Cluster Networking - CNI

AI Tools

Rackspace Spot provides flexible CNI options for your Kubernetes clusters, allowing you to customize networking based on your workload requirements.

Customizing CNI

When provisioning a new cloudspace you have the option to change the default CNI (Calico IPTables) installed in your cluster. CNI selection is made during cloudspace provisioning via the Rackspace Spot dashboard, Terraform, or CLI (spotctl).

NOTE

CNI configuration CANNOT be changed after cluster creation. Please make your decision accordingly during cloudspace creation.

Via Dashboard

Cloudspace Creation > Advanced Options > Customize CNI

Via spotctl

# Create cloudspace with Cilium + kubeproxy spotctl cloudspace create my-cloudspace \ --region us-central-dfw-2 \ --cni cilium

Via Terraform

resource "spot_cloudspace" "my_cluster" { name = "my-cloudspace" region = "us-central-dfw-2" # CNI Configuration - choose one: # cni = "calico" # Default - Calico IPTables # cni = "cilium" # Cilium with kubeproxy cni = "byocni" # Bring Your Own CNI } resource "spot_nodepool" "workers" { cloudspace_name = spot_cloudspace.my_cluster.name name = "worker-pool" server_class = "gp.vs2.medium-dfw2" bid_price = 0.02 min_nodes = 1 max_nodes = 3 desired_nodes = 2 }

Available CNI Options:

1. Calico IPTables (Default)

Calico with IPTables is the default CNI provider for Rackspace Spot clusters, offering network policy enforcement and proven stability for most workloads.

Best for: General-purpose workloads.

kube-proxy Mode: ipvs (default)

2. Cilium w/ kubeproxy

Cilium is a CNI that provides advanced networking, security, and observability capabilities for cloud-native applications.

Best for: Large-scale microservices, performance-critical workloads, advanced observability requirements.

kube-proxy Mode: ipvs (default)

3. Bring Your Own CNI (BYOCNI)

For advanced users requiring specific CNI configurations, Rackspace Spot supports BYOCNI. If selected, no CNI provider or kube-proxy will be installed in the cluster.

kube-proxy Mode: none

Choosing the Right CNI

Choose Calico if...	Choose Cilium if...	Choose BYOCNI if...
You prefer traditional BGP networking	You require top-tier performance for microservices	You require a specialized third-party CNI
You want battle-tested stability	You need API-aware security policies	Your use case requires advanced CNI features
You need flexible data plane options	You're exploring sidecarless service mesh	You have in-house CNI expertise

Last updated on

Was this page helpful?