Versioning

This page explains Google Distributed Cloud versioning.

Google Distributed Cloud versions

The following Google Distributed Cloud versions are fully supported, offering the latest patches and updates for security vulnerabilities, exposures, and issues impacting Google Distributed Cloud.

Minor version	Release date	Available patches	Kubernetes version	Node kernel versions
1.31 (latest)	December 18, 2024	1.31.0-gke.889	v1.31.3-gke.100	5.15.0.1055.54 (ubuntu 22.04) 6.1.112 (cos m113) 10.0.17763.6293 (Microsoft Windows)
1.30	December 10, 2024	1.30.400-gke.133	v1.30.6-gke.300	5.15.0.1055.54 (ubuntu 22.04) 6.1.112 (cos m109) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	November 22, 2024	1.30.300-gke.84	v1.30.5-gke.600	5.15.0.1053.52 (ubuntu 22.04) 6.1.100 (cos m109) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	October 10, 2024	1.30.200-gke.101	v1.30.4-gke.1800	5.15.0.1053.52 (ubuntu 22.04) 6.1.100 (cos m109) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	October 02, 2024	1.30.100-gke.96	v1.30.4-gke.1800	5.15.0.1051.50 (ubuntu 22.04) 6.1.100 (cos m109) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	August 29, 2024	1.30.0-gke.1930	v1.30.3-gke.200	5.15.0.1047.46 (ubuntu 22.04) 6.1.85 (cos m109) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
1.29	November 14, 2024	1.29.800-gke.108	1.29.10-gke.100	5.15.0.1054.53 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.167 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	October 25, 2024	1.29.700-gke.110	v1.29.8-gke.1800	5.15.0.1053.52 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.163 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	October 03, 2024	1.29.600-gke.109	v1.29.8-gke.1800	5.15.0.1052.51 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.163 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	September 19, 2024	1.29.500-gke.160	v1.29.7-gke.1200	5.15.0.1051.50 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.163 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	August 13, 2024	1.29.400-gke.81	v1.29.6-gke.1800	5.15.0.1049.48 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.154 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	July 26, 2024	1.29.300-gke.184	v1.29.6-gke.600	5.15.0.1047.46 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.154 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	July 09, 2024	1.29.200-gke.245	v1.29.5-gke.800	5.15.0.1047.46 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.154 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	June 27, 2024	1.29.200-gke.242	v1.29.5-gke.800	5.15.0.1046.45 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.154 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5696 (Microsoft Windows)
	May 16, 2024	1.29.100-gke.248	v1.29.4-gke.200	5.15.0.1043.43 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.146 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5329 (Microsoft Windows)
	April 29, 2024	1.29.0-gke.1456	v1.29.3-gke.600	5.15.0.1039.38 (ubuntu 22.04) 5.15.146 (cos m105) 10.0.17763.5329 (Microsoft Windows)

Version 1.28 and all other earlier versions are no longer fully supported. For the latest patches and updates for security vulnerabilities, exposures, and issues impacting Google Distributed Cloud, upgrade to a fully supported version. To learn more about the support period, see the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Enterprise edition Version Support Policy, which Google Distributed Cloud follows.

To determine whether an upgrade contains security updates, see the release notes and the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) security bulletins.

For more information, see the following:

• Downloads
• Upgrade Google Distributed Cloud

Versioning scheme

Google Distributed Cloud uses Kubernetes semantic versioning to refer to supported Kubernetes versions, but appends a GKE patch version. This results in a version number of the form: x.y.z-gke.N.

Kubernetes major version (x)

Major versions are typically incremented if any backwards incompatible changes are introduced to the public API. A major version increments the Kubernetes version from x.y to x+1.y.

Kubernetes minor version (y)

Kubernetes releases a new minor version three times a year. Each release cycle is approximately 15 weeks long. Deprecated APIs might be removed with a new minor version. A minor version increments the Kubernetes version from 1.y to 1.y+1; for example, Kubernetes 1. 29 is the minor release that follows Kubernetes 1.28.

Google Distributed Cloud patch release (z-gke.N)

A patch release, such as 1.28.300-gke.131, increments the patch version (z) by 100 and includes a -gke.N suffix, which indicates the build. Patch releases include security updates and bug fixes. A Google Distributed Cloud patch release version doesn't correlate to a Kubernetes patch version.

Note: For easier identification of the Kubernetes version for a given release, we have aligned Google Distributed Cloud version numbering with GKE version numbering. This change started with the release of version 1.28.

Versioned entities

Each Google Distributed Cloud release includes the following versioned entities:

Entity	Description
gkeadm	The command-line tool for creating and managing admin workstations. To check the version, run gkeadm version.
Admin workstation OVA	Open virtual appliance (OVA) for the admin workstation. Contains the OS image for the admin workstation along with the cluster bundle and the gkectl command-line tool. The version number is part of the filename—for example: gke-on-prem-admin-appliance-vsphere-1.31.0-gke.889.ova For more information, see the Open Virtualization Format Specification PDF.
gkectl	The command-line interface to Google Distributed Cloud. Create and manage clusters, create configuration files, and run preflight checks. Included in the admin workstation OVA. To check the version, run gkectl version.
Cluster bundle	An archive that contains cluster components and the operating system image for cluster nodes. Included in the admin workstation OVA. The version number is part of the filename—for example: gke-onprem-vsphere-1.6.1-gke.1.tgz

Version compatibility

Virtualization layer

	1.31	1.30	1.29	1.28	1.16
Version	vSphere 8.0 vSphere 7.0 Update 2+	vSphere 8.0 vSphere 7.0 Update 2+	vSphere 8.0 vSphere 7.0 Update 2+	vSphere 8.0 vSphere 7.0 Update 2+	vSphere 8.0 vSphere 7.0 Update 2+
Edition	vSphere Standard * or higher	vSphere Standard * or higher	vSphere Standard * or higher	vSphere Standard * or higher	vSphere Standard * or higher

Networking options

	1.31	1.30	1.29	1.28	1.16
vSphere standard switch	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
vSphere distributed switch	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
vSphere NSX-T †	Yes ‡	Yes ‡	Yes ‡	Yes ‡	Yes ‡

Load balancing options

	1.31	1.30	1.29	1.28	1.16
F5 BIG-IP #	F5 Big-IP Controller v1.14.0 Compatible with BIG-IP v12.x-v15.x	F5 Big-IP Controller v1.14.0 Compatible with BIG-IP v12.x-v15.x	F5 Big-IP Controller v1.14.0 Compatible with BIG-IP v12.x-v15.x	F5 Big-IP Controller v1.14.0 Compatible with BIG-IP v12.x-v15.x	F5 Big-IP Controller v1.14.0 Compatible with BIG-IP v12.x-v15.x
Manual load balancing mode	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bundled load balancer (Google provided)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Storage options

	1.31	1.30	1.29	1.28	1.16
vSAN (optional)	vSAN 8.0	vSAN 8.0	vSAN 8.0	vSAN 8.0	vSAN 8.0
vSphere-compatible storage (SAN/DAS/SDS)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Storage DRS	Manual Mode	Manual Mode	Manual Mode	Manual Mode	Manual Mode
CSI storage providers	See GDCV Ready storage partners.

Notes

* vSphere Enterprise is the recommended edition.

† NSX-V is not supported.

‡ The minimum supported version of NSX-T is 2.4.2. Support includes node networking for inter-node communication. Pod networking, ingress, and NSX-T CNI integration are not supported. NSX-V is not supported.

# For an up-to-date compatibility matrix for F5, see Releases and versioning.