Virtual Kubernetes Clusters: A New Approach to Multi-tenancy

By Hrittik Roy

Elevator Pitch

Virtual Kubernetes clusters are a new approach to dealing with Kubernetes multi-tenancy pain. With virtual k8s clusters, each tenant has what feels like a full-blown, dedicated cluster inside a shared host cluster.

Let’s learn how you can use a virtual cluster to save costs and improve productivity

Description

As Kubernetes becomes more widespread, the demand for access to Kubernetes by both applications and engineers is also increasing. However, it is not always practical or economical to utilize entire physical Kubernetes clusters. This is where virtualization for Kubernetes can be a valuable solution. This is achieved by running a Kubernetes API server and other tools in a namespace of the host cluster.

This talk’ll look at the open source tool vCluster, which can create and manage virtual clusters. We will address: - The headaches that come with Kubernetes multi-tenancy, including managing global cluster resources and cluster sprawl. - vCluster’s architecture and how it addresses those problems. - Use cases for vCluster, including dev environments, clusters for CI/CD pipelines, and testing cluster resources or even Kubernetes versions.

Notes

I am writing a book on the vCluster, and this takes inspiration from it.

Project: https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster

More blogs here: https://github.com/hrittikhere/blogs

Certificates: https://credly.com/users/hrittikhere

Talks: Ubucon: https://youtu.be/duAvWg5MU2c (About Kubernetes) KCD Africa: https://youtu.be/nDPBASjhPWM