Lunar at KCD Denmark 2024

KCD Denmark, or Kubernetes Community Days Denmark, is a community-driven 2-day conference focused on the open-source Kubernetes ecosystem. It provides a platform for 500 Platform Engineers, developers, and industry experts to gather and share knowledge, experiences, and advancements related to Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies.

We sent 8 engineers to KCD Denmark 2024 to learn and share knowledge.

• Kasper Nissen played an important role as part of the organizing team, planning the conference and hosting numerous talks.

• Tobias Brixen delivered an insightful presentation titled "Renewing 135,000 Database Credentials Every Month Without Breaking a Sweat," which sparked a lot of interest and prompted many attendees to engage in further discussions about our new secrets management platform.

• Jacob Valdemar concluded the conference with an engaging lightning talk on eliminating carbon emissions from Kubernetes clusters, adding a unique Swedish perspective that surprised the audience.

Kasper Nissen's Role: Organizing and Hosting KCD Denmark

Kasper Nissen (center) on the main stage with Camilla (left) and Jinhong (right) to kick off the conference.

At KCD Denmark, Kasper Nissen played an important role behind the scenes, ensuring the conference's success through planning and coordination. As part of the organizing team, Kasper's dedication and hard work helped create an energetic, community-driven event that brought together 500 Platform Engineers, developers, and industry experts to share knowledge and advancements related to Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies.

Kasper contributed significantly to the planning and coordination of the 2-day conference, working with the organizer team to ensure that every detail was taken care of. From arranging the schedule to coordinating with speakers and sponsors, Kasper's efforts helped create a seamless and engaging experience for all attendees.

In addition to his organizational responsibilities, Kasper also hosted numerous talks throughout the conference. His role as a host involved introducing speakers and ensuring that each presentation ran smoothly. Kasper's ability to manage these tasks empowered the speakers to present smoothly.

We are proud of Kasper's contributions and grateful for his and the organizer team’s dedication to making KCD Denmark a memorable, inclusive, and learning conference. His and their work exemplifies the spirit of collaboration in the cloud-native community.

Tobias Brixen's Talk: “Renewing 135,000 Database Credentials Every Month Without Breaking a Sweat”

Tobias Brixen in the breakout room presenting his talk.

At KCD Denmark, our very own Tobias Brixen inspired the audience with his insightful presentation titled "Renewing 135,000 Database Credentials Every Month Without Breaking a Sweat." In his talk, Tobias addressed a security concern for any Kubernetes user: managing secrets and credentials efficiently and securely.

He began by setting the scene: a compromised pod. In such a scenario, the immediate response is to kill the pod, allowing Kubernetes to restart it in a clean state. However, this straightforward solution leaves an issue unresolved – what happens to the secrets, passwords, and tokens? If an attacker has accessed these, they must be revoked and replaced, a traditionally manual and error-prone process that can lead to downtime and service disruptions.

Tobias then shared our innovative approach to this problem. At Lunar, we have successfully automated the revocation and renewal of credentials for over 350 Go services. This automation ensures that credentials are reconfigured seamlessly without requiring any downtime or manual intervention. This entire process happens in the background, integrated into the platform our developers use to create and release their services, allowing them to focus on development without worrying about security breaches.

During his talk, Tobias detailed how we remodeled our platform to support automatic secret rotation, drove the adoption of this feature across our teams, and ultimately made security an invisible yet integral part of service creation. His presentation not only highlighted the technical challenges and solutions but also emphasized the importance of making security processes effortless and non-intrusive for developers.

Tobias's talk sparked significant interest and prompted many attendees to engage in further discussions about our new secrets management platform, demonstrating the critical need for such solutions in the Kubernetes ecosystem. We are proud to share our advancements in this area and contribute to the broader conversation on security and automation within the community.

Jacob Valdemar's Talk: “Cloudy with a Chance of Zero CO₂ (and a Swedish Twist!)”

Jacob Valdemar delivering his Lightning Talk on the main stage.

At KCD Denmark, Jacob Valdemar concluded the conference with an engaging and thought-provoking lightning talk titled "Cloudy with a Chance of Zero CO₂ (and a Swedish Twist!)." Jacob revealed a simple yet effective approach to reducing the carbon emissions of Kubernetes clusters, humorously dubbed "MYSTS" - Move Your Stuff To Sweden. While the name might sound silly, the strategy is a highly practical solution for cutting emissions in the cloud.

Jacob began by addressing the pressing issue of global CO₂ emissions, which are on an unsustainable trajectory. Achieving the necessary reductions to meet climate targets often seems daunting without significant political action. However, Jacob emphasized that companies can still make a meaningful impact by reducing their carbon footprint, particularly in the realm of compute emissions.

In his talk, Jacob explored the impact of both manufacturing and operational emissions, highlighting how grid carbon intensity varies across different regions. He illustrated how moving compute workloads to regions with lower grid carbon intensity, such as Sweden, can significantly reduce a compute instance’s CO₂ emissions. This is due to Sweden's reliance on renewable energy sources, making it an ideal location for greener cloud operations.

We are proud of Jacob's contribution to this important conversation and excited to see how his insights on reducing carbon emissions will inspire other organizations to adopt more sustainable practices in their cloud operations.

Giving Back: Supporting the Next Generation of Coders

We are thrilled to share that the profits from KCD Denmark (350,000 DKK) were donated to Coding Pirates, a Danish organization dedicated to inspiring and educating the next generation of coders. Coding Pirates aims to spark curiosity and creativity in young minds by teaching them coding and technology skills through fun and engaging activities.

By supporting Coding Pirates, we are not only contributing to the growth of the tech community but also investing in the future of innovation. We believe that empowering children and young people with the skills and knowledge to navigate the digital world is crucial for fostering a brighter digital future.

At Lunar, we are committed to making a positive impact both within the tech industry and in the broader community. We are proud to be part of an event that not only brought together experts and enthusiasts to share knowledge and advancements but also gave back to a cause that aligns with our values and vision.