Kubernetes v1.35 Cluster (Infrastructure Service) • The hosting platform for: o All microservices o Kong Gateway itself (usually deployed via Helm chart) • Provides: o Pod lifecycle management o Scaling and rolling updates o Service discovery o Networking via CNI plugins o ConfigMaps/Secrets for Kong configuration Kubernetes as an infrastructure capability: • Ensures resiliency and scaling for both microservices and Kong Gateway. • Acts as the runtime for the entire service mesh / API gateway ecosystem.