Kubernetes assessment

In five working days we find out what state your Kubernetes clusters are in and what blocks a safe upgrade. We work read-only and change nothing in your clusters.

CZK 70,000

5 days, 1 cluster, each extra one +CZK 25,000 (up to 3). Excl. VAT.

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What we offer

You get an Upgrade Readiness Score (0 to 100), a list of blocking issues and an upgrade plan in waves with a price. If your version is close to end of support, you will know exactly what to do and when.

We do not write applications. We work only on infrastructure, cloud and DevOps.

When it makes sense

Your cluster version is close to end of support, or you already pay for extended support.
You keep postponing the upgrade because you are afraid of an outage.
You inherited a cluster and do not know what state it is in.
You want to know the risks before taking over a cluster.

What you get

An Upgrade Readiness Score that management understands too.
A list of blocking issues with the fix for each.
An upgrade plan in waves with an estimate of time and price.
The end-of-support date of your version and the cost of waiting.

Why a Kubernetes upgrade cannot wait →

What exactly we do

We check every cluster in eight areas:

Versions and support: Control plane and node pool versions, end-of-support date, price of extended support.
Deprecated APIs: Manifests and Helm releases that use APIs removed in the target version.
Add-ons and operators: Ingress, cert-manager, CSI drivers, service mesh, monitoring and their compatibility with the target version.
Application resilience: Replica counts, PodDisruptionBudgets, probes, pod spread. Does the application survive nodes being replaced one by one?
Node pools and upgrade settings: Max surge, capacity, quotas in the subscription or account.
Backup and restore: Velero or snapshots, and whether a restore can be verified.
Monitoring: What you will see during the upgrade and who gets alerted.
Security: A basic review of RBAC, network policies and image provenance.

Who works on it

Three people work on the assessment. It is led by a senior with AKS and EKS upgrade experience.

Senior, project lead
2 days

Responsible for
Risk assessment, Readiness Score, upgrade plan in waves, upgrade price, readout.

What you get from them
Main contact, score, plan, price
Middle
0.5 day

Responsible for
Checks of add-ons, operators and their compatibility.

What you get from them
Compatibility matrix
Junior
3 days

Responsible for
Inventory of the cluster and applications, automated deprecated-API checks, data collection.

What you get from them
Inventory, API list

We assign work by complexity: juniors do routine work from templates, the middle takes the harder parts, and the senior owns the design, quality control and risk decisions. You do not need to decide who does what. The effort in days is indicative and only explains the price. The price is fixed and does not depend on the days actually worked.

How the project runs

The assessment takes five working days. Each extra cluster adds roughly one day.

Day 1: kick-off and inventory
Goal: Get access and an overview.
- A 45 minute kick-off: clusters in scope, critical applications, deadlines.
- Read-only access.
- Inventory of the cluster, node pools, applications and add-ons.
Output: Inventory. Who: junior, senior at the kick-off
Days 2 and 3: checks
Goal: Cover all eight areas.
- Automated checks of deprecated APIs and configuration.
- Manual review of application and add-on resilience.
- Review of backups, monitoring and quotas.
Output: Findings in every area. Who: junior checks, middle add-ons, senior review
Day 4: score and plan
Goal: Turn findings into a plan.
- Upgrade Readiness Score.
- List of blocking issues and their fixes.
- Upgrade plan in waves, estimate of time and price.
Output: Report and upgrade plan. Who: senior
Day 5: readout
Goal: Hand over the results.
- Presentation of results, 45 to 60 minutes.
- Handover of the report and the upgrade quote.
Output: Report handed over. Who: senior

How we work together

Main contact: The project lead (a senior). Accountable for the result, deadlines, risks and decisions. Day to day you can talk to anyone on the team directly.
Communication: A shared Slack or Teams channel and a ticketing system of your choice. Every question and change leaves a trail.
Kick-off: At the start we confirm the scope, access, contacts and the dates of the key milestones.
Weekly status: A short 15 to 30 minute sync: what is done, what is next, what we need from you and which risks we see.
Final readout: We present the results to your team and management and go through the next steps.
Escalation: Junior → middle → project lead. If a deadline or a major risk is at stake, the project lead contacts you the same day.
Working hours: Working days, 8:00 to 17:00 Central European Time. Production changes happen in a window you choose, always through your change management.

What we need from you

The timeline holds if we have the following. If something is delayed, the schedule moves by the same time and we tell you straight away.

Read-only access to the clusters and to the cloud subscription or account.
The list of clusters in scope.
Which applications are critical and when changes are possible.
Contacts for the application owners in case of questions.

Access and security

Every team member has their own named account. We do not use shared accounts.
We ask only for the permissions a phase needs. Where read access is enough, we work read-only.
We do not take data out of your environment. Our documents contain only the summaries the result needs.
When the project ends, you remove our access, or we remove it on request and confirm it.
If you wish, we sign an NDA before the kick-off.

What is included and what is not

Included in the price

Check of 1 cluster in eight areas (up to 3 clusters for a surcharge)
Upgrade Readiness Score
List of blocking issues and their fixes
Upgrade plan in waves and an upgrade quote
Readout

Not included: priced separately or on your side

Any change in the cluster
The upgrade itself (Zero-downtime upgrade service)
Application fixes
A detailed security audit

If we find during the project that reality differs from what we assumed, we tell you before we work outside the scope. We send a short estimate of the impact on price and timeline and continue only once you agree.

Deliverables and acceptance

Deliverable	Contents	Form
Report	Readiness Score, findings in eight areas, blocking issues	PDF
Upgrade plan	Waves, order, duration, risks	Part of the report
Quote	Upgrade price based on the findings	Document
Readout	Presentation of results	Meeting

The project is done when:

We have handed over the report, the upgrade plan and the quote.
The readout has taken place.

We hand over the deliverables and go through them with you. We incorporate comments in one round within 5 working days of receiving them.

Risks and how we handle them

Risk	How we handle it
Limited access to parts of the cluster	We clearly mark the areas we could not verify.
Applications are run by another supplier	We write the findings for their applications so they can act on them directly.
Several clusters on different versions	Each cluster gets its own score and plan.

Price and terms

CZK 70,000 excl. VAT for 1 cluster, each extra cluster +CZK 25,000 (3 clusters at most).

Duration: 5 working days.
Prices exclude VAT, invoiced in CZK or EUR.
Work outside the scope: a separate quote, always in advance.

What can follow

Next steps

1A short 30 minute call: we look at your environment and check that the service fits what you need.
2We confirm the scope, the start date and the contact people.
3We send the contract and the list of access we need to start.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the assessment paid?

Because it is real work with a concrete deliverable. The plan is usable without us.

Can we do the upgrade ourselves?

Yes. The plan is written so that your team can follow it.

Do you need write access?

No. The assessment is read-only.

Tell us what you are working on.

Thirty minutes, free. We reply within one working day.