# Blog - Kubernetes, Platform Engineering & AI Ops | Ankra Canonical: https://ankra.ai/blog Practical guides on platform engineering, GitOps, AI-driven incident response, and shipping to Kubernetes without the toil - from the team building Ankra. From the Ankra team # The work behind the running application. Product walkthroughs, practical engineering and ideas about building an operating platform for people and agents. [Explore the latest articles](https://ankra.ai/blog#articles) [Subscribe via RSS](https://ankra.ai/rss.xml) [Kubernetes 56](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [DevOps 28](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/devops) [Platform Engineering 23](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/platform-engineering) [Comparisons 20](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/comparisons) [AI 16](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/ai) [GitOps 16](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/gitops) [Developer Experience 13](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/developer-experience) [Engineering 12](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Cost Optimization 11](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/cost-optimization) [Security 9](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/security) [Homelab 8](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [CI/CD 6](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/ci-cd) [Observability 5](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/observability) [Startups 5](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/startups) [Best Practices 4](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/best-practices) [Stacks 4](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/stacks) [Edge Computing 2](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/edge-computing) Featured [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Cost Optimization](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/cost-optimization) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Platform Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/platform-engineering) [## We Moved Our Production to UpCloud. Here Is What Sovereignty Actually Cost.](https://ankra.ai/blog/we-moved-production-to-upcloud) Ankra's own platform now runs in Helsinki. The timeline, the bill, the benchmark numbers, and the places UpCloud let us down, from the team that did the move. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) September 21, 2026 14 min read [Read the post](https://ankra.ai/blog/we-moved-production-to-upcloud) [Observability](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/observability) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Stacks](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/stacks) [## Parseable on Kubernetes: Your Logs and Metrics, in Your Own Bucket](https://ankra.ai/blog/parseable-on-kubernetes) Run Parseable on your own Kubernetes cluster with one Ankra stack profile. Logs and metrics land as Parquet in an S3 bucket you own, for about €6.50 a terabyte. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) November 13, 2026 11 min read [Comparisons](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/comparisons) [Security](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/security) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [## Moving Off Northflank After the Security Incident: A Simple Guide](https://ankra.ai/blog/moving-from-northflank-to-ankra) Northflank told customers to assume their secrets were exposed. Here is how to rotate your keys and move your apps to Ankra, in five plain steps. [Mark Shine](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mark-shine) November 4, 2026 5 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 3: Back Up etcd and Restore a Lost Control Plane](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-backup-restore) Back up a Kubernetes 1.37 cluster by hand with etcd snapshots, then delete the control plane and restore it. Includes the encryption key trap, all tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 12 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 5: Certificates, Expiry and Renewal Without Downtime](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-certificates) Read every Kubernetes certificate, watch one expire, and renew them all by hand. Most components reload a renewed certificate with no restart at all. Tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 9 min read Featured [AI](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/ai) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Cost Optimization](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/cost-optimization) [Developer Experience](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/developer-experience) [## A Managed AI Stack for Developers: Private, Under Your Control, Costed to the Token](https://ankra.ai/blog/managed-private-ai-stack-for-developers) Public AI chat quietly leaks IP and breaks NDAs. Deploy a private chat and API on a GPU you own: your data stays home and every token has a known price. [Mark Shine](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mark-shine) August 25, 2026 10 min read [Read the post](https://ankra.ai/blog/managed-private-ai-stack-for-developers) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [GitOps](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/gitops) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 6: GitOps by Hand, a Reconcile Loop With Git and kubectl](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-gitops) Build GitOps from scratch on Kubernetes 1.37. A Git repository, a reconcile loop with kubectl server-side apply and pruning, drift repair, rollback, all tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 8 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 2: A Highly Available Control Plane](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-high-availability) Build a Kubernetes 1.37 control plane that survives losing a server. Three control planes, etcd with TLS, a load balancer, and failure drills, all tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 13 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 4: Pod Networking by Hand, Without a CNI Plugin](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-networking) Build Kubernetes pod networking by hand with network namespaces, veth pairs, a bridge, routes and NAT, then call a CNI plugin yourself and trace a Service. Tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 11 min read [Platform Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/platform-engineering) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Developer Experience](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/developer-experience) [## What Is an Internal Developer Platform? One Platform From Startup to Enterprise](https://ankra.ai/blog/internal-developer-platform) An internal developer platform gives every team a self-service path to production and the organisation one place to govern it all. Learn what an IDP includes and how one platform serves a two-person startup and an enterprise of many teams. [Mark Shine](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mark-shine) October 24, 2026 16 min read [Platform Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/platform-engineering) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [GitOps](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/gitops) [## Ship to Kubernetes Without Tickets, Not Guardrails](https://ankra.ai/blog/ship-to-kubernetes-without-tickets) Learn how to ship to Kubernetes without tickets using GitOps, standard templates, scoped access, and deployment workflows that preserve production control. [Mark Shine](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mark-shine) October 24, 2026 8 min read [AI](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/ai) [Comparisons](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/comparisons) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [## Kubernetes MCP Servers in 2026: Kubeconfig-Based vs Hosted, Compared](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-mcp-servers-compared-2026) Seven Kubernetes MCP servers compared, from kubernetes-mcp-server and mcp-server-kubernetes to the EKS, AKS and GKE servers and Ankra's hosted one. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 23, 2026 13 min read