Understanding the Differences Between Amazon EKS, EKS Anywhere, and EKS Distro: Which Solution is Right for Your Business?

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a managed Kubernetes service that makes it easy to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications. It offers a fully managed Kubernetes control plane and worker nodes, eliminating the need for users to manage the underlying infrastructure. Recently, Amazon has introduced two new Kubernetes offerings – EKS-A and EKS-Distro. In this blog, we will explore the differences between EKS, EKS-A, and EKS-Distro, and the benefits that each offering provides.

What is EKS?

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a managed Kubernetes service that makes it easy to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications. It offers a fully managed Kubernetes control plane and worker nodes, eliminating the need for users to manage the underlying infrastructure. EKS is a turnkey solution for running Kubernetes in the cloud, and it integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, such as AWS CloudFormation, Amazon CloudWatch, and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).

What is EKS-A?

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service Anywhere (EKS-A) is a hybrid offering that enables users to run EKS-managed Kubernetes clusters on-premises or in other cloud environments. EKS-A enables users to take advantage of the EKS-managed control plane while running worker nodes in their own data centers or in other cloud environments. This provides users with greater flexibility and control over their Kubernetes deployments.

What is EKS-Distro?

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service Distribution (EKS-Distro) is a Kubernetes distribution that is based on the same software that powers Amazon EKS. EKS-Distro is an open-source project that enables users to run Kubernetes on their own infrastructure or in other cloud environments. EKS-Distro provides users with a consistent, secure, and scalable Kubernetes experience that is compatible with EKS, allowing them to run Kubernetes workloads on-premises or in other cloud environments.

Differences between EKS, EKS-A, and EKS-Distro:

Deployment model

EKS is a fully managed Kubernetes service that is designed to run on AWS infrastructure. EKS provides users with a turnkey solution for running Kubernetes in the cloud, and it eliminates the need for users to manage the underlying infrastructure.

EKS-A, on the other hand, is a hybrid offering that enables users to run EKS-managed Kubernetes clusters on-premises or in other cloud environments. EKS-A enables users to take advantage of the EKS-managed control plane while running worker nodes in their own data centers or in other cloud environments.

EKS-Distro is an open-source Kubernetes distribution that can be run on any infrastructure, including on-premises or in other cloud environments. EKS-Distro provides users with a consistent, secure, and scalable Kubernetes experience that is compatible with EKS.

Control plane management

In EKS, the Kubernetes control plane is fully managed by AWS, and users do not have access to the underlying infrastructure. This means that AWS is responsible for managing the Kubernetes API server, etcd, and other control plane components.

In EKS-A, the Kubernetes control plane is also managed by AWS, but users have more control over the worker nodes. Users can run worker nodes on their own infrastructure or in other cloud environments, while still using the EKS-managed control plane.

In EKS-Distro, users have complete control over the Kubernetes control plane and can run it on any infrastructure. This gives users more control over the underlying infrastructure, but also requires more management and maintenance on their part.

Security and compliance

EKS provides a secure and compliant Kubernetes environment that is designed to meet various security and compliance standards, such as HIPAA, PCI, and SOC. EKS includes features such as VPC isolation, encryption at rest and in transit, IAM integration, and automatic security patches. Additionally, EKS is compliant with several industry standards, such as SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS.

EKS Anywhere (EKS-A) on the other hand, is a self-managed Kubernetes service that allows you to run Kubernetes clusters on-premises or in other cloud environments. EKS-A provides several security features, such as RBAC, network policies, and pod security policies. EKS-A also provides integration with other security tools, such as AWS Security Hub, to provide centralized security management.

With EKS-A, you are responsible for the security and compliance of the Kubernetes clusters you manage. This means you must ensure that your clusters meet the necessary security and compliance standards, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

EKS Distro is a Kubernetes distribution that is built from the same source code as EKS. EKS Distro is designed to provide a consistent and secure Kubernetes experience across different environments, including on-premises and other cloud environments.

EKS Distro provides several security and compliance features, such as RBAC, network policies, pod security policies, and CIS benchmark compliance. EKS Distro is also designed to be compatible with various security tools, such as AWS Security Hub, to provide centralized security management.

With EKS Distro, you are responsible for the security and compliance of the Kubernetes clusters you manage. This means you must ensure that your clusters meet the necessary security and compliance standards, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

Key Differences:

The key security and compliance differences between EKS, EKS-A, and EKS Distro are as follows:

EKS is a fully-managed Kubernetes service that provides built-in security features and compliance with various industry standards.

EKS-A is a self-managed Kubernetes service that allows you to run Kubernetes clusters on-premises or in other cloud environments. With EKS-A, you are responsible for the security and compliance of your Kubernetes clusters.

EKS Distro is a Kubernetes distribution that is built from the same source code as EKS. EKS Distro is designed to provide a consistent and secure Kubernetes experience across different environments. With EKS Distro, you are responsible for the security and compliance of your Kubernetes clusters.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a powerful tool for running and managing containerized applications in the cloud. It provides various features and integrations, including FluentBit log processing, to help monitor and analyze the performance and behavior of your applications.

However, it’s worth noting that there are other variations of EKS available, such as EKS-A and EKS-Distro. EKS-A, or EKS Anywhere that enables customers to run EKS on their own infrastructure, such as on-premises data centers or other cloud providers. EKS-Distro, on the other hand, is a Kubernetes distribution that is based on the same code as EKS, but can be deployed on other cloud providers, such as Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.

Both EKS-A and EKS-Distro offer their own set of benefits and trade-offs, depending on your specific use case and requirements. For example, EKS-A can provide greater control and flexibility over your Kubernetes infrastructure, while EKS-Distro can offer more portability and vendor-agnosticism.

Ultimately, the choice between EKS, EKS-A, and EKS-Distro will depend on your organization’s specific needs and goals.