STACKIT Introduction
STACKIT
STACKIT Cloud Engineer
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STACKIT
STACKIT Cloud Engineer
A hands-on learning path for cloud engineers: STACKIT product fundamentals, Linux, Docker, Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes, deployed on STACKIT Cloud Foundry and SKE.
STACKIT Introduction
Guide
Advisory stackit university learning stackit overview sovereignty partner
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”An entry-level course that sets up everything else in STACKIT University. It explains STACKIT’s place inside the Schwarz Group and Schwarz Digits, walks through the three pillars behind the sovereign cloud promise — Scalable, Secure, Sovereign — and unpacks what each one actually guarantees in practice, from EU-only data centers to independence from foreign investors. From there it moves into the architecture itself: the IaaS and PaaS layers, how resources are managed through the Portal, API, CLI, and Terraform, and how the 6R framework (rehost, replatform, refactor, repurchase, retain, retire) maps existing workloads onto STACKIT services.
It’s built for anyone who needs a working mental model of STACKIT before going deeper — new customers, new partners, or new hires — so that later courses on the portfolio, portal, or sales don’t have to re-explain the basics. By the end, you’ll be able to place STACKIT correctly against hyperscalers and on-premise alternatives, and know which migration strategy fits a given workload.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Explain STACKIT’s relationship to the Schwarz Group and why that backing translates into financial and operational stability
- Describe what “Scalable, Secure, Sovereign” concretely guarantees — not just the slogan
- Distinguish STACKIT’s IaaS and PaaS layers and know which one a given use case calls for
- Match an existing workload to the right 6R migration strategy
- Navigate the STACKIT Portal, APIs, CLI, and Terraform provider as entry points for managing resources
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- STACKIT and the Schwarz Group
- Mission, Vision, and Core Values
- Key Benefits and Strategic Value
- Big Picture: STACKIT Architecture and Services
STACKIT Portal
Guide
STACKIT Portal
STACKIT
Advisory stackit university learning portal iam onboarding
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A short, video-centric course that gets you comfortable in the STACKIT Portal: how projects, resources, and IAM tie together, how the interface is laid out, and how to assign users to a project. From there it moves into using the Portal day to day — reading full cost transparency into a project, choosing infrastructure services, and setting up platform services and runtimes — so you leave able to actually operate in the Portal, not just recognize it.
It’s designed as a quick second step right after the STACKIT Introduction course, before diving into the full service portfolio or a specific role path.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Explain STACKIT’s IAM and resource concept and how projects fit together
- Navigate the Portal interface and assign users to a project
- Read cost transparency data and use the cost calculator
- Set up IaaS servers and select infrastructure services in the Portal
- Launch platform services, runtimes, and PaaS components
- Know where to reach STACKIT Support from the Portal
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Portal Fundamentals
- Portal Services
STACKIT Portfolio
Guide
STACKIT Portfolio
STACKIT
Advisory stackit university learning portfolio overview
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A guided tour of STACKIT’s portfolio at a glance: what Availability Zones are and how they underpin reliability, how to tell IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS apart and pick the right one, and how cloud-native applications actually run on STACKIT’s runtime offerings. From there it covers modern data and AI services, security and compliance, and the supporting services and interfaces (Portal and APIs) that tie the whole portfolio together.
It’s the third step of the STACKIT Fundamentals path — after the Introduction and the Portal — and gives every other STACKIT University path a shared map of “what exists” before going deep on any one part of it.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Explain what STACKIT is and describe its core portfolio areas
- Understand Availability Zones and how STACKIT ensures reliability and high availability
- Distinguish IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS and know when to use each
- Describe how cloud-native applications run on STACKIT runtime offerings
- Place data, AI, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure protection within the STACKIT ecosystem
- Get a high-level view of the STACKIT Portal and APIs as interfaces to manage services
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- STACKIT’s Portfolio at a Glance
- Cloud Infrastructure Fundamentals
- STACKIT Services for Application Deployment
- Platform & Developer Experience
- Modern Data & AI Services
- Security & Compliance
- STACKIT Supporting Services
STACKIT Product Fundamentals
Guide
STACKIT Product Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning product fundamentals cloud engineer iaas paas
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A technical, hands-on tour of the full STACKIT product portfolio across ten modules: compute (VM sizing, GPU workloads, custom images), storage and network architecture, the Kubernetes Engine and Cloud Foundry runtime platforms, database services (PostgreSQL Flex, MongoDB Flex, MariaDB, Redis, OpenSearch), RabbitMQ-based messaging, observability, security services (KMS, Secrets Manager, IAM, audit logging), developer automation (CLI, SDKs, Terraform), and STACKIT’s data and AI offerings including managed AI Model Serving. Every module pairs an architecture explanation with concrete CLI, API, and Terraform examples rather than staying at the conceptual level.
This is the technical deep dive for people who will actually build and run production workloads on STACKIT — cloud engineers, DevOps engineers, technical consultants, and teams migrating existing systems. It assumes you already have the fundamentals and an active STACKIT project, and it’s built around the tool-selection and configuration decisions those roles face daily: which provisioning method fits a task, how to tune storage and database performance, and how to wire security and observability into a deployment rather than bolting them on afterward.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Understand the technical architecture and internals behind STACKIT’s core services
- Provision and configure resources using the CLI, API, and Terraform
- Implement security controls with Key Management Service (KMS) and Secrets Manager
- Operate production-grade Kubernetes Engine and Cloud Foundry deployments
- Configure messaging, observability, and monitoring for running workloads
- Integrate STACKIT AI Model Serving for LLM-backed applications
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Computing
- Storage Architecture
- Network Architecture
- Runtime Platforms
- Database Services
- Messaging & Event-Driven Systems
- Observability & Monitoring
- Security Services
- Developer Platform & Automation
- Data & AI
Linux Fundamentals
Guide
Linux Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning linux sysadmin
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A practical Linux course for beginners, developers, cloud engineers, and administrators who want to learn or refresh the basics in a cloud context. It builds solid knowledge of Linux fundamentals, the most important commands, and initial system administration experience — with hands-on exercises on real STACKIT Linux VMs rather than a purely theoretical rundown.
Across seven modules it moves from Linux’s origins and distributions through CLI basics (navigation, file management, editors), users and permissions, everyday system administration (processes, monitoring, packages), networking and security concepts, and finally troubleshooting: log analysis, backups, and error diagnosis.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Explain the basic concepts and origins of Linux
- Confidently work with the most important Linux commands for navigation, file management, and user management
- Understand and use the Linux filesystem structure
- Apply basic network commands and system administration processes
- Practice on a STACKIT Linux VM to apply the knowledge in a real environment
- Perform troubleshooting and basic maintenance on a Linux system
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Introduction
- Distros & VMs
- CLI Basics
- Users & Permissions
- System Administration
- Networking & Security
- Troubleshooting
Docker Fundamentals
Guide
Docker Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning docker containers
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A hands-on introduction to containerization with Docker: how it packages applications and their dependencies into isolated, portable containers so they run the same on a laptop, in a development environment, or in the cloud. The course walks through building and managing containers efficiently, then orchestrating multi-container applications with Docker Compose, using a “Hello STACKIT” website as a running practical exercise.
It’s built as the foundation for the follow-on Kubernetes course, both on STACKIT VMs and locally with Docker Desktop.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Understand the basic concepts of containerization and how Docker works
- Create Docker images and efficiently start, manage, and optimize containers
- Gain practical experience with Docker on STACKIT VMs and locally with Docker Desktop
- Work with Docker Compose to orchestrate multi-container applications
- Implement practical use cases through hands-on exercises in each module
- Build a solid foundation for the advanced Kubernetes course
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Containerization Concepts
- Building and Running Containers
- Docker Compose
- Hands-On: Hello STACKIT
Ansible Fundamentals
Guide
Ansible Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning ansible automation iac
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A practical introduction to Ansible with a focus on the STACKIT Cloud: how agentless automation replaces manual, error-prone server configuration with simple, readable YAML files. The course covers what Ansible is, how it differs from other automation tools, and when it’s the right choice for stateful versus stateless server scenarios, then builds up from ad-hoc commands to complete deployment workflows.
Across six modules you create playbooks, tasks, and roles, use Ansible Galaxy, apply Jinja2 templating for dynamic configuration, and configure SSH ProxyJump for isolated STACKIT networks — finishing with STACKIT API integration, dynamic inventories, and combining Ansible with Terraform for end-to-end infrastructure as code.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Understand Ansible’s agentless architecture and when it’s the right tool
- Create ad-hoc commands, playbooks, tasks, inventories, and roles
- Build and apply Jinja2 templates for dynamic configuration
- Configure SSH ProxyJump for isolated STACKIT networks
- Integrate Ansible with STACKIT Cloud for automated resource provisioning
- Combine Ansible with Terraform for end-to-end infrastructure as code
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Ansible Introduction
- Installation & Ad-Hoc Commands
- Playbooks & YAML
- Roles & Galaxy
- STACKIT Integration
- Advanced Operations
Terraform Fundamentals
Guide
Terraform Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning terraform iac
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”An introduction to Terraform applied directly to the STACKIT Cloud, using the official STACKIT Terraform Provider to configure STACKIT products declaratively. The course covers infrastructure-as-code concepts, state management, and the core Terraform workflow, then walks through setup, authentication, HCL syntax, resources, variables, and modules in a hands-on “Hello STACKIT” exercise.
It closes with best practices — project structure, remote state, security, and debugging — as preparation for more advanced Terraform work and the STACKIT Certified Cloud Engineer certification track.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Understand Infrastructure as Code, state management, and declarative configuration
- Use the STACKIT Terraform Provider to provision resources in STACKIT Cloud
- Write Terraform HCL configuration files that provision infrastructure
- Work confidently with
init,plan,apply, anddestroy - Configure a “Hello STACKIT” infrastructure end to end
- Apply best practices for Terraform projects
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Introduction to Terraform
- Setup & Authentication
- Configuration & Deployment
- Best Practices
- Examination
Kubernetes Fundamentals
Guide
Kubernetes Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning kubernetes containers ske cloud native
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”An eight-module, hands-on introduction to Kubernetes built for cloud engineers approaching the topic for the first time — no prior Kubernetes knowledge required, just basic Docker and Linux familiarity. You start with cluster architecture and a local environment (Minikube or Kind), then work through core objects and YAML manifests, Services and Ingress, persistent storage and StatefulSets, RBAC and secrets management, and scheduling and scaling, building fluency with kubectl and multi-container patterns like sidecars and init containers along the way.
The course can be completed entirely in a local cluster or on a live STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) cluster, and a dedicated module walks through deploying your own application to SKE so the concepts land as production practice, not just theory. A closing module leaves you with links, tips, and exam guidance for the CNCF CKAD certification, making this course a solid foundation whether your goal is day-to-day cluster operations or a formal certification path.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Work confidently with Pods, Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, Volumes, and Namespaces
- Write and customize YAML manifests to define Kubernetes resources
- Apply multi-container patterns: sidecars and init containers
- Configure networking, persistent storage, and RBAC for real workloads
- Deploy and operate applications on the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)
- Prepare for the CNCF CKAD certification exam
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Kubernetes Architecture and Local Environments
- Core Objects: Pods, Deployments, and YAML Manifests
- Services, Ingress, and Network Policies
- Persistent Storage and StatefulSets
- RBAC, Configuration, and Secrets Management
- Scheduling, Affinity, and Workload Scaling
- STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) Integration
- CKAD Exam Preparation
DevOps Fundamentals
Guide
DevOps Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning devops ci/cd
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A beginner-friendly introduction to modern DevOps methods: how continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), monitoring, version control, and artifact management improve the synergy between development and operations. The course pairs each concept with practical STACKIT tooling — STACKIT Git (based on Forgejo) and the STACKIT Container Registry — so the ideas connect directly to what you’ll actually use.
It’s an important step on the path to becoming a STACKIT Certified Cloud Engineer, and is designed so absolute beginners can succeed.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Understand basic DevOps principles and how they improve development-operations synergy
- Master CI/CD concepts and their benefits
- Classify the role of monitoring and logging systems in DevOps
- Navigate version control systems, specifically STACKIT Git
- Grasp container technology fundamentals and the STACKIT Container Registry
- Execute initial practical DevOps workflows and tool interactions
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- DevOps Principles
- CI/CD Concepts
- Monitoring & Logging
- Version Control with STACKIT Git
- Container Registry Basics
Cloud Foundry Fundamentals
Guide
Cloud Foundry Fundamentals
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning cloud foundry paas deployment scaling
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”A hands-on, roughly three-hour introduction to STACKIT Cloud Foundry, the Platform-as-a-Service that lets you deploy cloud-ready applications with a single cf push instead of managing infrastructure. Across six modules, you progress from that first deployment through the organization, space, and role model that governs multi-team access, into scaling, routing, and custom domains, then into production concerns: zero-downtime deployment strategies, debugging via logs and health checks, direct SSH access to running containers, and advanced network security controls like Application Security Groups and private routing.
Cloud Foundry’s whole value proposition is abstraction — you stop thinking about servers and start thinking about your application. This course makes that trade-off concrete: what you gain in deployment speed, and what you still need to understand about your application (statelessness, no reliance on the local filesystem) to make it “cloud-ready” in the first place. It’s built for developers and operators who want applications running in production quickly, without giving up the ability to debug, scale, and secure them properly.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Deploy applications with
cf push, using automatic routing, scaling, and the Service Marketplace - Manage orgs, spaces, roles, and service accounts for team and CI/CD access
- Scale applications manually and with the App AutoScaler, and configure custom domains
- Apply zero-downtime deployment strategies and debug via logs, events, and health checks
- Secure applications with SSH access controls and Application Security Groups
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Introduction to Cloud Foundry
- Application Management: Orgs, Spaces & Roles
- Scaling, Routing & Domains
- Advanced Deployment and Debugging
- SSH Access to Applications and Services
- Advanced Routing & Network Security
Deploying an Application with SKE
Guide
Deploying an Application with STACKIT Kubernetes Engine
STACKIT
Architecture stackit university learning ske terraform deployment kubernetes
STACKIT
The sovereign European cloud provider behind the framework, delivering IaaS and PaaS from German and Austrian data centers with full digital independence.
Course Overview
Section titled “Course Overview”In this practical, seven-module workshop on managed Kubernetes, you take Scrumlr — a real open-source retrospective tool — all the way from a laptop to production. After two short theory modules on virtualization and SKE architecture, you run Scrumlr locally on Minikube with kubectl, Helm, and Kustomize, then provision the actual STACKIT infrastructure it needs — an SKE cluster, a PostgreSQL Flex database, and DNS zones — using Terraform and the STACKIT provider. From there you deploy Scrumlr to production with an Ingress controller, cert-manager-issued TLS certificates via Let’s Encrypt, and a connection to the external PostgreSQL instance, then wire up observability and pick up GitOps and secrets-management practices for running it long-term.
This is deliberately not a toy example: Scrumlr is a working application with a database, routing, and TLS requirements just like anything you’d ship for real, which is what makes the workshop transferable to your own projects. It’s built for developers, cloud engineers, and IT professionals who want the full path from “it runs on my machine” to a scalable, highly available deployment — without taking on manual cluster management — while also understanding why running on STACKIT’s European datacenters matters for data sovereignty and compliance.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”- Provision SKE clusters, PostgreSQL Flex, and DNS zones with Terraform and the STACKIT provider
- Run and validate an application locally with Minikube, kubectl, Helm, and Kustomize before shipping it
- Configure Ingress, cert-manager, and Let’s Encrypt TLS certificates for a production deployment
- Connect a production workload to an external managed database and apply GitOps and secrets-management practices
- Apply observability practices to monitor workload health after deployment
- Explain how STACKIT’s European datacenters support data sovereignty and compliance requirements
Modules
Section titled “Modules”- Introduction to Virtualization Technologies
- STACKIT Kubernetes Engine Basics
- Running Scrumlr on a Local Kubernetes Instance
- Provisioning STACKIT Infrastructure with Terraform
- Deploying Scrumlr to Production on STACKIT
- Observability, Tips & Tricks
Trail historyActive 4 of the last 12 weeksTMUpdatedNo updates · 1 bar = 1 week i
Maintainers
- TMTobias M.Head of STACKIT Cloud Framework · STACKITOwnerTobias M.Head of STACKIT Cloud Framework · STACKITOwnerActive 12 of the last 12 weeks · 168 updateswww.linkedin.com/in/tobias-müller-011304172
TMTobias M.Head of STACKIT Cloud Framework · STACKITOwnerActive 12 of the last 12 weeks · 168 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/tobias-müller-011304172CC.C1SCF Core · STACKITOwnerActive 5 of the last 12 weeks · 23 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/can-celik-645932315can.celik1@digits.schwarzContributed in STACKIT
Tobias M.Head of STACKIT Cloud Framework · STACKITOwnerActive 12 of the last 12 weeks · 168 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/tobias-müller-011304172CC.C1SCF Core · STACKITOwnerActive 5 of the last 12 weeks · 23 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/can-celik-645932315can.celik1@digits.schwarzContributed in STACKITTobias M.
Tobias M.Head of STACKIT Cloud Framework · STACKITOwnerActive 12 of the last 12 weeks · 168 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/tobias-müller-011304172
· Aug 26, 2026Tobias M.
Tobias M.Head of STACKIT Cloud Framework · STACKITOwnerActive 12 of the last 12 weeks · 168 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/tobias-müller-011304172
· Aug 19, 2026C.C1
C.C1SCF Core · STACKITOwnerActive 5 of the last 12 weeks · 23 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/can-celik-645932315can.celik1@digits.schwarz
· Aug 10, 2026
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C.C1
C.C1SCF Core · STACKITOwnerActive 5 of the last 12 weeks · 23 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/can-celik-645932315can.celik1@digits.schwarz
· Aug 10, 2026C.C1
C.C1SCF Core · STACKITOwnerActive 5 of the last 12 weeks · 23 updatesSTACKITwww.linkedin.com/in/can-celik-645932315can.celik1@digits.schwarz
· Aug 4, 2026