Rancher Labs, the creators of the most widely used Kubernetes management platform, announced the availability of Rancher 2.4. Kubernetes is the engine enabling common computing from data center and cloud to the edge. Rancher’s latest release delivers the scalability, performance, and security required to enable enterprises to run Kubernetes everywhere.
Sheng Liang, CEO at Rancher Labs said “Many enterprises are turning to Rancher as the only heterogeneous, multi-cluster, multi-cloud Kubernetes management platform. Rancher 2.4 is the latest proof point in our ‘Run Kubernetes Everywhere’ strategy, and further distances us from the considerable gaps in scalability, complexity, and openness that currently affect alternative solutions.”
With Rancher 2.4, Rancher Labs is delivering the scalability, management, and security capabilities required to support Kubernetes at edge scale. Key enhancements include:
- Path to 1 Million Clusters – For general availability, the product now supports 2,000 clusters and 100,000 nodes. Additionally, the Rancher 2.4 architecture has been enhanced to provide a path to supporting 1 million clusters in an upcoming release.
- Limited Connectivity Maintenance with K3s – ideal for cluster management, upgrades and patches where clusters may not have fixed or stable network connection, Rancher 2.4 can kick off an upgrade remotely, but the process is managed on local K3s clusters, allowing users to manage upgrades and patches locally and then sync with the management server once connectivity is restored.
- Zero Downtime Maintenance for RKE – As organizations increasingly run production and business-critical applications, they need a non-disruptive way to maintain their Kubernetes infrastructure. Rancher 2.4 enables zero downtime maintenance, allowing organizations to upgrade Kubernetes clusters and nodes without application interruption. Additionally, users can select and configure their upgrade strategy for add-ons so that DNS and Ingress do not experience service disruption.
- Enhanced Security with CIS Benchmark Scanning – Cluster security is paramount to a successful Kubernetes strategy. But, according to recent research conducted by AimPoint, 44 percent of companies had delayed application production due to security concerns around Kubernetes containers. To help address this issue, Rancher 2.4 introduces CIS Scan, which allows users to run ad-hoc security scans of their RKE clusters against 100+ CIS benchmarks published by the Centre for Internet Security and considered the de facto definition of a secure Kubernetes cluster. Users can create custom test configurations and generate reports illustrating pass/fail information from which they can take corrective action to ensure their clusters meet all security requirements.
Hosted Rancher
Many organizations may not have, or prefer not to deal with, the infrastructure, compute, and human resources required to deploy and manage a Rancher Server on-premises. In response to this demand, Rancher 2.4 is now available in a Hosted Rancher deployment, whereby each customer gets a dedicated AWS instance of a Rancher Server management control plan.
The offering is a full-featured Rancher server, delivers 99.9 percent SLA, and provides stress-free upgrades, security patches and backups. Downstream clusters (e.g. GKE, AKS) are not included in the SLA and continue to be operated by the respective distribution provider.
Rancher delivers a straightforward, consistent Kubernetes management experience for all certified distributions, including RKE, K3s, AKS, EKS, and GKE, no matter where they are running – on-premise, cloud, or edge.
Commenting on the ease of using Rancher 2.4, head of the container platform management at one of the Africa’s largest retail bank, ABSA Group, Zak Anderson, said “Right now, we don’t have a standardized branch office setup – we need different components for different locations. We use physical servers now, and it requires an engineer to install hardware, configure the OS and install the apps, which can take up to five days at a cost of about $2,000 U.S. With Rancher 2.4, K3s can be preloaded onto the server, booted remotely through PXE, and auto-joined to the Rancher Kubernetes environment for remote management.”
