Self-managed deployment

In a self-managed deployment, you operate the data plane on your own Kubernetes infrastructure. Union.ai runs the control plane, but you manage the cluster, upgrades, and operational aspects of the data plane yourself. Union.ai has no access to your cluster, providing the highest level of data isolation.

AWS, GCP, and Azure: set up from the Union.ai UI

Before you start, subscribe and sign up. Then:

Provision your cloud resources, using the page for your provider:
- AWS
- GCP
- Azure
Connect your cluster. You enter your resources’ details in the Union.ai UI and install the agent it gives you, and the agent installs the data plane. You skip the Helm install below.

Each provider’s page has a Legacy steps page under it: the earlier instructions, which install the data plane yourself with Helm. They remain for deployments that were set up that way. For a new deployment on AWS, GCP, or Azure, use the steps above.

Other providers: set up with Helm

The UI flow covers AWS, GCP, and Azure today. On OCI, CoreWeave, Crusoe, and Nebius, and on generic Kubernetes (on-premises or any other environment), you provision the infrastructure and install the data plane with Helm yourself. Existing AWS, GCP, and Azure deployments that were set up with Helm follow this path too:

Review the architecture to understand the control plane, data plane operators, and security model.
Review the infrastructure recommendations for the sizing model, networking and IP planning, identity, and the scaling constraints to plan around.
Provision your infrastructure using the page for your provider:
- OCI
- Generic Kubernetes (on-premise or any S3-compatible environment)
- CoreWeave
- Crusoe
- Nebius
Deploy the data plane once your infrastructure is ready. CoreWeave, Crusoe, and Nebius have their deploy steps on their own pages.
Upgrade the data plane when a new chart version is released. You own the chart version, its CRDs, and your values file.

Configuration

After initial setup, configure platform features on your cluster. Where a page sets values on the dataplane Helm chart, it is for a data plane installed with Helm: on one connected from the Union.ai UI, the agent manages the chart and its values (see Configuration).

Reference

Helm chart reference for the chart values available when you install with Helm
Kubernetes access controls for RBAC configuration details

Provision your AWS resourcesCreate the EKS cluster, S3 bucket, ECR repository and IAM roles that an AWS cluster pool needs.Provision your GCP resourcesCreate the GKE cluster, Cloud Storage bucket, Artifact Registry repository, and service accounts that a GCP cluster pool needs.Provision your Azure resourcesCreate the AKS cluster, storage account, container registry, Key Vault, and managed identities that an Azure cluster pool needs.Connect your clusterConnect your cluster to Union.ai, so your workloads run on your own infrastructure instead of your machine.ArchitectureThe components of a self-managed data plane and how they interact.Infrastructure recommendationsSize the data plane, check prerequisites, and plan control plane connectivity before you install.Deploy the data planeInstall the data plane Helm chart on AWS, GCP, Azure, OCI, or generic Kubernetes.Upgrade the data planeKeep a self-managed data plane current, including the chart, its CRDs, and your values file.ConfigurationConfigure Union features on your own cluster.Helm chart referenceThe full set of Helm values available across the Union charts.