So we’ve already done a few things for setting up our own custom cluster. We’ve manually configured a Kubernetes Control Plane and joined worker nodes by hand. While that was a great way for us to learn the components, let’s be honest: setting up every server by hand is just not scalable for a real production environment. Or for creating a more resilient cluster as well! Really the main issue boils down to how we set up the initial pool of worker nodes. If what I’m talking about us doing isn’t familiar you should first read our prior post ! The Problem with Manual Nodes Right now, our cluster is static, and honestly, it’s a bit of a liability. If worker-1 decides to take an unscheduled vacation and crashes, it’s just gone. Our capacity takes a hit, and we are stuck in the dark until someone manually notices and provisions a replacement. In a modern setup, having to SSH into every new VM just to run a join command isn’t just tedious, it’s a bottleneck that keeps us from scaling when it actually matters.…