In this talk, we'll explore how disconnected environments, while beneficial for security, increase the complexity of Kubernetes deployments. You’ll learn the challenges encountered when bringing images, Helm charts, and Git repositories into environments lacking direct external access.

We'll then delve into how Zarf, an OpenSSF sandbox project, enables cluster operators to package everything needed for their workloads into a single, OCI artifact to be deployed onto an air-gapped cluster. You’ll see how Zarf streamlines rapid iteration of workloads to make them air-gap ready. Finally, we’ll cut off all network access and demonstrate deploying both a cluster and an application in a fully air-gapped environment.