Crossplane in action: rethinking infrastructure management
Cloud infrastructure management that delivers what it promises
Imagine being able to ensure that your infrastructure is exactly what it says in the code. No deviations, no guesswork – just consistency and control. That was our goal when we used Crossplane in one of our projects.
The advantages of Crossplane
- Less effort: automatic drift detection ensures that code and infrastructure always remain in sync. No manual rework required.
- Reduce costs: Uniform management via the Kubernetes API saves us time and resources as no additional tools are required.
- Sustainability: Efficient use of resources and scalable solutions ensure a long-term, stable infrastructure.
The challenge
For the implementation of a highly available RDS database for a major bank project, we wanted a solution that:
- Minimizes manual intervention
- Detects discrepancies between code and deployment (drift detection)
- Seamlessly integrates Kubernetes
- And fits perfectly into our automation strategy via GitOps approaches.
Why Crossplane?
Crossplane convinced us because it offers the following advantages as a control plane for cloud resources:
✅ Uniform API for managing a wide range of cloud resources
✅ Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) to model infrastructure as code
✅ GitOps-principles for automatic synchronization between code and infrastructure
✅ Native integration with the Kubernetes API
Results in the project
With Crossplane, we were not only able to reliably set up the AWS RDS database, but also create a robust, error-resistant environment. Thanks to GitOps and Kubernetes integration, the entire setup was less prone to errors – and completely automated.
The potential of Crossplane
Crossplane can do much more than “just” database provisioning:
- Cloud resource management: with Crossplane, you can control resources in different cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP) uniformly and efficiently.
- Multi-cloud strategies: Use Crossplane to manage workloads across multiple cloud providers – without additional tools.
- Platforms as a service: Build scalable and automated platforms that seamlessly connect your development and infrastructure teams.
- Custom Resource Definitions: Customize your infrastructure to your exact needs by creating your own CRDs for specific requirements.
- Self-Service for teams: Developers can provision infrastructure resources directly via the Kubernetes API without having to wait for centralized teams.
Conclusion
For us, Crossplane is the key to a consistent, secure and scalable infrastructure. It closes the gap between code and reality and makes it possible to deliver exactly what was promised – nothing more, nothing less.
