kubernetesmulti clusterPractitioner

Streamline Your Kubernetes with k0s and k0rdent

5 min read CNCF BlogApr 27, 2026Reviewed for accuracy

Practitioner — Hands-on experience recommended

Kubernetes is powerful, but managing multiple clusters can quickly become a nightmare for platform teams. This is where k0s and k0rdent come into play. k0s offers a lightweight Kubernetes solution that minimizes overhead, while k0rdent provides multi-cluster orchestration, allowing you to manage everything from a central point. This setup reduces costs and simplifies upgrades, making it easier to maintain your infrastructure.

The architecture relies on Hosted Control Planes (HCP), which run all control plane components inside a central management cluster. This means you don’t need dedicated nodes for every cluster, resulting in fewer VMs and a single pane of control across your entire fleet. Key configuration parameters include workersNumber, which defaults to 2, and flavor, which specifies the OpenStack flavor for worker nodes. You can easily set up your environment with commands to install k0s and configure k0rdent for cluster deployments.

In production, ensure you have the right prerequisites: a Linux VM, sufficient resources, and access to an OpenStack project with adequate quotas. Be cautious with configuration values; incorrect settings can lead to silent or partial failures during cluster creation. The current version is 1.8.0, so keep an eye on updates that may impact your setup.

Key takeaways

→Utilize k0s for a lightweight Kubernetes experience.
→Leverage Hosted Control Planes to reduce VM overhead.
→Configure `workersNumber` and `flavor` correctly to avoid cluster creation failures.
→Ensure your management cluster meets the minimum requirements: 4 CPU, 8 GB RAM.
→Use Helm to manage k0rdent installations effectively.

Why it matters

In real production environments, reducing complexity and cost while maintaining control is crucial. k0s and k0rdent enable platform teams to manage Kubernetes clusters more efficiently, leading to faster deployments and less operational overhead.

Code examples

Bash

curl -sSLf https://get.k0s.sh | sudo sh

Bash

sudo k0s install controller --single
sudo k0s start

YAML

1apiVersion: k0rdent.mirantis.com/v1beta1
2kind: ClusterDeployment
3metadata:
4 name: openstack-hcp
5 namespace: kcm-system
6spec:
7 template: openstack-hosted-cp
8 credential: openstack-credential
9 config:
10   workersNumber: 2
11   flavor: m1.medium
12   image:
13     filter:
14       name: ubuntu-20.04
15   externalNetwork:
16     filter:
17       name: public
18   identityRef:
19     name: openstack-cloud-config
20     cloudName: openstack