--- tags: - devops - l1 - flashcard-deck - platform-engineering --- [Portal](../../../../library/portal/index.md) | **Level:** [L1: Foundations](../../../../library/portal/levels.md) | **Topics:** [Platform Engineering](../../../../library/portal/topics.md) | **Domain:** DevOps & Tooling id category difficulty tags question answer source_path platform-engineering/47ca2f2b6a01 platform-engineering easy platform-engineering, concepts, developer-experience What is a platform in the context of platform engineering? "A platform is a product — with users (developers), features (self-service capabilities), and quality standards (reliability, UX). It is not a set of mandates or tickets. It enables developers to provision infrastructure and deploy in minutes via CLI or UI rather than filing Jira tickets and waiting days.\n\nRemember: ""Platform engineering = paved roads, not gatekeepers."" The goal is self-service with guardrails.\n\nName origin: The term ""platform engineering"" gained mainstream adoption around 2022, driven by the CNCF Platform Working Group.\n\nWho made it: Spotify\'s Backstage (open-sourced 2020) became the most influential IDP framework." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/83c4f5ad56d8 platform-engineering easy platform-engineering, golden-path, standards What is a golden path? "An opinionated, well-supported, recommended way to accomplish a common task. It is not the only path — it is the path with the best tooling, documentation, and support. For example, a CLI command that generates a repo from a template with a Dockerfile, CI pipeline, Helm chart, and monitoring pre-configured.\n\nName origin: ""Golden path"" comes from the idea of a well-lit, well-maintained road — you CAN take a dirt road, but the golden path is faster and safer." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/b27e39e66728 platform-engineering easy platform-engineering, stack, layers What are the four layers of the platform stack? "From bottom to top: Infrastructure (cloud providers, bare metal, networking), Infrastructure Orchestration (Kubernetes, Terraform, service mesh), Platform Services (CI/CD, secrets, DNS, certs, databases), and Developer Experience (CLI tools, web portal, docs, templates).\n\nExample: An IDP might combine GitHub (code), ArgoCD (deploy), Backstage (catalog), and PagerDuty (on-call) behind a single developer portal.\n\nSee also: Backstage by Spotify is the most popular open-source IDP framework.\n\nRemember: ""Infrastructure → Orchestration → Platform Services → Developer Experience."" Each layer builds on the one below." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/7ffa47888b3a platform-engineering medium platform-engineering, backstage, portal What is Backstage and what does an internal developer portal contain? "Backstage is a popular open-source internal developer portal. It contains a service catalog (all services, owners, health), documentation (API docs, runbooks), templates (golden path starters), self-service (provisioning, DNS, certs, secrets), and scorecards (production readiness, security compliance).\n\nRemember: ""Golden paths = opinionated defaults with escape hatches."" Developers CAN deviate, but the default path is optimized.\n\nExample: A golden path for a new microservice: template repo → CI pipeline → Kubernetes deploy → monitoring dashboard — all pre-configured." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/34dc6af7f9eb platform-engineering medium platform-engineering, cicd, standardization How does a platform team standardize CI/CD pipelines? Instead of every team writing their own CI, provide reusable shared workflow templates. Each service repo references the shared workflow (e.g., uses: your-org/platform-workflows/.github/workflows/build-test-deploy.yml@v2) and passes parameters like language and chart path. The shared workflow handles lint, test, build, security scanning, image push, and GitOps promotion. training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/6106e8bd2f5b platform-engineering medium platform-engineering, metrics, measurement What are the key metrics for measuring whether a platform is successful? "Lead time for changes, deployment frequency, time to onboard a new service, self-service ratio (% of infra requests handled without a ticket), mean time to recover, platform adoption (% of teams using golden paths vs custom), and developer satisfaction (NPS or survey scores).\n\nRemember: ""DORA metrics map to platform success."" Lead time and deployment frequency improve when the platform reduces friction." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/6b73f5105101 platform-engineering medium platform-engineering, operators, crds How do Kubernetes operators enable self-service infrastructure? Platform teams build custom operators that watch for CRDs (Custom Resource Definitions). A developer creates a simple YAML resource (e.g., kind: Database, spec: postgres, size: medium) and the operator automatically provisions the StatefulSet, creates credentials as a Secret, configures backups, sets up monitoring, and registers it in the service catalog.\n\nExample: A developer creates `kind: Database, spec: {engine: postgres, size: medium}` and the operator provisions a StatefulSet, Secrets, backups, and monitoring automatically. training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/92e9d8d22e65 platform-engineering hard platform-engineering, scorecards, readiness What checks belong in a production readiness scorecard? Required: health endpoint, readiness endpoint, CPU and memory limits set, at least 2 replicas in prod, ServiceMonitor exists, at least 1 alert rule, runbook linked, team ownership declared. Recommended: PodDisruptionBudget, HPA autoscaling, network policies, no critical vulnerabilities in security scans, SLO defined and tracked.\n\nGotcha: Scorecards must be automated (not manual checklists) to stay current. Use tools like Backstage TechDocs or custom Kubernetes controllers. training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/8709b74e6795 platform-engineering hard platform-engineering, pitfalls, anti-patterns What are the five common pitfalls in platform engineering? "1. Building a platform nobody asked for (solve real pain points). 2. Mandating without value (golden path must be easier than the cowpath). 3. Platform as bottleneck (if every request needs a platform engineer, you just renamed ops). 4. Over-abstracting (hiding complexity so deep that debugging is impossible). 5. Ignoring the escape hatch (some teams have legitimate reasons to go off the golden path).\n\nRemember: ""Golden path must be easier than the cowpath."" If developers still prefer the manual way, the platform has failed." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md platform-engineering/7e4c72f5373e platform-engineering hard platform-engineering, catalog, self-service How do infrastructure catalog items differ from raw Terraform modules? "Catalog items expose infrastructure as pre-packaged, size-selectable options (e.g., postgres: small/medium/large with automated backups and read replicas). Developers pick from a menu without needing to understand Terraform syntax, module inputs, or provider configuration. The platform team maintains the underlying modules while presenting a simplified self-service interface.\n\nAnalogy: Catalog items are like a restaurant menu — diners pick ""medium pizza"" without knowing the recipe. Terraform modules are the recipe itself." training/library/topics/platform-engineering/primer.md --- ## Wiki Navigation ### Related Content - [Backstage & Developer Portals](../../../../library/topics/backstage/index.md) (Topic Pack, L2) — Platform Engineering - [Platform Engineering Patterns](../../../../library/topics/platform-engineering/index.md) (Topic Pack, L2) — Platform Engineering