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Key Concepts

As you begin working with Datum, it’s helpful to understand some key decisions we’ve made.

Kubernetes CRDs - Datum’s control plane is built on Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). While you don’t have to use k8s to use Datum Cloud, it helps to understand what’s under the hood.

  • Ecosystem - We’ve invested in this approach to align with the largest ecosystem for cloud operators. If you’re a cloud native SRE or platform engineer, working with Datum capabilities exposed as resources should feel super comfy.
  • LLMs - Because Kubernetes patterns are so well established, LLMs are able to more easily and accurately interact with Datum’s platform.

Locations - We deploy infrastructure in the top internet aggregation points globally. To learn more about how we translate that infrastructure into customer-facing regions and zones, check out the Infrastructure section later in these docs.

Customer Portal - Our portal is organized into three main areas: account settings, organization settings, and project settings. Aside from team management, which takes place at the Org level, most resources are managed at the Project level:

  • Runtime Core network services delivered on Datum’s global edge, including:
    • DNS - An authoritative DNS service backed by PowerDNS & Hickory DNS
    • Proxy - An Envoy-based proxy to secure and accelerate apps and services
    • AI Gateway - A globally distributed gateway for interacting with GenAI services
  • Connections - Securely interact with infra, providers, partners and customers
    • Galactic VPC - Private Internet backbones that span clouds with policy controls
    • Tunnel - Access to any system. No dynamic DNS, no port forwarding, no VPNs.
  • Workflows - Automations to improve reliability and customize behavior
    • 1-Click WAF - Standard OWASP rules through your proxy. Powered by Coraza.
    • Grafana Cloud - Send OTel telemetry to Grafana Cloud using an export policy.
  • Assets - Programmatic resources to support your deployments
    • Domains - A programmatic resource for organizing and managing domains
    • Secrets - Credential management service for sensitive data