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EKS Container Platform
Kubernetes-Based VPN Deployment with Zero-Trust Security
The Secure Access Revolution
🎯 The Challenge: Secure Internal Access Without External Exposure
The client needed secure internal access to private cloud services without exposing Kubernetes clusters externally. Traditional VPN solutions were either too costly, difficult to manage, or didn't align with cloud-native security best practices.
🚨 The Problem
- Security Risks: Exposing Kubernetes clusters to the internet
- High Costs: Enterprise VPN solutions with complex licensing
- Management Overhead: Multiple point solutions lacking automation
- Access Control: Difficulty implementing fine-grained permissions
- Compliance: Meeting security standards for internal access
🏗️ Solution Architecture
Deployed a scalable VPN solution using Pritunl and MongoDB inside Amazon EKS with Ingress-based TLS termination, secret management via Vault, and fully automated Helm chart delivery.
🚀 Amazon EKS
Managed Kubernetes platform with enterprise-grade security and scalability
🔐 Pritunl VPN
Open-source enterprise VPN server with web-based management interface
🗄️ MongoDB
High-performance database for VPN configuration and user management
⎈ Helm Charts
Kubernetes package management for automated deployment and updates
🛡️ cert-manager
Automated TLS certificate management and renewal
🔒 Vault & SOPS
Enterprise secrets management with encrypted configuration
🔄 ArgoCD
GitOps continuous deployment with automated rollbacks
📊 Prometheus
Comprehensive monitoring and alerting for VPN infrastructure
🏗️ Key Architectural Decisions
- ClusterIP-Only Access: No external LoadBalancer exposure, all traffic through secure Ingress
- RBAC Isolation: Strict role-based access control for VPN and database pods
- Vault Integration: All secrets managed via HashiCorp Vault with SOPS encryption
- High Availability: Multi-AZ deployment with automated failover capabilities
- GitOps Deployment: All configuration managed through Git with ArgoCD
- TLS Everywhere: End-to-end encryption with automated certificate management
🔒 Security & Compliance Implementation
🛡️ Network Security
- ClusterIP services only - no external exposure
- Network policies for pod-to-pod communication
- Ingress-based TLS termination
- Private subnet deployment
🔐 Access Control
- RBAC policies for service accounts
- Pod security contexts and policies
- Namespace isolation
- Multi-factor authentication
🔒 Secrets Management
- HashiCorp Vault integration
- SOPS encrypted configurations
- Automatic secret rotation
- Zero-touch credential management
🏆 Security Achievements
✅ Zero external attack surface
✅ SOC 2 Type II compliance ready
✅ Automated security scanning and validation
✅ Complete audit trail and access logging
🎯 Real-World Business Impact
💼 Transformation Story
😤 Before Implementation
- Complex enterprise VPN licensing ($50K+ annually)
- Manual certificate management and renewal
- Multiple security tools with gaps
- Kubernetes clusters exposed to internet
- Limited access control granularity
🚀 After Implementation
- Open-source solution with infrastructure costs only
- Automated certificate lifecycle management
- Unified security platform with monitoring
- Zero external exposure, maximum security
- Fine-grained RBAC and access controls
🎉 Success Metrics
Security: Zero security incidents, 100% compliance audit pass
Cost: 75% reduction in VPN-related expenses
Operations: 90% reduction in management overhead
Deployment: From 3-day manual setup to 5-minute automated deployment
⚙️ Technical Implementation Details
🎯 My Role as Kubernetes Administrator & Helm Deployment Engineer
- Helm Chart Development: Created reusable templates with conditional logic for multi-environment deployment
- Ingress Configuration: Implemented secure TLS termination with cert-manager automation
- RBAC Design: Developed comprehensive role-based access control policies
- Monitoring Integration: Configured Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards
- CI/CD Pipeline: Built validation and testing workflows for infrastructure changes
- Documentation: Created comprehensive deployment and troubleshooting guides
🔧 Key Technologies & Integration
Container Platform
Amazon EKS with managed node groups, auto-scaling, and security group integration
Application Stack
Pritunl VPN server with MongoDB backend, configured for high availability
Security Layer
Vault secrets management, SOPS encryption, and comprehensive RBAC
Automation
GitOps with ArgoCD, Helm-based deployments, and automated testing
📋 Deployment Process
- Infrastructure Provisioning: EKS cluster setup with Terraform
- Helm Chart Deployment: Pritunl and MongoDB installation with custom values
- Ingress Configuration: TLS termination and certificate automation
- Security Hardening: RBAC policies and network security rules
- Monitoring Setup: Prometheus integration and alerting configuration
- Testing & Validation: Comprehensive connectivity and security testing
- Documentation: Operational runbooks and troubleshooting guides
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