EKS Anywhere, extending the Hybrid cloud momentum

The code repository for the entire saga series can be located on thecloudgarage/eks-anywhere (github.com). The repository consists of various advanced automation that further enhance the EKS-Anywhere deployments, various use-cases, etc.

In this ongoing multi-part series, we will walk through a comprehensive list of architectural and implementation related guidance for EKS Anywhere. Intent is to keep the series going on., and as of now… this is what I have for treats! You can follow these URLs in a sequence or individually.

EKS Anywhere basics and cluster architectures

• EKS Anywhere., Decoding the architecture
• EKS Anywhere., Environmental substrate & prerequisites
• EKS Anywhere., Building the Administrative machine

Kubernetes moves at a fast pace and typically follows a N, N-1, N-2 release strategy. Please use the below two articles to build and customize ubuntu OS templates for Kubernetes versions 1.21, 1.22 and 1.23. As future releases evolve, we can use the below two articles to create newer virtual machine templates

• EKS Anywhere., Breaking changes starting v0.11.0, need to build your own ubuntu node images
• EKS Anywhere., Customizing ubuntu templates for specific requirements
• EKS Anywhere., Preparing the cluster template
• EKS Anywhere., Standalone clusters deployment model
• EKS Anywhere., Dedicated management cluster model
• EKS Anywhere., Cluster autoscaling and node group aware topologies
• EKS Anywhere., Securely accessing AWS services via IRSA
• EKS Anywhere., managing clusters with Flux V2 GitOps

EKS Anywhere & OIDC based Single Sign On

• EKS Anywhere, OIDC integration with Azure-AD/Microsoft-Entra
• EKS Anywhere., SSO with KeyCloak OIDC
• EKS Anywhere., Creating a simple KeyCloak server for various use-cases
• EKS Anywhere., Enabling KeyCloak OIDC SSO configuration on the cluster
• EKS Anywhere., Validating KeyCloak OIDC SSO access from kubectl

EKS Anywhere and Networking

• EKS Anywhere., MetalLB load balancer services
• EKS Anywhere., Jiving with Cilium OSS and BGP Load Balancing

EKS Anywhere and Persistent Storage

• EKS Anywhere., and the Default Storage Class (VMware CNS/CSI)
• EKS Anywhere., Part-1 DellEMC CSI for PowerStore
• EKS Anywhere., Part-2 DellEMC CSI for PowerStore
• EKS Anywhere., Part-1 DellEMC CSI for PowerScale
• EKS Anywhere., Part-2 DellEMC CSI for PowerScale
• EKS Anywhere., PART-1 DellEMC CSI for Unity-XT
• EKS Anywhere., PART-2 DellEMC CSI for Unity-XT
• EKS Anywhere., deploying Dell PowerScale CSI drivers using Flux V2 GitOps and Mozilla SOPS
• EKS Anywhere., Building a cross-cloud hybrid data plane with Dell PowerFlex CSI (an aggregate blog of multiple videos showcasing end-to-end solution on Dell PowerFlex with EKS and EKS-Anywhere)

EKS Anywhere and dashboards, consoles

• EKS Anywhere., Integrating with EKS console
• EKS Anywhere., and Octant.. a simple yet a very powerful UI for k8s
• EKS Anywhere., Kubernetes dashboard with NGINX Ingress controller and Self-signed certs

Advanced use-cases

• Sock-shop., a reference architecture for various use-cases
• EKS Anywhere, Kubernetes protection at scale with Dell’s PowerProtect Data Manager (sockshop use case)
• EKS Anywhere, repatriations, workload migrations, cloud-DR and more…
• EKS Anywhere., Production Grade DBaaS on Kubernetes with AppsCode KubeDB, KubeVault, KubeStash, Dell PowerFlex andDell ECS

Let’s spice it up with bare metal

• EKS Anywhere, creating Ubuntu 22.04 OS Images for bare-metal clusters
• EKS Anywhere, creating RHEL 9.2 OS Images for bare-metal clusters
• EKS Anywhere on bare-metal instances with Dell Technologies and MetalSoft BMaaS
• EKS Anywhere., targeted scale-down of machines on bare-metal instances

A bit of Context never harms

Kubernetes has come a long way since it’s inception and has become the ubiquitous choice for modern cloud native architectures. In that stride, it has also become the perfect abstraction kit delivering hybrid cloud use-cases across the enterprise whether it’s newer api-led microservices architectures, containerized legacy applications that need to be sustained and the growing need for running data services in containers.

EKS is probably one of the most adopted and fastest growing Kubernetes service out there. In that spirit, AWS has extended the exact same Kubernetes distribution to run as a set of Open Source tool chain (EKS Anywhere) for on-premises deployments on vSphere. EKS Anywhere from AWS joins the ranks of many other providers of k8s distributions and platforms that are already invested in harnessing the potential of Kubernetes on premises, co-located and edge locations

What I personally like about EKS Anywhere

Practically free (except the support costs- optional). Open-source all the way., but delivered with the ease & robustness of enterprise expectations around security. Great alignment with cloud-native development & operations focus, a fast & developing ecosystem of overlay partner solutions that customers have come to experience over the years with EKS.

And lastly, the convenience & parity of running the exact same EKS core on-premises without worrying about the unpredictability of cloud costs and bill-shocks!!!

Recently, DellEMC has announced three major platforms validated with EKS Anywhere. Read more:

1. VxRail: A Match Made On-premises: Dell Technologies and AWS EKS Anywhere — Dell Technologies
2. PowerFlex: PowerFlex and Amazon: Destination EKS Anywhere | Dell Technologies Info Hub
3. PowerStore-X: Exploring Amazon EKS Anywhere on PowerStore X — Part I | Dell Technologies Info Hub

That’s it for introductions., head over to individual sections provided at the start of this article for comprehensive reads & implement details.

cheers

Ambar@thecloudgarage

#iwork4dell