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  • Jun 2026

    Section titled “Jun 2026”
    • feature

      Advanced identity management features for SKE clusters

      Section titled “Advanced identity management features for SKE clusters”

      Developers can now access SKE clusters via single sign-on (SSO):

      • STACKIT Identity Provider (IdP) integration: SKE clusters can now be connected to the STACKIT IdP. This allows developers to seamlessly access clusters without having to manage separate credentials.
      • Fine-grained cluster permissions: Once a cluster is connected to STACKIT IdP, administrators can use standard Kubernetes RBAC rules to manage developer permissions.

      In-cluster workloads can now use Workload Identity to access STACKIT APIs with temporary credentials:

      • Service Account federation: STACKIT Service Accounts can now federate against SKE clusters. This allows Kubernetes Service Accounts to act as STACKIT Service Accounts.
      • Automatic Workload Identity injection in Pods: Pods can be annotated with a Kubernetes Service Account. They will automatically receive the necessary token for STACKIT API access. This allows the STACKIT CLI or SDK to access STACKIT APIs without manual secrets management.
    • deprecated

      Kubernetes version 1.33 is getting deprecated in SKE

      Section titled “Kubernetes version 1.33 is getting deprecated in SKE”

      Kubernetes version 1.33 reaches the end of its official maintenance support on 28 June 2026.

      This version will be removed from SKE on 08 July 2026 at 8 AM UTC. Starting with the date of removal, all clusters that are still using 1.33 will be automatically upgraded to 1.34 during the cluster’s maintenance time window.

      For detailed information, refer to:

      Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

  • May 2026

    Section titled “May 2026”
    • announcement

      API Update: Optional Gateway API support for DNS integration

      Section titled “API Update: Optional Gateway API support for DNS integration”

      The STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) API has been updated to include optional Gateway API support in our DNS integration. This allows you to easily migrate away from Ingress without needing to deploy and manage external-dns yourself.

      To streamline your automation workflows (such as Terraform), enabling this feature is now non-blocking. You can create a cluster with Gateway API support enabled even before the required Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) are deployed. The DNS extension dynamically adapts to partially deployed CRDs and will seamlessly detect and integrate them during the next reconciliation cycle.

      Please refer to our how-to guide “Use the STACKIT DNS extension with your cluster” to learn more.

  • Apr 2026

    Section titled “Apr 2026”
    • announcement

      API Update: Cluster status includes Kubernetes & node pool version expiry dates

      Section titled “API Update: Cluster status includes Kubernetes & node pool version expiry dates”

      We have updated the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) API to provide better visibility into your cluster’s lifecycle.

      When interacting with the “get a cluster”, “list all clusters”, or “create or update a cluster” endpoints, the API response now includes the expiry date of the currently used Kubernetes and node pool versions, but only if an expiration date exists for that specific version.

      This enhancement makes it easier to automate lifecycle monitoring and plan your manual updates well before a version reaches its expired state and triggers a mandatory update.

      For more details on how SKE handles version lifecycles and expiration, see our Version updates documentation.

    • announcement

      Access your clusters using your STACKIT IDP users

      Section titled “Access your clusters using your STACKIT IDP users”

      We would like to inform you that STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) now supports accessing your clusters with user and service accounts managed in the STACKIT IDP. This simplifies granting fine-grained permissions to individual users.

      Refer to our documentation for instructions on how to enable and use the feature.

      Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

  • Feb 2026

    Section titled “Feb 2026”
    • deprecated

      Kubernetes version 1.32 is getting deprecated in SKE

      Section titled “Kubernetes version 1.32 is getting deprecated in SKE”

      Kubernetes version 1.32 reaches the end of its official maintenance support on 28 February 2026.

      This version will be removed from SKE on 15 April 2026 at 8 AM UTC. Starting with the date of removal, all clusters that are still using 1.32 will be automatically upgraded to 1.33 during the cluster’s maintenance time window.

      For detailed information, refer to:

      Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

  • Dec 2025

    Section titled “Dec 2025”
    • announcement

      SKE patchday Q1 2026 – containerd v2 upgrade

      Section titled “SKE patchday Q1 2026 – containerd v2 upgrade”

      We are introducing Flatcar OS versions with the new containerd 2.0 runtime in STACKIT Kubernetes Engine. containerd 2.0 is a major milestone that improves performance and reduces technical debt. It removes support for some deprecated features, you can find detailed information here

      To ensure a smooth transition, we have extended the support for OS versions with containerd 1.7.

      There are currently two preview OS versions of flatcar available:

      • 4459.2.1 (containerd 2.0)
      • 4230.2.4 (containerd 1.7)

      Key Dates:

      • From today onwards: Flatcar 4459.2.3 is available for all SKE users.
      • 14 January 2026: Flatcar 4230.2.4 becomes the supported OS version.
      • 11 February 2026: Flatcar 4459.2.x (containerd 2.0) becomes the supported OS version and Flatcar 4230.2.4 (containerd 1.7) will be deprecated. If you have auto updates enabled, your Kubernetes worker nodes will automatically update to this version
      • 11 March 2026: Flatcar 4459.2.x becomes the supported version and all flatcar versions with containerd 1.7 will be removed. The regular SKE patch day cycle continues. You can find all information regarding version updates in SKE here.

      OS versions with containerd 1.7 will remain available until March 2026 for sufficient evaluation time.

      What you need to do

      Please test your SKE workload beforehand using Flatcar version 4459.2.x. Testing is highly recommended to ensure your container images and configurations are compatible with the new runtime. If you encounter problems during the migration, please contact us directly via the STACKIT Help Center.

    • announcement

      New Kubernetes version (1.34) available for your SKE cluster

      Section titled “New Kubernetes version (1.34) available for your SKE cluster”

      We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.34.

      For more feature and change details refer to the Kubernetes release page or official release notes.

      The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

      Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.34 will be fully supported until 27 October 2026.

      On the flip side, Kubernetes version 1.31 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, this version will be removed from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.31 to 1.32 on 28 January 2026.

      Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

  • Nov 2025

    Section titled “Nov 2025”

  • Aug 2025

    Section titled “Aug 2025”
    • announcement

      Support of Kubernetes Version 1.33 and Deprecation of Kubernetes Version 1.30

      Section titled “Support of Kubernetes Version 1.33 and Deprecation of Kubernetes Version 1.30”

      We now support Kubernetes version 1.33.

      You can find documentation on how to manually apply minor or patch version updates in the official STACKIT Kubernetes Engine Documentation. For more information about our release management process, you can find them here.

      Important: With Kubernetes 1.33 there will be a new deny-all NetworkPolicy introduced, which blocks Network Traffic in the namespace kube-system. If there is custom workload in the namespace, please apply additional NetworkPolicies for Ingress and Egress.

      Additionally, please note that Kubernetes version 1.30 has reached the end of its official support and will be removed from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). On 17 September 2025, all SKE clusters running Kubernetes version 1.30 will be automatically migrated to Kubernetes version 1.31.

      Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

  • Jul 2025

    Section titled “Jul 2025”

  • May 2025

    Section titled “May 2025”
    • announcement

      New Kubernetes version (1.31) available for your SKE cluster

      Section titled “New Kubernetes version (1.31) available for your SKE cluster”

      We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.31.

      This release consists of 45 enhancements: 11 enhancements have graduated to stable, 22 enhancements are moving to beta, and 12 enhancements are entering alpha. For more details refer to the official release announcement or official release notes.

      The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

      Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.31 will be fully supported until the 28 October 2025.

      On the flip side, Kubernetes version 1.28 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, this version will be removed from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.28 to 1.29 on 26 February 2025.

    • announcement

      STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): New Resource Reservations

      Section titled “STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): New Resource Reservations”

      To ensure the stability of your Kubernetes clusters, SKE reserves resources on all nodes of the cluster to provide memory and CPU for system components. The amount of reserved resources varies depending on the size of the respective nodes.

      New Kubernetes clusters created from 21 July 2025 will have changes in their available resources. We will adjust the amount of reserved resources by SKE and utilize the calculation as described below.

      Memory reservations

      Section titled “Memory reservations”

      For memory resources, SKE reserves the following:

      • 25% of the first 4 GiB of memory
      • 20% of the next 4 GiB of memory
      • 10% of the next 8 GiB of memory
      • 6% of the next 112 GiB of memory
      • 2% of any memory above 128 GiB
      • SKE also reserves an additional 100 MiB of memory on every node to handle Pod eviction.

      CPU reservations

      Section titled “CPU reservations”

      For CPU resources, SKE reserves the following:

      • 3.5% of the first 2 cores
      • 0.5% of the next 2 cores
      • 0.25% of any cores above 4 cores

      Existing Kubernetes clusters will (currently) remain unchanged in their available resources and will be adjusted on 22 July 2025. Thus, a node roll will be triggered on the next given maintenance window of the cluster.

      More information can be found in the SKE documentation: Quotas and limits.

      If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Help Center.

  • Jul 2024

    Section titled “Jul 2024”
    • feature

      STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): Disable System Components in Node Pools

      Section titled “STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): Disable System Components in Node Pools”

      Today, we introduced a new option to give you more control over the resource usage of your SKE clusters: you can now disable system components on selected node pools. To use this new feature, you need to set the new field allowSystemComponents to false in the node pool configuration of your cluster. However, at least one node pool per cluster needs to have system components enabled.

      Here is an example:

      Disable System Components

      kubernetes:
        version: "1.29"
      nodepools:
      - name: "pool 1"
        allowSystemComponents: true
        # ...more configuration options
      - name: "pool 2"
        allowSystemComponents: false
        # ...more configuration options
      - name: "pool 3"
        allowSystemComponents: false
        # ...more configuration options

      In the future, this option will be available in the STACKIT Cloud Portal.

    • deprecated

      Kubernetes version 1.26 is getting deprecated in SKE

      Section titled “Kubernetes version 1.26 is getting deprecated in SKE”

      Kubernetes version 1.26 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, we will remove this version from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.26 to 1.27 on 31 July 2024.

      We already support three newer Kubernetes versions (1.27, 1.28 & 1.29). Please update your clusters soon.

      In case you have questions you can find more information regarding the v1.27 Kubernetes version here & our SKE updating process here.

      Change for accessing your SKE cluster:

      Please note that Kubernetes version 1.27 no longer supports static token kubeconfigs. Instead, you can create short-live admin kubeconfigs. This change increases the security of your SKE cluster as you can limit the validity of a specific kubeconfig to a specific time period.

      You can already use the new short-lived admin kubeconfigs with Kubernetes version 1.26. However, once you start using the new short-lived admin kubeconfigs, the old method of getting static token kubeconfigs will no longer work. Further information can be found in our STACKIT documentation.

      In addition, we offer the option of accessing your SKE cluster via STACKIT CLI. Instructions can be found in our Release notes here.

  • Jun 2024

    Section titled “Jun 2024”
    • announcement

      STACKIT Load Balancer available in SKE

      Section titled “STACKIT Load Balancer available in SKE”

      We are happy to announce that newly created SKE clusters will use the STACKIT Load Balancer.

      Previously, users could create and manage load balancers within SKE using a solution known as yawol. However, to better align with industry standards and best practices, we launch our dedicated STACKIT offer known as STACKIT Load Balancer. This brings numerous benefits that include improved scalability, stability and performance.

      As of 3 June 2024, the transition to this dedicated service will begin. New SKE clusters created after this date will automatically provision STACKIT Load Balancers for every Kubernetes service of type LoadBalancer.

      For more information, see our documentation on Load Balancer in SKE.

  • May 2024

    Section titled “May 2024”
    • announcement

      STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): Access your clusters using the STACKIT CLI

      Section titled “STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): Access your clusters using the STACKIT CLI”

      We are happy to announce a new and more convenient way to access your SKE clusters: SKE Login

      To use this new feature, you need to follow these steps:

      Terminal window
      stackit auth login
      • Set the STACKIT project ID:
      Terminal window
      stackit config set --project-id ID
      • Download the login kubeconfig:
      Terminal window
      stackit ske kubeconfig create CLUSTER_NAME --login
      • Use this kubeconfig with your favorite Kubernetes client

      The new kubeconfig type contains no user credentials, and instead retrieves valid short-lived credentials via the STACKIT CLI. You can therefore share this kubeconfig with your colleagues, and they will only be able to access the cluster if they have the permissions to do so.

  • Apr 2024

    Section titled “Apr 2024”
    • announcement

      New patchdays in STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)

      Section titled “New patchdays in STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)”

      We are happy to announce that the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) is introducing Patchdays for the operating system (OS) of the worker nodes.

      The Patchday takes place every second Wednesday of the month. The following actions are carried out on a patchday:

      • new OS versions are introduced in the status preview.
      • existing preview OS images are supported.
      • old OS versions are deprecated or even expired.

      On patchdays, the operating system of the worker nodes of your cluster is updated to a newer version if you have “automatic updates” activated. The update starts within the maintenance window set in the cluster. If this function is deactivated, we plan an update on the following patch day.

      For more information, see our documentation on Updates for Kubernetes versions and Operating System versions in SKE and Updating and Maintaining an SKE Cluster.

    • announcement

      New Kubernetes version (1.28) available for your SKE cluster

      Section titled “New Kubernetes version (1.28) available for your SKE cluster”

      We are happy to announce new Kubernetes versions for STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.28.8.

      This release consists of 45 enhancements: 12 enhancements have graduated to stable, 14 enhancements are moving to beta, and 19 enhancements are entering alpha. For more details refer to the official release announcement or official release notes.

      The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

      This version is running in state “preview” for one week from now on and will be set to “supported” on 12 April 2024.

      Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.28 will be fully supported until the 28 October 2024.

  • Mar 2024

    Section titled “Mar 2024”
    • announcement

      New Kubernetes version (1.28) available for your SKE cluster

      Section titled “New Kubernetes version (1.28) available for your SKE cluster”

      We are happy to announce new Kubernetes versions for STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE).

      We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.27.11. Additionally, the Kubernetes patch versions 1.26.14 and 1.25.16 were introduced.

      Please be aware that your static-token kubeconfig will be invalid as soon as you update to Kubernetes version 1.27. You need to create a new short-lived kubeconfig via STACKIT Cloud Portal or SKE-API. For additional information you can read our SKE documentation.

      This release consists of 60 enhancements: 13 enhancements have graduated to stable, 29 enhancements are moving to beta, and 18 enhancements are entering alpha. Also, 14 features have been deprecated or removed. For more details refer to the official release announcement or official release notes.

      The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

      This version is running in state “preview” for one week from now on and will be set to “supported” on 12 March 2024.

      Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.27 will be fully supported until the 28 June 2024.

    • deprecated

      Kubernetes version 1.25 is getting deprecated in SKE

      Section titled “Kubernetes version 1.25 is getting deprecated in SKE”

      Kubernetes version 1.25 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, we will remove this version from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.25 to 1.26 on 29 April 2024.

      We already support two newer Kubernetes versions (1.26 and 1.27). Please update your clusters as soon as possible.

      In case you have questions you can find more information regarding the v1.25 Kubernetes version here & our SKE updating process here.

  • Feb 2024

    Section titled “Feb 2024”
    • announcement

      STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): New Operating System version for mitigation of runc vulnerability available

      Section titled “STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): New Operating System version for mitigation of runc vulnerability available”

      A runc vulnerability (called “Leaky Vessels”) was recently identified by Snyk Security Labs. For Kubernetes this means an attacker could use this vulnerability to escape the container and gain unauthorized access to the underlying host operating system. For additional information, you can see the following resources:

      This means for you:

      • If you have “Automatic OS Updates” enabled: You don’t need to do anything. We have released a new OS (Version 3760.2.0) which mitigates this vulnerability. A rolling update of the worker nodes of your cluster will be performed in your configured maintenance window. Detailed instructions how to configure “Automatic OS updates” can be found in the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine documentation.

      • If you have “Automatic OS Updates” disabled: You need to manually update the OS version of your worker nodes as soon as possible. We have also informed the project owners of affected clusters via email. Otherwise, remaining SKE clusters will be automatically updated on Wednesday, 28 February 2024, in their configured maintenance window. Additionally, we highly advise to use our “Automatic OS updates” feature in the future.

      If there are any questions, support is available via the Help Center.