Reduce Kubernetes Cost with Virtual K8s Clusters
Instantly spin up 100s of Kubernetes clusters in seconds and for a fraction of the cost of “real” clusters which can cut k8s costs by 50%.
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Why Virtual Kubernetes Clusters?
The CNCF identifies overprovisioning Kubernetes resources• as the primary cause of increased organizational cloud spend. vCluster tackles this by enabling the rapid creation of virtual clusters, which can isolate 100s of different tenant workloads within one cluster, enhancing density and utilization, and reducing cluster count and sprawl. Virtual clusters have their own API server, which makes them better isolated than namespaces and more affordable than separate Kubernetes clusters.
•CNCF's 2023 Cloud Native & K8s Finops Microsurvey
Lightweight like namespaces
Isolated like separate clusters
Fast to launch like containers
Without vCluster
No tenant platform isolation
High Risk: Tenant workloads can bring down and interfere with platform stack.
No Tenant Autonomy: Tenants cannot be admin because platform stack is owned by platform team.
Tenant <> Platform Team Conflict: Platform team wants to standardize but tenants want autonomy
Replicated platform stack
Expensive: everything is duplicated.
Inefficient: runs idle a lot.
Inconsistent: platform stack will drift over time(no standardization).
High Maintenance: nightmare to patch and upgrade platform stack across all tenant clusters
With vCluster
vCluster Multi-Tenancy
Secure Isolation: vCluster isolates tenants from each other and from the underlying platform stack.
Tenant Autonomy: tenants can be cluster admin inside their vCluster without being admin in the underlying cluster.
Clear Separation of Concerns: tenants own everything inside their vCluster, while platform teams own and manage everything outside the vCluster.
Shared Platform Stack
Cheap: consolidated, shared platform stack to reduce duplication and cost.
Efficient: highly utilized, shared stack that never runs idle.
Consistent: enforcing “hidden” standards across all virtual clusters.
Low Maintenance: consolidated platform stack that can be centrally managed
Optimize Costs and Secure Your Kubernetes Infrastructure with vCluster
Achieve secure multi-tenancy and leverage a unified platform stack for cost efficiency
Virtual Kubernetes Clusters
Unlock efficiency, flexibility, and control with virtual clusters
Lightweight Control Plane for Each Tenant
Launch a fully functional Kubernetes control plane within seconds, offering tenant autonomy while sharing a platform stack across multiple virtual clusters.
Seamless Switch from “Real” To Virtual Cluster
Leverage vCluster's Certified Kubernetes Distribution for hassle-free virtual cluster deployments using your existing tools and workflows, without the need for re-architecting.
Broad Compatibility for Kubernetes Versions and Distros
Allow various Kubernetes versions and distributions for virtual clusters, including k3s, ks, and vanilla k8s, with adaptable backing stores from lightweight SQLite to infinitely scalable global RDS.
Ideal Balance Between Tenant Autonomy & Shared Platform Standards
Enable tenants to deploy and manage their own CRDs and controllers within each virtual cluster to enable tenant autonomy while centrally controlling essential platform services like Istio, Cert Manager, and OPA across all tenant clusters.
Effortless Networking Isolation with Flexible Sharing Options
Automatically enable vCluster-internal networking and DNS while ensuring that pods from within a virtual cluster are isolated from other virtual clusters and from the host, except when admins open up the network for access to share platform services or cross-vCluster communication if needed.
Advanced Controls for Node Visibility & Workload Scheduling
Restrict vCluster workloads to specific nodes or node groups for secure isolation or utilize a shared node pool for multiple virtual clusters, offering dynamic resource use and lower cost.
Integrated Governance without Additional Overhead
Reuse your existing cluster policies automatically, including RBAC, Network Policies, and Admission Controllers, to lock down virtual clusters with the option to add vCluster-specific rules for enhanced control.
Launch a fully functional Kubernetes control plane within seconds, offering tenant autonomy while sharing a platform stack across multiple virtual clusters.
Leverage vCluster's Certified Kubernetes Distribution for hassle-free virtual cluster deployments using your existing tools and workflows, without the need for re-architecting.
Allow various Kubernetes versions and distributions for virtual clusters, including k3s, ks, and vanilla k8s, with adaptable backing stores from lightweight SQLite to infinitely scalable global RDS.
Enable tenants to deploy and manage their own CRDs and controllers within each virtual cluster to enable tenant autonomy while centrally controlling essential platform services like Istio, Cert Manager, and OPA across all tenant clusters.
Automatically enable vCluster-internal networking and DNS while ensuring that pods from within a virtual cluster are isolated from other virtual clusters and from the host, except when admins open up the network for access to share platform services or cross-vCluster communication if needed.
Restrict vCluster workloads to specific nodes or node groups for secure isolation or utilize a shared node pool for multiple virtual clusters, offering dynamic resource use and lower cost.
Reuse your existing cluster policies automatically, including RBAC, Network Policies, and Admission Controllers, to lock down virtual clusters with the option to add vCluster-specific rules for enhanced control.
Management Platform for Virtual Kubernetes Clusters
Streamline operations, optimize costs, and enhance security across your fleet of virtual Kubernetes clusters
Easy Cluster Management and Secure Access Control
Seamlessly create virtual clusters, configure tenant access, and securely distribute kubeconfig files while integrating with your SSO provider of choice.
Centralized Fleet Management
Manage and observe all virtual clusters centrally, with a multi-cluster, multi-cloud, and hybrid-cloud management plane.
Streamlined Self-Service Provisioning
Enable users to provision virtual clusters effortlessly via the vCluster CLI or UI, via integrations for Rancher, Terraform, and GitHub Actions, or via CRDs and custom code.
Advanced Cost Optimization Features
Reduce cloud cost or free up idle compute in your data center with sleep mode and auto delete features triggered by inactivity or a timezone-aware cron schedule.
Resilient Guardrails for Governance
Establish resource quotas and standardized environment templates to ensure fair use and streamlined configurations, including automated updates and automatic ingress auth to allow authenticated traffic only.
Seamless Integration Into Existing IT Ecosystems
Adopt virtual clusters with ready-to-use integrations and deployment guides for most CI/CD platforms, secrets management tools, observability stacks, service meshes, and more.
Robust Enterprise Deployment Options
Deploy in your own cloud account or private data center (with VPC and air-gapped support) and enable high-availability mode or multi-region mode to meet the most advanced enterprise requirements.
Seamlessly create virtual clusters, configure tenant access, and securely distribute kubeconfig files while integrating with your SSO provider of choice.
Manage and observe all virtual clusters centrally, with a multi-cluster, multi-cloud, and hybrid-cloud management plane.
Enable users to provision virtual clusters effortlessly via the vCluster CLI or UI, via integrations for Rancher, Terraform, and GitHub Actions, or via CRDs and custom code.
Reduce cloud cost or free up idle compute in your data center with sleep mode and auto delete features triggered by inactivity or a timezone-aware cron schedule.
Establish resource quotas and standardized environment templates to ensure fair use and streamlined configurations, including automated updates and automatic ingress auth to allow authenticated traffic only.
Adopt virtual clusters with ready-to-use integrations and deployment guides for most CI/CD platforms, secrets management tools, observability stacks, service meshes, and more.
Deploy in your own cloud account or private data center (with VPC and air-gapped support) and enable high-availability mode or multi-region mode to meet the most advanced enterprise requirements.
Use Cases
Transform Your Kubernetes Strategy Throughout The Software Lifecycle
Harness the power of self-service and ephemeral virtual Kubernetes clusters to boost developer efficiency and streamline CI/CD pipelines.
Empower developers with self-service Kubernetes
Simplify Kubernetes access for developers through self-service virtual clusters, reducing human error and enhancing developer autonomy without compromising security and compliance requirements.
Accelerate CI/CD with ephemeral Kubernetes clusters
Instantly create clean, new virtual Kubernetes clusters for each pull request, enabling fast, isolated testing and PR previews without wait times and without the struggles of a shared test environment.
Elevate your ISV and managed service offerings with dedicated, scalable virtual clusters for reduced COGS and unmatched customer experience.
Elevate your ISV offering with a dedicated cluster per customer
Host each customer in a virtual cluster with strict tenant isolation and seamless scalability, while consolidating essential tools into a unified platform stack serving multiple tenants.
Build a managed Kubernetes service with best-in-class COGS and high margins
Enable direct customer access to dedicated virtual Kubernetes clusters, streamlining node and resource allocation for industry-leading efficiency and unparalleled scalability.
Join the vCluster Community
Dive into a world of collaboration, support, and cutting-edge Kubernetes solutions with like-minded professionals.
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vCluster Pro is the first proven solution for operationalizing virtual Kubernetes clusters at scale and we continue to be impressed by the Loft Labs team and the innovations they ship to customers like us.
Loft unlocks a great developer experience for anyone having to develop against Kubernetes as a deployment target.
Virtual clusters in Loft seem like a game-changer because they allow us to provision entire clusters as needed with far less management overhead.
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With our new multi-tenant EKS architecture based on Loft, we can now spin up one lightweight virtual cluster per customer, which drastically reduced our costs.
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