Imported Clusters
Existing Kubernetes clusters not deployed through Palette can be imported into Palette for visibility, limited Day -2 management, and additional capabilities such as application lifecycle management. You can import Kubernetes clusters from various infrastructure providers, such as public and private clouds and bare-metal environments.
Palette supports importing generic or cloud-specific clusters. Cloud-specific clusters enable more functionality because Palette understands how to interact with the infrastructure provider's API. Cloud-specific clusters provide the same experience as Palette deployed clusters.
The generic type is for a cluster that is deployed in an environment where Palette lacks integration with the underlying infrastructure provider's API. Palette can support basic operations for generic clusters, such as reporting metrics, conducting scans, scheduling backups, and applying and managing add-on profiles. However, Day-2 activities are not supported in generic clusters.
Refer to the Supported Infrastructure Providers section to learn more about supported infrastructure environments.
To get started with a cluster import, refer to the Import a Cluster guide to learn more.
Import Modes
To determine Palette's control over the imported cluster, you can choose the management mode you prefer. Refer to the table below for more information on each mode.
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Read-only | This mode allows you to access information about the cluster, such as event logs, cost, and health checks. The read-only mode does not support Day-2 activities. |
| Full Permission | This mode provides full cluster management, depending on the cluster, generic, or cloud-specific. This mode also supports the ability to deploy add-on cluster profiles. |
Supported Infrastructure Providers
The following infrastructure providers are supported for cluster imports. If an environment is not listed below, select the Generic type when importing a cluster.
| Infrastructure Provider | Type |
|---|---|
| AWS | Cloud Specific |
| Azure | Cloud Specific |
| Google Cloud Platform | Cloud Specific |
| VMware | Cloud Specific |
| OpenShift | Cloud Specific |
| AWS EKS-Anywhere | Cloud Specific |
| Generic | Generic |
Self-Hosted Support
Self-hosted Palette also supports importing clusters. You must ensure network connectivity is available between the target import cluster and the Palette instance.
Limitations
A few restrictions apply to all cluster imports that you need to be aware of before importing a cluster.
| Limitation | Description |
|---|---|
| Full Cluster Profile usage | You cannot use a full cluster profile. You are limited to using add-on profiles when deploying cluster profiles to imported clusters. |
| Kubeconfig file access | You cannot download the cluster's kubeconfig file from Palette. You must use the underlying infrastructure provider to access the kubeconfig file. |
Imported generic clusters lack many Day-2 management operations such as scaling nodes, adding worker pools, or any operations that require Palette to have knowledge of the underlying infrastructure.
Delete Imported Cluster
You can remove a cluster by following the standard cluster removal steps. Refer to the Delete a Cluster for instructions. Be aware that Palette will not delete the actual cluster. Palette will remove the link to the imported cluster and instruct the Palette agent to remove itself from the cluster and all of the agent's dependencies that were installed during the import process. To delete the cluster, you must manually perform the delete action in the hosting infrastructure provider.