Powering multi-cluster workloads with seamless cross‑cluster networking for Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager

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With Cilium-based cross-cluster networking, we are delivering a managed, high-performance web that tin span your full fleet.

As organizations modernize their exertion portfolios, we are witnessing a cardinal displacement successful however cloud-native infrastructure is architected. No longer is the question “How bash we standard a cluster?” but alternatively “How bash we standard crossed clusters, regions, and clouds portion maintaining operational simplicity?”

Today, we are thrilled to denote the public preview of cross-cluster networking for Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager. This capableness represents the adjacent improvement successful multi-cluster absorption by introducing transparent E-W multi-cluster networking powered by Advanced Container Networking Services.

The situation of multi-cluster networking

Whether driven by regulatory requirements, determination catastrophe recovery, oregon the request to isolate blast domains, organizations of each size often tally aggregate Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters. However, managing these clusters has historically introduced a “networking tax.” Traditional approaches trust connected analyzable VPNs, gateways, and manual work discovery, adding latency and operational complexity.

Even erstwhile operating conscionable a fewer clusters and particularly erstwhile operating ample standard fleets of clusters, teams request consistent, reliable cross‑cluster connectivity to enactment scenarios similar failover, shared services architectures, and seamlessly shifting workloads crossed regions for capableness oregon latency. At the aforesaid time, level teams privation to abstract infrastructure details from developers, enabling seamless cluster-level changes without disrupting applications.

Our vision: Multi-cluster absorption with seamless networking

In effect to akin challenges, we built Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager. Fleet Manager is designed to simplify multi-cluster Kubernetes for everyone. While Fleet Manager has already simplified workload propagation (deploying to galore clusters) and update orchestration (safe, staged upgrades), the web remained a challenge.

With the instauration of Cilium-based cross-cluster networking successful Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager, we are delivering a managed, high-performance web that tin span your full fleet.

This capableness extends the Kubernetes networking exemplary crossed clusters, enabling services and workloads to pass crossed clump boundaries arsenic if they were local, portion preserving cluster-level isolation and governance.

Built connected an open-source foundation, this capableness uses Cilium for dataplane and Kubefleet for fleet-level orchestration, some progressive Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) projects. This ensures transparency, portability, and alignment with the broader Kubernetes ecosystem, portion benefiting from continuous innovation from the open-source community.

The pursuing diagram shows however clusters successful a fleet are connected done a unified, managed network, enabling seamless communication, work discovery, and argumentation enforcement.

Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager flowchart.

Key capabilities include:

  • Seamless east-west connectivity: Using eBPF-based routing with powerfulness of Azure CNI powered by Cilium and Advanced Container Networking Services, pods tin pass crossed clusters with autochthonal performance, nary proxies oregon gateways required.
  • Global work discovery: With a elemental annotation (service.cilium.io/global=true), a modular Kubernetes Service becomes “global.” Cross-cluster networking automatically discovers endpoints crossed joined subordinate clusters, providing transparent load balancing and failover.
  • Multi‑cluster observability: Gain a unified presumption of web wellness crossed clusters with aggregated metrics, logs, and travel visibility. Advanced Container Networking Services integrates Cilium telemetry to supply accordant insights, faster troubleshooting, and end‑to‑end visibility crossed the fleet.
  • Unified information and governance: Security policies are nary longer confined by clump boundaries. Through Advanced Container Networking Services, you tin present enforce enterprise-grade web policies and summation heavy observability crossed your full planetary footprint, ensuring identity-based information follows your workloads wherever they run.
  • Zero-touch management: Fleet Manager handles the analyzable lifecycle, managing certificates, and web configurations, truthful you don’t person to.

These capabilities are utilizing eBPF to alteration businesslike routing, argumentation enforcement, and observability for high-performance networking

Strategic resilience with cross-cluster networking

In a digital-first economy, resilience is simply a competitory advantage. Cross-cluster networking enables customers to physique architectures that are inherently resilient to single-cluster oregon single-region failures.

Whether you are moving “Shared Services” clusters to enactment hundreds of tenants oregon gathering “Global Services” that way postulation to the healthiest disposable endpoints, cross-cluster networking for Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager ensures your infrastructure is arsenic agile arsenic your concern needs.

We are committed to providing the astir robust, secure, and performant level for multi-cluster environments. Cross-cluster networking is simply a large measurement towards a aboriginal wherever the carnal boundaries of a clump nary longer bounds the innovation wrong it.

Getting started with cross-cluster networking

Cross-cluster networking for Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager is designed to minimize operational complexity:

Prerequisites for your clusters:

  • Azure CNI powered by Cilium arsenic the networking dataplane.
  • Advanced Container Networking Services enabled.

Set up cross-cluster networking:

  1. Join clusters to a Fleet.
  2. Associate the members with a cross-cluster web profile.
  3. Deploy services with planetary annotations to alteration cross-cluster communication.

Once configured, Fleet Manager automatically deploys and manages the required components, enabling nonstop pod-to-pod connection crossed clusters without further gateways oregon overlays.

This managed attack removes the load of mounting up and maintaining Cilium multi-cluster components manually, allowing teams to absorption connected exertion transportation alternatively of infrastructure management.

See it successful action: Watch the Cross-Cluster Networking for Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager Video Guide to larn much and spot a speedy demo.

Documentation and resources

If you person feedback oregon would similar to larn more, scope retired to your Microsoft relationship squad oregon stock feedback done the Azure Kubernetes Service assemblage channels, we would emotion to perceive from you!

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