Self-Managed Kubernetes
Self-managed Kubernetes lets organizations deploy, operate, and maintain their own Kubernetes clusters while retaining full control over infrastructure, configuration, upgrades, security, and lifecycle management.
Solutions for self-managed Kubernetes
OCI Kubernetes Engine (OKE) is the fully managed and preferred Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) solution for building and running containerized applications on Kubernetes. However, for organizations that use self-managed Kubernetes for deeper control, Oracle helps simplify their operation using open source technologies and OCI services. This approach gives teams flexibility to design and operate their own Kubernetes platforms while building on OCI compute, networking, storage, and security services.
OCI simplifies your operations
Kubernetes Cluster API Provider for OCI
Streamline the task of operating custom Kubernetes clusters using declarative, Kubernetes-style APIs for cluster creation, configuration, and management. Reuse Kubernetes Cluster APIs shared across multiple cloud providers for true hybrid deployments of Kubernetes. Simplify management of bootstrapping VCNs, gateways, subnets, and network security groups via secure and sensible defaults.
OCI Cloud Controller Manager
Simplify node management through cloud provider-specific labels, addresses, and deletion. Create and operate OCI native load balancers using Kubernetes specifications. Dynamically provision OCI native storage solutions from Kubernetes workloads. Implement advanced networking by integrating with solutions such as Cilium direct routing.
OCI Native Ingress Controller
Easily implement Kubernetes ingress capabilities using a native ingress controller and leverage OCI Load Balancer capabilities from your ingress resources.
OCI facilitates security and privacy
Workload Identity
Control access and permissions using native OCI Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Kubernetes role-based access control. OCI’s workload identity enables you to establish secure authentication at the pod level for OCI APIs and services. By implementing the principle of least privilege for workloads, you can help ensure that users only have access to necessary resources.
OCI Secrets Store CSI Driver Provider
Consume secrets stored in OCI Vault dynamically from Kubernetes workloads, eliminating the need to replicate secrets in Kubernetes storage and facilitating a more secure workflow.
OCI makes things easy for developers
OCI Service Operator for Kubernetes
Easily create, manage, and connect to OCI resources from a Kubernetes environment by using the Kubernetes API to interact with a service API instead of the OCI command line interface or other OCI developer tools. Combine with open source solutions such as Kube Resource Orchestrator to create reusable and secure Kubernetes-native platform and application APIs.
Crossplane Provider for OCI
Leverage Crossplane—a control plane framework for platform engineering that runs on Kubernetes—to define APIs and abstractions so you can manage OCI through Kubernetes custom resources without writing custom controllers for each resource.
Self-managed Kubernetes responsibility model
Self-managed Kubernetes on OCI gives you control over your Kubernetes platform while enabling you to use OCI infrastructure and integration services. Use this responsibility model to understand which parts of the environment you will operate and which services OCI will provide.
| Responsibility | Customer manages | OCI provides | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes control plane | yes |
no |
Customer deploys, secures, upgrades, and troubleshoots the control plane. |
| etcd and backups | yes |
no |
Customer owns backup, restore, and disaster recovery design. |
| Kubernetes distribution and version | yes |
no |
Customer selects distribution, version, upgrade process, and compatibility model. |
| Worker nodes | yes |
yes |
OCI provides compute; customer manages node configuration and lifecycle. |
| Networking and ingress | yes |
yes |
OCI provides VCN and load balancer; customer configures CNI, routing, and ingress. |
| Storage integration | yes |
yes |
OCI provides storage; OCI Cloud Controller Manager covers Kubernetes storage integration. |
| Identity and workload access | yes |
yes |
OCI provides IAM; customer configures workload identity and policies. |
| Secrets integration | yes |
yes |
OCI provides vault; customer configures secrets integration and access. |
| Kubernetes-native infrastructure provisioning | yes |
yes |
Customer runs OCI Service Operator for Kubernetes or Crossplane; OCI APIs create resources. |
| Cluster lifecycle tooling | yes |
yes |
Customer chooses tooling; Cluster API Provider for OCI supports declarative cluster lifecycle. |
| Observability | yes |
yes |
OCI provides services; customer configures collection, dashboards, and alerts. |
| Project documentation and downloads | no |
yes |
OCI docs link to project documentation and GitHub repositories. |
Get started with self-managed Kubernetes
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