Introduction
Scaling resources in Kubernetes clusters can become challenging, particularly with unpredictable workloads. Conventional autoscaling methods often rely on predefined configurations, which can result in inefficiencies and inflated costs. That’s where Karpenter offers a smarter solution.
At PipeOps, we’ve integrated Karpenter into our provisioning layer for users who connect their cloud provider accounts. This integration allows you to enjoy faster, more efficient autoscaling without configuring or managing Karpenter directly.
In this article, we’ll walk through common Karpenter use cases, how it fits into the PipeOps experience, and how you can take advantage of it with just a few clicks.
Why Karpenter ?
Karpenter is an open-source node provisioning tool that transforms how Kubernetes clusters are managed. It automatically provisions nodes in response to real-time demand, eliminating the need for predefined scaling policies. This dynamic approach enhances efficient use of resources and makes it ideal for unpredictable workloads.
Organizations frequently face a fundamental dilemma: over-provision resources and waste money, or under-provision and risk performance issues during traffic spikes. By launching the right compute resources at the right time, Karpenter helps you maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and simplify infrastructure management.
How PipeOps Supports Karpenter
While Karpenter is powerful, setting it up and maintaining it in a Kubernetes environment can be challenging.
For users with linked cloud provider accounts, our Karpenter integration gives you the benefits of real-time provisioning.
Once enabled, Karpenter silently does the heavy lifting behind the scenes:
- It observes your workload demands.
- It provisions just-in-time nodes to handle new or scaled workloads.
- It terminates unused nodes to save costs when traffic subsides.
What makes PipeOps different is that you don’t need to write custom policies or define node pools. You get the power of Karpenter without the learning curve.
PipeOps + Karpenter : Common Use Cases
When selected as the configuration method, Karpenter dynamically provisions nodes based on the real-time resource requirements of your workloads. Some of the most common use cases include:
- Running on spot instances: PipeOps lets you configure Karpenter to prioritize spot instances. This significantly reduces infrastructure costs while maintaining the flexibility to fall back on on-demand instances when necessary.
- Handling sudden traffic spikes: Whenever there is a sudden spike in traffic, it provisions new nodes to meet the increased demand. This rapid, just-in-time scaling ensures your applications remain responsive and available, even during unexpected surges, without manual intervention or pre-planned overprovisioning.
- Optimizing cost: It right-sizes nodes based on workload requirements, reducing waste compared to pre-configured instance groups.
- Simplifying infrastructure operations: It removes the need to manually manage node groups or complex autoscaler settings.
Step-By-Step: Enabling Karpenter in PipeOps
Enabling Karpenter in PipeOps is a seamless part of the provisioning workflow.
- In your PipeOps dashboard, go to the Servers section and click the “create new server” button.
2. Select your integrated cloud provider. Karpenter is supported for AWS, GCP, and Azure.
3. Under Configuration Method, you’ll see two options:
- Custom Configuration: For manual CPU, memory, and storage setup.
- Karpenter: For automated, demand-based scaling.
4. Select the Karpenter option and proceed to create your server.
Optionally Enable Spot Instances: To minimize costs, toggle the Spot Instances button before creating your server.
Conclusion
Karpenter is a powerful solution for Kubernetes autoscaling. Like many powerful tools, it can be hard to adopt and operate. PipeOps changes that. By integrating Karpenter into our server-provisioning process, we give you the benefits of real-time provisioning, cost efficiency, and smooth scaling without the operational complexity.
PipeOps is an all-in-one platform that automates the entire DevOps lifecycle for startups and growing teams. If you’re running dynamic workloads and want smarter autoscaling without the hassle, give PipeOps a try.
