Karpenter is an advanced node provisioning engine that optimizes Kubernetes cluster compute dynamically. Unlike the rigid AWS Cluster Autoscaler, Karpenter uses intent-based NodePools to instantly spin up instances matching workload requirements. However, aggressively optimizing for cost (WhenEmptyOrUnderutilized) can disrupt single-replica enterprise workloads, requiring platform engineers to design dual-NodePool architectures that balance FinOps efficiency with Day-2 application stability.

Pierre Gerbelot-Barillon

Software Engineer

This article shares our experience migrating from the AWS Cluster Auto Scaler to Karpenter. We provide an overview of the steps we took to install Karpenter. This article is the first in a series dedicated to Karpenter. In future posts, we will cover other aspects of using Karpenter.

Pierre Gerbelot-Barillon

Software Engineer