Customized node image for Azure Kubrenetes Service

Question

While Azure AKS always provides latest node images periodically, is there a way to import and use our customized VM images to be for Kubernetes nodes, like Azure Compute to import and run our VM?

Since we have a product which consists of containers hosted by our Linux VM that utilizes our customized kernel and some binaries in it, we would be able to run our container directly on AKS if AKS allow us to run our VM image as its nodes.

I want to know its feasibility even if there are severe constraints or limitations, or even any alternatives (e.g. swap kernel image only, install Kubernetes control-plane components by hand) as we want to avoid running the entire k8s service on Compute, instead of utilizing great infrastructure of AKS.

Thank you for your insight and help.

Answer 1

Hi @Ryota Hashimoto,

In AKS, the VM image for your cluster's nodes is based on Ubuntu Linux, Azure Linux, or Windows Server 2019. and you can customize the node configuration for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) as described here.

But if you need advanced configuration and control on your Kubernetes node container runtime and OS, you can deploy a self-managed cluster using Cluster API Provider Azure.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/concepts-clusters-workloads#nodes-and-node-pools