Amazon EKS Anywhere is a deployment option for Amazon EKS that enables you to create and operate Kubernetes clusters on-premises using VMware vSphere. Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) is a fully managed container service that allows you to run and scale Kubernetes applications in the AWS cloud. In fact, according to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, 63% of all Kubernetes workloads run on AWS.

Amazon Announces the General Availability of EKS Anywhere

First announced last year at AWS re:Invent 2020, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) Anywhere became generally available this past September 8^th 2021.

AKS Anywhere brings those same Kubernetes management capabilities on-premise. In contrast to the cloud-based Amazon EKS, Amazon EKS Anywhere is managed by the customer. It runs on the customer’s infrastructure either on-premises or in a co-located data center. Amazon EKS Anywhere is managed using the EKS console with the EKS Connector. There are three connectivity options: fully connected, partially connected, and fully disconnected. For fully connected and partially connected connectivity, you can connect your EKS Anywhere clusters to the EKS console via the EKS Connector, which allows you to manage the cluster configuration and workload status.

The “Anywhere” in the title implies that it can run any place. However, you might note that at this time the “Anywhere” in EKS Anywhere actually refers to anywhere where there is a VMware vSphere installation. VMware vSphere is a requirement for AKS Anywhere. Support for other deployment targets including support for bare metal are planned for 2022.

EKS Anywhere is built on the Amazon EKS Distro, an open source distribution for Kubernetes used by Amazon EKS. EKS Anywhere is also open source. Amazon EKS Anywhere provides businesses with operational tooling that is completely consistent with Amazon EKS. All Amazon EKS components and tools, including third-party software, will work with Amazon EKS Anywhere. This enables businesses to reduce their support costs and avoid purchasing redundant tools.

You can find out more at Amazon EKS Anywhere. If you want some hands-on experience, you can also download EKS Anywhere. There are no upfront commitments or costs to use Amazon EKS Anywhere. However, to get support for EKS Anywhere, you need to purchase an Amazon EKS Anywhere Support Subscription. Support Subscriptions are available for 1 year at $24,000 per cluster or for 3 years at $18,000 per cluster per year.