Upgrading 500+ Kubernetes Clusters in 90 Days
From unpredictable outages to secure, repeatable upgrades: OpsWerks™ stabilized EKS versioning across hundreds of clusters to unlock automation, security, and platform innovation.
- 500+ EKS clusters across regions were running inconsistent versions, with no repeatable upgrade process.
- The result: outages, security gaps, and blocked releases.
Reliable, scalable Kubernetes operations that remove risk and free internal teams to innovate.
in 90 days
across the cycle
for future cycles
developer confidence
Client Background
This Fortune 100 technology firm operates one of the world’s largest cloud-native environments, with hundreds of internal applications running across globally distributed AWS accounts.
Their engineering organization depends on Amazon EKS for development, testing, and production services.
A fast-moving ecosystem of this size needs a consistent, up-to-date Kubernetes environment to deliver reliable services and enable platform innovation.
Challenges of upgrading at scale
Our client was maintaining hundreds of Kubernetes clusters without any defined upgrade process. Cluster upgrades were ad hoc, manually executed, and often poorly communicated.
No defined process
Upgrades were ad hoc and manually executed, with little communication to the teams affected. Every cycle started from scratch, and knowledge lived with whoever ran the last one.
Version drift across regions
Hundreds of clusters in multiple regions ran different versions of Kubernetes, which resulted in service disruptions, missing dependencies, and delayed production releases.
Blocked features, eroded trust
Platform unreliability created security vulnerabilities, blocked critical features like enhanced autoscaling, and reduced application developer confidence.
Solution for stabilizing EKS versioning
OpsWerks took over end-to-end responsibility for managing EKS upgrades, starting in non-production and moving to production once the approach was proven. Because EKS doesn’t support control plane rollbacks, every upgrade had to be planned meticulously.
End-to-end upgrade
ownership
OpsWerks owned EKS upgrades across production and non-production environments in multiple regions, from planning through post-upgrade validation.
Non-production
first
The approach was proven in non-production environments before a single production cluster was touched.
Planning without
a rollback
EKS offers no control plane rollback, so upgrade paths were mapped in advance and failure scenarios planned for rather than discovered.
Proactive validation
and automation
Extensive automation and pre-flight validation cut the elevated risk and made rapid intervention possible when issues did arise.
Coordinated
change windows
Change windows agreed with service owners, communication centralized in one place, and signoffs enforced before any work began.
A framework that
outlasts the project
The framework became the standard operating procedure, keeping version consistency across the entire infrastructure in future cycles.
Scope of work
- Systematic process: Documented, reusable upgrade approaches combining Infrastructure as Code best practices with automation, change windows coordinated with service owners, and centralized communication with enforced signoffs.
- Risk mitigation: Pinned Terraform versions, CI/CD pipeline checks, and automated post-upgrade validation with custom diagnostics to prevent downstream disruptions and enable rapid issue resolution.
- Problem response: Root causes identified quickly, affected teams coordinated, and targeted patches applied, with proactive planning and instance-level recovery to minimize downtime.
The OpsWerks advantage
One team, trained once
A dedicated, cross-functional team that trained once and operated seamlessly, eliminating the need for retraining due to attrition, rotation, or sick coverage.
Proven methodology
Repeatable processes, automation, and operational discipline applied to deliver consistent outcomes at enterprise scale.
Deep platform expertise
Deep platform and infrastructure knowledge meant root causes were identified quickly, issues resolved efficiently, and operational complexity reduced.
Planned for failure
By proactively managing risk and planning for failure scenarios, OpsWerks ensured stability, resilience, and uninterrupted service delivery.
Results
500+ clusters, zero major disruptions
Upgraded over a three-month cycle. Service disruptions from version upgrades vanished, and platform stakeholders now view upgrades as dependable, low-risk operations.
A clear operating process
Maintenance windows are now consistently scheduled, clearly communicated, and approved in advance, eliminating surprise disruptions.
Predictable deployments
Developer confidence has improved significantly as deployments now behave more predictably across environments.
Lower mean time to recovery
Fast diagnosis and containment reduced MTTR and prevented minor failures from escalating into major incidents.
Facing Similar
Challenges?
Contact our Partner Success Team at partnerwithus@opswerks.com to see how we can help. Or book a meeting directly with us below.