vcluster is a tool that allows you to split up a Kubernetes cluster into several "virtual" clusters, with relatively good isolation.

This can be used to give developers an isolated cluster where they can provision anything on their cluster and even interact with virtual namespaces, etc. One excellent vcluster feature which works well with Coder is pausing a vcluster. When a vcluster is paused, all pods are essentially shut down but they can be re-instated when the cluster is resumed. Combined with when a workspace stops, this is pretty magical.

Build a vcluster template

We should probably do both and write a blog post about this

Option 1 (local exec/external data source): While vclusters can be deployed via Helm, sadly they can't be paused that way, making the best option for creating/deleting vclusters the CLI + local-exec or an external data source. This means that the Coder host (or provisioner) needs authenticated access to the vcluster CLI.

Option 2 (via loft.sh): Loft lets you manage vclusters via Kubernetes CRDs and even provides a Terraform provider for virtual clusters. This is the paid / non-community route, but we should definitely share it since it seems a bit more practical, and vcluster is an awesome OSS project by Loft.

Leave a comment if you're interested in working on this!