Platform Engineering and Internal Developer Platforms (IDP)

Platform Engineering focuses on building and maintaining Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) that enable self-service capabilities for development teams. By abstracting infrastructure complexity, platform teams accelerate delivery while maintaining governance and security.

What is an Internal Developer Platform?

An IDP is a layer on top of existing infrastructure that provides developers with self-service access to environments, deployments, and resources through golden paths – pre-approved, standardized workflows.

IDP Components

Service Catalog: Templates for creating new services
Environment Management: Self-service environment provisioning
CI/CD Integration: Standardized deployment pipelines
Observability: Built-in monitoring and logging
Developer Portal: Single pane of glass for all services

Backstage Developer Portal

# catalog-info.yaml - Service definition
apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1
kind: Component
metadata:
  name: payment-service
  description: Payment processing microservice
  annotations:
    github.com/project-slug: company/payment-service
    backstage.io/techdocs-ref: dir:.
spec:
  type: service
  lifecycle: production
  owner: team-payments
  system: checkout
  providesApis:
    - payment-api
  dependsOn:
    - component:user-service
    - resource:payments-db

Software Templates

# template.yaml - New service template
apiVersion: scaffolder.backstage.io/v1beta3
kind: Template
metadata:
  name: microservice-template
  title: Create Microservice
  description: Create a new microservice with CI/CD
spec:
  owner: platform-team
  type: service
  
  parameters:
    - title: Service Details
      required: [name, owner]
      properties:
        name:
          title: Service Name
          type: string
          pattern: '^[a-z0-9-]+$'
        owner:
          title: Owner Team
          type: string
          ui:field: OwnerPicker
        language:
          title: Language
          type: string
          enum: [python, go, nodejs]
          
  steps:
    - id: fetch
      name: Fetch Template
      action: fetch:template
      input:
        url: ./skeleton
        values:
          name: ${{ parameters.name }}
          owner: ${{ parameters.owner }}
          
    - id: publish
      name: Create Repository
      action: publish:github
      input:
        repoUrl: github.com?owner=company&repo=${{ parameters.name }}
        
    - id: register
      name: Register in Catalog
      action: catalog:register
      input:
        repoContentsUrl: ${{ steps.publish.output.repoContentsUrl }}
        catalogInfoPath: /catalog-info.yaml

Crossplane for Infrastructure

# Composite Resource Definition
apiVersion: apiextensions.crossplane.io/v1
kind: CompositeResourceDefinition
metadata:
  name: databases.platform.company.com
spec:
  group: platform.company.com
  names:
    kind: Database
    plural: databases
  versions:
  - name: v1
    served: true
    referenceable: true
    schema:
      openAPIV3Schema:
        type: object
        properties:
          spec:
            type: object
            properties:
              size:
                type: string
                enum: [small, medium, large]
              engine:
                type: string
                enum: [postgres, mysql]
---
# Composition
apiVersion: apiextensions.crossplane.io/v1
kind: Composition
metadata:
  name: database-aws
spec:
  compositeTypeRef:
    apiVersion: platform.company.com/v1
    kind: Database
  resources:
  - name: rds
    base:
      apiVersion: rds.aws.crossplane.io/v1beta1
      kind: Instance
      spec:
        forProvider:
          region: us-east-1
          dbInstanceClass: db.t3.medium
          engine: postgres
          masterUsername: admin

Developer Self-Service

# Developer requests a database
apiVersion: platform.company.com/v1
kind: Database
metadata:
  name: orders-db
  namespace: orders-team
spec:
  size: medium
  engine: postgres

Platform Metrics

Time to first deployment for new developers
Lead time for changes
Deployment frequency
Platform adoption rate
Developer satisfaction (NPS)

Conclusion

Platform Engineering reduces cognitive load on developers while maintaining security and compliance. By building golden paths with tools like Backstage and Crossplane, platform teams enable self-service without sacrificing governance.

Cloud AI