Currently, when Rancher tries to provision a Kubernetes cluster on vSphere, it needs to initiate API calls to the vSphere endpoint. In a hybrid cloud environment this often means that the Rancher server is not in the same network as the vSphere endpoint. Therefore inbound access is required to be added to a firewall so Rancher can reach the vSphere system. This naturally poses a security concern and creates administrative burden on our users who have to go through a security review to get this approved. If instead of requiring direct API access, an agent could exist inside the network where the vSphere API lived, then this agent could broker the communication between the Rancher server and the downstream API. The agent would simply initiate an outbound API connection to the Rancher server (much like any node agent or cluster agent currently) and simultaneously proxy any API calls that Rancher needs to make to vSphere. This would also have the benefit of being able to be run through a HTTP proxy, which many security teams will appreciate as a less risky connectivity model.

Project Description

Gardener is SAP's portable Kubernetes distribution and management framework, which aims to create a common base layer for current and future SAP applications and services. Rancher is the leading management framework for arbitrary Kubernetes distributions. Wouldn't it be great if Rancher and Gardener could work together, and Gardner became a first-class citizen in Rancher?

Project Description

Containers are great for scaling stateless services and making them robust. However, stateful services like databases continue to pose challenges. In particular, upgrading a running database service to a new version with near zero downtime is not trivial. Wouldn't it be great if a helm chart or K8S operator could automatically take care of this for you? This would allow you to fire up a database in your K8S cluster and consume it as-a-service. And put us one step closer to building a private cloud that runs anywhere, powered by pure open source.

Project Description

Cloud Foundry For Kubernetes (cf-for-k8s) blends the popular CF developer API with Kubernetes, Istio, and other open source technologies. The project aims to improve developer productivity for organizations using Kubernetes. cf-for-k8s can be installed atop any conformant environment in minutes.