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Introducing CoreWeave Kubernetes Service

Blazing fast performance meets flexibility and high visibility in a managed Kubernetes solution

CoreWeave Kubernetes Service (CKS) offers customers a managed Kubernetes service that allows users to run clusters on bare metal servers in CoreWeave Cloud. CKS is built from the ground up to offer unprecedented control, exceptional performance, enhanced security, and high reliability, as well as high visibility into cluster metrics. CKS is designed from the ground up to serve as a managed workload orchestration solution for High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads, leveraging bare-metal performance and HPC networking.

On CKS, clusters utilize Data Processing Unit (DPU) technology to provide enhanced isolation and performance. Each CKS cluster operates within its own private Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), offering a level of security and acceleration among managed Kubernetes solutions that is unique among major Cloud providers.

How is CKS different?​

High-performance Kubernetes on high-performance compute

CKS is specifically engineered to orchestrate and serve the world's most computationally intensive workloads, designed from the ground up for model training, inference, and HPC tasks.

Tip
  • To deliver peak performance, CKS runs Kubernetes directly on bare metal Nodes, without a hypervisor. Customer clusters do not run Virtual Machines.
  • In CKS, Nodes are stateless: they are booted into an Operating System that is loaded on RAM.

Hyper-secure infrastructure

CKS is engineered with a strong emphasis on security.

  • The DPU-based architecture used by CKS enables advanced security features including custom network and security policies, dedicated Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) and privileged network access controls.
  • Physical infrastructure is housed in high-surveillance data centers, providing comprehensive security. Within the CKS platform, each client's data is operationally isolated, ensuring complete separation and confidentiality.

Data plane flexibility​

CKS provides a managed control plane alongside configurable data plane elements, striking a balance between operational simplicity and the flexibility to tailor the environment to specific workload requirements.

  • CKS clusters include a pre-installed Container Storage Interface (CSI) and Container Network Interface (CNI) to standardize storage and networking across container environments.
  • Unlike other managed Kubernetes services, CKS extends user control beyond the control plane by allowing direct management of data plane components. This unique approach minimizes the infrastructure management burden for customers, while still offering extensive customization possibilities.

Additional advantages

Privilege and access management​

CKS offers comprehensive user privilege management, balancing managed solutions with the flexibility of self-managed ones, giving users the freedom to choose the most suitable option for their security needs.

  • CKS Managed Auth provides a managed RBAC-backed solution for cluster-wide access control and organization management. Third-party RBAC providers are supported for granular in-cluster permissions.

Metrics and observability​

CKS provides comprehensive support for auditing and compliance requirements. Performance and data metrics can also be seamlessly integrated with clients' existing infrastructure, enabling a flexible observability solution.

  • For enhanced monitoring, CKS grants access to the CKS cluster API server, enabling Control Plane audit logs.
  • This extensive access also allows customers to deploy their own metrics stacks with custom collection tools, including Loki or DaemonSet logging.
  • Clients can also monitor Node logs, GPU utilization, and other node-level metrics through CoreWeave's managed Grafana instance.