Glossary
guest cluster / guest Kubernetes cluster
Group of integrated Kubernetes worker machines that run in VMs on top of a Hypervisor cluster.
You can create RKE2, and K3s guest clusters using the Hypervisor 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 Hypervisor and Rancher allow you to deploy container workloads directly to Hypervisor clusters (with some limitations).
guest node / guest cluster node
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.
Hypervisor cluster
Group of integrated physical servers (hosts) on which the Hypervisor 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 Hypervisor, particularly high availability. Certain versions of Hypervisor 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 Hypervisor features (excluding high availability, multi-replica support, and live migration).
Hypervisor clusters can be imported into and managed by Rancher. Within the Rancher context, an imported Hypervisor 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 Hypervisor and Rancher allow you to deploy container workloads directly to Hypervisor clusters (with some limitations).
NQRust Hypervisor
Specialized operating system and software stack that runs on a single physical server.
Hypervisor node
Physical server on which the NQRust Hypervisor is installed.
Each node that joins a Hypervisor cluster must be assigned a role that determines the functions the node can perform within the cluster. All Hypervisor nodes process data but not all can store data.
Hypervisor Node Driver
Rancher uses to provision VMs in a Hypervisor cluster, and to launch and manage guest Kubernetes clusters on top of those VMs.