This guide covers architectural patterns and best practices for designing and managing large-scale Kubernetes deployments across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Multi-Cluster Architecture Models
Hub and Spoke Model
The hub cluster centrally manages configuration, security policies, and observability for multiple spoke clusters.
┌──────────────┐
│ Hub Cluster │
│ (Admin/Mgmt)│
└───────┬──────┘
│
┌─────────────────┼─────────────────┐
│ │ │
┌──────▼──────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐
│ Spoke │ │ Spoke │ │ Spoke │
│ (Workload) │ │ (Workload) │ │ (Workload) │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
Real-life example: Financial services organization with regulated workloads in separate clusters but unified governance.
Multi-Regional Architecture
Independent cluster instances deployed across regions for data sovereignty and resilience.
┌──────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ US-East Region │ │ Europe Region │ │ APAC Region │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐│ │ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐│ │ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐│
│ │Prod │ │Staging ││ │ │Prod │ │Staging ││ │ │Prod │ │Staging ││
│ │Cluster │ │Cluster ││ │ │Cluster │ │Cluster ││ │ │Cluster │ │Cluster ││
│ └────────┘ └────────┘│ │ └────────┘ └────────┘│ │ └────────┘ └────────┘│
└──────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘
Real-life example: Global SaaS provider maintaining regional data residency while providing uniform service.
Cloud-Specific Implementation Patterns
AWS EKS Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Region │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ AZ-1 │ │ AZ-2 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │Worker Nodes │ │ │ │Worker Nodes │ │ │
│ │ └─────────────┘ │ │ └─────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ EKS Control Plane │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌───────────┐┌──────────┐┌─────────┐┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ AWS ALB ││ AWS ECR ││Route 53 ││ CloudWatch Logs │ │
│ └───────────┘└──────────┘└─────────┘└─────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Best Practices:
Use EKS add-ons for CNI, CoreDNS, and kube-proxy
Leverage AWS Load Balancer Controller for ALB/NLB integration
Use Node Groups with Auto Scaling Groups
Implement dedicated VPC endpoints for ECR, S3, and other AWS services
Configure AWS IAM for Kubernetes RBAC integration
Real-life considerations:
ALB for ingress offers native integrations with AWS WAF and Shield
Use Cluster Autoscaler with multiple node groups for cost optimization
Auto-scaling with Karpenter provides faster node provisioning
Azure AKS Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Region │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ AZ-1 │ │ AZ-2 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Node Pools │ │ │ │ Node Pools │ │ │
│ │ └─────────────┘ │ │ └─────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ AKS Control Plane │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌───────────────┐┌─────────────┐┌──────────────────────┐│
│ │Azure App Gtwy ││ Azure Cont. ││ Azure Monitor ││
│ │ ││ Registry ││ Container Insights ││
│ └───────────────┘└─────────────┘└──────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Best Practices:
Enable managed identity and RBAC integration
Implement Azure CNI networking for enterprise-scale deployments
Use separate node pools for system and application workloads
Configure CSI drivers for Azure Disk and File storage
Leverage Azure Policy for AKS
Real-life considerations:
Application Gateway Ingress Controller for WAF capabilities
Azure Container Registry with geo-replication for multi-region deployments
Use Virtual Node (with Azure Container Instances) for burst workloads
GCP GKE Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Region │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Zone A │ │ Zone B │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Node Pools │ │ │ │ Node Pools │ │ │
│ │ └─────────────┘ │ │ └─────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ GKE Control Plane │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐┌─────────────┐┌───────────────────────┐ │
│ │Cloud Load ││ Container ││ Cloud Monitoring │ │
│ │Balancing ││ Registry ││ & Logging │ │
│ └─────────────┘└─────────────┘└───────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Best Practices:
Use GKE Autopilot for simplified operations
Enable GKE Standard clusters with node auto-provisioning
Implement Workload Identity for secure GCP API access
Configure Cloud NAT for private GKE clusters
Use Binary Authorization for supply chain security
Real-life considerations:
Multi-cluster ingress and service mesh with Cloud Service Mesh
GKE Enterprise for enhanced multi-cluster management
Container-Optimized OS for improved security posture
Multi-Cloud Kubernetes Architecture
For organizations operating across multiple clouds, these patterns enable consistent management:
Fleet Management Approach
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Central Management Plane │
│ │
│ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ │
│ │GitOps System │ │Fleet Manager │ │Centralized │ │
│ │(Flux/ArgoCD) │ │(e.g., Rancher)│ │Observability │ │
│ └───────┬───────┘ └───────┬───────┘ └────────┬───────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ AWS EKS │ │ Azure AKS │ │ Google GKE │
│ Clusters │ │ Clusters │ │ Clusters │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
Implementation strategies:
Unified configuration repository with environment-specific overlays
Federation layer for cross-cluster service discovery
Standardized CRDs across all clusters
Central identity management with federation to cloud IAM systems
Common observability and alerting platform
Network Architecture Models
Multi-Tier Network Security Model
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ingress Tier │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │WAF & DDoS Protection │ │
│ └────────────────┬─────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌────────────────▼─────────────────────┐ │
│ │API Gateway / Ingress Controller │ │
│ └────────────────┬─────────────────────┘ │
└──────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────▼─────────────────────────┐
│ Service Mesh │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │mTLS Encryption │ │
│ │Traffic Management │ │
│ │Service-to-Service Authorization │ │
│ └────────────────┬─────────────────────┘ │
└──────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────▼─────────────────────────┐
│ Pod Security │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │Pod Security Policies/Standards │ │
│ │Network Policies │ │
│ │Runtime Security │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Implementation components:
AWS: ALB + AWS Shield + WAF + AppMesh/Istio + Calico
Azure: App Gateway + Azure Firewall + Istio/Linkerd + Azure CNI + Calico
GCP: Cloud Load Balancer + Cloud Armor + Anthos Service Mesh + Calico
Storage Architecture Best Practices
Data-Intensive Workload Architecture
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Stateful Application Deployment │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ StatefulSet │ │ Operator-managed DB │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌────────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │PVC Templates│ │ │ │Custom Resource Def.│ │ │
│ │ └─────┬──────┘ │ │ └──────────┬──────────┘ │ │
│ └───────┼─────────────────┘ └────────────┼────────────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ ┌───────▼──────────────────────────────────▼──────────────┐│
│ │ Storage Class Abstraction ││
│ └─────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
│ │ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ Cloud Provider Storage Integration │
│ │ │
│ │ AWS: EBS, EFS, FSx Azure: Disk, Files GCP: PD │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Cloud-specific recommendations:
AWS: Use gp3 volumes for general workloads, io2 for high-performance databases
Azure: Use Premium SSD v2 for dynamic scaling of performance
GCP: Use Regional Persistent Disks for high-availability storage
Multi-Tenancy Models
Hard Multi-tenancy
Separate clusters for each tenant ensure complete isolation.
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│Tenant A Cluster │ │Tenant B Cluster │ │Tenant C Cluster │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
│ │ │
┌───────▼───────────────────▼────────────────────▼───────┐
│ Central Management Plane │
│ (Configuration, Monitoring, Security Policy, Billing) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Soft Multi-tenancy
Namespace-based isolation within a shared cluster.
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Shared Cluster │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │Namespace A │ │Namespace B │ │Namespace C │ │
│ │(Tenant A) │ │(Tenant B) │ │(Tenant C) │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │
│ │ │Resource │ │ │ │Resource │ │ │ │Resource │ │ │
│ │ │Quotas │ │ │ │Quotas │ │ │ │Quotas │ │ │
│ │ └─────────┘ │ │ └─────────┘ │ │ └─────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │
│ │ │Network │ │ │ │Network │ │ │ │Network │ │ │
│ │ │Policies │ │ │ │Policies │ │ │ │Policies │ │ │
│ │ └─────────┘ │ │ └─────────┘ │ │ └─────────┘ │ │
│ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Implementation tools:
Hierarchical namespace controller
Network policies with advanced CNI implementations
OPA Gatekeeper or Kyverno for policy enforcement
ResourceQuotas and LimitRanges
Control Plane Scaling Considerations
API Server Scaling
Maximum number of clusters:
AWS EKS: 100 clusters per region per account (soft limit)
Azure AKS: 1000 clusters per subscription (soft limit)
GCP GKE: 50 clusters per project (soft limit)
Maximum nodes per cluster:
API server recommendations:
Implement efficient watch caches
Use server-side filtering of list requests
Optimize etcd for large clusters
Consider specialized control plane scaling for >5000 nodes
Disaster Recovery Architecture
Multi-Region Active-Passive Pattern
┌─────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Primary Region │ │ Secondary Region │
│ │ │ │
│ ┌─────────────────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Active K8s Cluster │ │ │ │ Passive K8s Cluster │ │
│ └─────────┬───────────┘ │ │ └─────────┬───────────┘ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ ┌─────────▼───────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────▼───────────┐ │
│ │Database Primary │◄├─Sync/Async─┤Database Replica │ │
│ └─────────────────────┘ │ │ └─────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘
│ ▲
│ │
│ ┌───────────────┐ │
└────────►│ Global Load │◄────────┘
│ Balancer │
└───────────────┘
Recovery strategies:
Regular etcd snapshots with cross-region backup
GitOps-driven configuration ensures consistent redeployment
Stateful data replication with appropriate consistency models
DNS or global load balancer for traffic redirection
Cost Optimization Architecture
Cost-Efficient Node Design
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Kubernetes Cluster │
│ │
│ ┌────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐ │
│ │ System Node Pool │ │ General Workload │ │
│ │ (On-demand) │ │ (Spot/Preemptible)│ │
│ └────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Memory-Optimized │ │ Compute-Optimized │ │
│ │ (Critical DBs) │ │ (Batch Processing)│ │
│ └────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Cloud-specific recommendations:
AWS: Mix Spot Instances with On-Demand and Savings Plans
Azure: Use Spot VMs with AKS and Azure Reservations
GCP: Combine Spot VMs with Committed Use Discounts
Optimization techniques:
Cluster autoscaler with scale-down rules
Pod Priority and Preemption for critical workloads
Right-sizing deployments with VPA
Implement node auto-provisioning
Schedule non-critical batch jobs during off-peak hours
References