Central control plane. Distributed compute.
Connect nodes from many sites to one managed control plane. Standardize operations across retail locations, branch offices, or factory floors.
The challenge
Edge and distributed deployments multiply operational complexity:
Managing control planes at every edge site is expensive and error-prone
Inconsistent configurations lead to drift and security gaps
Limited connectivity makes traditional management difficult
Edge expertise is scarce and expensive
K8S Engine approach
Connect nodes from many sites. Use labels and taints to control placement. Standardize operations.
One control plane. Any number of sites.
What you get
Central control, distributed compute
One control plane manages nodes across all edge sites. No control plane per site.
Standardized operations
Same upgrade process, security policies, and access controls everywhere.
Unified visibility
Single console for all sites. Audit logs, metrics, and alerts in one place.
Example deployment pattern
Create a cluster with K8S Engine
Connect nodes from each edge site (outbound connectivity only)
Use labels to identify sites (e.g., site=chicago, site=frankfurt)
Use node affinity to pin workloads to specific sites
Apply consistent policies and upgrades from central console
Connectivity requirements
Edge nodes only need outbound HTTPS connectivity to the K8S Engine control plane endpoint. No inbound firewall rules or VPN tunnels required.
If an edge site loses connectivity, existing workloads continue running. New deployments and scaling wait until connectivity is restored.
Operational Ownership
K8S Engine
Control plane, etcd, upgrades, backups, scaling logic
You
Nodes, networking, workloads, infrastructure costs
Ideal for
- Retail with in-store compute
- Manufacturing with factory floor nodes
- Telco with distributed PoPs
- Any multi-site deployment needing consistency