LKE: Managed Kubernetes Engine

Deploy and manage containers on Kubernetes without the complexity or overhead.

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Overview

Run Kubernetes. Not the control plane.

Akamai’s Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) gives you a CNCF‑certified, production‑ready Kubernetes environment with a fully managed control plane. You get fast cluster creation, predictable pricing, and open tooling—so you can focus on your applications instead of maintaining clusters.

• Managed control plane included on LKE at no extra cost; optional HA control plane add‑on
• LKE Enterprise adds a dedicated, highly available control plane, isolated VPC networking, and higher scale
• Standard Kubernetes API compatibility and upstream conformance

See product docs

Why teams choose LKE

• Managed Kubernetes without the overhead
• Akamai monitors control plane components, continuously backs up cluster metadata, and automatically restores on failure.
• Automated Kubernetes versioning with a documented lifecycle policy.
• Open, portable, and tool‑friendly
• CNCF‑certified; your manifests, Helm charts, Operators, and GitOps pipelines just work.
• Provision via Cloud Manager, API, CLI, or Terraform.
• Predictable, transparent pricing
• Pay for worker nodes, load balancers, and storage. LKE control plane is free; HA control plane add‑on starts at $60/cluster (region‑dependent). LKE Enterprise control plane is $300/cluster.
• 40 Gbps inbound bandwidth and free inbound transfer.
• Built for performance and reliability
• Node pools with autoscaling and at‑rest data encryption.
• GPU support on LKE for AI/ML workloads.
• Enterprise‑grade networking on LKE Enterprise, including Premium NodeBalancers and VPC‑isolated pod networking.

How it works: Choose your tier

• LKE (standard)
• Free, fully managed shared control plane
• Up to 250 nodes and 1,000 pods per cluster
• Calico CNI
• Kubernetes Dashboard pre‑installed

• Ideal for dev/test and small-to-mid production

• LKE Enterprise

• Dedicated, HA control plane (paid)
• Up to 500 nodes and 5,000 pods per cluster
• Cilium CNI for higher performance and advanced observability
• Control Plane ACLs enabled by default; Cloud Firewalls auto‑configured on worker nodes
• VPC‑isolated, high‑performance pod‑to‑pod and ingress networking
• Premium NodeBalancers for enterprise‑grade load balancing
• Ideal for large production, multi‑team, or compliance‑sensitive environments

Compare features and limits

Built for your roles

• For platform engineers
• Standardize with labels, taints, and version policies.
• Automate fleet operations using API/CLI/Terraform and GitOps.

• Choose CNI per tier (Calico on LKE, Cilium on LKE Enterprise).

• For developers

• Bring your stack with Helm and Operators from the CNCF ecosystem.
• LKE handles control‑plane ops, maintenance, and recovery so you can ship faster.

Architectures and patterns

Modernize a monolith into microservices on LKE

• Core
• LKE cluster with separate namespaces per domain/service
• Ingress via NGINX Ingress Controller or NodeBalancers
• Service discovery with Kubernetes Services
• Data
• Managed Databases (PostgreSQL/MySQL) for stateful services
• Block Storage for persistent volumes; Object Storage for unstructured assets
• Security
• RBAC and namespace isolation; secrets rotation; network policies
• Cloud Firewalls; on LKE Enterprise, VPC‑isolated pod networking and control plane ACLs
• Delivery
• CI/CD with Terraform + Helm + Operators; GitOps with Argo CD
• Observability
• Prometheus + Grafana (e.g., TOBS) and logs shipped to your destination
• Optional
• Service mesh (e.g., Linkerd or Istio) for traffic policy, mTLS, and retries
• Akamai App Platform for LKE to provide ready‑to‑run, opinionated Kubernetes platform tooling

Useful docs: - Create a cluster - Secure with RBAC - Network and firewall details - Akamai App Platform for LKE

Orchestrate and autoscale for performance and cost efficiency

• Scheduling and scale
• Separate node pools by workload (e.g., web, background, GPU) and enable autoscaling per pool.
• Use HPA for CPU/QPS‑based scaling; right‑size with requests/limits for predictable QoS.
• Networking and ingress
• Use NodeBalancers; upgrade to Premium NodeBalancers on LKE Enterprise for higher throughput.
• Cost controls
• Choose plan types (Shared, Dedicated, High Memory) to match workload profiles.
• Track usage with labels and cost tools (e.g., Kubecost).
• Throughput
• 40 Gbps inbound bandwidth; free inbound transfer.
• Resilience
• Spread replicas across nodes and availability within region; use placement groups when applicable.

Useful docs: - Manage nodes and node pools (autoscaling) - Load balancing on LKE - Controlling LKE costs using Kubecost

Operate with high availability, security, and cost guardrails

• Control plane
• LKE Enterprise: dedicated, HA control plane with ACLs and isolated networking.
• LKE: optional HA control plane add‑on.
• Security
• Cluster‑wide RBAC, namespace isolation, network policies, and secrets rotation.
• Cloud Firewalls; LKE Enterprise applies worker firewall baselines automatically.
• Upgrades and lifecycle
• Automated Kubernetes versioning aligned with LKE’s lifecycle policy.
• Cost
• Standardize node types by environment; set quotas and labels; use autoscaling min/max per pool.

Useful docs: - Kubernetes versioning and lifecycle - Rotate Kubernetes secrets - High availability control plane (LKE) - LKE Enterprise

Day‑2 operations runbook (SLO‑oriented)

• Availability and health
• Use readiness/liveness probes; set PodDisruptionBudgets for critical services.
• Trigger node drains safely for maintenance.
  • Drain a node pool
• Upgrades
• Track supported versions and plan minor upgrades during maintenance windows.
• Use surge/rolling deployment strategies to minimize disruption.
• Upgrade a cluster
• Security hygiene
• Rotate credentials and kubeconfig on schedule.
  • Reset kubeconfig
• Enforce RBAC least privilege; review control plane ACLs (Enterprise).
• Scale and performance
• Tune HPA targets; set autoscaler bounds per node pool; review noisy‑neighbor patterns.
• Use labels/taints for workload isolation and QoS.
  • Labels and taints
• Networking
• Standardize Ingress; monitor L7 error rates and latency.
  • Load balancing on LKE
• Backup and recovery
• Leverage continuous metadata backups and automatic restore of control plane components (managed by LKE).
• Implement app/data backups using Block/Object Storage and database backups.
• Observability
• Capture cluster and app metrics/logs (e.g., Prometheus/Grafana and log pipelines).
• KPIs to track
• Time to provision a cluster; time to complete a minor version upgrade
• Pod scheduling latency and success rate
• Autoscaler reaction time and cost per workload
• Change failure rate and mean time to recovery
• SLO adherence for latency and availability per service

LKE in multi‑cluster and multi‑cloud environments

LKE is upstream‑compatible and CNCF‑certified, making it a strong fit for multi‑cluster and multi‑cloud strategies where portability, cost control, and operational simplicity matter.

• Compared with Google GKE, Azure AKS, and AWS EKS
• Predictable pricing with a free control plane on LKE and straightforward HA/Enterprise options.
• Easiest setup and fast time‑to‑value (as noted by G2).
  • Read why developers choose Akamai Cloud
• Open tooling (API/CLI/Terraform) for consistent workflows across clouds.
• Straightforward migrations with step‑by‑step guides:
  • Migrate from Google GKE to LKE
  • Migrate from AWS EKS to LKE
  • Migrate from Azure AKS to LKE

Features

• Provision production‑ready clusters in minutes via Cloud Manager, CLI, API, or Terraform
• Node pools with autoscaling; node‑pool data encryption at rest
• Kubernetes Dashboard on LKE (non‑Enterprise)
• Load balancing with NodeBalancers; Premium NodeBalancers on LKE Enterprise
• 40 Gbps inbound bandwidth and free inbound transfer
• Automated Kubernetes version updates aligned to LKE lifecycle
• CNI choice by tier: Calico (LKE) or Cilium (LKE Enterprise)
• GPUs on LKE for AI/ML; App Platform for LKE to accelerate platform operations

Pricing

• LKE control plane: included at no additional cost
• HA control plane (LKE): starts at $60/month per cluster (by region)
• LKE Enterprise control plane: $300/month per cluster (limited availability)
• Worker nodes, NodeBalancers, and Block/Object Storage billed at standard rates

See Kubernetes pricing

Getting started and resources

• Create your first cluster: Create a cluster
• Manage clusters and pools: Manage Kubernetes clusters • Manage nodes and node pools
• Secure and network
• Secure with RBAC
• Network and firewall details
• Control Plane ACLs (Enterprise)
• Upgrades and maintenance
• Kubernetes lifecycle
• Upgrade a cluster
• Drain a node pool
• Rotate secrets
• AI/ML on LKE + App Platform for LKE
• AI inference on App Platform for LKE
• Implement RAG with App Platform for LKE
• Developer tooling
• Linode API • CLI • Terraform provider

FAQ

• What’s the key advantage of LKE over self‑managed Kubernetes?

• You offload control‑plane deployment, monitoring, backup, recovery, and version management to Akamai, reducing operational risk and time‑to‑value while keeping full control over your workloads.

• What is “managed Kubernetes” in this context?

• Akamai operates the Kubernetes control plane and core management tasks (monitoring, backup/restore, versioning) so you can run cloud‑native apps with less operational burden. You still control nodes, namespaces, RBAC, and application configuration.

• Can I upgrade from LKE to LKE Enterprise?

• Yes. You can migrate to LKE Enterprise using the same Kubernetes versions and manifests.

• Which CNI and networking models are supported?

• LKE uses Calico; LKE Enterprise uses Cilium with VPC‑isolated pod networking and Premium NodeBalancers. Network policies are supported on both tiers.

• What Kubernetes versions are available?

• Multiple supported versions with a documented lifecycle. See the version policy.

Evaluation checklist and KPIs

Use this short list when selecting a managed Kubernetes service:

• Control‑plane operations
• Included or extra? HA options and cost?
• Automated upgrades and lifecycle policy?
• Scale and performance
• Max nodes/pods per cluster; CNI performance; load‑balancer options
• Security and isolation
• RBAC, network policies, firewalls, VPC isolation, control plane ACLs
• Portability and tooling
• CNCF conformance; API/CLI/Terraform; Helm/Operators support
• Pricing transparency
• Worker nodes, storage, load balancers; egress/ingress policies
• Support and documentation
• Guides for migrations; day‑2 operations coverage

Example KPIs to track during trials: - Cluster creation time; time to upgrade a minor version - Pod scheduling latency; HPA/cluster autoscaler reaction time - Availability/latency SLO adherence; mean time to recovery - Cost per service per environment; change failure rate

Try LKE and talk with us

• New to Akamai Cloud? Create an account and launch a cluster in minutes.
• Need guidance or large‑scale planning? Contact our team to discuss architectures, migrations, credits, and best practices.

Offer: Eligible organizations can apply for up to US$5,000 in cloud credits to evaluate Akamai Cloud.