Components everyone installs.
WHAT TYPICALLY GETS ADDED
An ingress controller A certificate manager Metrics collection Log shipping A secrets integration Storage drivers
WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON
They are essential, third-party, and upgraded on their own schedule.
WHAT THAT MEANS
Your cluster depends on software you do not control.
WHAT TO MAINTAIN
A list of every add-on, its version, and who maintains it upstream.
WHY
Cluster upgrades break add-ons regularly.
WHAT TO CHECK BEFORE UPGRADING THE CLUSTER
Whether each add-on supports the target version.
WHAT TO AVOID
Add-ons that are unmaintained Add-ons installed to solve a problem you no longer have Several doing the same job
WHAT TO INSTALL DELIBERATELY
Each one, with a reason recorded.
HOW TO INSTALL THEM
Through the same declarative process as everything else.
WHY
Otherwise the cluster cannot be rebuilt.
WHAT TO MONITOR
Whether each is running and healthy.
WHY THAT NEEDS SAYING
A failed certificate manager is silent until certificates expire.
WHAT TO REVIEW PERIODICALLY
Whether each is still needed.
WHAT TO REMOVE
Anything nobody can justify.
