Crossplane for Platform Engineering Training

Build a production-ready internal developer platform with this 3-day advanced course. Learn to use Crossplane as the infrastructure engine for your platform — designing self-service APIs, implementing golden paths, integrating with Backstage, and building guardrails that enable developer productivity.

Training Details


Duration	3 days (24 hours)
Level	Advanced
Delivery	In-person, Live online, Hybrid
Certification	N/A

Who Is This For?

Platform engineers building internal developer platforms
DevOps leads designing self-service infrastructure
Engineering managers planning platform strategy
Teams adopting platform engineering with Kubernetes

Learning Outcomes

After completing this training, you’ll be able to:

Design self-service infrastructure APIs with Crossplane
Build golden paths for common application deployment patterns
Integrate Crossplane with Backstage and service catalogs
Implement policy guardrails with OPA and Kyverno
Build complete application environments on demand
Operate and maintain a Crossplane-based platform

Detailed Agenda

Day 1: Platform API Design

Module 1: Platform Engineering with Crossplane

Platform engineering principles and Crossplane’s role
API-first infrastructure design
Team topology and platform boundaries
Hands-on: Map your organization’s infrastructure needs to APIs

Module 2: Self-Service API Design

Designing XRDs for developer experience
Abstraction levels — simple vs expert modes
Defaults, validation, and guardrails in schemas
Hands-on: Build developer-friendly infrastructure APIs

Module 3: Golden Paths

Environment Compositions (dev, staging, production)
Application stack templates (web app, API service, data pipeline)
Standardized networking and security patterns
Hands-on: Create golden path Compositions for common workloads

Day 2: Platform Integration

Module 4: Backstage Integration

Backstage scaffolder and Crossplane
Software templates that create Claims
Catalog integration for deployed resources
Hands-on: Build Backstage templates backed by Crossplane

Module 5: Policy and Guardrails

OPA Gatekeeper for Crossplane resources
Kyverno policies for Claims and Compositions
Cost controls and resource quotas
Hands-on: Implement policy guardrails for your platform

Module 6: GitOps for Platform Resources

ArgoCD and Flux with Crossplane
Environment promotion workflows
Drift detection and reconciliation
Hands-on: Set up GitOps-driven infrastructure delivery

Day 3: Production Platform Operations

Module 7: Complete Environment Provisioning

Composing infrastructure + Kubernetes + applications
Helm and application deployment through Compositions
Database provisioning with connection secret injection
Hands-on: Build a one-click complete application environment

Module 8: Platform Observability

Platform metrics and SLOs
Resource provisioning dashboards
Alerting on failed provisioning
Hands-on: Build a platform operations dashboard

Module 9: Day-2 Operations

Upgrading Crossplane and providers in production
Managing Composition updates without downtime
Disaster recovery for platform components
Hands-on: Perform rolling upgrades and handle failure scenarios

Prerequisites

Crossplane Fundamentals or equivalent experience
Kubernetes administration experience (CKA-level)
Familiarity with GitOps concepts (ArgoCD or Flux)
Understanding of platform engineering principles

Delivery Formats

Format	Description
In-Person	On-site at your company’s location, hands-on with direct interaction
Live Online	Interactive virtual sessions with screen sharing and real-time labs
Hybrid	Combination of on-site and remote sessions, flexible scheduling

All formats include hands-on labs, course materials, and post-training support.