
   • Simplified Kubernetes cluster management
   • Integrated monitoring and logging

2. Cost Optimization with AI

   • Resource usage analysis
   • Automated scaling recommendations
   • Potential savings of up to $320,000 annually for mid-sized enterprises

3. Security and Future-Proofing

   • Proactive security measures
   • Adaptable architecture for emerging technologies
   • Support for serverless computing integration

Additional Resources​

For those interested in exploring topics discussed in this episode:

• Cloud Operations Guide
• Cost Optimization Strategies
• GitHub Repository

In my journey through the cloud infrastructure landscape, I've encountered a recurring challenge: businesses transitioning from traditional on-premises solutions to public clouds often struggle with managing application deployments and Kubernetes cluster configurations. The existing cloud ecosystem, with its numerous providers and disparate tools, lacks unification, making it difficult to master each platform. These complexities can be overwhelming, detracting from innovation and growth.

At AstroPulse, we recognized these critical pain points and developed the Astro Platform to simplify and unify the management of applications and clusters. By bringing everything under one streamlined service, Astro Platform eliminates the need to juggle different tools and platforms, reducing the learning curve and enabling businesses to maintain agility, enhance operational efficiency, and focus on their core mission of innovation. The platform integrates our Nova capabilities to provide intelligent insights and recommendations, making your cloud infrastructure both powerful and intuitive. Additionally, Astro Platform simplifies the management of multi-cloud vendor environments, supporting both managed and self-hosted Kubernetes clusters.

Why Choose Astro Platform?​

Our platform simplifies the deployment and management of applications through an intuitive use of YAML, Helm charts, or our tailored Astro Application resource abstraction. This approach not only supports a range of application types—stateless and stateful—but also integrates seamlessly into your existing workflows.

Intelligent Deployment with Nova​

Astro Platform, enhanced by Nova, revolutionizes how you deploy and manage applications in the cloud. Nova analyzes your deployment patterns, infrastructure usage, and application behavior to provide intelligent recommendations that optimize performance, scalability, and reliability.

Our platform supports multiple deployment methods, giving you the flexibility to use what works best for your workflow:

YAML Configuration Examples​

profileName: dev-profile-aws
clusterName: aws-us-west2.k8s.local

name: hello-world
profileName: dev-profile
source:
type: image
image:
 registry: docker.io
 repository: astropulse/latency
 tag: v1.0.0

name: cert-manager
profileName: dev-cluster
source:
type: helm
helm: 
  repo: 
    repoURL: https://charts.jetstack.io
    chartVersion: v1.14.5
    chartName: cert-manager
  values:
   type: object
   object: {} # any values.yaml property

name: foo-control-plane
profileName: dev-cluster
source:
type: repository
repository: 
  repo: 
    path: charts/foo-control-plane
    repoURL: git@github.com:astropulseinc/astro-platform-apps.git
    targetBranch: main
  values:
   type: files
   files:
   - ../values/foo-control-plane.yaml # relative path based on the repo.path

name: kafka-cluster
profileName: dev-cluster
namespace: foo-namespace
source:
type: yaml
yaml: 
  repo: 
    path: resources/foo
    repoURL: https://github.com/astropulseinc/astro-platform-apps.git
    targetBranch: main
  exclude: "*.md"

Nova analyzes these configurations in real-time, suggesting optimizations, catching potential issues before deployment, and learning from your usage patterns to provide increasingly personalized recommendations.

One of the standout features of Astro Platform is its ability to manage multiple Kubernetes clusters effortlessly. Our management tool, astroctl, provides a comprehensive view across all deployments, allowing you to monitor logs, events, and application statuses irrespective of the specific cluster or cloud provider they reside on. This unified pipeline significantly reduces the complexities associated with managing diverse cloud environments.

$ astroctl infra k8s get -p aws
dev-stack-aws.k8s.local
prod-stack-aws.k8s.local
test-stack-aws.k8s.local

But what truly sets Astro Platform apart is its advanced capability to support direct use of the kubectl command by retrieving the kubeconfig file. With a simple command, you can pull the kubeconfig of any cluster running on any public cloud provider.

$ astroctl infra k8s set-context dev-stack-aws.k8s.local
fetched kubeconfig
kubeconfig entry generated for cluster: dev-stack-aws.k8s.local

This powerful feature allows for straightforward debugging and troubleshooting. For instance, one of our clients resolved a critical deployment issue within minutes using this feature, significantly reducing downtime and boosting their team's productivity.