Alibaba Cloud ACK to STACKIT Kubernetes Engine

A managed ACK cluster and node pool, assessed

A small Alibaba Cloud estate written for this page and assessed by StackToIT on 4 November 2026. Left: the input. Right: the result StackToIT recorded for it, an excerpt of assessment.json with the values exactly as the run wrote them.

resource "alicloud_cs_managed_kubernetes" "platform" {
  name                 = "platform"
  cluster_spec         = "ack.pro.small"
  version              = "1.31.1-aliyun.1"
  vswitch_ids          = [alicloud_vswitch.nodes_a.id, alicloud_vswitch.nodes_b.id]
  pod_cidr             = "172.20.0.0/16"
  service_cidr         = "172.21.0.0/20"
  proxy_mode           = "ipvs"
  new_nat_gateway      = true
  slb_internet_enabled = false
}

resource "alicloud_cs_kubernetes_node_pool" "general" {
  cluster_id           = alicloud_cs_managed_kubernetes.platform.id
  node_pool_name       = "general"
  vswitch_ids          = [alicloud_vswitch.nodes_a.id, alicloud_vswitch.nodes_b.id]
  instance_types       = ["ecs.g7.2xlarge"]
  desired_size         = 3
  system_disk_category = "cloud_essd"
  system_disk_size     = 80
}

{
  "id": "alicloud_cs_managed_kubernetes.platform",
  "result": {
    "class": "REPLATFORM",
    "confidence": "MEDIUM",
    "target": {
      "service": "STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)"
    },
    "reason": "An ACK cluster becomes an SKE cluster. Workload manifests can stay, while node pools, load balancer and storage annotations, identity and add-ons of the source are replaced."
  }
}

• Manifests stay

  The workloads keep their manifests. What ACK adds around them, from its load balancer annotations to its add-ons, is replaced on SKE.

• Nine cluster settings named

  cluster_spec, name, new_nat_gateway, pod_cidr, proxy_mode, service_cidr, slb_internet_enabled, version and vswitch_ids are listed for your platform team.

• Node pool to your architects

  The node pool is decided by your architects. ecs.g7.2xlarge, a desired size of 3 and the 80 GB system disk are the input for the SKE node pool they define.

• Egress and exposure in view

  new_nat_gateway and slb_internet_enabled are among the named settings, so outbound access and the public endpoint are decided on purpose, not by default.

Two vSwitches in two zones

From the same run. Left: the input. Right: the result StackToIT recorded for it, an excerpt of assessment.json with the values exactly as the run wrote them.

resource "alicloud_vswitch" "nodes_a" {
  vswitch_name = "platform-nodes-a"
  vpc_id       = alicloud_vpc.platform.id
  cidr_block   = "10.60.0.0/20"
  zone_id      = "eu-central-1a"
}

resource "alicloud_vswitch" "nodes_b" {
  vswitch_name = "platform-nodes-b"
  vpc_id       = alicloud_vpc.platform.id
  cidr_block   = "10.60.16.0/20"
  zone_id      = "eu-central-1b"
}

{
  "id": "alicloud_vswitch.nodes_a",
  "result": {
    "class": "RECONFIGURE",
    "confidence": "MEDIUM",
    "target": {
      "service": "STACKIT network"
    },
    "reason": "A vSwitch becomes a STACKIT network with its own address range. It is bound to a zone at the source; review the zone placement of the workloads on it."
  }
}

How the ACK estate maps

Classes as the run decided them for 5 resources. Waves: VPC, then both vSwitches in parallel, then the cluster, then the node pool.

Landing on a supported SKE version

The run reads the SKE lifecycle as of 3 November 2026 and states each version with its dates.

• 1.36 as the landing

  Supported, released on 27 August 2026, expiry on 9 June 2027, marked suitable as a landing version.

• From 1.31 upwards

  The example cluster runs 1.31.1-aliyun.1. Versions 1.32 to 1.34 have expired on SKE, so the move includes the upgrade to 1.36.

• Updates by SKE itself

  When a version reaches its expiry date, SKE starts a mandatory update. The run records this as the provider’s day-2 responsibility.

• eu01 or eu02

  SKE is in the STACKIT catalogues of both regions, so you choose the region.

Questions platform teams ask

Sources

• Alibaba Cloud Docs: What is ACK?
• STACKIT Docs: Kubernetes Engine (SKE)