Glossary

Group of integrated Kubernetes worker machines that run in VMs on top of a SUSE® Virtualization cluster.

You can create RKE1, RKE2, and K3s guest clusters using the SUSE® Virtualization and Rancher interfaces. Creating guest clusters involves pulling images from either the internet or a private registry.

Guest clusters form the main infrastructure for running container workloads. Certain versions of SUSE® Virtualization and Rancher allow you to deploy container workloads directly to SUSE® Virtualization clusters (with some limitations).

Kubernetes worker VM that uses guest cluster resources to run container workloads.

Guest nodes are managed through a control plane that controls pod-related activity and maintains the desired cluster state.

Group of integrated physical servers (hosts) on which the SUSE® Virtualization hypervisor is installed. These servers collectively manage compute, memory, and storage resources to provide an environment for running VMs.

A three-node cluster is required to fully realize the multi-node features of SUSE® Virtualization, particularly high availability. The latest versions allow you to create clusters with two management nodes and one witness node (and optionally, one or more worker nodes). You can also create single-node clusters that support most features (excluding high availability, multi-replica support, and live migration).

SUSE® Virtualization clusters can be imported into and managed by Rancher. Within the Rancher context, an imported SUSE® Virtualization cluster is known as a "managed cluster" or "downstream user cluster" (often abbreviated to "downstream cluster"). The Rancher term refers to any Kubernetes cluster that is connected to a Rancher server.

Certain versions of SUSE® Virtualization and Rancher allow you to deploy container workloads directly to SUSE® Virtualization clusters (with some limitations). When this experimental feature is enabled, container workloads seamlessly interact with VM workloads.

Specialized operating system and software stack that runs on a single physical server.

Physical server on which the SUSE® Virtualization hypervisor is installed.

Each node that joins a SUSE® Virtualization cluster must be assigned a role that determines the functions the node can perform within the cluster. All SUSE® Virtualization nodes process data but not all can store data.

Driver that Rancher uses to provision VMs in a SUSE® Virtualization cluster, and to launch and manage guest Kubernetes clusters on top of those VMs.