Overview

There are two specific styles to registering clusters. These styles will be referred to as agent initiated and manager initiated registration. Typically one would go with the agent initiated registration but there are specific use cases in which manager initiated is a better workflow.

Agent Initiated Registration

Agent initiated refers to a pattern in which the downstream cluster installs an agent with a cluster registration token and optionally a client ID. The cluster agent will then make a API request to the Fleet manager and initiate the registration process. Using this process the Manager will never make an outbound API request to the downstream clusters and will thus never need to have direct network access. The downstream cluster only needs to make outbound HTTPS calls to the manager.

Manager Initiated Registration

Manager initiated registration is a process in which you register an existing Kubernetes cluster with the Fleet manager and the Fleet manager will make an API call to the downstream cluster to deploy the agent. This style can place additional network access requirements because the Fleet manager must be able to communicate with the downstream cluster API server for the registration process. After the cluster is registered there is no further need for the manager to contact the downstream cluster API. This style is more compatible if you wish to manage the creation of all your Kubernetes clusters through GitOps using something like cluster-api or Rancher.