Platform versions

Amazon EKS platform versions represent the capabilities of the cluster control plane, such as which Kubernetes API server flags are enabled, as well as the current Kubernetes patch version. Each Kubernetes minor version has one or more associated Amazon EKS platform versions. The platform versions for different Kubernetes minor versions are independent.

When a new Kubernetes minor version is available in Amazon EKS, such as 1.17, the initial Amazon EKS platform version for that Kubernetes minor version starts at eks.1 . However, Amazon EKS releases new platform versions periodically to enable new Kubernetes control plane settings and to provide security fixes.

When new Amazon EKS platform versions become available for a minor version:

The Amazon EKS platform version number is incremented ( eks. n+1 ).

Amazon EKS automatically upgrades all existing clusters to the latest Amazon EKS platform version for their corresponding Kubernetes minor version.

Amazon EKS might publish a new node AMI with a corresponding patch version. However, all patch versions are compatible between the EKS control plane and node AMIs for a given Kubernetes minor version.

New Amazon EKS platform versions don't introduce breaking changes or cause service interruptions.

Note Automatic upgrades of existing Amazon EKS platform versions are rolled out incrementally. The roll-out process might take some time. If you need the latest Amazon EKS platform version features immediately, you should create a new Amazon EKS cluster.

Clusters are always created with the latest available Amazon EKS platform version ( eks. n ) for the specified Kubernetes version. If you update your cluster to a new Kubernetes minor version, your cluster receives the current Amazon EKS platform version for the Kubernetes minor version that you updated to.

The current and recent Amazon EKS platform versions are described in the following tables.

Kubernetes version 1.17

Kubernetes version Amazon EKS platform version Enabled admission controllers Release notes 1.17.9 eks.3 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with support for Security groups for pods. 1.17.9 eks.2 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with security fixes and enhancements, including UDP support for services of type LoadBalancer when using NLB and support for using Amazon EFS volumes with Fargate pods. For more information, see the Allow UDP for AWS NLB issue on GitHub. 1.17.6 eks.1 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize Initial release of Kubernetes 1.17 for Amazon EKS. For more information, see Kubernetes 1.17.

Kubernetes version 1.16

Kubernetes version Amazon EKS platform version Enabled admission controllers Release notes 1.16.13 eks.3 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with security fixes and enhancements, including UDP support for services of type LoadBalancer when using NLB. For more information, see the Allow UDP for AWS NLB issue on GitHub. 1.16.8 eks.2 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with security fixes. 1.16.8 eks.1 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize Initial release of Kubernetes 1.16 for Amazon EKS. For more information, see Kubernetes 1.16.

Kubernetes version 1.15

Kubernetes version Amazon EKS platform version Enabled admission controllers Release notes 1.15.11 eks.4 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with security fixes and enhancements, including UDP support for services of type LoadBalancer when using NLB. For more information, see the Allow UDP for AWS NLB issue on GitHub. 1.15.11 eks.3 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with security fixes. 1.15.11 eks.2 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize New platform version with bug fixes and enhancements, including an update to the server side AWS IAM Authenticator, with IAM role traceability improvements. 1.15.10 eks.1 NamespaceLifecycle , LimitRanger , ServiceAccount , DefaultStorageClass , ResourceQuota , DefaultTolerationSeconds , NodeRestriction , MutatingAdmissionWebhook , ValidatingAdmissionWebhook , PodSecurityPolicy , TaintNodesByCondition , Priority , StorageObjectInUseProtection , PersistentVolumeClaimResize Initial release of Kubernetes 1.15 for Amazon EKS. For more information, see Kubernetes 1.15.

Kubernetes version 1.14