aws / aws/containers-roadmap

[EKS] [request]: Support latest LTS kernel

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Description

### Community Note

* Please vote on this issue by adding a 👍 [reaction](https://blog.github.com/2016-03-10-add-reactions-to-pull-requests-issues-and-comments/) to the original issue to help the community and maintainers prioritize this request
* Please do not leave "+1" or "me too" comments, they generate extra noise for issue followers and do not help prioritize the request
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**Tell us about your request**
I'd like the official EKS AMIs, AL2023 & Bottlerocket, to support the latest LTS kernel for the next Kubernetes version released once the kernel is available (or some similar pattern).

I can see why the AL2023 default would be to stick to a single kernel version, but if it's intended to be used as a container OS then it should also support each new LTS kernel. The EKS AMI could then select the most recent kernel when creating a new EKS variant.

For Bottlerocket, which is a pure container OS, I can't see the logic in taking it's kernel constraint from AL2023 which is a general purpose OS. If for some reason AL2023 can't support newer kernels I'd like to see Bottlerocket remove the AL2023 kernel constraint, maybe it could become the upstream kernel provider for AL2023.

**Which service(s) is this request for?**
EKS

**Tell us about the problem you're trying to solve. What are you trying to do, and why is it hard?**
I'd like to be able to make use of advanced functionality in components such as Cilium. So as an example; to use big TCP over IPv4 we need a v6.3+ kernel, given that the v6.6 LTS kernel was released October 2023 I'd expect to be able to make use of this functionality in EKS in July 2024.

**Are you currently working around this issue?**
We're not able to make use of advanced functionality.

**Additional context**
Bottlerocket are currently tracking the same LTS kernel as Amazon Linux which is v6.1 (see https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket/issues/3604). As per my comment above I don't think this is the correct approach given the significantly different focus of the two OSs and the current kernel limitation for AL2023.

**Attachments**
n/a

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

No repository files or tests are identified. Start by reviewing the EKS AMI, AL2023, and Bottlerocket kernel constraints described here, then compare the linked Bottlerocket issue #3604; done means official EKS AMIs support the latest LTS kernel for the relevant Kubernetes release.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
aws, kubernetes, linux
Domain
cloud, infrastructure, operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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