Nick Nikolakakis

--------------------------

role: Principal SRE, Platform & AI Engineer
focus: Kubernetes · CNCF · Platform · AI
building: AI agents · LLMOps · MCP
shell: zsh
since: 2011

// The SRE Diary: Chronicles of Cloud, Kubernetes and AI

cat latest ./whoami git clone

$ ls -la ~/posts 47 entries

~/posts/kubernetes-autoscaling-beyond-hpa 24 min · 5026 words

$ Kubernetes Autoscaling Beyond HPA - Event-Driven KEDA and VPA Resource Optimization

// Master advanced Kubernetes scaling strategies with KEDA for event-driven autoscaling and VPA for resource optimization. Real production examples, cost savings, and complete implementation guide for SRE teams.

~/posts/litmuschaos 9 min · 1770 words

$ Litmus Chaos - Enterprise-Grade Chaos Engineering for Kubernetes

// Discover Litmus, a CNCF incubating project that provides a complete chaos engineering platform with GitOps integration, extensive experiment library, and enterprise features for building resilient cloud-native applications.

~/posts/tetragon 10 min · 2101 words

$ Cilium Tetragon - Next-Generation Runtime Security for Kubernetes

// Explore Cilium Tetragon, an eBPF-based security observability and runtime enforcement platform that provides kernel-level protection for Kubernetes workloads with minimal overhead.

~/posts/nushell 24 min · 4942 words

$ Nushell for SREs - Modern Shell Scripting for Internal Tools

// Discover how Nushell empowers SREs and DevOps teams to build faster, more reliable internal CLI tools with structured data pipelines, robust scripting, and modern shell features.

~/posts/devpod 9 min · 1723 words

$ DevPod Open-Source Dev Environments as Code for SREs and Platform Engineers

// Discover how DevPod, an open-source Dev-Environments-as-Code solution, streamlines cloud-native development for SREs and platform engineers with consistent, secure, and reproducible development environments.

~/posts/istio-ambient-mesh 4 min · 785 words

$ Simplifying Kubernetes Service Mesh - A Deep Dive into Istio Ambient Mesh

// A comprehensive guide to Istio Ambient Mesh, exploring its sidecar-less architecture, performance benefits, and practical implementation steps. Learn how zTunnel and Waypoint Proxy revolutionize service mesh deployment while reducing resource overhead.

~/posts/idp 16 min · 3397 words

$ Building an Internal Developer Portal with Backstage, AKS, Crossplane, and Argo CD

// Learn how to build a powerful Internal Developer Portal (IDP) using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Crossplane, Backstage, and Argo CD. Empower developers with self-service while maintaining governance, automation, and GitOps best practices. A complete guide for platform engineers and SREs building cloud-native platforms.

~/posts/argocd 5 min · 911 words

$ Why ArgoCD Matters for SREs - A GitOps Approach to Kubernetes Deployments

// Exploring the benefits and limitations of ArgoCD from an SRE perspective, including GitOps, deployment automation, and drift detection.

~/posts/karpenter 5 min · 925 words

$ Optimizing Kubernetes Autoscaling with Karpenter

// Learn how Karpenter improves Kubernetes autoscaling, enabling fast and cost-efficient node provisioning.

~/posts/operator-sdk 4 min · 801 words

$ Mastering Kubernetes Customization with Operator SDK

// Discover how Operator SDK simplifies building Kubernetes Operators, enabling automated management of complex workloads with precision.