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    Container Service for Kubernetes:Manage Multiple Clusters Across Cloud Platforms or Accounts Using ACK One Fleet Instances

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    Container Service for Kubernetes:Manage Multiple Clusters Across Cloud Platforms or Accounts Using ACK One Fleet Instances

    Last Updated:Mar 26, 2026

    ACK One (Distributed Cloud Container Platform for Kubernetes) lets you connect Kubernetes clusters running anywhere — across Alibaba Cloud accounts or across cloud platforms — and manage them from a single Fleet instance.

    Use cases

    • Cross-account cluster management: Manage ACK clusters that belong to different Alibaba Cloud accounts under a single Fleet instance.

    • Cross-platform cluster management: Manage Kubernetes clusters deployed on other public clouds or in on-premises data centers alongside your Alibaba Cloud clusters.

    What you can do after connecting clusters

    Once your clusters are connected to a Fleet instance, you can:

    • Manage clusters, computing resources, networks, storage, security, monitoring, logs, jobs, applications, and traffic from a unified console and API.

    • Automatically scale cloud resources to handle traffic fluctuations, or schedule scaling for specific times to optimize costs.

    • Distribute applications, schedule jobs, and manage network traffic across all regions to build a standardized cloud-native IT framework.

    • Use the built-in backup center to protect applications and data, migrate workloads across regions, and deploy applications across multiple servers for high redundancy.

    • Deploy enterprise-grade products or components verified by Alibaba Cloud in large-scale Kubernetes environments to improve security, scheduling efficiency, AI computing, and big data computing.

    Architecture

    ackone

    Prerequisites

    Before you begin, make sure that:

    • The clusters you want to manage are accessible via an ACK registered cluster. To connect clusters from a different Alibaba Cloud account or a different cloud platform, you must first create a registered cluster in the same Alibaba Cloud account as your Fleet instance, then connect the external cluster to that registered cluster.

    • The Fleet instance can reach the API server of the registered cluster. Create the registered cluster in the same region and virtual private cloud (VPC) as the Fleet instance whenever possible.

    • If connectivity goes over the internet, the registered cluster can reach the Fleet instance over the internet.

    Connect clusters from a different Alibaba Cloud account

    The following example uses a Fleet instance in Account A to manage two clusters:

    • Cluster A — created in Account A

    • Cluster B — created in Account B

    Step 1: Create a registered cluster and connect Cluster B

    Create a registered cluster named ExternalCluster B in the VPC where Cluster A resides, then connect Cluster B to it. For instructions, see Create a registered cluster in the ACK console.

    Step 2: Enable Fleet management

    Enable the Fleet management feature in the VPC where Cluster A resides. For instructions, see Enable multi-cluster management.

    Important

    • If Cluster B (in Account B) cannot reach the Fleet instance over the internal network, select Create and Associate EIP when enabling Fleet management.

    • By default, a Fleet instance is automatically created after Fleet management is enabled.

    Step 3: Associate clusters with the Fleet instance

    Associate both Cluster A and ExternalCluster B with the Fleet instance. For instructions, see Manage associated clusters.