Mirantis unveils open-source Kubernetes Engine MKE 4

Mirantis has launched its Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE) 4, a fully open-source Kubernetes distribution, marking a new stage in enterprise-ready Kubernetes solutions.

With over 300,000 MKE nodes already in production, Mirantis aims to provide a highly secure platform for high-performance workloads across industries. The new iteration – MKE 4 – boasts an architecture entirely based on k0s, offering a scalable and flexible Kubernetes certified by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

MKE 4 retains the "enterprise ready" promise of previous versions with enhancements such as FIPS 140-2 encryption, ensuring high security standards. Moreover, it provides a user-friendly web interface for ease of operation.

The chief technology officer at Mirantis, Shaun O'Meara, highlighted this release as a pivotal move, stating, "We believe that Kubernetes is the core platform for all technology infrastructure and have designed MKE 4 to provide users with the flexibility to compose the best platform for their needs. This agile approach to delivering Kubernetes clusters removes technical lock-in and supports a convergence of containers and virtual machines into a single platform."

Key features of MKE 4 include a flexible, composable architecture, allowing users to optimise their stack with validated templates and swap in alternative components to boost security, stability, and performance. The inclusion of KubeVirt facilitates a convergence of container and virtual machine workloads, providing a unified platform for both cloud-native and virtual applications.

MKE 4 also includes options for automated drift correction and updates. The MKE Operator ensures that clusters are continually reconciled against their declarative configurations, mitigating risks from manual changes. Updates can be transitioned smoothly using the new mkectl client or by automating the process through the built-in operator.

For current users of Mirantis Kubernetes, the update to MKE 4 can be achieved with minimal disruption through a single command or click, ensuring existing workloads remain unaffected. Support for Swarm users will persist in MKE 3, enabling a seamless transition for users upgrading from MKE 3.7.

MKE serves as a central collaboration hub for developers and operations teams, supporting the building, running, and scaling of cloud-native applications. The fourth-generation Kubernetes distribution is set to be available from 20 November and will offer packaged options for 24/7 enterprise-grade support.