The News: Unsurprisingly SUSE decided to leverage the KubeCon 2023 event held this last week in Amsterdam to launch the latest version of its flagship Kubernetes orchestration and management platform Rancher. The company also announced a heavily revised and updated Rancher Academy focused on filling the yawning skills gap in the cloud native space. See the full Press Release from SUSE here.

KubeCon 2023: SUSE Launches Rancher 2.7.2, Latest Version of Rancher

Analyst Take: At KubeCon 2023 in Amsterdam this past week there were a raft of announcements, including one by SUSE around the release of its latest version of Rancher, Rancher 2.7.2.

The latest version of its enterprise Kubernetes management and orchestration platform, SUSE’s Rancher 2.7.2 is designed to help customers accelerate their digital transformation journeys by simplifying the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters across any infrastructure, be that on-premises or in the public cloud.

SUSE’s Rancher 2.7.2 introduces several new features and enhancements that make it easier for customers to adopt and operate Kubernetes at scale. Some of the key highlights include:

UI Improvements. SUSE has made significant UI improvements, aiming to deliver a consistent and intuitive experience across all Rancher products and services. The new UI also supports dark mode, accessibility features, and multiple languages.

Unified cluster management dashboard. The Unified cluster management dashboard is designed to allow users to view and manage all their clusters from a single pane of glass, regardless of where they are running. Users can also create and import clusters from various providers, such as Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, Google GKE, VMware Tanzu, and more.

Streamlined cluster provisioning workflow. The streamlined cluster provisioning workflow is architected to simplify the process of creating and configuring clusters with various options and settings. Users can also leverage existing infrastructure as code tools, such as Terraform and RKE, to automate cluster creation and management.

New multi-cluster application catalog. The new multi-cluster application catalog is focused on enabling users to easily deploy and manage applications across multiple clusters. Users can choose from a curated list of popular applications, such as WordPress, Grafana, Prometheus, or add custom applications using Helm charts or Git repositories.

Security dashboard. With Security being top of mind for many enterprises the latest version of Rancher provides users with a comprehensive view of the security posture of their clusters and applications. Users can also leverage built-in security tools, such as CIS benchmarks, vulnerability scanning, and policy enforcement, to ensure compliance and mitigate risks.

SUSE’s Rancher 2.7.2 is part of the company’s open, community-first focused strategy, which aims to empower customers with choice and flexibility in their IT environments. By offering an open platform that supports any Kubernetes distribution, any cloud provider, any operating system, and any application, SUSE’s goal is to enable customers to innovate faster and deliver better outcomes.

Rancher Academy

The overwhelming message from KubeCon 2023 is that there is a yawning skills gap. Over 11,000 people signed up for the event. The CNCF surveyed the registrants noting that 58% were new to the KubeCon event. End users such as booking.com and ING also took out booths, with a view toward recruiting talent. Against this backdrop, SUSE’s decision to re-launch a learning portal is well-timed.

Rancher Academy is a re-launch of their online learning platform that offers free courses on Rancher and Kubernetes. Rancher Academy aims to help users gain the skills and knowledge they need to successfully deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters using Rancher.

Rancher Academy offers three types of courses: self-paced, instructor-led, and certification. Self-paced courses are available on demand and can be completed at the user’s own pace. Instructor-led courses are live sessions that are scheduled periodically and require registration. Certification courses are designed to prepare users for the Certified Rancher Operator exam, which validates their proficiency in using Rancher.

Rancher Academy currently offers three courses:

Kubernetes Basics. This course is SUSE’s introduction to Kubernetes course, which has been refreshed and includes new labs.

Container Basics. This course kickstarts your cloud native journey by learning the basics of containerization technology with hands-on labs.

Rancher Basics. This course will provide an introduction to Rancher, a Kubernetes management tool that helps users deploy and run clusters anywhere and on any provider.

All three of these courses are available at launch, with an additional course, Container Security Basic on its way.

Rancher Academy is open to anyone who wants to learn more about Rancher and Kubernetes. Users can enroll in any course for free and access the course materials and labs at any time and they can also track their progress and earn a digital badge and upon completing the courses.

Looking Ahead for SUSE

I had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time with Peter Smails the SVP responsible for the cloud-native strategy product management and ultimately development execution during KubeCon 2023 and came away impressed with the company’s vision and community focus. Management of K8S environments is complex and the sheer plethora of vendors highlighting their ware at KubeCon was overwhelming for this industry veteran, let alone the 58% of attendees who are new to KubeCon.

The hyperscale cloud providers were in full force at KubeCon and while many K8S deployments will start with their offerings, my perspective is that as the K8S deployments scale and reach production, then the likes of Red Hat with OpenShift, VMware with Tanzu and SUSE with Rancher will become options for enterprises looking to ensure certification, security, and enhanced support. Amongst this list, SUSE’s Rancher 2.7.2, the latest version of Rancher, positions SUSE as worthy of consideration.

Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.

Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.