Preface

Welcome! This is a handy book on using Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to effortlessly deploy and manage your Kubernetes clusters on AWS. With EKS, running Kubernetes on AWS becomes a breeze as you no longer have to worry about the complexity of managing the underlying infrastructure. Kubernetes (K8s) is one the fastest-growing open source projects in the world and is rapidly becoming the de facto container orchestration platform for cloud-native applications.

But for those not familiar with AWS, you might be wondering, “Why is running Kubernetes on AWS challenging?” There are a few factors that can make it difficult. One of the primary issues is configuring and managing the foundational AWS infrastructure, including virtual networks and security groups. Additionally, managing the resources required for a Kubernetes cluster can pose its own set of challenges. Integrating with other AWS services, such as load balancers and storage, can also introduce complexities. However, EKS has enabled many features to make these things easier, so rest assured that with time and effort, you can become proficient in managing a Kubernetes cluster on AWS – and the rewards will be well worth it.

This book looks at the AWS managed EKS service in detail, from its basic architecture and configuration through to advanced use cases such as GitOps or Service Mesh. The book aims to take the reader from a basic understanding of K8s and the AWS platform to being able to create EKS clusters and build and deploy production workloads on them.

Throughout the book, we will dive into various techniques that enable you to optimize your EKS clusters. The coverage spans a wide range of topics, including networking, security, storage, scaling, observability, service mesh, and cluster upgrade strategies. We have structured this book to provide you with a step-by-step guide to mastering EKS on AWS. Each chapter covers a specific topic and includes practical examples, tips, and best practices to help you understand and apply the concepts in real-world scenarios.

Our intention is not only to equip you with the technical skills required for success, but also to foster a deeper understanding of the underlying concepts so that you can apply them to your own unique situations.