# Kubernetes

Flow Kubernetes is a managed Kubernetes service lets you deploy scalable and secure Kubernetes clusters without the complexities of administrating the control plane. We manage the Kubernetes control plane and the underlying containerized infrastructure. \
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Clusters are compatible with standard Kubernetes toolchains and integrate natively with our Load Balancers and block storage volumes.

There are no restrictions on the API objects you can create as long as the underlying Kubernetes version supports them. We offer the latest version of Kubernetes as well as earlier patch levels of the latest minor version for special use cases. You can also install popular tools like Helm, metrics-server, and Istio.

## Nodes

Worker and Master nodes are built on instaces, but unlike standalone instances, worker nodes are managed with the Kubernetes command-line client `kubectl` and are not accessible with SSH. On both the control plane and the worker nodes, Flow maintains the system updates, security patches, operating system configuration and installed packages.

Worker nodes are automatically deleted and respawned when needed, and you can manually rebuild worker nodes.

## Persistent Data

You can persist data in Kubernetes clusters to block storage volumes using the Flow CSI plugin, the CSI Plugin is already preinstalled and is used for the default storage class.

You can also persist data to Flow object storage by using the S3 API to interact with the storage from your application.

## Load Balancing

The Flow Kubernetes Cloud Controller supports provisioning [external Load Balancers](/products/kubernetes/resources/external-load-balancers.md).

## VPC Support

Clusters are added to a VPC network for the datacenter region by default. This keeps traffic between clusters and other applicable resources from being routed outside the datacenter over the public internet.

## Plans and Pricing

The cost of a Kubernetes cluster is based on the cluster’s resources:

* Nodes (Workers and Master / Control plane ) are built on Instances.<br>
* Integration Load Balancers is charged at the same rate as common Load Balancers.<br>
* Integration with block storage volumes is charged at the same rate as volumes.

All charges for Kubernetes clusters appear in the Kubernetes detail view section. For pricing details please consult our [pricing page](https://flow.swiss/pricing#kubernetes).

## Regional Availability

Kubernetes Clusters are available in all regions. They are region-specific resources and can only be assigned within the same region.

## Limits

* At the moment IPv6 is not supported.<br>
* The control plane is not highly available and may be temporarily unavailable during upgrades or maintenance. This does not affect running clusters and does not make the cluster workers or workloads unavailable if external load balancers are used.


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