Comparing feature sets for AKS enabled by Azure Arc deployment options

This article shows a comparison of features available for the different deployment options under AKS enabled by Azure Arc.

AKS on Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

AKS Edge Essentials

AKS on Windows Server and AKS on Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Supported infrastructure where the Kubernetes clusters are hosted

Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

Windows 10/11 IoT Enterprise
Windows 10/11 Enterprise
Windows 10/11 Pro
Windows Server 2019/2022

Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Windows Server 2019

Windows Server 2022

CNCF conformant?

Yes

K8s cluster lifecycle management tools (create, scale, upgrade and delete clusters)

Az CLI

Az PowerShell

Azure Portal

ARM templates

PowerShell

Windows Admin Center

Kubernetes cluster management plane

Kubernetes clusters are managed by Arc Resource Bridge that runs as part of infrastructure components on the Azure Stack HCI cluster.

Kubernetes clusters are self-managed, to preserve resources.

Kubernetes clusters are managed using a “management cluster”, that is installed using PowerShell before Kubernetes workload clusters can be created.

Can you use kubectl and other open-source Kubernetes tools?

Yes

Supported Kubernetes versions.

Supports K8s only.

Continuous updates to supported Kubernetes versions. For latest version support, run az aksarc get-versions.

Supports K3s and K8s. Continuous updates to supported Kubernetes versions. For the latest version, visit steps to prepare your machine for AKS Edge Essentials.

Supports K8s only.

Continuous updates to supported Kubernetes versions. For latest version support, visit AKS hybrid releases on GitHub.

Azure Fleet Manager integration

Terraform integration

Not yet

Azure Monitor integration

Yes, via Arc extensions

The following is a comparison between node pool capabilities for AKS enabled by Azure Arc deployment options:

AKS on Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

AKS Edge Essentials

AKS on Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Windows nodepool support

Yes

Windows Server 2019 Datacenter

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Yes

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter (Core)

Yes

Windows Server 2019 Datacenter

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Linux OS options

CBL-Mariner

Container Runtime

Containerd for Linux and Windows nodes.

Node pool auto-scalar

Yes

No (manually add nodes)

Yes

Horizontal pod scalar

Yes

GPU support

Yes

Azure container registry

Yes

The following is a comparison between networking features for AKS enabled by Azure Arc deployment options:

AKS on Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

AKS Edge Essentials

AKS on Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Network creation and management

You need to create the network in Azure Stack HCI 23H2 before creating an AKS cluster. You also need to ensure the network has the right connectivity and IP address availability for a successful cluster creation and operation.

You need to provide the IP address range for node IPs and Service IPs, that is available and has the right connectivity. The network configuration needed for the cluster is handled by AKS. Read AKS Edge Essentials networking.

You need to create the network in Windows Server before creating an AKS cluster. You also need to ensure the Read network has the right connectivity and IP address availability for a successful cluster creation and operation.

Supported networking options

Static IP networks with/without VLAN ID

Static IP address or use reserved IPs when using DHCP

DHCP networks with/without VLAN ID

Static IP networks with/without VLAN ID

SDN support

Yes

Supported CNIs

Calico

Calico (K8s)

Flannel (K3s)

Calico

Load balancer

MetalLB Arc extension

Bring your own load balancer (BYOLB)

KubeVIP

MetalLB Arc extension

Bring your own load balancer (BYOLB)

HAProxy

MetalLB Arc extension

SDN load balancer

Bring your own load balancer (BYOLB)

The following is a comparison between storage features for AKS enabled by Azure Arc deployment options:

AKS on Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

AKS Edge Essentials

AKS on Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Types of supported persistent volumes

Read Write Once

Read Write Many

PVC using local storage

Read Write Once

Read Write Many

Container Storage Interface (CSI) support

Yes

CSI drivers

Disk and Files (SMB and NFS) drivers installed by default.

Support for SMB and NFS storage drivers.

Dynamic provisioning support

Yes

Volume resizing support

Yes

The following is a comparison between security and authentication options in AKS and AKS enabled by Azure Arc:

AKS on Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

AKS Edge Essentials

AKS on Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Access to Kubernetes clusters

Kubectl

Kubernetes cluster authentication

Certificate based Kubeconfig

Microsoft Entra ID

Certificate based Kubeconfig

Microsoft Entra ID

Certificate based Kubeconfig

Microsoft Entra ID

Active Directory SSO

Kubernetes cluster authorization (RBAC)

Kubernetes RBAC

Azure RBAC

Kubernetes RBAC

Support for network policies

Yes – only for Linux containers

Limit source networks that can access API server

Yes

Certificate rotation and encryption

Yes

Secrets store CSI driver

Yes

gMSA support

Yes

Azure policy

Yes, via Arc extensions

Azure Defender

Yes, via Arc extensions (preview)

The following is a comparison between pricing and SLA for AKS and AKS enabled by Azure Arc:

AKS on Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2

AKS Edge Essentials

AKS on Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI 22H2

Pricing

Pricing is based on the number of workload cluster vCPUs. Control plane node nodes are free.

Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2 is priced a $10/physical core and

AKS workload VMs is $24/vcpu/month.

$2.50 per device per month.

Pricing is based on the number of workload cluster vCPUs. Control plane nodes & load balancer VMs are free.

Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2 is priced a $10/physical core and

AKS workload VMs is $24/vcpu/month.

Azure hybrid benefit support

Yes

SLA

No SLA offered since the Kubernetes cluster is running on-premises.

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