Rancher Kubernetes Distributions

Rancher has the following Kubernetes distributions:

  • Rancher Kubernetes Engine, is a CNCF-certified Kubernetes distribution that runs entirely within Docker containers.
  • K3s, is a fully conformant, lightweight Kubernetes distribution. It is easy to install, with half the memory of upstream Kubernetes, all in a binary of less than 100 MB.
  • is a fully conformant Kubernetes distribution that focuses on security and compliance within the U.S. Federal Government sector.

Hardening Guides and Benchmark Versions

These guides have been tested along with the Rancher v2.5 release. Each self-assessment guide is accompanied with a hardening guide and tested on a specific Kubernetes version and CIS benchmark version. If a CIS benchmark has not been validated for your Kubernetes version, you can choose to use the existing guides until a newer version is added.

Rancher with SELinux

Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a security enhancement to Linux. After being historically used by government agencies, SELinux is now industry standard and is enabled by default on CentOS 7 and 8.