Due to the wide adoption of Kubernetes, enterprises may want to run and manage multiple Kubernetes clusters. This brings challenges such as how to manage multiple clusters, how to use a unified external ingress to access the clusters, and how to schedule resources for the clusters. The Fleet instances of Distributed Cloud Container Platform for Kubernetes (ACK One) are managed by Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK). You can use the Fleet instances to manage Kubernetes clusters that are deployed in different environments in a centralized manner. Fleet instances create a consistent experience for enterprises that want to manage cloud-native applications.
Portal for Fleet instance management
Terms
Fleet instance: Fleet instances are designed based on open source projects Argo CD and Open Cluster Management. Fleet instances support traffic control, provide integration with GitOps, and allow developers to call the same Kubernetes API to schedule and distribute workloads, applications, and configuration files. Fleet instances are maintenance-free because they are managed by ACK. You can focus on application development.
Associated cluster: You can associate ACK clusters that belong to the same account with a Fleet instance. Then, you can use the Fleet instance to distribute applications and workloads to the associated clusters. You can associate a Fleet instance with clusters that are not deployed in the region where the Fleet instance resides.
Fleet instance administrator: Fleet instance administrators are the creators of Fleet instances. Fleet instance administrators can create namespaces, set the priorities of jobs, and configure resource quotas for accounts that are assigned the developer role.
Developer: Accounts that are assigned the developer role can only submit Jobs or publish applications in specific namespaces.
Usage scenarios
The Fleet management feature of ACK One is ideal for the following scenarios:
The control plane is built based on Kubernetes control planes and provides Kubernetes APIs.
You can connect external Kubernetes clusters to a multi-cluster Fleet instance through a registered cluster.
GitOps for application distribution: You can host open source ArgoCD in ACK One. This allows you to distribute multi-cluster applications through GitOps.
Traffic management: You can use MSE cloud-native gateways to manage north-south traffic for multi-cluster applications and create multi-cluster Services to manage east-west traffic.
Job distribution: You can run jobs in multiple clusters at a scheduled time.
Global monitoring: You can view the metrics of all clusters in one dashboard.