End-to-End Kubernetes with Rancher, RKE2, K3s, Fleet, Longhorn, and NeuVector

Rancher-Launched Clusters (RKE2 Self-Hosted Clusters)

Rancher-launched clusters, in addition to the regular features for managing clusters, offer a comprehensive set of features and provide the best integration with Rancher’s management tools and advanced capabilities. Rancher-launched clusters are created and managed by Rancher itself, use RKE2 as the Kubernetes distribution, and are typically used for new clusters.

Since these clusters are fully provisioned and managed through Rancher, they support the same features as imported clusters, but with additional native functionalities and features like the following are supported:

Cluster and Node Management: Rancher-launched clusters allow full access via kubectl and kubeconfig files, as well as complete control over managing cluster members, nodes, and workloads. This includes features like cordoning and draining nodes.

Editing and Upgrading Clusters: Users can edit and upgrade Rancher-launched clusters directly from the Rancher UI.

Pod Security Policies: These clusters allow for configuring Pod Security Policies (deprecated in Kubernetes v1.21).