Comparing between RKE1 vs RKE2
Our Research about Rancher Kubernetes Engine
Intro
In today’s digital age, technology, and network infrastructure have become extremely important for the sustainability of businesses and daily activities. In this regard, orchestration is a popular tool for deployment applications with a containerization strategy. Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE) is one of the widely used solutions for managing applications and infrastructure in a Kubernetes environment. In this article, we will be comparing RKE1 and RKE2, two versions of the Rancher Kubernetes Engine, and explaining the differences between them.
We need to know about Rancher & RKE before we can talk about the comparison between RKE version 1 & 2.
Rancher
“Rancher is a piece of software that can be used to create your own Kubernetes-as-a-Service. It will let you do everything needed to manage your Kubernetes clusters.”
Rancher is an open-source software platform that provides management and automation tools for deploying and operating containerized applications. It is designed to help organizations manage and scale their Kubernetes clusters, and provides a unified interface for managing multiple clusters across different environments and cloud providers. Rancher is known for its ease-of-use and flexibility, as it can be used with many popular container orchestration tools, including Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and Amazon ECS. With its rich set of features, Rancher enables organizations to simplify the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications, making it an ideal solution for organizations looking to adopt containers and container orchestration at scale.
RKE
“RKE is a CNCF-certified Kubernetes distribution that runs entirely within Docker containers. It solves the common frustration of installation complexity with Kubernetes by removing most host dependencies and presenting a stable path for deployment, upgrades, and rollbacks.”
Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE) is a highly efficient and reliable solution for managing Kubernetes environments. Its certification by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and its ability to run entirely within Docker containers demonstrate its adherence to industry standards and best practices. Moreover, RKE eliminates the difficulties of installation and deployment often associated with Kubernetes by removing host dependencies and offering a smooth and straightforward process for upgrades and rollbacks. In conclusion, RKE is a valuable solution for organizations looking to streamline their Kubernetes management and improve their overall infrastructure efficiency.
RKE Flow
Rancher vs RKE
In a simple explanation, we can conclude that Rancher is a tool that can be used to create and manage Kubernetes clusters. This makes the Kubernetes cluster a Software as a Service (SaaS) service. Meanwhile, RKE itself is an engine or Kubernetes distribution. It is similar to AWS EKS, GKE and AKS.
And how about RKE 2?
RKE 2
“RKE 2 is Rancher’s next-generation Kubernetes distribution, as it is the next iteration of the Rancher Kubernetes Engine for datacenter use cases. The distribution runs standalone and integration work into Rancher is underway.”
RKE 2 is the next-generation Kubernetes distribution from Rancher, designed for use in datacenters. This updated version of the Rancher Kubernetes Engine represents a significant improvement over its predecessor and is well-suited for organizations looking to take their Kubernetes infrastructure to the next level. The standalone nature of RKE 2 and the ongoing integration work with Rancher make it a versatile and flexible solution that can be easily adapted to the needs of different organizations.
RKE 2 offers improved security and scalability compared to its predecessor, making it a great choice for large-scale, mission-critical deployments. It also provides a simpler and more streamlined deployment process, reducing the complexity and overhead associated with managing Kubernetes clusters.
Differences between RKE 1 & RKE 2
Container Runtime
This is related to the container runtime used, and is a very noticeable difference between the two. By default, RKE 1 uses Docker as the runtime engine, while RKE 2 already uses containerd as the container runtime.
Cluster API
RKE2 is built on the Cluster API framework, which affects the way cluster configurations are managed and changes are made. Unlike RKE1, RKE2 clusters are more susceptible to node reprovisioning when changes are made to the cluster configuration. This behavior is controlled by the CAPI controllers and not by Rancher itself. Certain changes, such as enabling drain before delete or scaling down the number of nodes, may result in the deletion of existing nodes and the creation of new ones. This is a known issue in the Cluster API that will be fixed in a future release, and Rancher will update the documentation accordingly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from this article we talk about an overview of the differences between RKE1 and RKE2, two Kubernetes distributions developed by Rancher. RKE2 is the next generation of Rancher’s Kubernetes Engine and is designed for datacenter use cases. From this article we highlights the differences between the two distributions, including the container runtime used, the way cluster configurations are managed and the changes that can result in node reprovisioning. Overall, this article provides valuable insights for organizations looking to choose between RKE1 and RKE2 for their Kubernetes needs. For the next article we’ll try to explain step-by-step installation RKE & RKE 2.
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