SUSE has announced the release of its latest version of Rancher, 2.7.2. The latest update to the most widely adopted Kubernetes management platform includes extensibility enhancements designed to foster even stronger eco-system adoption.
The company has also expanded the enterprise-grade value of its open source commercial subscription for Rancher with the latest release of Rancher Prime. Updates have been delivered to SUSE’s popular open source projects such as Rancher Desktop and a re-launch has taken place for its free training portal, Rancher Academy.
Updates to Rancher include three Rancher-developed extensions: Kubewarden Extension, which delivers a comprehensive way to manage the lifecycle of Kubernetes policies across Rancher clusters; Elemental Extension for managing cloud-native OS and Edge devices; and Harvester Extension which helps operators load their virtualized Harvester cluster into Rancher to easily manage and inspect.
The new UI extension framework in Rancher v2.7.2 additionally allows Rancher Prime customers to get SLA backed support for Policy and OS. Prime subscribers will now have access to SUSE’s customer engagement platform SUSE Collective.
SUSE’s strategy for Rancher is to provide the core power of hybrid and multi-cloud multi-cluster management and for extension providers to deliver a highly customized user experience to its customers.
Peter Smails, general manager of enterprise container management at SUSE, said: “As the Kubernetes ecosystem expands and becomes more complex, innovation, interoperability and simplicity have never been more important. Our free-to-use Rancher UI extension framework empowers users and independent software vendors (ISVs) to create customized user experiences, significantly enhancing the operationalization of their entire Kubernetes environment.”
Tom Callway, VP product marketing and community at SUSE, said: “Cloud-native expertise remains one of the biggest inhibitors to Kubernetes’ adoption.
“By re-launching Rancher Academy, our aim is to help demystify the complexities of cloud-native platforms when deploying new workloads. With Rancher Academy, the Rancher users now have a free, high quality educational resource to increase their Kubernetes knowledge, helping users build faster and more securely.”
