Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK), though still in its alpha stage, has attracted significant interest from both the Elasticsearch and Kubernetes communities as it offers a streamlined approach to deploying the Elastic Stack on Kubernetes. Developed by the creators of the Elastic Stack, ECK simplifies the deployment and management processes, making it possible to launch ECK and the Elastic Stack with minimal commands using tools like Minikube or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). The blog provides a detailed guide on setting up ECK, deploying the Elastic Stack, and scaling and upgrading Elasticsearch within a Kubernetes cluster, emphasizing the ease of use with commands that ensure security and efficient configuration. By leveraging Kubernetes' capabilities, ECK facilitates zero-downtime scaling and upgrading, offering a seamless experience for users. The introduction of security features, such as default TLS and basic authentication, enhances the deployment's safety, while customization options like pod templates and virtual memory configurations allow for flexible management. The blog also highlights the capabilities of ECK in handling tasks such as deploying Metricbeat and a sample application instrumented with Elastic APM, which will be further explored in the second part of the series.