Module 12: Building a Complete Zero Trust Platform Slides

Slide Outline

1. Building a Complete Zero Trust Platform - Capstone project: assemble everything into a production architecture
2. Learning Objectives - 4 outcomes for this module
3. Why This Module Matters - This capstone project is your proof of competence. By building a complete zero trust platform end-to-end, you demonstrat
4. Architecture Overview - Lesson section from the full module
5. What You Will Build - Lesson section from the full module
6. Reference Architecture - Lesson section from the full module
7. Common Pitfalls - Lesson section from the full module
8. Real-World Use Cases - Multi-cluster production deployment with HA and federation, Complete zero trust stack: identity + encryption + authorization
9. Common Mistakes to Avoid - 4 mistakes covered
10. Hands-On Labs - 1 hands-on lab
11. Key Takeaways - 5 points to remember

Learning Objectives

• Design an end-to-end zero trust platform architecture
• Deploy SPIRE with Envoy mTLS and OPA authorization
• Implement federation across two clusters
• Create a reference architecture for your organization

Why This Module Matters

This capstone project is your proof of competence. By building a complete zero trust platform end-to-end, you demonstrate that you can architect, deploy, and operate production identity infrastructure — not just follow tutorials. This is what you put on your resume and discuss in interviews.

Common Mistakes

• Building everything at once instead of layering: identity first, then encryption, then authorization
• Not testing failure scenarios: what happens when SPIRE Server goes down?
• Skipping monitoring — deploying without dashboards means flying blind
• Not documenting the architecture decisions for your team

Key Takeaways

• Zero trust is a system: identity (SPIRE) + encryption (Envoy) + authorization (OPA)
• Start with one critical service path and expand incrementally
• Document your trust domain schema, SPIFFE ID naming, and policy structure
• Test failure modes: expired certs, server downtime, policy misconfiguration
• This reference architecture is your template for production deployments

Hands-On Labs

1. Capstone: Build a Zero Trust Kubernetes Platform

   Deploy the complete zero trust stack end-to-end.

   • Create two Kind clusters for production and staging
   • Deploy SPIRE Server (HA) and Agents on both clusters
   • Deploy a microservice application with Envoy sidecars
   • Configure OPA policies for service authorization
   • Set up SPIFFE federation between clusters
   • Deploy Prometheus monitoring with SPIRE dashboards
   • Test by simulating a compromised service attempting unauthorized access

   View lab files on GitHub