# Overview

<code class="expression">space.vars.product\_name</code> Kubernetes is a SaaS or self managed Kubernetes offering that makes it effortless to run Kubernetes on your private cloud.

For an introduction to Kubernetes, we recommend reading [**What is Kubernetes? And what it can do for you?**](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/)

### Who is this documentation for?

This documentation is for administrators and operators of PCD who are responsible for creating and maintaining Kubernetes clusters for their organization. This is not intended to be general purpose Kubernetes documentation.

Please refer to the official [Kubernetes documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/) for more detailed information on Kubernetes.

## Why Kubernetes with Private Cloud Director (PCD)?

Private Cloud Director allows enterprises to run Kubernetes clusters on virtual machines while leveraging the built-in infrastructure automation and flexibility of both <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> Virtualization and Kubernetes. Key benefits include:

* **Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) option**: If you are using the SaaS deployment option for your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_name</code>, Kubernetes is also deployed using the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, where our **cloud hosted management plane** remotely deploys, manages, monitors and upgrades your Kubernetes clusters, built on [Virtualmachines](/private-cloud-director/2025.10/virtualized-clusters/virtualmachine.md) provisioned by <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> [Virtualized Cluster Blueprint](/private-cloud-director/2025.10/virtualized-clusters/virtualized-cluster-blueprint.md).
* **Unified management**: The management cluster in <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_name</code> hosts both the control plane (e.g. Compute, Networking, Identity API) and the Kubernetes Cluster API components, simplifying the infrastructure and cluster lifecycle management.
* **Enhanced automation**: The Cluster API allows you to declaratively manage the Kubernetes clusters and handle their creation, upgrades, and scaling, while PCD handles the underlying VMs and networking.
* **Seamless scaling**: With both PCD and Kubernetes running in the same management plane, scaling compute resources and Kubernetes workloads becomes highly efficient.

### Key features and capabilities

* Hosted Kubernetes Control Planes with multi-tenancy support
* Automated Cluster Lifecycle Management using Cluster API
* Integrated Identity and Access Management (IAM)
* Kubernetes Add-On Management
* Enterprise-Grade Security & Compliance features
* Platform9 AlwaysOnAssurance


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