Crossplane Has a Free API: Manage Cloud Infrastructure With Kubernetes YAML

#crossplane #kubernetes #infrastructure #cloud

Crossplane extends Kubernetes to manage cloud infrastructure. Define AWS, GCP, Azure resources as Kubernetes manifests — manage databases, buckets, VPCs with kubectl apply.

Why Crossplane?

Kubernetes-native — manage cloud resources as K8s objects
Any cloud — AWS, GCP, Azure, 50+ providers
Compositions — create reusable infrastructure abstractions
GitOps — combine with Argo CD for full GitOps infra
Free — CNCF project, open source

Install

helm repo add crossplane-stable https://charts.crossplane.io/stable
helm install crossplane crossplane-stable/crossplane --namespace crossplane-system --create-namespace

# Install AWS provider
cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: pkg.crossplane.io/v1
kind: Provider
metadata:
  name: provider-aws-s3
spec:
  package: xpkg.upbound.io/upbound/provider-aws-s3:v1.1.0
EOF

Create Cloud Resources (kubectl!)

# S3 bucket
apiVersion: s3.aws.upbound.io/v1beta1
kind: Bucket
metadata:
  name: my-app-data
spec:
  forProvider:
    region: us-east-1
    tags:
      Environment: production
  providerConfigRef:
    name: aws-config

---
# RDS PostgreSQL
apiVersion: rds.aws.upbound.io/v1beta1
kind: Instance
metadata:
  name: my-postgres
spec:
  forProvider:
    region: us-east-1
    engine: postgres
    engineVersion: "16"
    instanceClass: db.t3.micro
    allocatedStorage: 20
    dbName: myapp
    masterUsername: admin
    masterPasswordSecretRef:
      name: db-password
      namespace: default
      key: password

kubectl apply -f infrastructure.yaml
kubectl get buckets  # Check status
kubectl get instances  # Check RDS status

Compositions (Reusable Abstractions)

# Define what a "Database" means in your org
apiVersion: apiextensions.crossplane.io/v1
kind: CompositeResourceDefinition
metadata:
  name: databases.infra.example.com
spec:
  group: infra.example.com
  names:
    kind: Database
    plural: databases
  versions:
    - name: v1
      served: true
      referenceable: true
      schema:
        openAPIV3Schema:
          type: object
          properties:
            spec:
              type: object
              properties:
                size:
                  type: string
                  enum: [small, medium, large]
                engine:
                  type: string
                  enum: [postgres, mysql]
---
# Team just says "I want a database"
apiVersion: infra.example.com/v1
kind: Database
metadata:
  name: orders-db
spec:
  size: medium
  engine: postgres

Key Features

Feature	Details
Providers	AWS, GCP, Azure, 50+
Resources	1000+ managed resource types
Compositions	Reusable infra abstractions
Control plane	Kubernetes API
GitOps	Works with Argo CD, Flux
RBAC	Kubernetes RBAC for infra