Streamlined Kubernetes cluster management: Introducing Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management 2.8

We are delighted to announce the launch of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.8 (RHACM). This latest version introduces new features and enhancements that address key issues identified by our customers and stakeholders that can help you efficiently manage your Kubernetes fleets at scale.

RHACM 2.8 builds upon features introduced in previous releases, which focused on governance policy enhancements, fleet observability, cluster lifecycle management and high-scale edge management. These areas have been prioritized based on customer feedback.

Fleet management

We are witnessing the expansion of Kubernetes-managed fleets in diverse dimensions and form factors, and we are committed to facilitating comprehensive multicluster management and optimizing cluster lifecycle operations. Our aim is to provide seamless support for organizations handling Kubernetes fleets of varying scales and configurations.

With our commitment to fleet management, we aim to provide the flexibility and scalability needed to navigate the expanding Kubernetes landscape, simplifying the management of multicluster environments, allowing you to focus on your core objectives and extract more value from your Kubernetes deployments.

Hosted control planes: OpenShift Virtualization provider in technology preview (TP) 

RHACM 2.8 introduces support for OpenShift Virtualization provider in TP. This enables you to leverage hosted control planes for Red Hat OpenShift,  reduce management costs, optimize cluster deployment time, and separate management and workload concerns. Currently, this feature is technology preview for AWS and bare metal, and with 2.8, for OpenShift Virtualization.

Global Hub (TP):  Expansion of management capabilities across the global fleet, providing solutions for data isolation boundaries and extremely high-scale scenarios

RHACM reaches its first milestone of the Global Hub, providing aggregated views of the policy compliance trend. The Global Hub architecture is designed to provide a centralized policy compliance view across multiple RHACM hubs, providing organizations with high-scale and/or strict divisions across regional data centers a holistic view of their security compliance posture from one central interface.

Scale and performance: Ensuring consistency at scale for edge use cases

RHACM has made significant advancements in scaling capabilities to meet the needs of edge use cases across various industries, including telco, industrial, and commercial sectors. We understand the importance of maintaining consistency and reliability as organizations operate at scale.

In our latest developments, we have focused on iterating and improving scalability. Our scale certifications have been conducted on a diverse range of clusters, including hundreds of compact and multinode clusters deployed across multiple hyperscalers. This testing means that RHACM can roll out the entire region and manage a large number of clusters, up to 3500 single-node OpenShift clusters, without compromising stability.

We have also made enhancements to observability and search features, designed to support the growing management domains to further enhance platform stability as your environment expands.

Better together

As organizations experience the growth of their clusters, there is a growing demand for enhanced alignment and integration across the Red Hat portfolio. Customers have expressed the need for a seamless experience that leverages the collective strengths of Red Hat's offerings. 

By embracing a "better together" approach, Red Hat is committed to addressing customer feedback and evolving needs. We recognize that as clusters grow, it becomes even more crucial to provide a cohesive and integrated experience across the entire Red Hat portfolio.

Regional-DR: Asynchronous automated disaster recovery mechanism 

We have introduced an asynchronous automated disaster recovery mechanism for business-critical stateful applications. This feature aims to achieve minimal Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for enhanced business continuity.

*** Requires a compatible ODF Advanced release

Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus PolicySet

We’re delighted to announce the OpenShift Platform Plus PolicySet has become generally available. This PolicySet provides OpenShift users with an enhanced method for installing and configuring OpenShift Platform Plus components via RHACM policies.

Nutanix support for Assisted Installer

Nutanix is now a supported platform for OpenShift installations within the RHACM cluster lifecycle. This integration brings a new level of flexibility and choice to your Kubernetes cluster deployment and management strategies.

Governance and security

In today's landscape, security has become a shared responsibility for all. In response to the evolving security concerns in the market, RHACM is actively enhancing its architectural pillars across various dimensions. 

Through our ongoing efforts, we are reinforcing the foundational principles of RHACM to provide enhanced governance and security capabilities. This includes measures such as access controls, policy management, secure communication protocols and vulnerability management. By bolstering these architectural pillars, RHACM aims to deliver a more secure and compliant environment for your Kubernetes clusters.

Policy framework: Structured alignment with IT and business goals

This new version provides a structured way to align IT with business goals while meeting Kubernetes environment regulations. RHACM Templatized Policies now offer support for ranges, allowing you to use ranges and conditionals in policy templates for efficient policy creation. Furthermore, the policy experience is improved with native support for Gatekeeper constraints, making it easier to adopt Gatekeeper and embrace open source and freedom of choice for policies. Avoiding uncertainty and configuration drift, you can now meet compliance requirements more effectively.

AppLifecycle: ApplicationSet pull model for better scalability

RHACM 2.8  introduces the ApplicationSet Pull Model, providing a new delivery pattern that fits seamlessly into the RHACM architecture. This new model offers better scalability for managing applications across your Kubernetes fleet, enhancing operational efficiency, especially in bandwidth-restricted edge locations.

More secure communication

RHACM enables direct networking between applications and services of OpenShift clusters managed by RHACM, using the open source Submariner project. This release expands Submariner support to Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA) and Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO), both were previously tech preview.  

RHACM 2.8 has features and enhancements that provide organizations with improved fleet management capabilities for Kubernetes. From hosted control planes for OpenShift to asynchronous automated disaster recovery, improved governance, risk and compliance, and enhanced observability capabilities, this new release helps organizations more efficiently manage their Kubernetes clusters at scale, while aligning IT with business goals.

Learn more and get started

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management 2.8 is now generally available. To learn more and find out about new features, refer to the YouTube video explaining what’s new and the release notes, and use our trial experience here.