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Deploy Smarter, Scale Faster – Secure, AI-Ready, Cost-Effective Kubernetes Apps at Your Fingertips!

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bobmital
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Jan 09, 2025

In our previous blog post, we explored the exciting launch of Kubernetes Apps on Azure Marketplace. This follow-up blog will take you a step further by demonstrating how to programmatically deploy Kubernetes Apps using tools like Terraform, Azure CLI, and ARM templates. As organizations scale their Kubernetes environments, the demand for secure, intelligent, and cost-effective deployments has never been higher.

By programmatically deploying Kubernetes Apps through Azure Marketplace, organizations can harness powerful security frameworks, cost-efficient deployment options, and AI solutions to elevate their Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure Arc-enabled clusters. This automated approach significantly reduces operational overhead, accelerates time-to-market, and allows teams to dedicate more time to innovation.

Whether you're aiming to strengthen security, streamline application lifecycle management, or optimize AI and machine learning workloads, Kubernetes Apps on Azure Marketplace provide a robust, flexible, and scalable solution designed to meet modern business needs.

 

Let’s explore how you can leverage these tools to unlock the full potential of your Kubernetes deployments.

Secure Deployment You Can Trust 

  • Certified and Secure from the Start – Every Kubernetes app on Azure Marketplace undergoes a rigorous certification process and vulnerability scans before becoming available. Solution providers must resolve any detected security issues, ensuring the app is safe from the outset.
  • Continuous Threat Monitoring – After publication, apps are regularly scanned for vulnerabilities. This ongoing monitoring helps to maintain the integrity of your deployments by identifying and addressing potential threats over time.
  • Enhanced Security with RBAC – Eliminates the need for direct cluster access, reducing attack surfaces by managing permissions and deployments through Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

Lowering Cost of your Applications

If your organization has Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) agreements with Microsoft, you can unlock significant cost savings when deploying your applications. Kubernetes Apps available on the Azure Marketplace are MACC eligible and you can gain the following benefits:

  • Significant Cost Savings and Predictable Expenses – Reduce overall cloud costs with discounts and credits for committed usage, while ensuring stable, predictable expenses to enhance financial planning.
  • Flexible and Comprehensive Commitment Usage – Allocate your commitment across various Marketplace solutions that maximizes flexibility and value for evolving business needs.
  • Simplified Procurement and Budgeting – Benefit from unified billing and streamlined procurement to driving efficiency and performance.

AI-Optimized Apps 

  • High-Performance Compute and Scalability - Deploy AI-ready apps on Kubernetes clusters with dynamic scaling and GPU acceleration. Optimize performance and resource utilization for intensive AI/ML workloads.
  • Accelerated Time-to-Value - Pre-configured solutions reduce setup time, accelerating progress from proof-of-concept to production, while one-click deployments and automated updates keep AI environments up-to-date effortlessly.
  • Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Flexibility - Deploy AI workloads seamlessly on AKS or Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes clusters, ensuring consistent performance across on-premises, multi-cloud, or edge environments, while maintaining portability and robust security.

Lifecycle Management of Kubernetes Apps 

  • Automated Updates and Patching – The auto-upgrade feature keeps your Kubernetes applications up-to-date with the latest features and security patches, seamlessly applied during scheduled maintenance windows to ensure uninterrupted operations. Our system guarantees automated consistency and reliability by continuously reconciling the cluster state with the desired declarative configuration and maintaining stability by automatically rolling back unauthorized changes. 
  • CI/CD Automation with ARM Integration – Leverage ARM-based APIs and templates to automate deployment and configuration, simplifying application management and boosting operational efficiency. This approach enables seamless integration with Azure policies, monitoring, and governance tools, ensuring streamlined and consistent operations.

Flexible Billing Options for Kubernetes Apps 

We support a variety of billing models to suit your needs:

  • Private Offers for Upfront Billing - Lock in pricing with upfront payments to gain better control and predictability over your expenditures. 
  • Multiple Billing Models - Choose from flexible billing options to suit your needs, including usage-based billing, where you pay per core, per node, or other usage metrics, allowing you to scale as required. Opt for flat-rate pricing for predictable monthly or annual costs, ensuring financial stability and peace of mind.

Programmatic Deployments of Apps 

There are several ways of deploying Kubernetes app as follows: 

- Programmatically deploy using Terraform: Utilize the power of Terraform to automate and manage your Kubernetes applications. 

- Deploy programmatically with Azure CLI: Leverage the Azure CLI for straightforward, command-line based deployments. 

- Use ARM templates for programmatic deployment: Define and deploy your Kubernetes applications efficiently with ARM templates. 

- Deploy via AKS in the Azure portal: Take advantage of the user-friendly Azure portal for a seamless deployment experience. 

 

We hope this guide has been helpful and has simplified the process of deploying Kubernetes. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks, and happy deploying!

 

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Updated Jan 14, 2025
Version 2.0
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