We Moved Our Production to UpCloud. Here Is What Sovereignty Actually Cost.
Ankra's own platform now runs in Helsinki. The timeline, the bill, the benchmark numbers, and the places UpCloud let us down, from the team that did the move.
14 min read
From the Ankra team
The work behind the running application.
Product walkthroughs, practical engineering and ideas about building an operating platform for people and agents.
Kubernetes54DevOps28Platform Engineering23Comparisons19AI16GitOps16Developer Experience12Engineering12Cost Optimization11Homelab8Security8CI/CD6Startups5Best Practices4Observability4Stacks3Edge Computing2
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Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 3: Back Up etcd and Restore a Lost Control Plane
Back up a Kubernetes 1.37 cluster by hand with etcd snapshots, then delete the control plane and restore it. Includes the encryption key trap, all tested.
12 min read
Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 5: Certificates, Expiry and Renewal Without Downtime
Read every Kubernetes certificate, watch one expire, and renew them all by hand. Most components reload a renewed certificate with no restart at all. Tested.
9 min read
Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 6: GitOps by Hand, a Reconcile Loop With Git and kubectl
Build GitOps from scratch on Kubernetes 1.37. A Git repository, a reconcile loop with kubectl server-side apply and pruning, drift repair, rollback, all tested.
8 min read
Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 2: A Highly Available Control Plane
Build a Kubernetes 1.37 control plane that survives losing a server. Three control planes, etcd with TLS, a load balancer, and failure drills, all tested.
13 min read
A Managed AI Stack for Developers: Private, Under Your Control, Costed to the Token
Public AI chat quietly leaks IP and breaks NDAs. Deploy a private chat and API on a GPU you own: your data stays home and every token has a known price.
10 min read
Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 4: Pod Networking by Hand, Without a CNI Plugin
Build Kubernetes pod networking by hand with network namespaces, veth pairs, a bridge, routes and NAT, then call a CNI plugin yourself and trace a Service. Tested.
11 min read
What Is an Internal Developer Platform? One Platform From Startup to Enterprise
An internal developer platform gives every team a self-service path to production and the organisation one place to govern it all. Learn what an IDP includes and how one platform serves a two-person startup and an enterprise of many teams.
16 min read
Ship to Kubernetes Without Tickets, Not Guardrails
Learn how to ship to Kubernetes without tickets using GitOps, standard templates, scoped access, and deployment workflows that preserve production control.
8 min read
Kubernetes MCP Servers in 2026: Kubeconfig-Based vs Hosted, Compared
Seven Kubernetes MCP servers compared, from kubernetes-mcp-server and mcp-server-kubernetes to the EKS, AKS and GKE servers and Ankra's hosted one.
13 min read
Kubernetes on Proxmox VE in 2026: Every Way to Run It, Compared
Proxmox VE has no built-in Kubernetes. Seven ways to run it in 2026, from Talos, Cluster API and Terraform to Cloudfleet and Ankra, and what each leaves to you.
13 min read
Kubernetes the Hard Way in 2026: Kubernetes 1.37 From Scratch
Kubernetes the Hard Way, updated for Kubernetes 1.37 and Debian 13. Every command tested end to end, on local machines and on Hetzner Cloud.
30 min read