Amazon EKS local clusters on Outposts now support EC2 instance store
Amazon EKS local clusters on AWS Outposts now support EC2 instances that boot from instance store on first and second-generation Outposts racks. This expansion provides static stability for Kubernetes control planes, aiding data residency and mitigating network disconnect impacts. The new architecture offers greater parity with cloud EKS clusters and supports several advanced features, now generally available in commercial AWS Regions.
- →EKS local clusters on Outposts support EC2 instance store boot
- →Increased parity with cloud EKS clusters
- →Support for advanced EKS features
- →Availability and limitations
Features (1) ›
- EKS local clusters on Outposts support EC2 instance store boot
Amazon EKS now supports local clusters on AWS Outposts using EC2 instances that boot from instance store, extending static stability benefits. This feature enhances data residency and resilience against network disruptions by running the Kubernetes control plane entirely on the Outpost.
Enhancements (2) ›
- Increased parity with cloud EKS clusters
The updated architecture for EKS local clusters on Outposts backed by instance store brings enhanced operational and feature-level parity with EKS clusters in the cloud. The control plane is managed by Amazon EKS, eliminating the need for users to handle etcd backups or logging agents.
- Support for advanced EKS features
New EKS local clusters on Outposts support EKS add-ons, IAM Roles for Service Accounts, EKS Pod Identity, OIDC authentication, access entries, and Bottlerocket worker nodes. These capabilities are available for Outposts racks with EC2 instances booting from instance store.
Notes (1) ›
- Availability and limitations
This updated architecture and its capabilities are generally available on AWS Outposts racks in all commercial AWS Regions. Outposts using Amazon EBS-booted EC2 instances will continue to use the original local clusters architecture.
https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/amazon-eks-aws-outposts-ec2-instance-store/