Virtual Clusters

VCluster (Virtual Cluster) enables you to run multiple isolated Kubernetes clusters (vclusters) within a single host cluster. This is ideal for multi-tenant, development, testing, and regional deployments on AKS, EKS, GKE, or on-prem clusters.

Real-Life Use Cases

  • Multi-Tenant SaaS: Isolate customer workloads in separate vclusters for security and compliance.

  • Dev/Test Environments: Spin up ephemeral vclusters for feature branches, CI/CD, or integration testing without impacting production.

  • Regional Deployments: Deploy vclusters per region to meet data residency or regulatory requirements.

  • Platform Engineering: Empower teams to manage their own vclusters with full Kubernetes API access, while centralizing infrastructure management.

Step-by-Step: Deploying a vcluster

  1. Install vcluster CLI:

    curl -sSL https://vcluster.com/download | bash
# or use Homebrew
brew install vcluster

  2. Create a vcluster in a namespace:

    kubectl create namespace dev-team
vcluster create dev-vcluster -n dev-team

  3. Connect to the vcluster:

    vcluster connect dev-vcluster -n dev-team
# This updates your kubeconfig to point to the vcluster
kubectl get nodes

  4. Deploy workloads in the vcluster:

    kubectl apply -f my-app.yaml

  5. List and manage vclusters:

    vcluster list
vcluster delete dev-vcluster -n dev-team

Best Practices

  • Use separate namespaces for each vcluster to ensure isolation.

  • Automate vcluster lifecycle (creation, deletion) in CI/CD pipelines for ephemeral environments.

  • Monitor resource usage in the host cluster to avoid noisy neighbor issues.

  • Use RBAC and network policies to restrict access between vclusters.

  • Store vcluster configuration and manifests in Git for GitOps workflows.

Common Pitfalls

  • Overcommitting host cluster resources (CPU, memory) can impact all vclusters.

  • Not cleaning up unused vclusters leads to resource waste.

  • Assuming vcluster isolation is equivalent to physical cluster isolation (some host-level risks remain).

  • Manual changes outside of Git in GitOps-managed environments.

References

PreviousSecurity & ComplianceNextOpenShift

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