Azure Fleet Manager Simplifies Multi-Cluster Operations

Azure Fleet Manager simplifies multi-cluster operations by providing a unified view of all your clusters, making it easier to manage and monitor them. With Azure Fleet Manager, you can view and manage all your clusters in one place.

This means you can see the status of all your clusters, including their health, performance, and any issues that may be affecting them. This unified view helps you identify and resolve problems more quickly.

By streamlining cluster management, Azure Fleet Manager reduces the complexity and overhead of managing multiple clusters. This frees up your time to focus on more strategic tasks and initiatives.

A different take: Manage Azure

Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager is a powerful tool designed to tackle complex issues in large-scale and multi-cluster Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters. It provides an architectural overview of the topological relationship between a Fleet resource and AKS clusters.

Fleet Manager supports joining various types of existing AKS clusters as member clusters, including those across different resource groups, subscriptions, and regions. This means you can manage multiple clusters with ease, regardless of their location within the same Azure AD tenant.

Curious to learn more? Check out: Azure Kubernetes Service vs Azure Container Apps

Here are some specific types of AKS clusters that can be joined as member clusters:

As a Cluster Admin, you'll appreciate the flexibility and scalability that Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager offers.

Azure Fleet Manager offers a range of features to help you manage your fleet effectively.

With Azure Fleet Manager, you can easily onboard and manage your fleet devices, including IoT devices, laptops, and servers. This is made possible through a simple and secure process.

Azure Fleet Manager provides real-time visibility into your fleet's health and performance, allowing you to quickly identify and troubleshoot issues. This is achieved through its comprehensive dashboards and reporting capabilities.

You can also use Azure Fleet Manager to automate tasks and workflows, freeing up your team to focus on higher-value tasks. This is done through its powerful automation capabilities.

Azure Fleet Manager integrates seamlessly with other Azure services, such as Azure Active Directory and Azure Monitor, to provide a unified view of your fleet and its operations. This integration enables you to leverage the full potential of Azure.

A different take: Service Principle vs Manage Identity Azure

In Azure Fleet Manager, a cluster is a group of devices that are managed together. You can create a cluster by selecting the devices you want to include and giving it a name.

Each cluster can have a maximum of 100 devices, and you can have up to 100 clusters in your fleet. This allows you to organize your devices into smaller, more manageable groups.

To configure a cluster, you'll need to specify the devices that belong to it, which can be done by selecting the devices from the device list or by importing a CSV file.

Expand your knowledge: Azure Compute Fleet

AKS Cluster Creation is a crucial step in setting up a Kubernetes environment. Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager currently supports joining existing AKS clusters as fleet members.

You can create new AKS clusters from an existing fleet cluster, but this feature is still in the roadmap. This means it's not available yet, but it's being worked on.

To get started with AKS cluster creation, you'll need to have an existing fleet cluster set up. The creation and lifecycle management of new AKS clusters from a fleet cluster will be handled through the fleet manager once it's available.

Broaden your view: Azure Managed Kubernetes

AKS clusters that can be joined as members are quite flexible. You can join AKS clusters across the same or different resource groups within the same subscription.

AKS clusters across different subscriptions of the same Microsoft Entra tenant are also eligible to join a fleet. This means you can manage clusters from different subscriptions under a single umbrella.

Fleet supports joining AKS clusters from different regions but within the same tenant. This allows for a more distributed and flexible cluster configuration.

Here's a summary of the joinable AKS clusters:

A Kubernetes Fleet resource with a hub cluster has two network access modes: public and private.

Public hub clusters expose the hub cluster to the internet, allowing anyone with the right credentials to connect. This configuration can be useful during development and testing, but it's a security concern in production.

Private hub clusters use a private AKS cluster as the hub, preventing open access over the internet. All the considerations for a private AKS cluster apply, so review the prerequisites and limitations carefully.

The type of hub cluster can't be changed after creation, so choose wisely.

Here are the key differences between public and private hub clusters:

In a private hub cluster, you can use the same methods to connect as you would with any private AKS cluster. However, connecting using AKS command invoke and private endpoints isn't currently supported.

Configuring Service Export is a crucial step in Cluster Configuration. You'll want to create a ServiceExport resource, which allows you to export a member service to Fleet.

To do this, create a YAML file called critical-serviceexport.yaml with a specific declaration. This declaration will trigger the creation of a ServiceImport on the fleet cluster and all other member clusters.

It may take a minute or two for the ServiceExport to propagate. This means you'll need to wait a short period for the changes to take effect.

Azure Fleet Manager allows you to manage a large number of Azure resources, such as virtual machines, storage accounts, and networks, from a single location. This makes it easier to monitor and maintain your resources.

Recommended read: Describe Features and Tools for Managing and Deploying Azure Resources

You can organize your resources into clusters, which can be thought of as groups of related resources. This helps you to focus on specific areas of your Azure environment.

Each cluster can have its own set of tags, which are key-value pairs that provide additional information about the resources in the cluster. For example, a cluster might have a tag indicating its purpose, such as "dev" or "prod".

Member clusters are a crucial aspect of cluster scope in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). They represent a cluster-scoped API established within the hub cluster.

This API offers a dependable, uniform, and automated approach for multi-cluster applications to identify registered clusters within a fleet. Member clusters can be joined from different regions, but they must reside within the same tenant.

You can join AKS clusters to a fleet as member clusters. Member clusters must reside in the same Microsoft Entra tenant as the fleet.

Here's a summary of where member clusters can be joined from:

Cluster Scope can be either regional or global. Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager resource is a regional resource, meaning it's tied to a specific geographic region.

This regional scope is useful for organizations with a strong presence in a particular area, as it allows for easier management and deployment of clusters within that region.

For instance, if you're managing a cluster in North America, using a regional resource can help you take advantage of the infrastructure and services available in that region.

However, if you need to deploy clusters across multiple regions, you may need to consider a global scope.

When you create a Kubernetes Fleet resource with a hub cluster, a hub AKS cluster is automatically created in the same subscription under a managed resource group that begins with FL_.

This hub cluster is locked down to improve reliability, with Azure deny assignments denying user-initiated mutations to the AKS cluster and its underlying Azure resources, such as virtual machines.

Hub clusters are also exempted from Azure policies to avoid undesirable policy effects.

Hub clusters are optional in Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager, but they play a crucial role in managing multiple member clusters.

A hub cluster facilitates the orchestration of updates and resource management across member clusters. This allows for streamlined management of multiple clusters as a single entity.

You can create a fleet without a hub cluster, which is more suitable for simpler setups or specific use cases. This flexibility provides an alternative to dedicated hub management.

A Kubernetes Fleet resource with a hub cluster is a powerful configuration that allows for workload orchestration and layer-4 load balancing.

The hub cluster is automatically created in the same subscription under a managed resource group that begins with FL_, which improves reliability by locking down the cluster and its underlying Azure resources.

Hub clusters are exempted from Azure policies to avoid undesirable policy effects.

To connect to a private hub cluster, you can use the same methods that you would use to connect to any private AKS cluster.

On a similar theme: Azure Data Studio Connect to Azure Sql

There are two network access modes for hub clusters: public and private. Public hub clusters expose the hub cluster to the internet, while private hub clusters use a private AKS cluster as the hub, preventing open access over the internet.

Here are the key differences between public and private hub clusters:

Whether you choose a public or private hub, the type can't be changed after creation.

Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager is still in Public Preview as of October 2022, but it's a very promising product.

It brings alternative solutions to complex scenarios of multiple clusters in a simple way. However, it still has some limitations.

Deploying the solution in complex scenarios like layer 7 load balancing and Service Mesh can be difficult.

Automatic failover between regions and Fleet Manager in multiple regions for disaster recovery are also challenging.

Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager is in the process of evolution, which is good news.