See how easily D2iQ can elevate EKS to a production-ready enterprise-level platform
Cheat sheet

AWS EKS + D2iQ Kubernetes Platform: Better Together

D2iQ adds value to EKS by providing all the components needed for a production-ready Kubernetes environment in a complete, fully integrated, fully automated, fully tested, easy to deploy and manage, and cost-effective turnkey solution.

Adding Power and Performance to EKS

The additional services required to elevate EKS from an entry-level to an enterprise production-ready Kubernetes platform include monitoring, logging, networking, storage, operational insights, policy management, identity management, continuous deployment, cost management, backup and restore, integrated GitOps, and more. EKS customers also must supplement EKS to enable multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, and multi-cluster management and to add artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities based on enterprise Kubeflow.

D2iQ Adds Critical Kubernetes Services with Greater Ease and Lower Cost

Adding DKP to EKS eliminates the complexity, labor, and cost of the DIY and AWS services approaches by providing all the additional services required for enterprise-grade functionality in an easy to deploy and manage solution. DKP deploys in minutes and enables EKS customers to quickly achieve Day-2 operational competency with a reliable, secure, and consistent approach to the management and governance of Kubernetes clusters.

A DIY or AWS Add-On Approach

Although AWS enables enterprise EKS customers to obtain the additional capabilities on their own or through various solutions and modules (EKS Blueprints, integration with AWS Managed Services), each of these approaches requires customers to select and integrate the required services as individual add-ons, which means additional labor, complexity, cost, and varying degrees of support.

A Future-Proof Platform Ensures Smart Cloud Native Success

Based on pure open-source Kubernetes, DKP enables you to easily extend your platform and enjoy the benefits of continual open-source innovation with no restrictions. DKP gives you complete visibility and the ability to manage all your Kubernetes clusters across all environments from a centralized management panel, including multi-cloud, on-premise, edge, and air-gapped environments. As a pure open source Kubernetes platform, DKP also gives you portability and immunity from lock-in to proprietary solutions, with the lowest cost of ownership.

Key Features and Benefits

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Multi-cluster, Multi-cloud Lifecycle Management

DKP enhances EKS by enabling all platform applications, including multi-cloud and multi-cluster, to be deployed and managed through a central management plane.

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Military-Grade Security

DKP gives EKS customers military-grade security, including the capability to easily deploy air-gapped security while meeting NSA/CISA Kubernetes security guidelines.

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Declarative APIs + GitOps

Combining declarative APIs with GitOps is the most bulletproof way to manage a Kubernetes infrastructure. DKP adds integrated GitOps via the Flux CD operator and Cluster API (CAPI).

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Observability

The DKP central management plane enables EKS admins to visualize, monitor, and manage clusters across distributed multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments from a single point.

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Real-Time Cost Management

DKP adds centralized cost visibility to EKS via Kubecost with the ability to zoom in and out to attain cost visibility for your entire infrastructure, down to the level of individual applications.

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Multi-tenant and Workspace-level Logging

DKP gives EKS users the ability to manage logs by tenant or workspace at a granular level, including multi-tenant logging and role-based access control (RBAC).

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Service Catalog

Add applications with ease to specific or multiple clusters, with governance. Simplify and accelerate the provisioning of fast data pipelines and add Kaptain AI/ML from the catalog.

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Kaptain AI/ML

DKP enables EKS users to add AI/ML capabilities via Kaptain AI/M, an add-on service that simplifies AI/ML modeling and deployment for data scientists via specially modified Kubeflow.

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Edge/IoT

DKP enhances EKS edge deployment capability, providing all the core functionality needed for management at edge locations, including lightweight deployment, monitoring, and logging.

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Insights

Self-service troubleshooting enables easier problem identification and resolution than submitting support tickets. Measures include root cause analysis and suggested problem resolutions.

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Service Mesh

DKP extends EKS through service mesh integration via Istio, including advanced networking capabilities, load balancing, and security across multi-cloud and multi-cluster environments.

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Simplification Through Automation

DKP automation reduces operational complexity through a friendly user experience that enables EKS customers to get to Day 2 faster and meet all production-level operational challenges.

Everything Needed to Elevate EKS to a Production-Ready, Enterprise-Level Platform

Easier Cluster Lifecycle Management

Cluster lifecycle management involves provisioning, upgrading, scaling, and in some cases decommissioning a cluster. A fully functional production Kubernetes cluster requires setting up custom domains and custom certificates, integrating with identity management systems to onboard different teams, setting up the right access control, and much more. Having to do this at each individual cluster level in a multi-cluster environment results in significant overhead and redundant efforts. The combination of cloud-managed Kubernetes and DKP gives operators a single place to provision, manage, and commission their clusters, something that no other tool can provide.

The Right Balance of Production-Level Components

A number of supplementary ingredients are required to make EKS a production-level environment. D2iQ is well-versed in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) landscape and has curated a best-of-breed collection of pure open-source components needed to build a successful enterprise-grade Kubernetes production platform. These components, which comprise DKP, are regularly integrated, tested, scanned, and scaled to meet the demands of some of the most demanding customers across the globe. D2iQ enables the deployment of the required production-level add-ons to the cloud-provider’s solution via the DKP management plane.

GitOps + Declarative APIs = Kubernetes Done Right

D2iQ embraces a GitOps model and declarative approach through integrated FluxCD and Cluster API (CAPI), and is stateless by design. Traceability of application deployments to production is fully audible from the git repository, improving the organization’s security posture while improving the developer’s agility and speed. The power of Kubernetes management via integrated GitOps workflow and top-to-bottom declarative APIs is transferred to EKS through the deployment of DKP on top of EKS.

Enabling Multi-cluster, Multi-cloud Management

Managing a single-cluster Kubernetes environment is a daunting task, and extending it to a multi-cluster or multi-cloud environment without proper tooling is exponentially more difficult, not to mention the skills and experience that are required. DKP adds this capability to AWS EKS by providing a centralized control plane from which you can enforce Kubernetes best practices for all your clusters. It also provides a single pane of glass to not only observe such practices in place but also be alerted of any divergence from the defined best practices.

Advanced Workloads

D2iQ has curated the operators required for building streaming applications with prevailing open source projects like Apache Kafka, Spark, and Cassandra. D2iQ provides an integrated cloud native add-on solution for artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning (ML) called Kaptain AI/ML, based on Kubeflow, that simplifies AI operations for data scientists. These offerings can all be deployed simply using the DKP Service Catalog. Unlike anywhere else in the industry, D2iQ performs a comprehensive mixed workload test on these components to ensure scalability, interoperability, and resiliency at scale.

Platform + People = Kubernetes Success

D2iQ works closely with customers to ensure success, with engagement models geared towards the customer’s level of maturity. For organizations just beginning their Kubernetes journey, the focus is on forming a strategy for the adoption of cloud native technology. For organizations that are further along, health checks, instructor-led courses, and custom offerings help the customer reach the next level of maturity. When a higher level of competency is reached, internal Centers of Excellence (COE) are often the best next step. Customers are able to take advantage of the best practices and expertise of a company that has been pioneering in the cloud native space for more than a decade.

Quicker Time to Value and Lower Cost

Easing Kubernetes management for DevOps teams is key to achieving agility. DKP deploys in minutes to get you to production in hours rather than weeks and months. Integrated open-source curated components, platform automation, and operational insights simplify Kubernetes cluster management, reducing the time and cost of consulting engagements, upgrades, and ongoing support costs. D2iQ expert training and support teams work closely with customers to eliminate Kubernetes skill gaps and ensure success.

We think it's a great partnership to be able to leverage the scale of the cloud, to be able to leverage capabilities of the cloud, and then leverage something like D2iQ's Kubernetes distribution to make those Day One and Day Two Ops simplified.

Adam Hesch

Principal Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services Federal Partners Team

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See how easily D2iQ can elevate EKS to a production-ready enterprise-level platform