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KubeFed (Kubernetes Federation)

KubeFed is a Kubernetes project that enables federation of multiple Kubernetes clusters. Federation allows you to manage multiple clusters as a single entity, providing centralized control over the resources and configurations across clusters.

Key Features of KubeFed

  1. Multi-Cluster Management:

  2. Allows administrators to manage multiple Kubernetes clusters from a single control plane.

  3. Synchronizes resources and configurations across clusters.

  4. Workload Distribution:

  5. Enables workload distribution across clusters for improved availability, fault tolerance, and geographic coverage.

  6. Cross-Cluster Resource Sharing:

  7. Allows shared resources, such as ConfigMaps and Secrets, to be replicated across clusters.

  8. Policy Enforcement:

  9. Ensures consistent policies and configurations across all federated clusters.

Use Cases

  • Disaster recovery and high availability by distributing workloads across multiple regions.
  • Multi-cloud or hybrid cloud deployments to avoid vendor lock-in.
  • Scaling workloads geographically to reduce latency for end-users.

How It Works

  • Control Plane: A central KubeFed control plane manages multiple clusters.
  • Federated Resources: Resources such as Deployments, Services, or ConfigMaps are created in a federated namespace and propagated to member clusters.

Example: Federated Deployment

A Deployment managed by KubeFed can run replicas of an application across three clusters (e.g., one in the US, one in Europe, and one in Asia).