Need clarification on what the Harvester & Rancher Support Matrix actually means

1

I’m looking at the Harvester & Rancher Support Matrix below, but I’m unclear about what “support” means in this context. Specifically:

  1. Does this mean these are the ONLY compatible versions?
  • For example, if I have Harvester v1.4.3, can I ONLY use it with Rancher v2.9.7-v2.11.1? Or are other versions also compatible but just not officially supported?
  1. What kind of “support” is this referring to?
  • Is this SUSE’s official support (as in, what they’ll provide help for)?
  • Or is this technical compatibility (as in, what will actually work together)?
  • Or is this just tested/validated combinations?
  1. How does this relate to upgrades?
  • The note mentions upgrade paths - does this matrix ONLY apply when upgrading, or also for fresh installations?
  • If I’m running Harvester v1.4.0 with Rancher v2.7.15, what are my upgrade options?
  1. What about the Kubernetes versions column?
  • Does this mean Harvester can only create K8s clusters with these specific versions?
  • Or is this about which K8s versions can manage Harvester?

Could someone explain what this matrix is actually telling me and how I should use it for planning deployments and upgrades?

Harvester & Rancher Support Matrix

Rancher is an open-source multi-cluster management platform. Harvester has integrated Rancher by default starting with Rancher v2.6.1.

When upgrading Harvester, it is recommended to upgrade Rancher first. Rancher versions supported by the target Harvester version can be used in the upgrade path, even if they are not listed as supported for the current Harvester version.

Harvester Version Rancher Version Harvester Node Driver Supported K8S Versions
v1.4.3 v2.9.7, v2.9.8, v2.9.9, v2.10.3, v2.10.4, v2.10.5, v2.11.1 RKE1 & RKE2 v1.28, v1.29, v1.30, v1.31, v1.32
v1.4.2 v2.8.12, v2.8.13, v2.9.5, v2.9.6, v2.9.7, v2.9.8, v2.9.9, v2.10.1, v2.10.2, v2.10.3, v2.10.4, v2.11.2 RKE1 & RKE2 v1.27, v1.28, v1.29, v1.30, v1.31
v1.4.1 v2.8.11, v2.8.12, v2.8.13, v2.9.5, v2.9.6, v2.9.7, v2.10.1, v2.10.2 RKE1 & RKE2 v1.27, v1.28, v1.29, v1.30, v1.31
v1.4.0 v2.7.15, v2.7.16, v2.7.17, v2.8.8, v2.8.9, v2.8.10, v2.8.11, v2.9.2, v2.9.3, v2.9.4, v2.9.5, v2.9.6, v2.9.7, v2.10.1, v2.10.2 RKE1 & RKE2 v1.27, v1.28, v1.29, v1.30
2
  1. The versions in the column Rancher Version are those versions that are tested and validated. Other versions might work, but might cause problems.
  2. It is technical compatibility and tested/validated combinations.
  3. This affects also fresh installations. If you upgrade, then upgrade Rancher at first. Choose a version that is supported by the Harvester version you want to upgrade to.

When upgrading Harvester, it is recommended to upgrade Rancher first. Rancher versions supported by the target Harvester version can be used in the upgrade path, even if they are not listed as supported for the current Harvester version.

  1. The Kubernetes column tells you which K8s version is required to get Harvester running.
3

No, harvester does come with its own k8s (rke2) with a fixed version. These are the versions of rke/rke2 that can be managed with the harvester-node-driver (both fresh installs and existing ones).

4

Thank you for the more detailed answer. Mine was probably a little misleading.