RKE to RKE2 replatforming - instructions and FAQs

This document (000021518) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Rancher
RKE - all supported versions
RKE2 - all supported versions

Situation

This document provides a guide on how to replatform your environment following the RKE EoL announcement.

With the release of Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE) 1.6.0, we are informing customers that RKE will be maintained for two more versions after 1.6.0, targeting the release window of July 2025. Therefore, please note that RKE will reach End of life 31st, July 2025 meaning RKE customers must replatform to RKE2 or K3S.

For more information on the RKE sunset, please, consult the following article: RKE End of Life - what, when, why?

Resolution

The replatforming overview guide contains a detailed overview for successful replacement of RKE with K3s or RKE2.

For any questions or assistance, please contact us at: replatform@suse.com or speak directly to your SUSE Account Team (AE, PE, CSM, etc.)
In addition, SUSE has both Consulting and Training services that are available to provide more detailed, personalized assistance.

RKE to RKE2 Replatforming Guide.pdf

Additional Information

RKE2 Replatforming FAQ

Can I do an in-place upgrade?
No, an in-place upgrade was deemed problematic due to the nature of the architectural differences, as well as going against the cloud-native ethos of “treating your clusters as cattle rather than pets”.

What does replatforming mean?
Replatforming means that you create a new RKE2 cluster, and migrate the workloads from your existing RKE cluster to the new one.

Is there tooling that will help me?
Currently, a tool called cattle-drive has been developed to help migrate Rancher-required objects from one downstream cluster to another.

When can I call support? How will support help me?
Support can be called upon to assist in understanding and troubleshooting the official replatforming documentation that our product team has provided, as well as pointing customers towards cattle-drive or any other tools that are built to assist our customers in the event they are doing the replatforming on their own.
Support can not directly assist customers in their replatforming process, this work should be carefully and clearly worked out with our Services team on a customer by customer basis.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.