Nutanix Karbon is a curated turnkey offering that provides simplified provisioning and operations of Kubernetes clusters. Kubernetes is an open source container orchestration system for deploying and managing container-based applications.

Karbon uses the CentOS Linux-based operating systems for Karbon-enabled Kubernetes cluster node creation. Linux containers provide the flexibility to deploy applications in different environments with consistent results.

The Karbon web console simplifies the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters with a simple GUI and built-in event monitoring tools. Kibana, the built-in add-on, lets you filter and parse logs for systems, pods, and nodes. Prometheus, another add-on, provides a monitoring mechanism that triggers alerts on your cluster. Karbon also uses Pulse, Prism’s health-monitoring system, which interacts with Nutanix Support to expedite cluster issue resolutions.

Nutanix Karbon, a turnkey offering that simplifies the provisioning and management of Kubernetes clusters. Karbon provides a native Nutanix experience that allows you to quickly and easily deploy, scale, and administer Kubernetes clusters. Karbon is enabled via Prism Central.

Kubernetes is an open source system that manages containerized workloads and services, including horizontal scaling, networking, and computing. Karbon simplifies the Kubernetes experience. Using Karbon, you can:

• Deploy Kubernetes clusters.
• Use Nutanix Volumes and Nutanix Files storage for your applications.
• Manage Kubernetes cluster resources.
• Upgrade your Kubernetes deployment.
• Ensure high-availability.

Secure by Design

Kubectl Identity and Access Management (IAM)

The kubectl is the Kubernetes command-line utility. Kubectl IAM ensures that only users authenticated by Prism Central’s IAM service can access and manage the cluster using the kubectl. To use the kubectl, download the kubeconfig. The kubeconfig access token expires after 24 hours.

Kibana

Kibana is a logging add-on that comes pre-installed with your Karbon deployment. The add-on includes a UI that you can access through the add-ons tab. Kibana includes a LogTrail plug-in that displays logs for the selected namespaces on the Kubernetes cluster. Kibana IAM ensures that only users with required permissions have access to log details provided by the add-on.

Node Lock-down

Node lock-down is a security feature that requires you to download an ephemeral certificate to access nodes in your cluster. The certificate expires after 24 hours.

Seamless Upgrades

Node Operating System (OS) Upgrade

You can upgrade node OS images on your cluster through Karbon. When a node OS image upgrade becomes available, the Karbon UI displays an option to download the new image.

Life-Cycle Management Upgrade of Karbon and the Container

When a new version of Karbon is available, you can upgrade Karbon and the associated containers through Prism Central’s Life Cycle Management (LCM) module.

Cluster Management

Multi-master Deployments

A master node runs critical services on the cluster. Multi-master deployments ensure high-availability for your Kubernetes cluster; if one of the masters experiences an outage, the other master takes command of the services. Karbon supports two multi-master configurations: external load balancer and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

• Deployments backed by an external load balancer can have a maximum of five master nodes. With this configuration, the master nodes are all active at the same time and allow a greater scalability of workloads. Provide your external load balancer of choice for this configuration.
• Deployments backed by VRRP support only two master nodes. VRRP is an active-passive configuration where only one master node is active at a time, and the second master becomes active when the first experiences issues. Karbon provides the VRRP configuration.

Karbon also supports single-master deployments, which we recommend you use only in non- production environments.

Add and Remove Node

Add and remove worker nodes on an existing cluster to scale your environment according to your needs.

Prometheus Add-on

Prometheus is an out-of-the-box add-on that is pre-installed on your Kubernetes cluster. Prometheus provides a cluster monitoring service that powers Karbon alerts, which notify you when the cluster experiences any issues. The add-on does not have a UI, but the alerts Prometheus triggers appear in the alerts tab of the cluster.

Support for Kubernetes v1.11, v1.12, and v1.13

Karbon supports Kubernetes versions v1.11, v1.12 and v1.13. Ensure that you are using a compatible version of the CSI volume driver for your Kubernetes deployment.

Karbon Console

Karbon Dashboard

The Karbon Console includes a cluster dashboard that provides insight and details on your clusters health, utilization, and events. The dashboard also includes options to update node OS images and customize your cluster post-deployment.