Tigera to Provide Native Kubernetes Support for Mixed Windows/Linux Workloads on Microsoft Azure
March 4, 2021
Tigera announced a preview of Calico for Windows on Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Project Calico is an open-source networking and security solution for Kubernetes. Calico is used on more than 1 million nodes across 166 countries. It is the only Kubernetes networking and security solution with a pluggable dataplane that supports Windows, standard Linux and eBPF.
With the availability of Calico for Windows on AKS in preview, enterprises can leverage the power and simplicity of Calico to enable a single solution for network policy and security that works uniformly across cloud and on-premises environments, running Windows and Linux based container workloads. A typical cloud-native application may run on any combination of these variables, with each one deploying a different approach to network policy and security. As the Kubernetes ecosystem grows, this siloed, fragmented approach cannot scale, making it harder for developers, service owners and cluster operators to secure, observe and troubleshoot these heterogeneous environments.
“Calico for Windows has been successfully running in production at several large enterprises,” said Amit Gupta, VP of Product at Tigera. “Now Azure Kubernetes Service customers who wish to deploy Windows-based containers and microservices can leverage the power and simplicity of Calico to provide uniform network policy and security for their clusters across AKS, other cloud and on-premises Kubernetes environments for both Windows and Linux workloads.”
Keiko Harada, senior program manager, Azure at Microsoft Corp. added, “Calico for Windows on Azure Kubernetes Service extends support for Kubernetes Windows container workloads to the cloud and will benefit the Cloud Native Computing Foundation community. Many of our customers are looking for a solution that also includes hybrid and cloud options. Customers can use a single open-source solution for Kubernetes networking and security, on-premises and in the cloud, as well as across their choice of Windows, Linux, and mixed OS -node-pool environments.”
Calico for Windows on AKS provides users the flexibility to run Kubernetes workloads where they choose. While Calico has been available for self-managed Kubernetes workloads on Azure since 2018, many organizations are also deploying their .NET and Windows workloads to the managed Kubernetes environment offered by AKS.
Customers can get started with Calico for Windows on AKS right away by following this quick start guide. Calico has been integrated into all major Kubernetes distributions including offerings from AWS, Docker, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, Rancher, and Nutanix.