Multi-Tenancy Patterns: Namespace Isolation, vCluster, and Dedicated Clusters

Calendar February 22, 2026
Kubernetes
Intermediate, Advanced
Multi-Tenancy-Design, Tenant-Isolation, Namespace-Security, Resource-Partitioning
Multi-Tenancy, Namespaces, Vcluster, Network-Policies, Resource-Quotas, Security, Isolation
Kubectl, Vcluster, Helm

Multi-Tenancy Patterns: Namespace Isolation, vCluster, and Dedicated Clusters#

Multi-tenancy in Kubernetes means running workloads for multiple teams, customers, or environments on shared infrastructure. The core tension is always the same: sharing reduces cost, but isolation prevents blast radius. Choosing the wrong model creates security gaps or wastes money. This guide provides a framework for selecting the right approach and implementing it correctly.

The Three Models#

Every Kubernetes multi-tenancy approach falls into one of three categories, each with different isolation guarantees:

Pod Security Standards and Admission: Replacing PodSecurityPolicy

Calendar February 21, 2026
Kubernetes
Intermediate
Pod-Security-Configuration, Namespace-Security, Migration-Planning, Security-Hardening
Pod-Security, Psa, Psp, Security, Admission-Control
Kubectl

Pod Security Standards and Admission#

PodSecurityPolicy (PSP) was removed from Kubernetes in v1.25. Its replacement is Pod Security Admission (PSA), a built-in admission controller that enforces three predefined security profiles. PSA is simpler than PSP – no separate policy objects, no RBAC bindings to manage – but it is also less flexible. You apply security standards to namespaces via labels and the admission controller handles enforcement.

The Three Security Standards#

Kubernetes defines three Pod Security Standards, each progressively more restrictive: