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Best Practices

Overview

This document outlines best practices for designing, deploying, and managing the multi-cluster RH OVE ecosystem, ensuring performance, security, and operational efficiency. This includes guidance on managing centralized services within the management cluster and distributing workloads across application clusters.

Multi-Cluster Architecture Best Practices

Cluster Design

  • Separation of Concerns: Maintain clear separation between management and application clusters
  • Environment Isolation: Use dedicated clusters for production, staging, and development
  • Resource Planning: Size clusters appropriately for their intended workloads
  • Network Segmentation: Implement proper network isolation between cluster environments

Management Cluster

  • High Availability: Deploy management services with HA configuration
  • Resource Allocation: Dedicate sufficient resources for centralized services
  • Backup Strategy: Implement comprehensive backup for management cluster state
  • Security Hardening: Apply strict security controls as this cluster manages the entire fleet

Application Clusters

  • Standardization: Use consistent cluster configurations across environments
  • Agent Deployment: Ensure proper deployment of management agents (ArgoCD, RHACS, monitoring)
  • Local Resources: Optimize local resource allocation for workload requirements
  • Compliance: Maintain consistent security and compliance postures

Architecture Best Practices

Namespace Design

  • Use Application Namespaces: Segregate workloads by application or team-based namespaces for enhanced security and resource management
  • Environment Prefixes: Use consistent naming conventions (e.g., prod-, staging-, dev-)
  • Label and Annotate: Use consistent labeling and annotations for automation and policy application
  • Cross-Cluster Consistency: Maintain similar namespace structures across clusters

Multi-Tenancy

  • RBAC Implementation: Apply Role-Based Access Control to enforce access restrictions
  • Network Policies: Utilize Cilium to enforce strict network policies between tenants
  • Resource Quotas: Implement appropriate resource quotas per tenant/namespace
  • Policy Distribution: Use centralized policy management with cluster-specific enforcement

Multi-Cluster GitOps Best Practices

Repository Structure

  • Centralized Repositories: Use centralized Git repositories for all cluster configurations
  • Environment Branching: Implement proper branching strategies for different environments
  • Application Separation: Separate application definitions from infrastructure configurations
  • Policy as Code: Store all policies and governance rules in version control

Deployment Strategies

  • Progressive Deployment: Deploy to development, then staging, then production clusters
  • Automated Validation: Implement automated testing and validation in CI/CD pipelines
  • Rollback Procedures: Maintain clear rollback procedures for failed deployments
  • Change Management: Implement proper change management processes for critical updates

Deployment Best Practices

Infrastructure Planning

  • Capacity Planning: Assess resource needs well in advance and plan infrastructure accordingly
  • High Availability (HA): Configure HA for critical components and services
  • Cluster Sizing: Right-size clusters based on workload requirements and growth projections
  • Geographic Distribution: Consider geographic distribution for disaster recovery

Configuration Management

  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Use GitOps and Argo CD for configuration management and deployment consistency
  • Version Control: Ensure all configurations and manifests are version controlled
  • Template Management: Use Helm charts or Kustomize for template management
  • Secret Management: Implement proper secret management across clusters

Security Best Practices

Network Security

  • Zero Trust Network: Implement zero trust principles using Cilium's microsegmentation and network policies.
  • Encryption: Enforce encryption of data in transit and at rest.

Container and VM Security

  • Security Contexts: Apply security contexts to restrict container capabilities and privileges.
  • Image Scanning: Regularly scan container and VM images for vulnerabilities.

Operational Best Practices

Monitoring and Alerts

  • Comprehensive Monitoring: Utilize tools like Dynatrace and Prometheus for end-to-end monitoring.
  • Alerting Systems: Set up robust alerting and notification systems for proactive issue resolution.

Backup and Recovery

  • Regular Backups: Schedule regular backups and test recovery procedures periodically.
  • Data Retention Policies: Define and implement data retention and cleanup policies.

Continuous Improvement

Reviews and Audits

  • Performance Reviews: Conduct regular performance reviews and optimizations.
  • Security Audits: Perform periodic security audits and policy compliance checks.

Community Engagement

  • Stay Updated: Engage with the community via forums and contribute to open-source projects.
  • Professional Development: Encourage ongoing learning and certification for team members.

Documentation and Knowledge Sharing

  • Maintain Documentation: Keep operational runbooks and architecture diagrams updated.
  • Knowledge Transfer: Conduct regular training sessions and share lessons learned.

Conclusion

Adhering to these best practices ensures a well-architected, secure, and efficient RH OVE ecosystem that can adapt and scale with changing business needs.