Integration overview
Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) provides an intuitive console UI and also exposes OpenAPI online debugging, Alibaba Cloud SDKs, Terraform, Resource Orchestration Service (ROS), and other programmatic integration options. To improve development efficiency, choose the method that fits your workflow.
Choose an integration method
Method | Best for |
Embedding ACK operations into application code | |
Running ad-hoc commands and scripting from a terminal | |
Declarative infrastructure management using Alibaba Cloud-native templates | |
Infrastructure-as-code with open source, multi-cloud tooling | |
Integrating with environments where no SDK is available |
API version
ACK API operations use version 2015-12-15. This value identifies the API version — it is not a release date, and the version continues to receive new operations.
Version | Status |
Recommended |
For background on ACK APIs, see:
For endpoint details, see Endpoints.
Authentication
ACK APIs support three identity types:
Identity | Recommended | Notes |
Alibaba Cloud account | No | Has full permissions on all resources under the account; credentials are sensitive |
RAM user | Yes | Grant only the permissions required for your application |
RAM role | Yes | Grant only the permissions required for your application |
Avoid using your Alibaba Cloud account directly. Use a RAM user or RAM role with the minimum permissions needed.
Debug APIs online
Test API calls without writing any code in ACK OpenAPI Portal. Before calling an operation, confirm the target version, endpoint, and integration method.
Integration methods
Alibaba Cloud SDKs
Use Alibaba Cloud SDKs to call ACK operations directly from your application code. The SDKs handle request signing, timeouts, and retries, and provide typed request and response objects.
Supported languages: Java, C#, Go, Python, Node.js, TypeScript, PHP, and C++.
For an overview of all Alibaba Cloud SDKs, see Alibaba Cloud SDKs.
For ACK-specific SDK installation and language-specific setup, see ACK SDK.
Alibaba Cloud CLI
Use Alibaba Cloud CLI to call ACK API operations with aliyun commands from a terminal or shell script.
For CLI setup and usage, see What is Alibaba Cloud CLI.
Resource Orchestration Service (ROS)
Use Resource Orchestration Service (ROS) to define ACK clusters and related resources declaratively in a template. The ROS engine provisions and configures all resources automatically.
For an overview, see What is ROS. The tables below list resources ACK supports; for the full catalog, see CS resources.
Basic resources
Resource | Description |
Creates an ACK cluster of any type | |
Creates an ACK dedicated cluster | |
Creates an ACK Edge cluster | |
Creates an ACK managed cluster | |
Creates a node pool for the cluster | |
Deploys an application in the ACK cluster | |
Installs components in the cluster | |
Deploys an application using Helm | |
Creates an ACK Serverless cluster |
Data resources
Resource | Description |
Queries resource information in the ACK cluster | |
Queries details for all node pools in the cluster | |
Queries ACK clusters | |
Queries the kubeconfig of a cluster by cluster ID | |
Queries information about a specific ACK cluster |
Terraform
Use Terraform to provision and manage ACK infrastructure with open source, declarative configuration files. Like ROS, Terraform interprets templates to call underlying API operations.
For an overview of Terraform, see What is Terraform.
For ACK-specific Terraform resources and data sources, see ACK resources and data.
Custom HTTP calls
To call ACK APIs directly over HTTP without using an SDK, construct the HTTP requests and handle request signing yourself. For details on the signing method, see Custom HTTP encapsulation.