Rancher Kubernetes: What It Is and How It Simplifies Cluster Management

Kubernetes is now the standard for container orchestration, but managing multiple clusters can be a challenge and can become complex pretty quickly. From provisioning to monitoring, teams often start struggling with the operational overhead that comes with using Kubernetes. 

This is where the Rancher comes in, it is an open source platform that streamlines Kubernetes cluster management. So whether you are running on-premises workloads, in the cloud or even in a hybrid environment, Rancher Kubernetes provides a centralized solution with a user-friendly interface. 

In this guide, we will walk through Ranchers and how it works to simplify cluster management. 

What is Rancher in Kubernetes?

Ranchers is an open source Kubernetes management platform that allows teams to deploy, manage and secure multiple Kubernetes clusters across different infrastructures. 

Key features of Rancher Kubernetes are:

• It provides a centralized interface to manage multiple Kubernetes clusters. 
• It simplifies tasks like cluster provisioning, upgrades, and monitoring. 
• It supports role based access control. 
• Compatible with all Kubernetes distributions. 

Why Use Rancher Kubernetes?

Ranchers will address all the challenges by providing: 

• Simplified Cluster Management – easily provision and scale clusters without intense manual configuration. 
• Multi-cluster/ cloud support – manage clusters across different cloud providers or on-premises from a single interface. 
• Centralized Security and Access Control – Apply RBAC policies and monitor security across all points. 
• User friendly interface – Dashboard and CLI tools eliminate the learning curve. 
• Integrated monitoring – built-in tools for monitoring and logging. 
• Reduced Operational Overhead – automation reduces overhead costs. 

Related Article: What Is a Kubernetes DaemonSet? How to Create and Use DaemonSets Effectively

Tutorial: Setting Up a High-Availability Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE) Kubernetes Cluster

Rancher Kubernetes Engine makes it super easy to deploy HA Kubernetes clusters with minimal manual configuration. Here is an example of how you can set up a HA cluster. 

Prerequisites: 

Before we move on to the actual steps, here are the prerequisites that you need to fulfill: 

• You need three or more nodes for control planes and worker nodes. For HA, 3 are recommended. 
• Ubuntu 20.04+ installed on each node.
• SSH access from your management machine to all nodes.
• Docker installed on all nodes (RKE requires Docker).
• RKE CLI installed on your management machine.

Step 1: Install RKE CLI

Download the latest RKE release:

curl -LO https://github.com/rancher/rke/releases/download/v1.4.5/rke_linux-amd64

chmod +x rke_linux-amd64

sudo mv rke_linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/rke

rke –version

Replace v1.4.5 with the latest version. Verify installation using rke –version.

Step 2: Create a Cluster Configuration File

RKE uses a YAML file (cluster.yml) to define your cluster nodes, roles, and networking:

nodes:

  – address: 192.168.1.101

    user: ubuntu

    role: [controlplane, etcd, worker]

  – address: 192.168.1.102

    user: ubuntu

    role: [controlplane, etcd, worker]

  – address: 192.168.1.103

    user: ubuntu

    role: [controlplane, etcd, worker]

services:

  etcd:

    snapshot: true

    creation: 6h

    retention: 24h

network:

  plugin: canal

• address → node IP
• role → controlplane, etcd, worker
• network.plugin → networking solution (Calico, Canal, Flannel, etc.)

Step 3: Deploy the Cluster

Run the following command on your management machine:

rke up –config cluster.yml

• This command provisions Kubernetes on all nodes defined in cluster.yml.
• It generates a kube_config_cluster.yml file to interact with the cluster via kubectl.

Step 4: Verify the Cluster

Set your kubeconfig environment variable:

export KUBECONFIG=$(pwd)/kube_config_cluster.yml

kubectl get nodes

kubectl get pods -A

• All nodes should be Ready.
• The kube-system namespace should have all core components running.

Step 5: Connect Rancher Server

Once your high availability cluster is ready: 

1. Install Rancher server on a node or a Docker container. 
2. Access the Rancher UI using a browser. 
3. Add your RKE cluster to Rancher using the kube_config_cluster.yml.

This would allow you to manage the high availability cluster, deploy workloads, and apply the right principles with minimal overhead. 

Rancher Kubernetes Architecture

Rancher Kubernetes offers a centralized management layer on the clusters which allows you to manage multiple clients across different environments. Its architecture generally comprises of:  

1. Rancher Server

The base of the platform is the web UI, API, and management services, which handles the authentication, RBAC, and multi-cluster management. It can be deployed as the Docker container or on Kubernetes itself. 

2. Kubernetes Clusters

Ranchers allow you to manage both the existing clusters and provisioned clusters, while supporting the multi-cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. 

3. Cluster Agents

It is installed on each managed cluster. You can communicate with the Rancher server to relay cluster state and apply configurations. 

4. Etcd Nodes

Maintain your required cluster state for HA clusters. It can also manage backups and recovery.

5. User Interface & API

Highly engaging UI allows the administrators to manage and develop clusters without needing advanced Kubernetes knowledge. The API enables automation and integration with CI/CD pipelines.

Rancher vs Kubernetes: How Are They Different?

Even though both Rancher and Kubernetes are similar, they do offer different purposes. 

Feature	Kubernetes	Rancher
Purpose	Container orchestration platform to deploy, scale, and manage workloads	Management platform that sits on top of Kubernetes to simplify cluster operations
Cluster Management	Each cluster is managed independently; multi-cluster management is manual	Centralized dashboard for managing multiple clusters across on-premises and cloud environments
User Interface	Minimal UI (dashboard optional), mainly CLI-driven	Intuitive web UI + CLI for cluster management and application deployment
Security & RBAC	Kubernetes RBAC for each cluster individually	Centralized authentication, RBAC, and policy enforcement across all clusters
Ease of Use	Requires in-depth Kubernetes knowledge to operate clusters effectively	Lowers the learning curve for developers and operators by abstracting complex tasks
Monitoring & Logging	Requires manual integration of tools like Prometheus or Grafana	Built-in observability tools, plus integrations with popular monitoring solutions
Cluster Provisioning	Needs manual configuration or scripts	Provides automated provisioning for RKE clusters and cloud Kubernetes clusters

Conclusion – Using Rancher Kubernetes 

Rancher Kubernetes is a powerful combination of traditional and modern containerized workloads. For organizations that require multiple clusters across diverse environments, using Rancher on Kubernetes can save time, improve reliability, and make cluster management accessible.