Generic Managed Service on Kubernetes

Building Block Type

This is a template Service Building Block used to define 🟦 Managed Standard Software services on a Kubernetes-based platform. It enables the definition of reusable or solution-specific managed services without requiring a fully standardized building block.

Type

🟦 Managed Standard Software

Level

🛠 Service

Based on (one of)

Primary Managed Software

Defined in Solution

Primary Management Framework

VSHN Project Syn / GitOps or custom CI/CD, Details defined in Solution

Supported Features

The actual features are defined in the scope of the Solution, as they depend on the standard software used.

Feature Availability

Software deployment

✅

Software updates (minor)

âž•

Configuration templating and injection

âž•

Transport encryption (TLS)

âž•

Custom software parameter tuning

âž•

Daily, dump-based or file-based backups

âž•

Optional persistent storage encryption (if platform supports)

âž•

✅ = Included by default, ➕ = Optional

Included VSHN Services

Services that can be included in a monthly flat fee.

Defined more specifically in the Solution using this building block.

Software Lifecycle Management

  • Software lifecycle tracking and integration into GitOps pipelines

  • Security patch monitoring; minor version upgrades (on request or automatically)

Configuration Management

  • Managed configuration via GitOps or automation templates

Backup & Disaster Recovery

  • Logical backups (dumps/files), usually via k8up

  • Documented restore processes

Monitoring and Incident Response

  • Application health monitoring via probes or exporters

  • Custom SLIs definable per application and solution

Service Level Indicators & Objectives

Please refer to Service Levels for further information about service levels. Also, check out "What does SLI / SLA / SLO mean?" for more information about these terms.

Service Level Indicator VSHN Internal Objective (SLO) Customer Objective (SLO)
Service is healthy

Application responds to probe or monitoring criteria.

99.9%

Pricing

Prices are in addition to the base Kubernetes platform (e.g., OpenShift/APPUIO) monthly costs.

Per Managed Service Instance

The following fee is a base fee that doesn’t include customizations. This is a template price and is typically overridden in the Solution, depending on the included services, managed software, and complexity.

Best-Effort Guaranteed Availability

CHF 40.- / month

CHF 660.- / month

Setup and Operations Effort

  • Setup and engineering work is billed hourly

  • CI/CD integration, complex configuration, or custom monitoring is billed hourly

Supported Software

VSHN can make a "Managed Standard Software" building block for most open-source or other third-party standard software and run it on kubernetes.

We either use an existing, reusable standard software building block to make clear what we provide and how, or we create a custom-building block for the software the customer needs. Usually based on community available Helm charts for example.

Examples

Databases, Cache, Search, Messages Queues, Secret Stores

Under the Hood

Configuration Management

  • GitOps-driven (typically ArgoCD/VSHN Project Syn)

  • Community Helm charts, Kustomize templates, or manifests

Upgrade Strategy

  • Updates via GitOps, usually with Renovate

  • Major version upgrades are planned changes and billed by the hour

  • Customer is responsible for post-upgrade validation; temporary test instances possible

Requirements

  • A VSHN-managed Kubernetes platform

  • Access to the cluster for VSHNeers and VSHN automation systems

Further requirements are specified in the Solution.

Constraints & Limitations

  • VSHN does not provide support within the software, such as analyzing queries or performing performance tuning. This is the responsibility of the software user.

  • Incidents caused by the customer or third parties (e.g., overloading the database server) are excluded from the availability guarantee, and any support or restore effort is billed hourly.

  • VSHN does not support using the software in ways not supported by the vendor.

Further constraints and limitations are defined in the Solution.