Extending single EKS cluster capabilities with on-prem nodes

Question

Is it possible to extend an EKS cluster (on EC2) with on-prem nodes?
The on-prem nodes would ideally be connected securely to the VPC to avoid going over public internet.

The motivation behind this is to utilize existing servers on-prem for some of the workload, and during peak hours extend the capabilities of the cluster via autoscaling EKS on-demand.
Ideally everything would be centrally managed under AWS, therefore some EKS nodes would always be active for the control plane, data redundancy, etc.

In researching this topic so far I've only found resources on EKS via AWS Outposts, EKS Anywhere, joining federated clusters, etc. -- but it seems these solutions involve managing our own infrastructure, losing the benefits of fully-managed EKS on AWS. I can't find any information about extending AWS-managed EKS clusters with on-prem hardware (effectively allowing AWS to take ownership of the node/system and integrate it into the cluster). Has anyone accomplished this, or is not viable/supported? I appreciate any feedback, thanks!

Answer

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/eks-deployment-options.html lists the Amazon EKS (wholly in AWS), Amazon EKS on AWS Outposts, Amazon EKS Anywhere, and Amazon EKS Distro deployment options. As you noted in your research and your question, those four choices do not specify a path for AWS Cloud based Amazon EKS managed control plane with with your own on-prem hardware. The table on that deployment options page indicates that Amazon EKS on AWS Outposts is an option for customers who want to choose AWS Outposts running on-prem with the Kubernetes control plane either "AWS cloud or your data center" (per table), but does not specify if your own on-prem hardware is an option.

I would suggest reaching out to AWS Support with details of your use case to see what they would suggest. From a general Kubernetes deployment design standpoint, I pay careful attention to network latency between data plane nodes and the control plane. I don't know the details of what you plan to use to implement "The on-prem nodes would ideally be connected securely to the VPC" you noted—whether you are using AWS Direct Connect, VPN, or the details of such connectivity—but would suggest that you could evaluate your preferred configuration. I do not know if it is supported. Please reach out to the AWS support team for guidance. I am hoping they can help you.

Extending single EKS cluster capabilities with on-prem nodes

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