SUSE launches Rancher Desktop 1.0, open-sources NeuVector

What's new with Kubernetes this month? In this post, we talk all things Rancher! SUSE, Rancher’s parent company, has released their new open-source security offering, NeuVector. And Rancher Desktop hits 1.0. Find out why it’s a great way to run Kubernetes on your home computers.

Read on for the full story!

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I’m expecting 2022 to be a big year of Kubernetes security. Or at least the big security shift-left where we’re not only talking security, but also integrating it from day one (and every day after that).

On that topic: SUSE, the company that owns Rancher, have released their recently acquired NeuVector security platform. It's the industry’s first open-source container-centric security platform.

That’s magic. The community loves open-source, and it opens the platform up to more developers and gets more people using it and testing it. But they’re also integrating it with their own Rancher container management platform.

What is NeuVector? NeuVector is a container-focussed security platform that does things like continuous vulnerability scanning throughout the entire lifecycle of a container, end-to-end runtime security, properly good network visibility, and it can even do container segmentation if you’re a regulated environment or just need better workload isolation.

That’s all getting integrated with the Rancher platform, so that if you’re a potentially new user, you’re getting a much more enterprise-y experience with security front-and-center. And if you’re an existing user? You’ll be getting all that in a future release. But it makes the platform really sticky.

I think that’s the aim here. Instead of container management platforms like Rancher offering up native Kubernetes features just packaged better and with a support contract. We’re seeing more and more that they’re bringing way more to the table.

For me, that can be good or bad, and I think you’ll need to keep an eye out for this as things move forward. But I’ve had more than my fair share of big ugly enterprise apps that become impossible-to-tame beasts. So I really hope that Rancher and other platforms don’t make the mistake of trying to boil the ocean.

Now, in no way am saying we’re even close to that here. Right now I actually think there’s positives in integrations like this. But let’s not forget the mistakes of the past, lest we repeat them again and again.

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Sticking with SUSE and Rancher, last month saw the Rancher Desktop project hit the coveted 1.0 milestone.

Massive congrats to the community and team involved in that. I know historically Rancher has contributed an absolute ton to the community, and it seems (from the outside at least), that it's business as usual since the acquisition by SUSE.

Rancher Desktop is Kubernetes for you laptop and desktop.

I’m using version 1.0 myself, and I’ve gotta say I’m loving how it works with the latest versions as well as older stable ones. It lets me choose containerd or Docker as a runtime, and I also get to choose the Docker command line or nerdctl.

So, if you’re a developer needing a pretty configurable Kubernetes experience on your laptop — or if you’re just looking for a quick and easy way to play around and learn Kubernetes — then Rancher desktop’s worth a look.

And in-line with what we just said about integrating NeuVector security with the main Rancher platform for stickiness, I think having a slick local desktop experience that potentially integrates seamlessly as well. It all just adds gravity to the whole of the Rancher portfolio.

They’re going all-out to establish themselves as a leading Kubernetes company on-prem, in the cloud, at the edge, on your desktop, and even more. They’re definitely worth a look!

For news around Kubernetes this month, check out the video above. Stay safe, and I’ll see you all again next month — same Kube time, same Kube place.

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