Arm workloads on GKE

This page explains how you can run Arm workloads on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

Overview

You can run Arm workloads in GKE Autopilot clusters using the Performance or Scale-Out compute classes, or in GKE Standard clusters using the C4A machine series (C4A) or Tau T2A machine series (T2A). You can run single-architecture Arm images or multi-architecture (multi-arch) images compatible with both x86 and Arm processors. To learn about the benefits of Arm, see Arm VMs on Compute.

See the following guides for more information about choosing workloads to deploy on Arm and preparing those workloads for deployment:

• Choosing workloads to run on Arm: C4A nodes provide Arm-based compute which achieves consistently high performance for your most performance-sensitive Arm-based workloads. T2A nodes are appropriate for more-flexible workloads, or workloads which rely on horizontal scale-out. To learn more about what types of workloads work well with each of these machine series, see the table in General-purpose machine family for Compute Engine.
• Deploying across architectures: With GKE, you can use multi-arch images to deploy one image manifest across nodes with different architectures, including Arm.
  • To ensure that your container image is Arm-compatible and can run on your targeted architectures, see Build multi-architecture images for Arm workloads.
  • To follow a tutorial for using multi-arch images to deploy across architectures, see Migrate x86 application on GKE to multi-arch with Arm.
• Preparing Arm workloads for deployment: Once you have an Arm-compatible image, use node affinity rules and node selectors to make sure your workload is scheduled to nodes with a compatible architecture type.
  • Autopilot clusters: see Deploy Autopilot workloads on Arm architecture.
  • Standard clusters: see Prepare an Arm workload for deployment.

Requirements and limitations

• To create a cluster which uses C4A nodes, you must use version 1.31.1-gke.1678000 or later.
• Arm nodes are available in Google Cloud locations that support Arm architecture. For details, see Available regions and zones.
• You can use Local SSDs with C4A nodes in Preview. This requires you to be added to an allowlist. To receive access, contact your account team.
• GKE doesn't support the following features with C4A nodes:
  • Confidential GKE Nodes
  • Compact placement
  • Simultaneous multi-threading (SMT)
  • Persistent disks (use Hyperdisk instead, see Supported disk types for C4A)
  • Nested virtualization
  • GPUs
• GKE doesn't support the following features with T2A nodes:
  • Confidential GKE Nodes
  • GPUs
  • GKE Windows
  • Local SSDs
  • Policy Controller, Config Sync, and Config Controller

What's next

• Create clusters and node pools with Arm nodes
• Build multi-architecture images for Arm workloads
• Prepare an Arm workload for deployment
• Migrate x86 application on GKE to multi-arch with Arm