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Introduction

Heir cluster architecture

Heir is an open source Kubernetes distribution designed to make it easy to operate and run Kubernetes clusters at scale. Unlike traditional distributions that scatter control plane components across dedicated nodes, Heir collapses the entire control plane into a single stateless pod running inside a Management Kubernetes Cluster. That management cluster can be any conformant Kubernetes distribution, so each tenant cluster inherits the availability guarantees of whatever management infrastructure you already run. Operators, add-ons, and cluster controllers all live there, cleanly separated from the workloads they manage, and because they run centrally, a single operator instance can manage any number of data planes simultaneously, reducing the total footprint required to manage large fleets of clusters.

The data plane is a self-contained binary that packages almost everything required to run a Kubernetes worker node, with the exception of the Linux kernel and its modules. This binary can be deployed on bare metal servers, containers, air-gapped environments, public cloud instances, or any other compute substrate.

Philosophy​

Heir fundamentally changes the deployment model for cluster addons and operators. In standard Kubernetes setups, components like monitoring agents, network controllers, and storage operators execute directly on cluster nodes. While this suits components requiring strict proximity to the workload, Heir relocates all other addons to a central management cluster. This ensures your data plane nodes remain strictly focused on application workloads.

This architectural separation provides several key benefits. It drastically reduces resource contention on worker nodes, simplifies node lifecycle management, and empowers a single operator instance to serve multiple data planes simultaneously. This deliberate tradeoff perfectly suits environments prioritizing centralized management and serves as the foundation for the core operational advantages Heir provides.

Why Heir?​

  • Low cost: minimizes infrastructure overhead by collapsing control plane components into a single stateless pod
  • No 3-node HA tax: runs a highly available cluster without the traditional minimum node requirement
  • Single artifact: distributed as a self-contained binary and Docker image with everything needed to run a cluster
  • Operator-friendly: no deep Kubernetes expertise required to operate at scale
  • Secure by default: reduced attack surface, as everything Heir needs to run is managed and contained within the management cluster
  • Automated operations: certificate renewal and cluster upgrades are handled automatically
  • Bring your own everything: pluggable components let you integrate your existing tools and infrastructure
  • Fleet-scale management: a single management cluster can govern hundreds of data plane clusters with no additional operator instances