☁️ Deploying Camunda 8 on Microsoft Azure (AKS) – Complete Enterprise Guide

Running Camunda 8 on Microsoft Azure using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a recommended enterprise deployment model.

It provides:
✔ High availability
✔ Horizontal scalability
✔ Cloud-native resilience
✔ Secure enterprise integration
✔ Seamless DevOps & monitoring

This guide explains:

• Camunda 8 architecture on AKS

• Required Azure services

• Deployment flow

• Security & scaling

• Best practices and common pitfalls

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⭐ 1. Why Deploy Camunda 8 on Azure AKS?

Camunda 8 is cloud-native and Kubernetes-first. AKS is a perfect match.

Key benefits

✔ Managed Kubernetes (less ops effort)
✔ Easy horizontal scaling
✔ Enterprise-grade security (Azure AD)
✔ Native monitoring & logging
✔ Ideal for microservices & event-driven workflows

👉 AKS is the preferred choice for running Camunda 8 in Azure.

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⭐ 2. Camunda 8 Components (Quick Recap)

Camunda 8 consists of multiple microservices:

• Zeebe – Distributed workflow engine

• Gateway – Client access layer

• Operate – Monitoring & incidents

• Tasklist – Human task UI

• Optimize – Analytics (optional)

• Identity – Authentication & authorization

• Elasticsearch / OpenSearch – Data store

Each component runs as a separate container on Kubernetes.

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⭐ 3. Azure Architecture for Camunda 8

Typical Azure setup:

1. AKS Cluster – Hosts Camunda services

2. Azure Load Balancer / Application Gateway – External access

3. Azure Managed Disk – Persistent volumes

4. Azure Container Registry (ACR) – Container images

5. Azure AD – Identity & SSO

6. Azure Monitor / Log Analytics – Observability

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⭐ 4. Prerequisites

Before deployment, you need:

• Azure subscription

• AKS cluster (2–3 node pools recommended)

• kubectl configured

• Helm installed

• Azure Container Registry (optional)

• DNS & TLS certificates

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⭐ 5. Deployment Options

🔹 Option 1: Camunda 8 Helm Charts (Recommended)

Camunda provides official Helm charts.

Advantages:
✔ Faster setup
✔ Production-ready defaults
✔ Easier upgrades

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🔹 Option 2: Custom Kubernetes Manifests

Used when:

• You need full control

• Strict enterprise governance is required

❗ More operational effort.

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⭐ 6. Deploy Camunda 8 Using Helm on AKS

Step 1: Add Camunda Helm repository

helm repo add camunda https://helm.camunda.io
helm repo update

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Step 2: Create a namespace

kubectl create namespace camunda

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Step 3: Install Camunda 8

helm install camunda camunda/camunda-platform \
  --namespace camunda

This deploys:

• Zeebe

• Gateway

• Operate

• Tasklist

• Identity

• Elasticsearch

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⭐ 7. Exposing Camunda 8 Services

Options:

• Azure Load Balancer

• Application Gateway (recommended for TLS & WAF)

• Ingress Controller (NGINX)

Example (Ingress):

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: camunda-ingress
spec:
  rules:
    - host: camunda.mycompany.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: camunda-gateway
                port:
                  number: 26500

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⭐ 8. Identity & Security (Azure AD)

Camunda 8 integrates well with Azure AD via OIDC.

Best practices:

✔ Azure AD for SSO
✔ Role-based access control (RBAC)
✔ Kubernetes Secrets / Azure Key Vault
✔ Network policies
✔ Private AKS cluster (optional)

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⭐ 9. Scaling Camunda 8 on AKS

Horizontal scaling

• Scale Zeebe brokers

• Scale Gateway replicas

• Scale Tasklist / Operate

Kubernetes features

✔ HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler)
✔ Node auto-scaling
✔ Multiple availability zones

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⭐ 10. Monitoring & Observability

Use:

• Azure Monitor

• Log Analytics

• Prometheus + Grafana (optional)

Monitor:
✔ Workflow throughput
✔ Job execution latency
✔ Incidents & retries
✔ Resource utilization

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⭐ 11. Storage Considerations

Component	Storage
Zeebe	Azure Managed Disks
Elasticsearch	Persistent Volumes
Backups	Azure Blob Storage

✔ Always use persistent volumes
✔ Plan backup & restore strategy

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⭐ 12. Best Practices for Production

✔ Use multiple Zeebe brokers
✔ Separate node pools (compute vs storage)
✔ Enable TLS everywhere
✔ Use private endpoints
✔ Automate with CI/CD (GitHub Actions / Azure DevOps)
✔ Test upgrades in staging
✔ Monitor costs & autoscaling

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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Single-node AKS cluster
❌ No persistent volumes
❌ Exposing services without TLS
❌ Ignoring backups
❌ Underestimating Elasticsearch size
❌ Treating Camunda 8 like Camunda 7

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🎉 Conclusion

Deploying Camunda 8 on Azure AKS gives you:

✔ Cloud-native scalability
✔ High availability
✔ Enterprise security
✔ Seamless DevOps integration

👉 Azure + AKS is a production-grade platform for running Camunda 8 at scale.

💼 Professional Support Available

If you are facing issues in real projects related to enterprise backend development or workflow automation, I provide paid consulting, production debugging, project support, and focused trainings.

Technologies covered include Java, Spring Boot, PL/SQL, Azure, and workflow automation (jBPM, Camunda BPM, RHPAM).

📧 Contact: ishikhanirankari@gmail.com | info@realtechnologiesindia.com

🌐 Website: IT Trainings | Digital metal podium 

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