March 2025 Meetup: AKS node auto-provisioning

When hosting workloads in Kubernetes, specific requirements for processors, memory, and other capabilities must be considered. As the volume and complexity of workloads increase, configuring the AKS node pools becomes more challenging. This is where node autoprovisioning (NAP) comes into play, automatically determining the best infrastructure and virtual machine setup for the workload while provisioning nodes based on outstanding resource needs.

Our schedule for the evening currently looks like this:

• 5:45 - 6:00 pm - Event Kick-Off
• 6:00 - 6:30 pm - Azure news since last meetup
  - Arafat Tehsin and Simon Waight
• 6:30 - 7:30 pm - Azure Kubernetes Service Node Auto-provisioning - Sam Alavi (LAB3)

Main session: Azure Kubernetes Service Node Auto-provisioning

In this session, we discover how Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Node Auto-Provisioning (NAP), leveraging the open-source tool Karpenter, dynamically manages and scales nodes to meet workload demands efficiently.

This session will delve into the mechanics of NAP, powered by Karpenter, and explore practical guidance on enabling and configuring this feature to optimise resource utilisation and cost-effectiveness in your AKS environments. Additionally, learn about the prerequisites, limitations, and best practices for implementing NAP in both new and existing AKS clusters.