Auteur/autrice : zigmax

Happy New Year 2024!

Greetings and Happy New Year!

As we step into the promising horizon of a new year, I extend my warmest wishes to you and your loved ones. May the coming months be filled with joy, prosperity, and countless memorable moments.

In 2024, my commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge remains steadfast. I am thrilled to embark on another year of writing engaging articles and blog posts, focusing on key topics such as:

  • Azure Platform Security
  • Azure Pentesting
  • Kubernetes Security (AKS)
  • Azure Defender (CSPM) / (DSPM)

I absolutely love giving talks, sharing thoughts and having a good conversation with a group of like-minded people. If you’re interested let me know! For those curious about my upcoming speaking engagements in 2024, please find the details: speaking engagements for 2024.

Wishing you all the best in the coming year, and I genuinely hope to meet you in person at one of the events. Let’s make 2024 a year of shared knowledge, growth, and collaborative learning.

Maxime.

AKS | AKS Managed Namespaces Label

Hi!

The introduction of the « kubernetes.azure.com/managedby » label brings a new layer of visibility and control to AKS managed namespaces. This label serves as a marker, indicating the entity responsible for managing a particular namespace within the AKS environment. Whether it’s an individual, a team, or an automated process, this label acts as a key identifier, simplifying the tracking and administration of AKS resources.

Documentation: https://github.com/Azure/AKS/issues/1417

Maxime.

AKS | Artifact Streaming 

Hi!

High-performance compute workloads often grapple with the challenge of managing large container images, leading to extended image pull times and delayed workload deployments. Recognizing this pain point, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) introduces Artifact Streaming, a powerful feature designed to streamline the process of streaming container images from Azure Container Registry (ACR) to AKS. This article delves into the benefits and implementation of Artifact Streaming, shedding light on how it can significantly enhance the performance of your AKS workloads.

Large images in high-performance compute workloads can impede efficiency, resulting in prolonged image pull times and, subsequently, delayed deployment of workloads. This bottleneck can be particularly problematic for workloads that require rapid scalability and responsiveness.

Artifact Streaming on AKS offers a solution to this challenge by optimizing the process of streaming container images from ACR to AKS. Unlike traditional methods, AKS with Artifact Streaming only pulls the essential layers needed for the initial pod startup. This targeted approach dramatically reduces the time required to pull images, resulting in faster and more efficient workload deployments.

Key Benefits of Artifact Streaming:

  • Reduced Time to Pod Readiness:
    • Experience over a 15% reduction in time to pod readiness, particularly impactful for time-sensitive workloads.
  • Optimized for Images <30GB:
    • While Artifact Streaming is most effective for images under 30GB, our testing showcased substantial improvements for images under 10GB, with pod start-up times decreasing from minutes to seconds.
  • Concurrent Pod Start-ups:
    • Artifact Streaming enables concurrent pod start-ups, offering a significant advantage over the traditional serial start-up process.

Create a new node pool with Artifact Streaming enabled:

az aks nodepool add --resource-group myResourceGroup --cluster-name myAKSCluster --name myNodePool --enable-artifact-streaming

In conclusion, Artifact Streaming on AKS proves to be a game-changer for high-performance compute workloads, offering a streamlined approach to handling large container images. By significantly reducing image pull times and enhancing pod start-up efficiency, AKS with Artifact Streaming empowers businesses to meet the demands of dynamic and scalable workloads. Follow the implementation guide provided to unlock the full potential of this feature and elevate the performance of your AKS deployments.

Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/artifact-streaming

Maxime.