Kublr Release 1.18.0 (2020-05-29)

This release has a known critical issue, use Kublr 1.21.2 or later instead

Due to docker image gcr.io/kubernetes-helm/tiller:v2.14.3 discontinued in the Google Image repository in August 2021, ( related issue: “Make Tiller Image Available on Docker Hub” ), Kublr may fail to complete cluster create and update.

The cluster hangs in “Creating” or “Updating” state indefinitely or for a very long time, or goes to “Error” state, in all cases with Tiller pod unhealthy due to Tiller image not available.

All versions of Kublr before 1.21.2 (including this one), and Kublr Agent versions earlier than the ones included in Kublr 1.21.2 are affected.

The issue and available solutions are described in the troubleshooting guide on Kublr support portal.

Migration to the latest Kublr Agents and Kublr Control Plane versions or at least Kublr 1.21.2 is recommended.

Kublr Quick Start

sudo docker run --name kublr -d --restart=unless-stopped -p 9080:9080 kublr/kublr:1.18.0

Follow the full instructions in Quick start for Kublr Demo/Installer.

The Kublr Demo/Installer is a lightweight, dockerized, limited-functionality Kublr Platform which can be used to:

  • Test setup and management of a standalone Kubernetes cluster
  • Setup a full-featured Kublr Platform

The Kublr Demo/Installer stores all of the data about the created clusters inside the Docker container. If you delete the Docker container you will lose all data about the created clusters and the Kublr platforms. However, you will not lose the clusters and the platforms themselves.

We recommend using the Kublr Demo/Installer to verify if a Kubernetes cluster can be created in your environment and to experiment with it. To manage a real cluster and experience all features, you can create a full-featured Kublr Platform in a cloud or on-premise.

Overview

The Kublr 1.18.0 release brings Kublr Platform in-place upgrades (in addition to clusters in-place upgrades supported before), external clusters (technical preview), and separate release cycles for the platform and the agent, as well as components versions upgrades and numerous improvements and fixes in UI, UX, backend, agent, resource usage, reliability, scalability, documentation, and build and release processes.

In additions, starting with Kublr 1.18.0, Kublr Platform and Kublr agent will follow separate release cycles enabling faster support for new Kubernetes releases in existing Kublr installations.

Important Changes

  1. Kublr Platform
    • Major features and improvements
      • Technical preview: external clusters
      • Platform in-place upgrade support
      • Platform installation support with restricted PodSecurityPolicy
      • Kublr operator is introduced to manage Kublr features deployed into the managed clusters
      • Helm 3 support in web console and for Kublr helm packages
      • Master-only clusters support
    • Improvements and fixes
      • Cluster upgrade process improvements
      • Keycloak 10 with Postgresql database
      • Improved kubectl OIDC authentication support
      • Grafana dashboards UX improvements
      • Packages for AirGap deployment of Kublr platform and Kublr agents separated to simplify multiple Kubernetes versions support
      • Default PodSecurityPolicy for a cluster may be changed in UI
      • Technical preview: master-only clusters support in UI
  2. Kublr Agent
    • Improvements
      • Option to skip installing OS packages via cluster spec
      • Improved RHEL and SLES support
    • Fixes
      • Host to overlay network communication Flannel and Canal dropped UDP packets fixed: https://github.com/coreos/flannel/issues/1279
      • Include virbr*, lxcbr*, and node local DNS interfaces in the list of excluded from IP search by default
  3. Kubernetes 1.15.11, 1.16.4, 1.16.6, 1.16.7, 1.16.8, 1.17.3, 1.17.4
  4. Introduced separate release cycles for Kublr platform and Kublr agent.

Components versions

Kubernetes

ComponentVersion
Kubernetes1.17.4
1.17.3
1.16.8
1.16.7
1.16.6
1.16.4
1.15.11

Kublr Control Plane

ComponentVersion
Kublr Control Plane1.18.0
Keycloak10.0.0
Helm 22.16.1
Helm 33.2.1

Kublr Platform Features

ComponentVersion
Ingress1.18.0
nginx ingress controller (helm chart version)1.36.2
cert-manager0.14.2
Centralized Logging1.18.0
ElasticSearch6.8.4
Kibana6.8.4
SearchGuard25.5.0
SearchGuard Kibana plugin25.5.0
SearchGuard Admin6.8.4-25.5.0
RabbitMQ3.8.3
Curator5.8.1
Logstash6.8.4
Fluentd2.7.1
Centralized Monitoring1.18.0
Prometheus2.13.0
Kube State Metrics2.4.1
AlertManager0.19.0
Grafana6.5.1

Known issues and limitations

  1. Kublr Platform migration from previous major versions (<=1.17) requires the platform re-deployment and data migration.

    This only refers to the platform, the managed clusters do not require redeployment and can be upgraded in-place after they are migrated into the new platform.

  2. Lifetime of the Kubernetes token in a web console is limited to 10 minutes; please close and reopen the web console window if the token expires.

  3. AWS Cluster backup technical preview is disabled.

  4. For migration to 1.18 review Kublr 1.18 migration document.

  5. (Critical) Due to docker image gcr.io/kubernetes-helm/tiller:v2.14.3 discontinued in the Google Image repository in August 2021, ( related issue: “Make Tiller Image Available on Docker Hub” ), Kublr may fail to complete cluster create and update.

    The cluster hangs in “Creating” or “Updating” state indefinitely or for a very long time, or goes to “Error” state, in all cases with Tiller pod unhealthy due to Tiller image not available.

    All versions of Kublr before 1.21.2 (including this one), and Kublr Agent versions earlier than the ones included in Kublr 1.21.2 are affected.

    The issue and available solutions are described in the troubleshooting guide on Kublr support portal.

    Migration to the latest Kublr Agents and Kublr Control Plane versions or at least Kublr 1.21.2 is recommended.