Monthly Technical Newsletter

PLATFORM
OPS

Tech with Vishal Abhinav

Engineering knowledge for DevOps engineers, SREs, and Platform builders — with deep dives into Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, observability, and modern tooling.

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📖 New — Issue #067

platform-ops ~ issue #057

/ glossary search "systemd" 3 matches across 190 terms category services-systemd-boot / glossary open --term "Init" ✓ standalone page found — full deep-dive ✓ 15 categories · 190 terms indexed ✓ Issue #057 — Linux & Unix Glossary 📖 ❯

190 Terms 15 Categories Searchable chmod systemd LVM grep DNS

CI/CD & GitOps K8s Error Runbook CrashLoopBackOff Kubernetes Architecture Node NotReady PersistentVolumeClaim StorageClass CSI Drivers StatefulSets OOMKilled Worker Nodes etcd Quorum Control Plane SCC Violations ArgoCD / Flux Prometheus + Grafana Loki / ELK Jaeger Tracing Canary Rollouts Service Mesh eBPF Platform Engineering Observability SRE Practices CI/CD & GitOps K8s Error Runbook CrashLoopBackOff Kubernetes Architecture Node NotReady PersistentVolumeClaim StorageClass CSI Drivers StatefulSets OOMKilled Worker Nodes etcd Quorum Control Plane SCC Violations ArgoCD / Flux Prometheus + Grafana Loki / ELK Jaeger Tracing Canary Rollouts Service Mesh eBPF Platform Engineering Observability SRE Practices

Knowledge Map

WHAT WE COVER

The 2026 master map — 685 topics, 45 categories, 13 pillars. Search it, filter it, or open a pillar to see exactly what's shipped and what's queued.

685

Topics

45

Categories

154

Live

148

In pipeline

383

Planned

Live — published & linked

In pipeline — next up

Planned — on the backlog

Click any pipeline or planned topic to be told when it lands

platform-ops ~ knowledge-map

❯ tree platform-ops/ --master-map-2026 platform-ops/ ├── foundation/[ 7 live / 10 ] ├── roadmaps/[ 0 live / 18 ] ├── infrastructure/[ 1 live / 38 ] ├── networking/[ 1 live / 31 ] ├── cloud/[ 0 live / 17 ] ├── delivery/[ 12 live / 76 ] ├── kubernetes/[ 58 live / 58 ] ├── reliability/[ 27 live / 116 ] ├── security/[ 0 live / 46 ] ├── data-and-apps/[ 1 live / 60 ] ├── system-design/[ 0 live / 46 ] ├── commands/[ 44 live / 100 ] └── modern-ops/[ 3 live / 69 ] ❯ ls -1t published/ ├── service-mesh-operations.html · issue #067 ├── service-mesh-fundamentals.html · issue #066 ├── kubernetes-cluster-operations.html · issue #065 ├── kubernetes-autoscaling.html · issue #064 ├── kubernetes-scheduling.html · issue #063 ├── kubernetes-config-and-access.html · issue #062 ├── kubernetes-workloads.html · issue #061 ├── openshift-operations.html · issue #060 ├── openshift-networking-storage.html · issue #059 ├── openshift-architecture.html · issue #058 ├── linux-unix-glossary.html · issue #057 ├── linux-troubleshooting.html · issue #056 ├── linux-advanced.html · issue #055 ├── linux-fundamentals.html · issue #054 ├── incident-management.html · issue #053 ├── cicd-gitops.html · issue #052 ├── k8-observability.html · issue #051 ├── k8-storage.html · issue #050 ├── k8-error-runbook.html · issue #049 ├── k8-architecture.html · issue #048 └── k8-networking.html · issue #047 ✓ 13 pillars, 45 categories, 685 topics — 21 deep-dives online ✓ 154 topics live · 148 in pipeline · 383 planned ❯

Every category has its own page — architecture diagram, the issues that cover it, and the full topic list. Browse all 45 →

Open the Foundation hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Computer Fundamentals Operating Systems Linux Unix Shell & Bash Python Git & Version Control

Planned

Open the Roadmaps hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Planned

Open the IT Infrastructure hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Storage hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

LVM

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Virtualization hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Networking hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

DNS

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Cloud hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the DevOps hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

CI/CD Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery Continuous Deployment Jenkins GitLab CI/CD Deployment Strategies Blue/Green Deployment Canary Deployment

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Containers hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Infrastructure as Code hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Configuration Management hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the GitOps hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

GitOps Argo CD Flux

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Platform Engineering hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Kubernetes hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Kubernetes Fundamentals Kubernetes Architecture Pods Deployments ReplicaSets DaemonSets StatefulSets Jobs / CronJobs Services Ingress ConfigMaps Secrets Volumes Persistent Volumes Storage Classes RBAC Namespaces Resource Requests/Limits Probes Scheduling Taints / Tolerations Affinity / Anti-Affinity Autoscaling HPA VPA Cluster Autoscaling Kubernetes Networking CNI CSI Kubernetes Security Kubernetes Troubleshooting Kubernetes Upgrade Kubernetes Backup Multi-Cluster Kubernetes Kubernetes Disaster Recovery

Open the OpenShift hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

OpenShift Fundamentals OpenShift Architecture Projects Routes Operators SCC OpenShift Networking OpenShift Storage OpenShift Monitoring OpenShift Logging OpenShift Security OpenShift Troubleshooting OpenShift Upgrades

Open the Service Mesh hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Service Mesh Istio Envoy Linkerd Traffic Management mTLS Service-to-Service Security Service Discovery Observability in Service Mesh Multi-Cluster Service Mesh

Open the SRE hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

MTTR Incident Management RCA Postmortem

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Observability hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Observability Monitoring Metrics Logs Traces Prometheus Grafana Alertmanager Loki Jaeger Distributed Tracing

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Logging hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Linux Logging Journald

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Performance Engineering hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

CPU Performance Memory Performance Disk I/O Performance Troubleshooting

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Troubleshooting hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Linux Troubleshooting Kubernetes Troubleshooting Performance Troubleshooting Production Incident Troubleshooting Root Cause Analysis

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Backup & DR hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the ITSM & Operations hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Incident Management

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Security hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Supply Chain Security hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Database hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Middleware hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the API & Microservices hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Distributed Systems hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Quorum

In pipeline

Planned

Open the System Design hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Planned

Open the Linux Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Files & Navigation Permissions & Ownership Text Processing Processes & Signals Users & Groups Package Management Disk & Filesystem Search & Locate Scheduling & Boot Networking Commands

Open the systemd Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Docker Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Running Containers Images & Building Inspecting & Logs Networking & Volumes Compose Cleanup & Pruning

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Kubernetes Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Inspecting Applying & Deleting Logs, Exec & Debug Rollouts & Scaling Nodes & Scheduling Contexts & Access Output & Scripting

In pipeline

Planned

Open the OpenShift Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

oc login & Projects oc new-app Routes oc adm Security Context Constraints must-gather Image Streams BuildConfigs oc debug node Cluster Operators

Open the Ansible Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Terraform Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Networking Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

ip & Addressing ss & Sockets DNS Tools curl & HTTP tcpdump mtr & traceroute

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Performance Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Storage Commands hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

lsblk & blkid df & du mount & fstab LVM Commands mkfs & fsck

Planned

Open the AI Infrastructure hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the AIOps hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the FinOps hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Automation hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

Live now

Shell Automation Bash Automation Python Automation

In pipeline

Planned

Open the Architecture hub — architecture, issues, full topic list →

In pipeline

Planned

Archive

LATEST ISSUES

Every issue is a deep-dive with architecture diagrams, code samples, and battle-tested insights.

September 2026 · #067

Service Mesh Operations

mTLS identity that turns policy into a statement about services rather than subnets, the AuthorizationPolicy default that flips one workload to deny while its neighbours stay open, retries that multiply through a call graph, and the trace headers your application still has to forward itself.

mTLS Istio AuthorizationPolicy Retries Multi-Cluster Tracing

September 2026 · #066

Service Mesh Fundamentals

What a sidecar mesh actually buys and what it costs, the four Envoy objects every mesh CRD renders into, what service discovery adds on top of kube-dns, and the Service port name that silently disables every L7 feature.

Envoy Istio Linkerd xDS Discovery

September 2026 · #065

Kubernetes Cluster Operations

Pod Security rolled out with warn before enforce, the removed API that takes workloads with it on upgrade, and the difference between an etcd snapshot and a real backup.

Upgrades etcd Velero

September 2026 · #064

Kubernetes Autoscaling

The HPA algorithm in one line, the missing resource request that silently disables it, why VPA and HPA fight on CPU, and the pod that pins a node against scale-down.

HPA VPA Cluster Autoscaler

September 2026 · #063

Kubernetes Scheduling

Taints as the node's veto, affinity as the pod's request, the topologyKey that gives anti-affinity its meaning, and why Pending is a filtering result you can read verbatim.

Taints Affinity Topology Spread

September 2026 · #062

Kubernetes Config & Access

ConfigMaps that update in place except when they do not, Secrets that are encoded rather than encrypted, and RBAC's one rule — purely additive, no deny.

RBAC Secrets Namespaces

September 2026 · #061

Kubernetes Workloads

ReplicaSets and why a stuck rollout is legible, DaemonSets that silently never roll, CronJobs that pile up, and the liveness probe that turns a blip into a restart storm.

ReplicaSets Probes CronJobs

September 2026 · #060

OpenShift Operations

Monitoring that is half switched off by default, LogQL that returns before it times out, the four security gates, and the upgrade that stops on one PodDisruptionBudget.

Monitoring Loki Upgrades

September 2026 · #059

OpenShift Networking & Storage

Routes and the four TLS modes, the OVN MTU fault everybody misdiagnoses, and the CSI chain where each stage fails in a different log.

September 2026 · #058

OpenShift Architecture & Fundamentals

The operator ownership chain under CVO and OLM, projects and the project template, MachineConfig, SCC admission, image streams and etcd — each with the failure it produces.

Operators SCC etcd

September 2026 · #057

Linux & Unix Glossary

190 terms across 15 categories — fundamentals, permissions, processes, networking, storage, security, monitoring and troubleshooting — searchable in one place.

190 Terms Searchable Reference

September 2026 · #056

Linux Troubleshooting

A runbook, not a tutorial — high load & CPU, memory & OOM, disk & I/O, network issues, and boot/service failures, each with diagnostic commands and root causes.

High Load OOM Disk / I/O

September 2026 · #055

systemd internals, kernel & sysctl tuning, namespaces & cgroups, performance profiling, and LVM/advanced storage.

systemd Cgroups LVM

September 2026 · #054

Linux Fundamentals

Filesystem hierarchy, users & permissions, package management, process basics, and shell/scripting.

Filesystem Permissions Packages

September 2026 · #053

Incident Management & Postmortems

Severity classification, Incident Commander role, blameless postmortem writing, and action-item follow-through.

Severity Postmortems SRE

August 2026 · #052

CI/CD & GitOps Deep-Dive

Jenkins & GitLab CI, GitOps with ArgoCD/Flux, security gates, canary/blue-green strategy, secrets management.

CI Pipelines GitOps ArgoCD

July 2026 · #051

Observability Stack Deep-Dive

Prometheus + Grafana, Loki/ELK, Jaeger/OpenTelemetry, SLO burn-rate alerting, and the OpsCore correlation layer.

Prometheus Loki Jaeger

June 2026 · #050

Kubernetes Storage Deep-Dive

PV/PVC, StorageClasses, CSI driver internals, StatefulSets, and a backup & DR strategy that's actually been tested.

Storage CSI StatefulSet

May 2026 · #049

Kubernetes & OpenShift Error Runbook

32 error types across 5 layers — Pod, Worker Node, Cluster, API Server, OpenShift — with root causes and production fixes.

Errors Runbook OpenShift

April 2026 · #048

Kubernetes Architecture Deep-Dive

Control Plane, Worker Nodes, Storage Nodes, CSI, PersistentVolumes, QoS classes, and scheduling — with interactive diagrams.

Kubernetes Control Plane Architecture

March 2026 · #047

Kubernetes Networking Decoded

6 architecture diagrams covering Pod networking, CNI plugins, Ingress, NetworkPolicy, and CoreDNS.

Kubernetes CNI Networking

January 2026 · #045

AI/ML Workloads on Kubernetes

GPU node pools, KubeFlow pipelines, model serving with KServe, and GPU resource quotas.

ML Ops Kubernetes GPU

Archive listing · no page yet

45

December 2025 · #044

Platform Engineering & Backstage

Building Internal Developer Platforms with Backstage, service catalogs, scaffolding templates.

Platform Eng Backstage

Archive listing · no page yet

44

November 2025 · #043

GitOps at Scale with ArgoCD & Flux

Multi-cluster deployments, app-of-apps pattern, Flux vs ArgoCD head-to-head comparison.

GitOps ArgoCD Flux

Archive listing · no page yet

43

October 2025 · #042

Observability Stack: Prometheus + Loki + Tempo

The full PLG stack, trace correlation, SLO alerting, and Grafana 11 dashboards from scratch.

Observability Grafana SRE

Archive listing · no page yet

42

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Behind the Newsletter

THE AUTHOR

One practitioner building in the trenches of Platform Engineering, sharing what actually works.

VA

Vishal Abhinav

· Platform Ops · Kubernetes · Platform Engineering · Cloud Architecture · DevOps · SRE · Infrastructure Automation

I'm a Platform Ops Engineer with 4+ years of experience across Kubernetes, infrastructure, and SRE-engineered systems — designing for failure, automating the boring parts, and writing the runbooks I wish existed the first time something broke at 2 AM. Beyond core K8s and infra, I specialize in notification engine architecture: building and scaling high-throughput messaging systems on SMPP and PDU session handling. This newsletter is the field notes from that work — real runbooks, real postmortems, no theory-only content.

☁️ OCI Certified 🛡️ CISSP Certified 🔶 AWS Certified ⎈ Cloud Native — In Progress

Specialties

Infrastructure & Automation Specialist SMPP PDU Session

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