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What’s New for Compatibility Matrix
Oracle Kubernetes Engine (OKE) distribution now available as a Beta release. The OKE distribution, previously only available as a restricted access Alpha, has been made more broadly available to anyone using Compatibility Matrix, allowing more vendors to test compatibility with OKE. The move to Beta comes after several early access customers, and our own internal KOTS team, have successfully leveraged OKE in their test suites.
More real-time display of cluster creation and deletion in the Compatibility Matrix UI in the Vendor Portal. Now when creating or deleting clusters with the Replicated CLI or Vendor API v3, the Compatibility Matrix UI will more quickly display these clusters on the overview page. This is particularly helpful when using the UI to monitor clusters being created or deleted by a CI pipeline.
Better error handling for unknown arguments in the CLI. The [.inline] cluster[.inline] commands for the Replicated CLI are updated to more clearly warn users of unknown arguments so that they have a chance to correct any issues prior to creating the cluster.
What’s New for Embedded Cluster
Consolidated storage paths for easier installation (1.16.0). Embedded Cluster data is now consolidated under a single directory at [.inline]/var/lib/embedded-cluster[.inline]. In support of this change, we no longer document or preflight for storage related to k0s or OpenEBS. This simplifies the installation process by reducing the number of data directories that a user needs to consider.
Added the ability to choose the data directory during installation (1.16.0). A [.inline]--data-dir[.inline] flag is now available with the Embedded Cluster install command to let the enterprise specify their own data directory. This improves the installation experience because many enterprises will have a small root filesystem and more storage available on a separate disk mounted elsewhere. Additionally, if the Embedded Cluster storage preflights fail, the failure messages now encourage the enterprise to use the --data-dir flag if they have more space available elsewhere. Docs.
Added support for Kubernetes 1.30 and removed support for 1.28 (1.16.0). Embedded Cluster 1.16.0 supports Kubernetes 1.30 and also removes support for Kubernetes 1.28.0, which is End of Life.
Added several new Embedded Cluster preflights checks. Various new preflight checks were added to help improve the installation success rate for Embedded Cluster users, including checks to ensure that the CPU supports x86-64-v2, that the data directory used is not symlinked and has sufficient space, and that CIDR blocks do not overlap with existing routes in the enterprise’s environment. The failure messages displayed for each preflight check provide detailed information to users about how to resolve the issues. Docs.
Easily generate a support bundle from the CLI with the [.inline]support-bundle[.inline] command (1.16.0). Embedded Cluster now provides a [.inline]support-bundle[.inline] command that can be used to generate a support bundle (including host-, cluster-, and app-level info) from the command line. This new command is especially useful for generating a support bundle when the Admin Console is not available.
Reset the Admin Console password from the CLI (1.16.0). Users that forget the Admin Console password can now easily reset the password from the command line using the Embedded Cluster [.inline]admin-console reset-password[.inline] command.
New [.inline]--cidr[.inline] flag replaces the preexisting [.inline]--pod-cidr[.inline] and [.inline]--service-cidr[.inline] flags for ease of use (1.16.0). Kubernetes needs available private CIDR blocks (IP address ranges) to assign to Pods and Services. Now, users can provide a single IP address range for Pods and Services using the --cidr flag with the install command. Embedded Cluster then automatically splits the address range in half to be used for Pods and Services. This simplifies messaging in the CLI help menu and preflight failure messages. The --pod-cidr and --service-cidr flags are hidden but still work for backwards compatibility. Docs.
Admin Console password in Embedded Cluster must be at least six characters (1.16.0). For consistency across all installation methods, Embedded Cluster now also requires that the Admin Console password is at least six characters.
What’s New for the Replicated SDK
Specify custom CAs in a Secret as well as a ConfigMap. Enterprises that want to use a MITM proxy and require a full custom Certificate Authority can now pass the entire chain using a Secret. Docs.
What’s New for the Vendor Portal
Helm air gap install and update instructions available in the Download Portal on request (Alpha). When the Helm air gap Alpha feature is enabled for a team, the Download Portal provides detailed install, update, and update automation instructions for using Helm to install in air-gapped environments. The instructions provide commands that users can copy and paste in order to pull, tag, and push the images required for installation. This Alpha feature allows vendors to more easily support air gap Helm installations for applications distributed with Replicated. If you are interested in trying Helm air gap installations and providing feedback, reach out to your account rep to enable this feature. Docs.
Added support for image replication by exposing new catalog and tags listing endpoints. This feature allows enterprise customers to set up their internal private registry with Harbor to pull the vendor's images from Replicated in an automated way. This is a common use case for enterprises who want to be able to scan and shrinkwrap or mirror any image that is going to be deployed to their cluster. Docs.
Various improvements to Vendor Portal page speed. For the [.inline]/apps/customer/*[.inline] pages (reporting, manage, support bundles), the average load time was reduced from 4s to 1.6s and p95 improved by over 50%. This makes archiving and unarchiving both customers and channels roughly 3x faster. Additionally, the /customers page now loads 25% faster.
What’s New for Product Documentation
New Replicated onboarding checklist and flow. The Getting Started documentation now includes a comprehensive Replicated Onboarding topic, which walks vendors through each of the tasks associated with onboarding an application to the Replicated Platform.
Updated Replicated quick start. The Replicated Quick Start is updated to walk users through the process of creating a release with a sample Helm chart, installing the release with Replicated Embedded Cluster, then publishing an updated release and upgrading to the new version with Embedded Cluster. The goal of the quick start is to introduce vendors to iterating on and testing releases in the Replicated Platform, which is a process that will get repeated throughout the onboarding process.
Replicated FAQs. A new Replicated FAQs topic provides answers to several common questions related to the Replicated Platform, Replicated onboarding process, and various Replicated features.
Embedded Cluster install command reference topic. A reference topic was added to the docs that lists all the flags available with the Embedded Cluster install command. Vendors can use this topic to see all the options that are supported for Embedded Cluster online and air gap installations in a single location.
Steps on how to download air gap bundles now appear directly in the air gap install/update procedures. Now, when you follow the procedures for installing or updating with KOTS/kURL in air gap environments, you’ll see steps on how to download air gap bundles directly in those procedures themselves, without requiring you to click over to another topic. This provides vendors with an end-to-end workflow for enabling and performing air gap installations in a single location in the docs.