The current release is based on Kubernetes v1.24, which is somewhat dated. We're in the process of upgrading to Kubernetes v1.29 and are also switching from the Calico CNI to the Cilium CNI.
Introduction
NeonKUBE is a full-stack, production-ready Kubernetes distribution that provides a seamless and consistent developer experience across different environments. Whether you want to run your applications on your laptop, on-premise servers or on the cloud, NeonKUBE can help you deploy and manage clusters with ease.
Basic Kubernetes isn't really production ready because it doesn't include the components required to manage clusters as well as other generally useful features. Kubernetes distributions like NeonKUBE layer useful components onto basic Kubernetes and also manage cluster deployment.
NeonKUBE curates several best-of-breed open source components and implements cluster deployment to a Windows workstation or laptop, on-premise using XenServer or a free and compaitible open source alternative XCP-ng.
Component Hightlights:
With NeonKUBE, you will enjoy benefits like:
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Simplicity: You don't have to worry about installing and configuring dozens of different tools and components. NeonKUBE handles all of that.
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Consistency: You don't have to deal with different versions or configurations of Kubernetes or its add-ons across different environments or platforms. You can use the same NeonKUBE distribution everywhere.
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Reliability: You don't have to worry about compatibility issues or bugs caused by mismatched components or dependencies. You can rely on NeonKUBE's tested and stable components.
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Productivity: You don't have to waste time on tedious tasks like setting up VPNs or SSH tunnels. You can use NeonDESKTOP's intuitive interface or NeonCLI's powerful commands to access and manage your cluster easily.
NeonDESKTOP and NeonCLI
NeonKUBE provides two ways to deploy and interact with Kubernetes clusters. NeonDESKTOP is a Microsoft Windows GUI application that can deploy and manage a local single node cluster on a laptop or workstation with a 500GB+ SSD and at least 32GB RAM. We're planning on eventually releasing NeonDESKTOP for MacOS and perhaps eventually for Linux Desktop.
NeonCLI is our command line management tool. This is a gently customized version of the standard Kubernetes kubectl tool, including all of the standard commands as well as new NeonKUBE-specific commands.
NeonDESKTOP is similar to Docker Desktop in Kubernetes mode in that it can manage a single node cluster on your computer, but NeonDESKTOP deploys a full-stack cluster with the curated components. NeonDESKTOP clusters are intended for learning about Kubernetes and these components and doing some lite development. NeonDESKTOP clusters are not intended for production.
We publish two installers, one for NeonDESKTOP which also includes NeonCLI and another that installs only NeonCLI.