A step-by-step guide to building a scalable multi-cluster Kubernetes platform on OpenStack using k0s and k0rdent with Hosted Control Planes (HCP). Instead of dedicating control plane nodes per cluster, HCP consolidates all control planes inside a single management cluster, reducing VM costs and operational overhead. The tutorial covers environment setup, installing k0s as the management cluster, deploying k0rdent via Helm, configuring OpenStack credentials, defining ClusterDeployments declaratively, and validating with real workloads and scaling tests. The broader architectural point is the shift from cluster-centric to platform-centric operations, where one system manages all clusters rather than each cluster being managed independently.
Table of contents
The scale problem nobody talks about enoughWhat are we solving?A centralized control plane architectureA declarative cluster provisioning systemA multi-cluster platform foundationThe core shift: From cluster-centric to platform-centricFeel free to check out more on the k0s and k0rdent communitySort: