Rancher Labs, a provider of
container management software, today announced Rancher 2.1, the latest version
of its open source Kubernetes management platform. Rancher 2.1 builds on
the success of Rancher 2.0 and introduces next generation automatic cluster
operations and application management functionalities, as well as a migration
path for users moving from Rancher's Cattle orchestrator to Rancher Kubernetes.
The latest release provides all key functionalities needed for enterprises to
comfortably adopt and manage Kubernetes within their organization.
"Rancher
continues to be the de facto choice for enterprises looking to run containers
and Kubernetes in production," said Sheng Liang, CEO and co-founder of Rancher
Labs. "With Rancher 2.1, we're providing key upgrades to the product that
further enables any enterprise to embrace Kubernetes and accelerate
development, reduce infrastructure costs and improve application reliability."
Improved operations of
Kubernetes clusters
Along
with scalability improvements, Rancher 2.1 introduces the ability to define and manage
Kubernetes Clusters as code with Rancher. Additionally, Rancher is now enabling
users to snapshot and export the complete configuration of Kubernetes clusters
managed by Rancher, and later on restore Kubernetes clusters by importing the
same configuration file.
Additional
key features of Rancher 2.1 include:
-
Expanded
integration with authentication providers: Rancher now integrates with
PingID, Microsoft Active Directory Federation Server, OpenLDAP, Keycloak,
FreeIPA and Azure Active Directory.
-
Drain and
cordon support for nodes: Simplified process for admins to quickly cordon
and drain nodes from a managed Kubernetes cluster during maintenance windows.
-
Added
support for project-level quotas: Administrators can now set resource
quotas for users and teams that can then distributed between Kubernetes name
spaces.
-
Improved
application management functionality: Rancher 2.1 adds improved support for
helm charts, improvements to ingress management and improved logging and
alerting functionality.
-
Expanded Command
Line Interface (CLI): Teams can now automate how they interface with
Rancher and Kubernetes.
-
Expanded DevOps
tooling: Rancher 2.1 includes fully integrated CI/CD functionality that
works with Kubernetes to automate build processes and release management.
-
Support
for GitLab: Rancher 2.1 adds support for GitLab to Rancher CI/CD.
Migration from 1.6 to 2.X
Rancher
2.1 is also the supported upgrade release for Rancher 1.6 users. Rancher 2.1
includes a migration path for users to move from Rancher's Cattle orchestrator
to Rancher Kubernetes. Rancher 2.1 also provides integration tooling that
analyzes Rancher Compose files and outlines how users can migrate an
application directly to Kubernetes.
For additional information on Rancher 2.1, and
to learn more about Rancher Labs and the company's suite of open source
products, please visit
www.rancher.com.