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MKE 4k child clusters

MKE 4k child clusters

All MKE 4k clusters come complete with k0rdent Enterprise v1.1.0 and can act as mothership clusters. Refer to the k0rdent documentation, Mirantis k0rdent Enterprise Concepts, for more information.

  • If you decide to use the mkectl reset command to wipe the standalone MKE cluster that is serving as the mothership cluster, you should delete all the existing child clusters as otherwise they will remain in an unmanaged state.

  • Currently, MkeChildConfig objects can only be applied to a k0rdent namespace.

Key child cluster requirements include:

  • Centralized management and configuration.

    In MKE 4k, the mothership cluster serves as the single source of truth for managing child clusters. Operators do not need to switch contexts between mothership and child clusters when provisioning or managing workloads, as the mothership handles this orchestration automatically.

    To maintain consistency, the MKE dashboard in child clusters presents in read-only mode. This ensures that all configuration changes flow through the mothership, which prevents drift and maintains management cluster authority.

  • Configuration in line with that of a standalone cluster.

  • Exclusion of the mkectl CLI from deployment, to allow for the configuration of GitOps systems and management of multiple child clusters at the same time.

To meet these requirements, the MKE 4k API offers the CRD object MkeChildConfig. This object is similar to MkeConfig, which is used to deploy standalone clusters, with the most significant difference being the infrastructure section, which contains the configuration for deploying the infrastructure for the MKE 4k cluster. With only a few exceptions, all other sections of MkeChildConfig are the same as those in MkeConfig.

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Currently, AWS is the only supported cloud provideer for MKE 4k child clusters.

Refer to Deploy an MKE 4k child cluster for a comprehensive feature tutorial.

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