Kubernetes has completed its largest migration to date, moving all built-in cloud provider integrations to external plugins. This important change, announced on May 20, 2024, marks a significant step toward improving Kubernetes’ vendor neutrality while simplifying the codebase.
The migration started with Kubernetes v1.7 and has resulted in the removal of around 1.5 million lines of code, achieving a 40% reduction in the binary sizes of core components. This initiative addresses the challenges associated with maintaining native support for various cloud providers while keeping Kubernetes an open-source platform.
Four new subsystems were developed to support this migration:
- Cloud Controller Manager
- API Server Network Proxy
- Kubelet Credential Provider Plugins
- Container Storage Interface (CSI)
Each of these subsystems ensures feature parity with the previous functionalities, enabling a smooth transition. The Cloud Controller Manager replaces direct cloud API interactions, allowing Kubernetes to initialize nodes and manage cloud load balancers independently of specific provider infrastructures. The API Server Network Proxy enhances secure traffic routing, while Kubelet Credential Provider Plugins improve the ability to retrieve credentials for image registries across different cloud environments.
The migration included moving from in-tree volume plugins to CSI, granting greater flexibility and scalability for managing storage solutions in Kubernetes.
As Kubernetes evolves, the focus will shift to discovering new integrations with cloud providers and refining testing frameworks to ensure reliability in Kubernetes environments. Users running versions prior to v1.29 should migrate to these external cloud provider integrations, as in-tree support will be removed starting with v1.31.
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