Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes extends the power and flexibility of Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to your on-premises and edge environments. With this capability, AWS manages the Kubernetes control plane, while you retain control over the infrastructure that powers your hybrid nodes. This enables seamless integration of your on-premises and edge workloads into Amazon EKS clusters, simplifying operations and unifying Kubernetes management across environments.
Key Features of Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes
Seamless Integration Across Environments
Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes support a wide range of on-premises hardware or virtual machines, allowing you to bring the scalability and reliability of Amazon EKS to wherever your applications run. You can leverage features such as Amazon EKS add-ons, Pod Identity, cluster access entries, cluster insights, and extended Kubernetes version support, providing a consistent experience regardless of the deployment location.
Native AWS Service Integration
Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes integrate seamlessly with AWS services, including:
- AWS Systems Manager for centralized management.
- Amazon GuardDuty for enhanced security monitoring.
- Amazon CloudWatch and Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus for observability and monitoring.
Flexible Pricing
Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes operate on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, billed hourly for vCPU usage while nodes are connected to an EKS cluster. This flexibility ensures you only pay for what you use, with no upfront commitments.
Operational Insights and Requirements
Networking and Connectivity
Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes require a stable connection between your on-premises infrastructure and AWS. Supported networking configurations include AWS Site-to-Site VPN and AWS Direct Connect, ensuring reliable communication with the EKS control plane. However, hybrid nodes are currently limited to IPv4 address families and cannot operate in disconnected, disrupted, or limited environments. For such scenarios, consider Amazon EKS Anywhere.
Infrastructure Flexibility
The service adopts a "bring-your-own-infrastructure" approach. You can deploy hybrid nodes on physical or virtual machines with x86 or ARM architectures. Supported operating systems include:
- Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023) (in virtualized environments such as VMware or KVM),
- Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04, 24.04),
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) (versions 8 and 9). You must manage the provisioning, maintenance, and security of these nodes.
Security Enhancements
Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes offer robust security features:
- IAM Roles Anywhere and AWS Systems Manager hybrid activations for authentication.
- Support for OIDC authentication and IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA), enabling fine-grained access control for Pods.
- Integration with Amazon GuardDuty for EKS protection.
Kubernetes Compatibility
Hybrid nodes align with the standard Kubernetes version lifecycle of Amazon EKS. However, they require the creation of new Amazon EKS clusters for deployment and cannot be added to existing clusters.
Add-ons and Observability
Networking and Load Balancing
Hybrid nodes do not support the AWS VPC CNI plugin but are compatible with Cilium and Calico for container networking. For ingress and load balancing, you can use the AWS Load Balancer Controller to set up Application Load Balancers (ALB) or Network Load Balancers (NLB).
Metrics and Logs
Monitoring is simplified with tools such as Amazon Managed Prometheus, AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry (ADOT), and Amazon CloudWatch Observability Agent. These provide comprehensive visibility into hybrid node and application performance.
Simplified Management
The nodeadm CLI facilitates hybrid node installation, configuration, and uninstallation. Cluster management remains consistent with existing Amazon EKS tools, including the AWS Management Console, API, SDKs, and popular tools like eksctl, CloudFormation, and Terraform.
Limitations and Best Practices
- Unsupported Deployments: Hybrid nodes cannot run on AWS infrastructure like AWS Regions, Local Zones, or Outposts. For these scenarios, use Amazon EC2 managed nodes, self-managed nodes, or AWS Fargate.
- Network Reliability: Ensure robust connectivity between hybrid nodes and AWS control planes. Avoid using hybrid nodes in environments prone to disconnections.
- Cluster Endpoint Access: Use "Public" or "Private" cluster endpoint access configurations, but not both, to prevent DNS resolution issues.
A Comprehensive Kubernetes Solution
Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes bridge the gap between cloud and on-premises deployments, enabling a unified Kubernetes management experience. Whether you are scaling edge applications or integrating with existing infrastructure, Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes provide a flexible, secure, and efficient solution for modern Kubernetes workloads.
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