Matthew LeRay Co-founder CTO at Speedscale shares three significant trends shaping Kubernetes:

1. eBPF for kernel-level traffic inspection — now being adopted by Istio and Envoy for next-generation sidecars.
2. Virtual Clusters and API Gateways to support hyperscale production workloads.
3. The ongoing challenge of running databases and persistent storage in Kubernetes — a problem that remains unsolved.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/QNbB-vJkM

Lior Lieberman, SRE at Google, discusses concrete applications of AI in Kubernetes.

He highlights Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) for GPU allocation and the recently launched Gateway Inference Extension that improves throughput through smart routing to pods with correct load adapters. Looking forward, he envisions AI tools for right-sizing workloads (potentially replacing VPA and HPA), debugging tools, and advanced anomaly detection that could identify backend issues in 400-level errors that are typically ignored in SLO calculations.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/xTk6Wswjd

This interview is a reaction to Brian Grant's episode https://ku.bz/_ZLj6ZV-9

This interview is brought to you by Akamai Cloud — build and deliver low-latency, edge native applications on the world's most distributed cloud computing platform. https://ku.bz/vpgt3zXMs

Hillai Ben-Sasson and Ronen Shustin, Security Researchers at Wiz, explain how gaining code execution on a node can allow attackers to exploit kubelet credentials to access sensitive cluster resources.

This issue highlights the risks of overly powerful service accounts, even on isolated nodes, as they can inadvertently expose sensitive data from other customers.

Watch the full episode: https://ku.bz/yr16qNTFx

Alex Chircop, Chief Architect at Akamai Technologies, makes a strong case for running stateful workloads in Kubernetes.

He highlights how this approach delivers key benefits, including automation, observability, security policies, automated failover, and management at scale. Alex references a recent talk showcasing real-world examples using CNCF projects like Cloud Native PG for complex topology deployments with replication and disaster recovery and TiKV, which demonstrated impressive performance (1 million RPS on a small cluster).

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/4ldT_whNy

This interview is a reaction to David Pech's episode https://ku.bz/rGMF2ktdb

Itiel Shwartz, Co-Founder & CTO at Komodor, shares his perspective on how Kubernetes will evolve beyond container orchestration.

He predicts that in five years, Kubernetes will become so dominant that it will fade into the background of technology stacks, similar to how Linux operates today. While container orchestration forms the foundation, the focus will shift toward providing developers with optimal platforms for implementing business logic rather than the underlying Kubernetes infrastructure.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/-DHYgGcr7

This interview is a reaction to Calin Florescu's episode https://ku.bz/mcPtH5395

Shahar Azulay, Co-Founder and CEO at groundcover, discusses how Kubernetes needs to evolve in its second decade.

He points out that Kubernetes is still not fully mature in resource utilization and monitoring, with many organizations adopting it in anticipation of future scaling needs rather than current expertise. Shahar predicts Kubernetes will increasingly integrate native solutions for monitoring and security, moving beyond just cluster orchestration to incorporate resource utilization, cost monitoring, observability, and security as built-in features rather than requiring add-ons.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/qt-j8gMlS

This week on Learn Kubernetes Weekly 143:

🤔 Can a Simple 4-Core, 16 GB RAM Machine Reach 1000 TPS?
🧢 Cap or no cap
🔙 Reclaiming Idle GPUs in Kubernetes: A Practical Approach (and a Call for Ideas!)
💰 How We Saved $1.22 Million Annually on GCP Costs in a Few Simple Steps
🕰️ Inside Kubernetes Scheduler: What really happens before your pod lands on a node

Read it now: https://learnkube.com/issues/143

⭐️ This newsletter is brought to you by LearnKube — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person, or remote training https://learnkube.com/training

Guy Baron, Co-Founder & CTO at ScaleOps, explains how organizations can help developers who aren't Kubernetes experts handle pod-level optimization.

He points to the historical pattern of software evolution toward higher levels of abstraction as the solution. Guy describes the emergence of platforms that hide the complexity of Kubernetes while automating resource management and workload settings. His vision focuses on encapsulating infrastructure concerns in platforms while exposing developers to higher-level abstractions about their workloads, cluster dynamics, and traffic patterns.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/5lHPB5p3w

This interview is a reaction to Kensei Nakada's episode https://ku.bz/bRd0243xQ

Andrew Hillier, Co-Founder & CTO at Densify, discusses how AI workloads are increasingly running on Kubernetes.

He observes that while customers use some as-a-service offerings, many AI workloads are landing in Kubernetes, particularly inferencing with some training workloads. Andrew explains that cost optimization becomes even more critical when GPUs are involved. He highlights how optimization strategies differ by workload type: training might aim for 100% utilization, while inferencing requires better response times. Andrew emphasizes that properly setting GPU requests and limits is the essential starting point to avoid wasting expensive GPU resources.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/V2YJFXVG3

This interview is a reaction to John McBride's episode https://ku.bz/wP6bTlrFs

Asif Awan Founder and CPO at StackGen shares a different perspective on Kubernetes automation.

Instead of focusing solely on automating processes, he advocates for creating abstraction layers that adapt to enterprise-specific workflows and organizational structures.

The key insight is that effective automation should work at the right level of abstraction where teams can benefit from it without having to learn new tools or languages.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/_LmLdllKc

This interview is a reaction to Alexandre Souza's episode https://ku.bz/z2Vj9PBYh

Sven Hans Knecht, Principal Cloud Engineer, emphasizes the limitations of technology in solving organizational problems.

He highlights the importance of developer experience and the pitfalls of mandating tool usage. He argues that fostering a competitive environment for tool adoption encourages better products tailored to engineers' needs.

Hans emphasizes Kubernetes' unique advantage with Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs), which facilitate a Heroku-like experience for developers.

Watch the full episode: https://ku.bz/SyPM8Ch43

Deepak Goel Director of Engineering at Nutanix discusses the challenges of resource allocation in Kubernetes.

He explains why determining initial CPU and memory requirements is difficult since applications have dynamic resource needs that change with load. The solution lies in two key automation tools: Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA), which creates additional pods to handle the increased load, and Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA), which automatically adjusts CPU and memory resources based on actual usage patterns.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/C0K0-KKR1

This interview is a reaction to Alexandre Souza's episode https://ku.bz/z2Vj9PBYh

Gordon Myers explains how Kubernetes implements JSON Patch, an industry standard for JSON object manipulation, in webhook configurations. He breaks down the three fundamental operations (add, remove, replace) and demonstrates how they transform JSON objects using dot notation paths.

The discussion explores practical examples, including modifying nested JSON lists and key-value pairs, while highlighting some unexpected behaviors in webhook response encoding.

Watch the full episode: https://ku.bz/Dmn93dd7M

This episode is sponsored by LearnKube - get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training https://learnkube.com/training

Jason Johl, Developer Relations at Intuit, discusses how Kubernetes has evolved beyond container orchestration into a comprehensive platform.

He explains that the Kubernetes ecosystem now includes numerous projects that provide additional features and ways to manage various resources and primitives. Jason highlights Intuit's exploration of creating "paved roads" - abstraction layers that allow engineers to build on top of Kubernetes without needing to understand all the complexities of container orchestration. This approach makes Kubernetes more manageable and easier to consume for developers who must focus on their application logic rather than infrastructure details.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/T8JrP6Zbm

This interview is a reaction to Calin Florescu's episode https://ku.bz/mcPtH5395

John Platt, CTO at StormForge, explains why Kubernetes has become the preferred platform for training Large Language Models and running inference workloads.

He points to Kubernetes' core strengths of scalability, self-healing, and portability as key factors driving adoption for GPU-intensive AI workloads. John shares that organizations running their own models on Kubernetes can achieve up to 90% cost savings compared to using services like OpenAI, making it both technically advantageous and financially compelling for companies working with AI and machine learning technologies.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/mt_lTMFwF

This interview is a reaction to John McBride's episode https://ku.bz/wP6bTlrFs

Yakir Kadkoda and Assaf Morag from Aqua Security highlight the necessity of encrypting secrets outside the Kubernetes cluster and point out that secrets should be as short-lived as possible.

The interview also touches on the benefits of two-factor authentication (2FA), particularly for Docker Hub secrets, as a deterrent against less sophisticated attackers.

Watch the full episode: https://ku.bz/5RKVBGlQR

Bhavani Indukuri, Staff Platform Engineer at Zscaler, explains that implementing observability tools is only the first step toward generating business value.

She emphasizes that collecting metrics, logs, and traces isn't enough - organizations must act on this data in a timely manner to meet SLAs and SLOs. The real business value comes from improving reliability and delivering dependable products to customers, making observability an actionable practice rather than just a data collection exercise.

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/Znfx9Z0-x

This interview is a reaction to Artem Lajko's episode https://ku.bz/9sGxhmm8s

This interview is brought to you with support from Kubex by Densify - automated Kubernetes optimization that cuts costs and improves performance https://ku.bz/YVz-4vcy3

Arshad Sayyad, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at StackGen, discusses the balance between standardization and flexibility when building platforms for multiple teams. He explains how standardization can actually increase velocity in multi-team environments while sharing five specific approaches: hierarchical namespaces for delegated control, policy as code for centralized governance, self-service portals to empower developers, observability tools for resource optimization, and immutable infrastructure to reduce configuration drift. Arshad emphasizes that "configuration risks between runtime and expected cloud configurations are a major challenge for CIOs".

Watch the full interview: https://ku.bz/XsDfzYTb8

This interview is a reaction to Ángel Barrera Sánchez's episode https://ku.bz/-5QbzQXJg