Kubernetes Austin

4.8•169 ratings

About us

Kubernetes Austin is the official CNCF Kubernetes meetup for Austin, Texas. We host talks from anyone doing cool things with Kubernetes, including companies using K8s in production or vendors who are pushing the boundaries of what K8s can do. Presentations are demo focused and not sales pitches.
This group follows these three central ideas:
• We believe in open sponsorships, so anyone can cover the cost of food, space, and travel for speakers. To not price out smaller vendors, sponsorship prices are not set beyond the cost. Organizations donating speakers, food/drinks, or space will automatically count as sponsors for the event.
• We believe in democratized organization, so anyone in the Kubernetes community that wants to help organize can be a part of process.
• We believe that all Kubernetes Meetups should be democratic and those that do not allow others to take part in organizing and sponsoring are not in the spirit of open source.
To become an organizer, sponsor, or speaker, please reach out to us!

Our official channel is k8saustin.com, please make sure you enroll for updates there!! And please follow our LinkedIn on linkedin.com/company/k8sAustin .

Thank you to Station Austin for sponsoring Kubernetes Austin. Station Austin is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas. They bring together the best entrepreneurs in the state and connect them with their first investors, employees, mentors, and customers. To sign up for a Station Austin membership, click here.

Upcoming events

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Production-Ready Kubernetes: Security, Observability, Cost & Privilege Control
Thu, May 28 · 6:00 PM CDT
Capital Factory, 701 Brazos St, Austin, TX, US
March 28th at 6 pm at the Station Austin (formerly known as Capital Factory)

701 Brazos Street, 1st Floor, Apollo Room
Austin, 78701

Schedule:

6:00-6:30 - Food+Social

6:30-7:00 - Security + Observability + Cost Governance by Hari Krishna Pokala
7:00-7:30 - Kubernetes Cost Optimization by Nishanth Sirikonda
7:30-8:00 - Privileged Containers / Security by Deepak Verma

### We know parking in Downtown is tricky!

So, you can park in the building garage for just $8.00 (validation parking tickets will be distributed)!
Street parking will still be an option. More information on parking here: https://www.capitalfactory.com/parking/

###

Please RSVP here and please make sure you follow our official social media platforms and stay tuned for the latest news about Kubernetes Austin:

https://linkedin.com/company/k8sAustin
https://instagram.com/k8sAustin
https://x.com/k8sAustin

Everyone is invited to join! We hope to bring the latest news about the Kubernetes and CNCF projects.

Descriptions

Security + Observability + Cost Governance
Kubernetes gives teams speed and scale, but without the right guardrails it quickly creates three major gaps: security risk, poor production visibility, and rising cloud costs. This session explains how to close those gaps using practical Kubernetes-native patterns: layered security, OpenTelemetry-based observability, and FinOps practices like cost visibility, right-sizing, and governance. The key message is simple: Kubernetes is powerful, but it must be secured, instrumented, and governed intentionally to deliver real value.
Kubernetes Cost Optimization
Kubernetes can make cloud costs grow quickly when workloads are over-provisioned or scaling is not managed properly. This session shows practical, Kubernetes-native ways to reduce waste through right-sizing, better resource limits, effective autoscaling, spot/preemptible nodes, and smarter scheduling. Attendees will learn how to identify inefficient configurations and apply changes that can reduce cluster costs by 20–40% while maintaining performance and reliability.
Privileged Containers / Security
Privileged containers in Kubernetes are sometimes needed for low-level workloads like networking, storage, and monitoring agents, but they come with serious security risks because they can access host-level resources. This session explains why running containers as root or privileged has historically been dangerous, and how modern Kubernetes controls can reduce that risk. Attendees will learn how to manage privileged workloads safely using Pod Security Standards, RBAC, admission controllers, capability scoping, and rootless alternatives while avoiding unnecessary exposure in application workloads.

More information: k8saustin.com
35 attendees