Managed Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure AKS
Managed Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is our product to provide services for the managed Kubernetes offering of Microsoft Azure.
Use Cases
- Full Production Readiness
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Managed cloud services are engineered for production. Leveraging these services is the recommended path into production.
- Step in to the Cloud
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Managed cloud services are perfect to start using the cloud. If the cloud is already used, managed cloud services are the perfect way to use Kubernetes.
- Scalability
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Using Kubernetes from Hyperscaler clouds allows for full scalability. With Hyperscaler-managed Kubernetes, you can get rid of infrastructure "pets" that need special attention. See The History of Pets vs Cattle and How to Use the Analogy Properly for a good read.
- Flexibility
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Hyperscaler clouds not only offer Kubernetes, but a large amount of other services. By using the Kubernetes offering of a Hyperscaler cloud, all the other available services are just waiting to be used. All our VSHN Managed clusters have the Application Marketplace on board.
- Costs saving
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Usually big clouds are not necessarily cheaper out of the box. By using the possibilities the cloud offers with integrated Cluster autoscaling or other optimization tricks like "Spot" instances a huge cost saving can be achieved.
VSHN Supported Features and Configuration
Supported by default
These features and configurations are available out-of-the box and installed and configured by default.
| Feature / Configuration | Description |
|---|---|
Cluster Maintenance |
Kubernetes control-plane and node updates are applied continuously when they’re available. See also Version and Upgrade Policy. |
Persistent Storage with CSI |
Storage is provided by the native cloud storage offering using officially support CSI integrations. This includes RWO and RWX storage classes. |
Cluster Backup |
A full backup of the Persistent storage volumes are not automatically backed up. The user of persistent volumes is obliged to take care of this. For that purpose, K8up is available on the cluster to help with that task. We’re also happy to help, just let us know. |
Cluster Monitoring and Alerting |
The cluster is monitored according best practices rules. Alerts are sent to our on-call management for routing it to the responsible person. |
Azure predefined Metrics are automatically collected by Azure and they are visible in Azure Monitor. VSHN doesn’t depend on them and is exclusivly using the Prometheus stack running on the cluster. However own alerts can be defined in the Azure Monitor. |
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Container logs are sent to Azure Log Analytics workspace by default. |
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Cluster limits |
We’re following the recommendations of upstream Kubernetes. See Limits for more details. |
Supported on request
These features or configuration adjustments must be specifically requested and some restrictions apply. Activation and configuration of these features imply additional engineering costs and can cause additional recurring engineering costs for operating them.
| Feature / Configuration | Description |
|---|---|
Cluster autoscaling configuration is fully supported, depending on the possibilities of the cloud service. |
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The Azure Application Gateway Ingress Controller uses Kubernetes Ingress objects to configure an Azure Application Gateway. An Azure Application Gateway is deployed in this case and a prerequisite for this option. |
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An Ingress NGINX Controller is going to be deployed. Requires an Azure Load Balancer in front of the cluster to send traffic to the Ingress NGINX Controller. |
Unsupported
These features or configuration adjustments are not supported by VSHN, but can still be activated, changed or used, although are neither monitored, backed up nor maintained. No guarantees are given, use them at your own risk.
| Still interested in one (or more) of these unsupported options? Get in contact with sales@vshn.ch and we figure out together what we can offer. |
| Feature / Configuration | Description |
|---|---|
Azure Kubernetes Service Diagnostics can potentially be configured via Terraform. Not yet engineered. Logs: Kubernetes API Server, Audit, Audit Admin Logs, Controller Manager, Scheduler, Cluster Autoscaler, Cloud Controller Manager, guard, csi-azuredisk-controller, csi-azurefile-controller, csi-snapshot-controller Metrics: AllMetrics |
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Custom metrics apart from what Azure has configured by default. |
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Currently not supported, because it is in preview state. |
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Grafana for Azure |
Not engineered. |
Version and Upgrade Policy
Supported are only the Kubernetes versions of Microsoft Azure: AKS Kubernetes Release Calendar. Installations must be upgraded to the next release within three months after a new release is available.
Pricing
See Pricing.
Pricing information of AKS can be found under Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) pricing.
Minimum Requirements
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
AKS control plane |
1 control plane See Kubernetes core concepts for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for a description. |
AKS nodes |
At least 3 nodes Refer to Kubernetes core concepts for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for options. |
Limits
Please refer to Quotas, virtual machine size restrictions, and region availability in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to see the current limits and quotas for the AKS product.
Some resources are reserved for the cluster to work, this is described under Kubernetes core concepts for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) → Resource reservations.