Rancher Manager (Experimental)
rancher-vcluster is an experimental add-on. It is not included in the Harvester ISO, but you can download it from the experimental-addons repository. For more information about experimental features, see Feature Labels.
The rancher-vcluster add-on allows you to run Rancher as a workload on the underlying Harvester cluster and is implemented using vCluster.
The add-on runs a nested K3s cluster in the rancher-vcluster namespace and deploys Rancher to this cluster.
During the installation, the ingress for Rancher is synced to the Harvester cluster, allowing end users to access Rancher.
Installing the Add-on
If you are using the Harvester kubeconfig file, you can install the add-on by running the following command:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/harvester/experimental-addons/main/rancher-vcluster/rancher-vcluster.yaml
Configuring the Add-on
After installation, configure the add-on using the Harvester UI.
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Go to Advanced > Add-ons.
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Locate the rancher-vcluster add-on, and then select ⋮ > Edit Config.
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In the Hostname field, enter a valid DNS record pointing to the Harvester VIP. This is essential as the vcluster ingress is synced to the parent Harvester cluster. A valid hostname is used to filter ingress traffic to the vcluster workload.
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In the Bootstrap Password field, enter the bootstrap password for the new Rancher deployed on the vcluster.
Once the add-on is deployed, Rancher can take a few minutes to become available.
You can then access Rancher via the hostname DNS record that you provided.
See Rancher Integration for more information.
rancher-vcluster is deployed on a vcluster Statefulset that uses a Longhorn PVC named data-rancher-vcluster-0.
When you disable the add-on, the PVC remains in the rancher-vcluster namespace. If you enable the add-on again, the PVC is reused and Rancher's previous state is restored.
If you want to wipe the data, ensure that the PVC is deleted.