Merge pull request #1410 from LucasSaintarbor/2.7.15-deprecated-features

Update Deprecated Features Table - v2.7.15
Merge pull request #1411 from LucasSaintarbor/2.8.x-deprecated-features
2026-09-29 22:49:17 +00:00 · 2024-08-01 08:17:41 -07:00 · 2024-08-01 08:17:31 -07:00 · 2024-08-01 08:16:54 -07:00 · 2024-08-01 08:16:43 -07:00 · 2024-08-01 08:16:02 -07:00
2321 changed files with 239517 additions and 56243 deletions
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Fixes #[issue_number]

 - Verify if changes pertain to other versions of Rancher. If they do, finalize the edits on one version of the page, then apply the edits to the other versions.

- If the pull request is dependent on an upcoming release, make sure to target the release branch instead of `main`.
+- If the pull request is dependent on an upcoming release, remember to add a "MERGE ON RELEASE" label and set the proper milestone.

 ## Description

@@ -24,4 +24,4 @@ Fixes #[issue_number]

 <!--
 Any additional notes a reviewer should know before we review.
-->
+-->
@@ -6,14 +6,14 @@ on:
      - main

 jobs:
-  deploy:
-    name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
+  build:
+    name: Build Docusaurus
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
-      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 18
          cache: yarn
@@ -25,18 +25,25 @@ jobs:
          NODE_OPTIONS: "--max_old_space_size=7168"
        run: yarn build --no-minify

-      # Popular action to deploy to GitHub Pages:
-      # Docs: https://github.com/peaceiris/actions-gh-pages#%EF%B8%8F-docusaurus
-      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
-        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
+      - name: Upload Build Artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
        with:
-          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          # Build output to publish to the `gh-pages` branch:
-          publish_dir: ./build
-          # The following lines assign commit authorship to the official
-          # GH-Actions bot for deploys to `gh-pages` branch:
-          # https://github.com/actions/checkout/issues/13#issuecomment-724415212
-          # The GH actions bot is used by default if you didn't specify the two fields.
-          # You can swap them out with your own user credentials.
-          user_name: github-actions[bot]
-          user_email: 41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
+          path: build
+
+  deploy:
+    name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
+    needs: build
+
+    permissions:
+      pages: write
+      id-token: write
+    
+    environment:
+      name: github-pages
+      url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }}
+
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
+        id: deployment
+        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@ jobs:
    name: Test deployment
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 18
          cache: yarn
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# This action gets all changed markdown files in /docs and /versioned_docs using tj-actions/changed-files@v42
+# It compares new commits in the PR with the base commit (github.event.pull_request.base.sha)
+# It checks if no markdown files are changed 
+# It shows a count of markdown files and lists all changed markdown files
+# It uses Vale (https://vale.sh/docs/vale-cli/installation/) to provide feedback base off the SUSE Style Guide / OpenSUSE style rules (https://github.com/openSUSE/suse-vale-styleguide)
+
+name: Style check
+on: [pull_request]
+
+jobs:
+  vale-lint:
+    name: runner / vale
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        continue-on-error: true
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0  # OR "2" -> To retrieve the preceding commit.
+          submodules: true
+      - name: Get all changed markdown files
+        continue-on-error: true
+        id: changed-markdown-files
+        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v42
+        with:
+            # Avoid using single or double quotes for multiline patterns
+            files: |
+               docs/**
+               versioned_docs/**
+            separator: ","
+            base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
+        env:
+            ALL_CHANGED_FILES: ${{ 0 }}
+      - name: No files changed?
+        continue-on-error: true
+        if: steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.any_changed == 'false'
+        run: |
+              echo "No files changed"
+              echo "ALL_CHANGED_FILES=$ALL_CHANGED_FILES" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      - name: List all changed files markdown files
+        continue-on-error: true
+        if: steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
+        env:
+            ALL_CHANGED_FILES: ${{ steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}
+            ALL_CHANGED_FILES_COUNT: ${{ steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.all_changed_files_count }}
+            SHA: ${{ github.head_ref }}
+            HEAD: ${{ github.base_ref }}
+        run: |
+            echo "Total Files Changed:" ${ALL_CHANGED_FILES_COUNT}
+            echo ${ALL_CHANGED_FILES}
+            echo "ALL_CHANGED_FILES=$ALL_CHANGED_FILES" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      - uses: errata-ai/vale-action@v2.1.0
+        continue-on-error: true
+        if: steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        with:
+          separator: ", "
+          files: ${{ env.ALL_CHANGED_FILES }}
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule ".github/styles/suse-vale-styleguide"]
+	path = .github/styles/suse-vale-styleguide
+	url = https://github.com/openSUSE/suse-vale-styleguide
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+StylesPath = .github/styles
+
+[formtats]
+mdx = md
+
+[*.md]
+BasedOnStyles = suse-vale-styleguide
@@ -27,7 +27,17 @@ The file paths in the repo correspond to the URLs for pages on the docs website.

 ### Style & Formatting

-The docs are written in [Markdown](https://www.markdownguide.org/getting-started/). We refer to the Microsoft [style guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/welcome/) and use standard American English. Many pages are also available in Simplified Chinese.
+The docs are written in [Markdown](https://www.markdownguide.org/getting-started/). We use standard American English and many pages are also available in Simplified Chinese.
+
+Moving forward, we are referring to the SUSE [style guide](https://documentation.suse.com/style/current/pdf/style-guide_en.pdf). The **Style check / runner / vale (pull_request)** check used [Vale](https://vale.sh/) to make style and grammar suggestions for new or updated documentation based on the SUSE style guide. To review these suggestions when working on a PR:
+
+1. Select the details of the **Style check / runner / vale (pull_request)** check.
+1. In the logs, go to **Run errata-ai/vale-action@v2.1.0** and select **Running vale with reviewdog 🐶 ...** to view the suggestions.
+1. New or updated files are checked against the SUSE style guide. Suggestions have the following format: '{"message": "[suse-vale-styleguide.Rule] Rule description", "location": {"path": "file-path", "range": {"start": {"line": , "column": }}}, "severity": " "}'
+
+    For example: '{"message": "[suse-vale-styleguide.Usage] Use 'certain' instead of 'some'", "location": {"path": "docs/contribute-to-rancher.md", "range": {"start": {"line": 3, "column": 132}}}, "severity": "WARNING"}'
+
+1. Incorporate the suggestions when possible and appropriate.

 Every docs page contain metadata in the first few lines:

@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
    "lvl2": "article h2",
    "lvl3": "article h3",
    "lvl4": "article h4",
-    "lvl5": "article h5"
+    "lvl5": "article h5",
+    "lvl6": "article h6"
  },
  "custom_settings": {
    "attributesForFaceting": [
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 ---
-title: API Tokens
+title: Using API Tokens
 ---

 <head>
-  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/reference-guides/about-the-api/api-tokens"/>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/api/api-tokens"/>
 </head>

+Rancher v2.8.0 introduced the [Rancher Kubernetes API](./api-reference.mdx) which can be used to manage Rancher resources through `kubectl`. This page covers information on API tokens used with the [Rancher CLI](../reference-guides/cli-with-rancher), [kubeconfig files](../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/manage-clusters/access-clusters/authorized-cluster-endpoint.md#about-the-kubeconfig-file), Terraform and the [v3 API browser](./v3-rancher-api-guide.md#enable-view-in-api).
+
 By default, some cluster-level API tokens are generated with infinite time-to-live (`ttl=0`). In other words, API tokens with `ttl=0` never expire unless you invalidate them. Tokens are not invalidated by changing a password.

 You can deactivate API tokens by deleting them or by deactivating the user account.
@@ -43,13 +45,11 @@ This setting is used by all kubeconfig tokens except those created by the CLI to

 ## Disable Tokens in Generated Kubeconfigs

-Set the `kubeconfig-generate-token` setting to `false`. This setting instructs Rancher to no longer automatically generate a token when a user clicks on download a kubeconfig file. When this setting is deactivated, a generated kubeconfig references the [Rancher CLI](../cli-with-rancher/kubectl-utility.md#authentication-with-kubectl-and-kubeconfig-tokens-with-ttl) to retrieve a short-lived token for the cluster. When this kubeconfig is used in a client, such as `kubectl`, the Rancher CLI needs to be installed to complete the log in request.
+Set the `kubeconfig-generate-token` setting to `false`. This setting instructs Rancher to no longer automatically generate a token when a user clicks on download a kubeconfig file. When this setting is deactivated, a generated kubeconfig references the [Rancher CLI](../reference-guides/cli-with-rancher/kubectl-utility.md#authentication-with-kubectl-and-kubeconfig-tokens-with-ttl) to retrieve a short-lived token for the cluster. When this kubeconfig is used in a client, such as `kubectl`, the Rancher CLI needs to be installed to complete the log in request.

 ## Token Hashing

-Users can enable token hashing, where tokens undergo a one-way hash using the SHA256 algorithm. This is a non-reversible process: once enabled, this feature cannot be disabled. It is advisable to take backups prior to enabling and/or evaluating in a test environment first.
-
-To enable token hashing, refer to [this section](../../how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/enable-experimental-features.md).
+You can [enable token hashing](../how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/enable-experimental-features.md), where tokens undergo a one-way hash using the SHA256 algorithm. This is a non-reversible process: once enabled, this feature cannot be disabled. You should first evaluate this setting in a test environment, and/or take backups before enabling.

 This feature affects all tokens which include, but are not limited to, the following:

@@ -82,4 +82,4 @@ Maximum Time to Live (TTL) in minutes allowed for auth tokens. If a user attempt

 ### kubeconfig-generate-token

-When true, kubeconfigs requested through the UI contain a valid token. When false, kubeconfigs contain a command that uses the Rancher CLI to prompt the user to log in. [The CLI then retrieves and caches a token for the user](../cli-with-rancher/kubectl-utility.md#authentication-with-kubectl-and-kubeconfig-tokens-with-ttl).
+When true, kubeconfigs requested through the UI contain a valid token. When false, kubeconfigs contain a command that uses the Rancher CLI to prompt the user to log in. [The CLI then retrieves and caches a token for the user](../reference-guides/cli-with-rancher/kubectl-utility.md#authentication-with-kubectl-and-kubeconfig-tokens-with-ttl).
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: API Quick Start Guide
+title: RK-API Quick Start Guide
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/api/quickstart"/>
 </head>

-You can access Rancher's resources through the Kubernetes API. This guide will help you get started on using this API as a Rancher user.
+You can access Rancher's resources through the Kubernetes API. This guide helps you get started on using this API as a Rancher user.

 1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Global Settings**.
 2. Find and copy the address in the `server-url` field.
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ To ensure that your tools can recognize Rancher's CA certificates, most setups r
  If your Rancher instance is proxied by another service, you must extract the certificate that the service is using, and add it to the kubeconfig file, as demonstrated in step 5.
  :::

-4. The following commands will convert `rancher.crt` to base64 output, trim all new-lines, and update the cluster in the kubeconfig with the certificate, then finishing by removing the `rancher.crt` file:
+4. The following commands convert `rancher.crt` to base64 output, trim all new-lines, and update the cluster in the kubeconfig with the certificate, then finish by removing the `rancher.crt` file:

  ```bash
  export KUBECONFIG=$PATH_TO_RANCHER_KUBECONFIG
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+---
+title: Previous v3 Rancher API Guide
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/api/v3-rancher-api-guide"/>
+</head>
+
+Rancher v2.8.0 introduced the Rancher Kubernetes API (RK-API). The previous v3 Rancher API is still available. This page describes the v3 API. For more information on RK-API, see the [RK-API quickstart](./quickstart.md) and [reference guide](./api-reference.mdx).
+
+## How to Use the API
+
+The previous v3 API has its own user interface accessible from a [web browser](./v3-rancher-api-guide.md#enable-view-in-api). This is an easy way to see resources, perform actions, and see the equivalent `curl` or HTTP request & response. To access it:
+
+<Tabs>
+<TabItem value="Rancher v2.6.4+">
+
+1. Click your user avatar in the upper right corner.
+1. Click **Account & API Keys**.
+1. Under the **API Keys** section, find the **API Endpoint** field and click the link. The link looks something like `https://<RANCHER_FQDN>/v3`, where `<RANCHER_FQDN>` is the fully qualified domain name of your Rancher deployment.
+
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="Rancher before v2.6.4">
+
+Go to the URL endpoint at `https://<RANCHER_FQDN>/v3`, where `<RANCHER_FQDN>` is the fully qualified domain name of your Rancher deployment.
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+## Authentication
+
+API requests must include authentication information. Authentication is done with HTTP basic authentication using [API keys](../reference-guides/user-settings/api-keys.md). API keys can create new clusters and have access to multiple clusters via `/v3/clusters/`. [Cluster and project roles](../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md) apply to these keys and restrict what clusters and projects the account can see and what actions they can take.
+
+By default, certain cluster-level API tokens are generated with infinite time-to-live (`ttl=0`). In other words, API tokens with `ttl=0` never expire unless you invalidate them. For details on how to invalidate them, refer to the [API tokens page](api-tokens.md).
+
+## Making Requests
+
+The API is generally RESTful but has several features to make the definition of everything discoverable by a client so that generic clients can be written instead of having to write specific code for every type of resource. For detailed info about the generic API spec, [see further documentation](https://github.com/rancher/api-spec/blob/master/specification.md).
+
+- Every type has a Schema which describes:
+  - The URL to get to the collection of this type of resource.
+  - Every field the resource can have, along with their type, basic validation rules, whether they are required or optional, etc.
+  - Every action that is possible on this type of resource, with their inputs and outputs (also as schemas).
+  - Every field that allows filtering.
+  - What HTTP verb methods are available for the collection itself, or for individual resources in the collection.
+
+The design allows you to load just the list of schemas and access everything about the API. The UI for the API contains no code specific to Rancher itself. The URL to get Schemas is sent in every HTTP response as a `X-Api-Schemas` header. From there you can follow the `collection` link on each schema to know where to list resources, and follow other `links` inside of the returned resources to get any other information.
+
+In practice, you may just want to construct URL strings. We highly suggest limiting this to the top-level to list a collection (`/v3/<type>`) or get a specific resource (`/v3/<type>/<id>`). Anything deeper than that is subject to change in future releases.
+
+Resources have relationships between each other called links. Each resource includes a map of `links` with the name of the link and the URL where you can retrieve that information. Again, you should `GET` the resource and then follow the URL in the `links` map, not construct these strings yourself.
+
+Most resources have actions, which do something or change the state of the resource. To use them, send a HTTP `POST` to the URL in the `actions` map of the action you want. Certain actions require input or produce output. See the individual documentation for each type or the schemas for specific information.
+
+To edit a resource, send a HTTP `PUT` to the `links.update` link on the resource with the fields that you want to change. If the link is missing then you don't have permission to update the resource. Unknown fields and ones that are not editable are ignored.
+
+To delete a resource, send a HTTP `DELETE` to the `links.remove` link on the resource. If the link is missing then you don't have permission to update the resource.
+
+To create a new resource, HTTP `POST` to the collection URL in the schema (which is `/v3/<type>`).
+
+## Filtering
+
+Most collections can be filtered on the server-side by common fields using HTTP query parameters. The `filters` map shows you what fields can be filtered on and what the filtered values were for the request you made. The API UI has controls to setup filtering and show you the appropriate request. For simple "equals" matches it's just `field=value`. Modifiers can be added to the field name, for example, `field_gt=42` for "field is greater than 42." See the [API spec](https://github.com/rancher/api-spec/blob/master/specification.md#filtering) for full details.
+
+## Sorting
+
+Most collections can be sorted on the server-side by common fields using HTTP query parameters. The `sortLinks` map shows you what sorts are available, along with the URL to get the collection sorted by that. It also includes info about what the current response was sorted by, if specified.
+
+## Pagination
+
+API responses are paginated with a limit of 100 resources per page by default. This can be changed with the `limit` query parameter, up to a maximum of 1000, for example, `/v3/pods?limit=1000`. The `pagination` map in collection responses tells you whether or not you have the full result set and has a link to the next page if you do not.
+
+## Capturing v3 API Calls
+
+You can use browser developer tools to capture how the v3 API is called. For example, you could follow these steps to use the Chrome developer tools to get the API call for provisioning an RKE cluster:
+
+1. In the Rancher UI, go to **Cluster Management** and click **Create.**
+1. Click one of the cluster types. This example uses Digital Ocean.
+1. Fill out the form with a cluster name and node template, but don't click **Create**.
+1. You need to open the developer tools before the cluster creation to see the API call being recorded. To open the tools, right-click the Rancher UI and click **Inspect.**
+1. In the developer tools, click the **Network** tab.
+1. On the **Network** tab, make sure **Fetch/XHR** is selected.
+1. In the Rancher UI, click **Create**. In the developer tools, you should see a new network request with the name `cluster?_replace=true`.
+1. Right-click `cluster?_replace=true` and click **Copy > Copy as cURL.**
+1. Paste the result into any text editor. You can see the POST request, including the URL it was sent to, all headers, and the full body of the request. This command can be used to create a cluster from the command line. Note: the request should be stored in a safe place because it contains credentials.
+
+### Enable View in API
+
+You can also view captured v3 API calls for your respective clusters and resources. This feature is not enabled by default. To enable it:
+
+1. Click your **User Tile** in the top right corner of the UI and select **Preferences** from the drop-down menu.
+2. Under the **Advanced Features** section, click **Enable "View in API"**
+
+Once checked, the **View in API** link is displayed under the **⋮** sub-menu on resource pages in the UI.
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
---
-title: RKE Cluster Configuration
---
-
-<head>
-  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/reference-guides/cluster-configuration/rancher-server-configuration/rke1-cluster-configuration"/>
-</head>
-
-This page has moved [here.](../../../reference-guides/cluster-configuration/rancher-server-configuration/rke1-cluster-configuration.md)
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ Kubernetes workers should open TCP port `6783` (control port), UDP port `6783` a

 For more information, see the following pages:

- [Weave Net Official Site](https://www.weave.works/)
+- [Weave Net Official Site](https://github.com/weaveworks/weave/blob/master/site/overview.md)

 ### RKE2 Kubernetes clusters

@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ title: Deprecated Features in Rancher
 ---

 <head>
-  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/faq/deprecated-features-in-v2.5"/>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/faq/deprecated-features"/>
 </head>

-### What is Rancher's Deprecation policy?
+### What is Rancher's deprecation policy?

 We have published our official deprecation policy in the support [terms of service](https://rancher.com/support-maintenance-terms).

@@ -16,14 +16,7 @@ Rancher will publish deprecated features as part of the [release notes](https://

 | Patch Version |  Release Date |
 |---------------|---------------|
-| [2.6.0](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.0) |  Aug 31, 2021  |
-| [2.6.1](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.1) |  Oct 11, 2021  |
-| [2.6.2](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.2) |  Oct 19, 2021  |
-| [2.6.3](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.3) |  Dec 21, 2021  |
-| [2.6.4](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.4) |  Mar 31, 2022  |
-| [2.6.5](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.5) |  May 12, 2022  |
-| [2.6.6](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.6.6) |  Jun 30, 2022  |
-
+| [2.9.0](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases/tag/v2.9.0) | July 31, 2024 |

 ### What can I expect when a feature is marked for deprecation?

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Dockershim
+title: Dockershim FAQ
 ---

 <head>
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ This FAQ is a work in progress designed to answer the questions most frequently

 See the [Technical FAQ](technical-items.md) for frequently asked technical questions.

-## Does Rancher v2.x support Docker Swarm and Mesos as environment types?
-
-Swarm and Mesos are no longer selectable options when you create a new environment in Rancher v2.x. However, both Swarm and Mesos will continue to be available as Catalog applications you can deploy. It was a tough decision to make but, in the end, it came down to adoption. For example, out of more than 15,000 clusters, only about 200 were running Swarm.
-
 ## Is it possible to manage Azure Kubernetes Services with Rancher v2.x?

 Yes. See our [Cluster Administration](../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/manage-clusters/manage-clusters.md) guide for what Rancher features are available on AKS, as well as our [documentation on AKS](../getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster/rancher-on-aks.md).
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Security
+title: Security FAQ

 ---

@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@ title: Security
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/faq/security"/>
 </head>

-**Is there a Hardening Guide?**
+### Is there a Hardening Guide?

-The Hardening Guide is now located in the main [Security](../reference-guides/rancher-security/rancher-security.md) section.
+The Hardening Guide is located in the main [Security](../reference-guides/rancher-security/rancher-security.md) section.

-<br/>
-
-**What are the results of Rancher's Kubernetes cluster when it is CIS benchmarked?**
+### Have hardened Rancher Kubernetes clusters been evaluated by the CIS Kubernetes Benchmark? Where can I find the results?

 We have run the CIS Kubernetes benchmark against a hardened Rancher Kubernetes cluster.  The results of that assessment can be found in the main [Security](../reference-guides/rancher-security/rancher-security.md) section.
+
+### How does Rancher verify communication with downstream clusters, and what are some associated security concerns?
+
+Communication between the Rancher server and downstream clusters is performed through agents. Rancher uses either a registered certificate authority (CA) bundle or the local trust store to verify communication between Rancher agents and the Rancher server. Using a CA bundle for verification is more strict, as only the certificates based on that bundle are trusted. If TLS verification for a explicit CA bundle fails, Rancher may fall back to using the local trust store for verifying future communication. Any CA within the local trust store can then be used to generate a valid certificate.
+
+As described in [Rancher Security Update CVE-2024-22030](https://www.suse.com/c/rancher-security-update/), under a narrow set of circumstances, malicious actors can take over Rancher nodes by exploiting the behavior of Rancher CAs. For the attack to succeed, the malicious actor must generate a valid certificate from either a valid CA in the targeted Rancher server, or from a valid registered CA. The attacker also needs to either hijack or spoof the Rancher server-url as a preliminary step. Rancher is currently evaluating Rancher CA behavior to mitigate against this and any similar avenues of attack. 
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Technical
+title: Technical FAQ
 ---

 <head>
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Telemetry
+title: Telemetry FAQ
 ---

 <head>
@@ -107,15 +107,15 @@ The Rancher management server is designed to be secure by default and requires S

 :::note

-If you want terminate SSL/TLS externally, see [TLS termination on an External Load Balancer](../installation-references/helm-chart-options.md#external-tls-termination).
+If you want to externally terminate SSL/TLS, see [TLS termination on an External Load Balancer](../installation-references/helm-chart-options.md#external-tls-termination). As outlined on that page, this option does have additional requirements for TLS verification.

 :::

 There are three recommended options for the source of the certificate used for TLS termination at the Rancher server:

- **Rancher-generated TLS certificate:** In this case, you will need to install `cert-manager` into the cluster. Rancher utilizes `cert-manager` to issue and maintain its certificates. Rancher will generate a CA certificate of its own, and sign a cert using that CA. `cert-manager` is then responsible for managing that certificate.
- **Let's Encrypt:** The Let's Encrypt option also uses `cert-manager`. However, in this case, cert-manager is combined with a special Issuer for Let's Encrypt that performs all actions (including request and validation) necessary for getting a Let's Encrypt issued cert. This configuration uses HTTP validation (`HTTP-01`), so the load balancer must have a public DNS record and be accessible from the internet.
- **Bring your own certificate:** This option allows you to bring your own public- or private-CA signed certificate. Rancher will use that certificate to secure websocket and HTTPS traffic. In this case, you must upload this certificate (and associated key) as PEM-encoded files with the name `tls.crt` and `tls.key`. If you are using a private CA, you must also upload that certificate. This is due to the fact that this private CA may not be trusted by your nodes. Rancher will take that CA certificate, and generate a checksum from it, which the various Rancher components will use to validate their connection to Rancher.
+- **Rancher-generated TLS certificate:** In this case, you will need to install `cert-manager` into the cluster. Rancher utilizes `cert-manager` to issue and maintain its certificates. Rancher will generate a CA certificate of its own, and sign a cert using that CA. `cert-manager` is then responsible for managing that certificate. No extra action is needed when `agent-tls-mode` is set to strict. More information can be found on this setting in [Agent TLS Enforcement](../installation-references/tls-settings.md#agent-tls-enforcement).
+- **Let's Encrypt:** The Let's Encrypt option also uses `cert-manager`. However, in this case, cert-manager is combined with a special Issuer for Let's Encrypt that performs all actions (including request and validation) necessary for getting a Let's Encrypt issued cert. This configuration uses HTTP validation (`HTTP-01`), so the load balancer must have a public DNS record and be accessible from the internet. When setting `agent-tls-mode` to `strict`, you must also specify `--privateCA=true` and upload the Let's Encrypt CA as described in [Adding TLS Secrets](../resources/add-tls-secrets.md). More information can be found on this setting in [Agent TLS Enforcement](../installation-references/tls-settings.md#agent-tls-enforcement).
+- **Bring your own certificate:** This option allows you to bring your own public- or private-CA signed certificate. Rancher will use that certificate to secure websocket and HTTPS traffic. In this case, you must upload this certificate (and associated key) as PEM-encoded files with the name `tls.crt` and `tls.key`. If you are using a private CA, you must also upload that certificate. This is due to the fact that this private CA may not be trusted by your nodes. Rancher will take that CA certificate, and generate a checksum from it, which the various Rancher components will use to validate their connection to Rancher. If `agent-tls-mode` is set to `strict`, the CA must be uploaded, so that downstream clusters can successfully connect. More information can be found on this setting in [Agent TLS Enforcement](../installation-references/tls-settings.md#agent-tls-enforcement).


 | Configuration                  | Helm Chart Option           | Requires cert-manager                 |
@@ -242,6 +242,12 @@ In the following command,
 - Set `letsEncrypt.ingress.class` to whatever your ingress controller is, e.g., `traefik`, `nginx`, `haproxy`, etc.
 - For Kubernetes v1.25 or later, set `global.cattle.psp.enabled` to `false` when using Rancher v2.7.2-v2.7.4. This is not necessary for Rancher v2.7.5 and above, but you can still manually set the option if you choose.

+:::warning
+
+When `agent-tls-mode` is set to `strict` (the default value for new installs of Rancher starting from v2.9.0), you must supply the `privateCA=true` chart value (e.x. through `--set privateCA=true`) and upload the Let's Encrypt Certificate Authority as outlined in [Adding TLS Secrets](../resources/add-tls-secrets.md). Information on identifying the Let's Encrypt Root CA can be found in the Let's Encrypt [docs](https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/). If you don't upload the CA, then Rancher may fail to connect to new or existing downstream clusters.
+
+:::
+
 ```
 helm install rancher rancher-<CHART_REPO>/rancher \
  --namespace cattle-system \
@@ -190,3 +190,19 @@ If you want to use encrypted private keys, you should use `ssh-agent` to load yo
 ### Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

 The node is not reachable on the configured `address` and `port`.
+
+### Agent reports TLS errors 
+
+When using Rancher, you may encounter error messages from the `fleet-agent`, `system-agent`, or `cluster-agent`, such as the message below:
+```
+tls: failed to verify certificate: x509: failed to load system roots and no roots provided; readdirent /dev/null: not a directory
+```
+
+This occurs when Rancher was configured with `agent-tls-mode` set to `strict`, but couldn't find cacerts in the `cacert` setting. To resolve the issue, set the `agent-tls-mode` to `system-store`, or upload the CA for Rancher as described in [Adding TLS Secrets](../resources/add-tls-secrets.md).
+
+### New Cluster Deployment is stuck in "Waiting for Agent to check in"
+
+When Rancher has `agent-tls-mode` set to `strict`, new clusters may fail to provision and report a generic "Waiting for Agent to check in" error message. The root cause of this is similar to the above case of TLS errors - Rancher's agent can't determine which CA Rancher is using (or can't verify that Rancher's cert is actually signed by the specified certificate authority).  
+
+To resolve the issue, set the `agent-tls-mode` to `system-store` or upload the CA for Rancher as described in [Adding TLS Secrets](../resources/add-tls-secrets.md).
+
@@ -19,25 +19,31 @@ Some feature flags require a restart of the Rancher container. Features that req
 The following is a list of feature flags available in Rancher. If you've upgraded from a previous Rancher version, you may see additional flags in the Rancher UI, such as `proxy` or `dashboard` (both [discontinued](/versioned_docs/version-2.5/reference-guides/installation-references/feature-flags.md)):

 - `continuous-delivery`: Allows Fleet GitOps to be disabled separately from Fleet. See [Continuous Delivery.](../../../how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/continuous-delivery.md) for more information.
- `fleet`: The Rancher provisioning framework in v2.6 and later requires Fleet. The flag will be automatically enabled when you upgrade, even if you disabled this flag in an earlier version of Rancher. See [Fleet - GitOps at Scale](../../../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters/fleet.md) for more information.
+- `fleet`: The Rancher provisioning framework in v2.6 and later requires Fleet. The flag will be automatically enabled when you upgrade, even if you disabled this flag in an earlier version of Rancher. See [Continuous Delivery with Fleet](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/fleet.md) for more information.
 - `harvester`: Manages access to the Virtualization Management page, where users can navigate directly to Harvester clusters and access the Harvester UI. See [Harvester Integration Overview](../../../integrations-in-rancher/harvester/overview.md) for more information.
 - `istio-virtual-service-ui`: Enables a [visual interface](../../../how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/istio-traffic-management-features.md) to create, read, update, and delete Istio virtual services and destination rules, which are Istio traffic management features.
 - `legacy`: Enables a set of features from 2.5.x and earlier, that are slowly being phased out in favor of newer implementations. These are a mix of deprecated features as well as features that will eventually be available to newer versions. This flag is disabled by default on new Rancher installations. If you're upgrading from a previous version of Rancher, this flag is enabled.
 - `multi-cluster-management`: Allows multi-cluster provisioning and management of Kubernetes clusters. This flag can only be set at install time. It can't be enabled or disabled later.
 - `rke1-custom-node-cleanup`: Enables cleanup of deleted RKE1 custom nodes. We recommend that you keep this flag enabled, to prevent removed nodes from attempting to rejoin the cluster.
 - `rke2`: Enables provisioning RKE2 clusters. This flag is enabled by default.
- `token-hashing`: Enables token hashing. Once enabled, existing tokens will be hashed and all new tokens will be hashed automatically with the SHA256 algorithm. Once a token is hashed it can't be undone. This flag can't be disabled after its enabled. See [API Tokens](../../../reference-guides/about-the-api/api-tokens.md#token-hashing) for more information.
+- `token-hashing`: Enables token hashing. Once enabled, existing tokens will be hashed and all new tokens will be hashed automatically with the SHA256 algorithm. Once a token is hashed it can't be undone. This flag can't be disabled after its enabled. See [API Tokens](../../../api/api-tokens.md#token-hashing) for more information.
+- `uiextension`: Enables UI extensions. This flag is enabled by default. Enabling or disabling the flag forces the Rancher pod to restart. The first time this flag is set to `true`, it creates a CRD and enables the controllers and endpoints necessary for the feature to work. If set to `false`, it disables the previously mentioned controllers and endpoints. Setting `uiextension` to `false` has no effect on the CRD -- it does not create a CRD if it does not yet exist, nor does it delete the CRD if it already exists. 
 - `unsupported-storage-drivers`: Enables types for storage providers and provisioners that aren't enabled by default. See [Allow Unsupported Storage Drivers](../../../how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/unsupported-storage-drivers.md) for more information.
+- `ui-sql-cache`: Enables a SQLite-based cache for UI tables. See [UI Server-Side Pagination](../../../how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/ui-server-side-pagination.md) for more information.
+

 The following table shows the availability and default values for some feature flags in Rancher. Features marked "GA" are generally available:

-| Feature Flag Name             | Default Value | Status       | Available As Of |
-| ----------------------------- | ------------- | ------------ | --------------- |
-| `continuous-delivery` | `true` | GA | v2.6.0 |
-| `fleet`  | `true` | Can no longer be disabled | v2.6.0 |
-| `fleet`  | `true` | GA | v2.5.0 |
-| `harvester` | `true` | Experimental | v2.6.1 |
-| `legacy` | `false` for new installs, `true` for upgrades | GA | v2.6.0 |
-| `rke1-custom-node-cleanup`| `true` | GA | v2.6.0 |
-| `rke2` | `true` | Experimental | v2.6.0 |
-| `token-hashing` | `false` for new installs, `true` for upgrades | GA | v2.6.0 |
+| Feature Flag Name             | Default Value | Status       | Available As Of | Additional Information |
+| ----------------------------- | ------------- | ------------ | --------------- | ---------------------- |
+| `continuous-delivery` | `true` | GA | v2.6.0 | |
+| `external-rules` | v2.7.14: `false`, v2.8.5: `true` | Removed | v2.7.14, v2.8.5 | This flag affected [external `RoleTemplate` behavior](../../../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#external-roletemplate-behavior). It is removed in Rancher v2.9.0 and later as the behavior is enabled by default. |
+| `fleet`  | `true` | Can no longer be disabled | v2.6.0 | |
+| `fleet`  | `true` | GA | v2.5.0 | |
+| `harvester` | `true` | Experimental | v2.6.1 | |
+| `legacy` | `false` for new installs, `true` for upgrades | GA | v2.6.0 | |
+| `rke1-custom-node-cleanup`| `true` | GA | v2.6.0 | |
+| `rke2` | `true` | Experimental | v2.6.0 | |
+| `token-hashing` | `false` for new installs, `true` for upgrades | GA | v2.6.0 | |
+| `uiextension` | `true` | GA | v2.9.0 |
+| `ui-sql-cache` | `false` | Highly experimental | v2.9.0 |
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ For information on enabling experimental features, refer to [this page.](../../.

 | Option                    | Default Value | Description                                                                        |
 | ------------------------- | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| `bootstrapPassword`       | " "           | `string` - Set the [bootstrap password](#bootstrap-password) for the first admin user. After logging in, the admin will need to reset their password. A randomly generated bootstrap password is used if this value is not set.
+| `bootstrapPassword`       | " "           | `string` - Set the [bootstrap password](#bootstrap-password) for the first admin user. After logging in, the admin should reset their password. A randomly generated bootstrap password is used if this value is not set.
 | `hostname`                | " "           | `string` - the Fully Qualified Domain Name for your Rancher Server                 |
 | `ingress.tls.source`      | "rancher"     | `string` - Where to get the cert for the ingress. - "rancher, letsEncrypt, secret" |
 | `letsEncrypt.email`       | " "           | `string` - Your email address                                                      |
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ For information on enabling experimental features, refer to [this page.](../../.
 | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | `additionalTrustedCAs`         | false                                                 | `bool` - See [Additional Trusted CAs](#additional-trusted-cas)                                                                                    |
 | `addLocal`                     | "true"                                                | `string` - Have Rancher detect and import the "local" (upstream) Rancher server cluster.  _Note: This option is no longer available in v2.5.0. Consider using the `restrictedAdmin` option to prevent users from modifying the local cluster._              |
+| `agentTLSMode`                 | ""                                                    | `string` - either `system-store` or `strict`. See [Agent TLS Enforcement](./tls-settings.md#agent-tls-enforcement) |
 | `antiAffinity`                 | "preferred"                                           | `string` - AntiAffinity rule for Rancher pods - "preferred, required"                                                                             |
 | `auditLog.destination`         | "sidecar"                                             | `string` - Stream to sidecar container console or hostPath volume - "sidecar, hostPath"                                                           |
 | `auditLog.hostPath`            | "/var/log/rancher/audit"                              | `string` - log file destination on host (only applies when `auditLog.destination` is set to `hostPath`)                                           |
@@ -67,19 +68,9 @@ For information on enabling experimental features, refer to [this page.](../../.

 ### Bootstrap Password

-When Rancher starts for the first time, a password is randomly generated for the first admin user. When the admin first logs in to Rancher, the UI shows commands that can be used to retrieve the bootstrap password. The admin needs to run those commands and log in with the bootstrap password. Then Rancher gives the admin an opportunity to reset the password.
+You can [set a specific bootstrap password](../resources/bootstrap-password.md) during Rancher installation. If you don't set a specific bootstrap password, Rancher randomly generates a password for the first admin account.

-If you want to use a specific bootstrap password instead of a randomly generated one, provide the password.
-
-```plain
--set bootstrapPassword="rancher"
-```
-
-The password, whether provided or generated, will be stored in a Kubernetes secret. After Rancher is installed, the UI will show instructions for how to retrieve the password using kubectl:
-
-```
-kubectl get secret --namespace cattle-system bootstrap-secret -o go-template='{{ .data.bootstrapPassword|base64decode}}{{ "\n" }}'
-```
+When you log in for the first time, use the bootstrap password you set to log in. If you did not set a bootstrap password, the Rancher UI shows commands that can be used to [retrieve the bootstrap password](../resources/bootstrap-password.md#retrieving-the-bootstrap-password). Run those commands and log in to the account. After you log in for the first time, you are asked to reset the admin password.

 ### API Audit Log

@@ -163,7 +154,7 @@ Rancher supports CIDR notation ranges in this list.

 When not including sensitive data, the `proxy` or `extraEnv` chart options can be used. When using `extraEnv` the `noProxy` Helm option is ignored. Therefore, the `NO_PROXY` environment variable must also be set with `extraEnv`.

-The following is an example of setting proxy using the `extraEnv` chart option:
+The following is an example of setting proxy using the `proxy` chart option:

 ```plain
 --set proxy="http://<proxy_url:proxy_port>/"
@@ -216,7 +207,7 @@ You may terminate the SSL/TLS on a L7 load balancer external to the Rancher clus

 :::note

-If you are using a Private CA signed certificate, add `--set privateCA=true` and see [Adding TLS Secrets - Using a Private CA Signed Certificate](../../../getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/resources/add-tls-secrets.md) to add the CA cert for Rancher.
+If you are using a Private CA signed certificate (or if `agent-tls-mode` is set to `strict`), add `--set privateCA=true` and see [Adding TLS Secrets - Using a Private CA Signed Certificate](../../../getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/resources/add-tls-secrets.md) to add the CA cert for Rancher. 

 :::

@@ -23,3 +23,82 @@ The default TLS configuration only accepts TLS 1.2 and secure TLS cipher suites.
 |-----|-----|-----|-----|
 | `CATTLE_TLS_MIN_VERSION` | Minimum TLS version | `1.2` | `1.0`, `1.1`, `1.2`, `1.3` |
 | `CATTLE_TLS_CIPHERS` | Allowed TLS cipher suites | `TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256`,<br/>`TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384`,<br/>`TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_CHACHA20_POLY1305`,<br/>`TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256`,<br/>`TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384`,<br/>`TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_CHACHA20_POLY1305` | See [Golang tls constants](https://golang.org/pkg/crypto/tls/#pkg-constants) |
+
+## Agent TLS Enforcement
+
+The `agent-tls-mode` setting controls how Rancher's agents (`cluster-agent`, `fleet-agent`, and `system-agent`) validate Rancher's certificate.
+
+When the value is set to `strict`, Rancher's agents only trust certificates generated by the Certificate Authority contained in the `cacerts` setting. 
+When the value is set to `system-store`, Rancher's agents trust any certificate generated by a public Certificate Authority contained in the operating system's trust store including those signed by authorities such as Let's Encrypt. This can be a security risk, since any certificate generated by these external authorities, which are outside the user's control, are considered valid in this state.
+
+While the `strict` option enables a higher level of security, it requires Rancher to have access to the CA which generated the certificate visible to the agents. In the case of certain certificate configurations (notably, external certificates), this is not automatic, and extra configuration is needed. See the [installation guide](../install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster/install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster.md#3-choose-your-ssl-configuration) for more information on which scenarios require extra configuration.
+
+In Rancher v2.9.0 and later, this setting defaults to `strict` on new installs. For users installing or upgrading from a prior Rancher version, it is set to `system-store`.
+
+### Preparing for the Setting Change
+
+Each cluster contains a condition in the status field called `AgentTlsStrictCheck`. If `AgentTlsStrictCheck` is set to `"True"`, this indicates that the agents for the cluster are ready to operate in `strict` mode. You can manually inspect each cluster to see if they are ready using the Rancher UI or a kubectl command such as the following:
+
+```bash
+## the below command skips ouputs $CLUSTER_NAME,$STATUS for all non-local clusters
+kubectl get cluster.management.cattle.io -o jsonpath='{range .items[?(@.metadata.name!="local")]}{.metadata.name},{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="AgentTlsStrictCheck")].status}{"\n"}{end}'
+```
+
+### Changing the Setting
+
+You can change the setting using the Rancher UI or the `agentTLSMode` [helm chart option](./helm-chart-options.md).
+
+:::note
+
+If you specify the value through the Helm chart, you may only modify the value with Helm.
+
+:::
+
+:::warning
+
+Depending on your cert setup, additional action may be required, such as uploading the Certificate Authority which signed your certs. Review the [installation guide](../install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster/install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster.md#3-choose-your-ssl-configuration) before changing the setting to see if any additional requirements apply to your setup.
+
+:::
+
+To change the setting's value through the UI, navigate to the **Global Settings** page, and find the `agent-tls-mode` setting near the bottom of the page. When you change the setting through the UI, Rancher first checks that all downstream clusters have the condition `AgentTlsStrictCheck` set to `"True"` before allowing the request. This prevents outages from a certificate mismatch.
+
+
+#### Overriding the Setting Validation Checks
+
+In some cases, you may want to override the check ensuring all agents can accept the new TLS configuration:
+
+:::warning
+
+Rancher checks the status of all downstream clusters to prevent outages. Overriding this check is not recommended, and should be done with great caution.
+
+:::
+
+1. As an admin, generate a kubeconfig for the local cluster. In the below examples, this was saved to the `local_kubeconfig.yaml` file.
+2. Retrieve the current setting and save it to `setting.yaml`:
+```bash
+kubectl get setting agent-tls-mode -o yaml --kubeconfig=local_kubeconfig.yaml > setting.yaml
+```
+3. Update the `setting.yaml` file, replacing `value` with `strict`. Adding the `cattle.io/force: "true"` annotation overrides the cluster condition check, and should only be done with great care:
+
+:::warning
+
+Including the `cattle.io/force` annotation with any value (including, for example `"false"`) overrides the cluster condition check.
+
+:::
+
+```yaml
+apiVersion: management.cattle.io/v3
+customized: false
+default: strict
+kind: Setting
+metadata:
+  name: agent-tls-mode
+  annotations:
+    cattle.io/force: "true"
+source: ""
+value: strict
+```
+4. Apply the new version of the setting:
+```bash
+kubectl apply -f setting.yaml --kubeconfig=local_kubeconfig.yaml
+```
@@ -216,6 +216,14 @@ Each node used should have a static IP configured, regardless of whether you are

 To operate properly, Rancher requires a number of ports to be open on Rancher nodes and on downstream Kubernetes cluster nodes. [Port Requirements](port-requirements.md) lists all the necessary ports for Rancher and Downstream Clusters for the different cluster types.

+### Load Balancer Requirements
+
+If you use a load balancer, it should be be HTTP/2 compatible. 
+
+To receive help from SUSE Support, Rancher Prime customers who use load balancers (or any other middleboxes such as firewalls), must use one that is HTTP/2 compatible.
+
+When HTTP/2 is not available, Rancher falls back to HTTP/1.1. However, since HTTP/2 offers improved web application performance, using HTTP/1.1 can create performance issues. 
+
 ## Dockershim Support

 For more information on Dockershim support, refer to [this page](dockershim.md).
@@ -6,26 +6,63 @@ title: Setting up the Bootstrap Password
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password"/>
 </head>

-When Rancher starts for the first time, a password is randomly generated for the first admin user. When the admin first logs in to Rancher, the UI shows commands that can be used to retrieve the bootstrap password. The admin needs to run those commands and log in with the bootstrap password. Then Rancher gives the admin an opportunity to reset the password.
+When you install Rancher, you can set a bootstrap password for the first admin account.

-The bootstrap password is randomly generated if it is not set during installation with a variable. For details on how to set the bootstrap password using a variable, see below.
+If you choose not to set a bootstrap password, Rancher randomly generates a bootstrap password for the first admin account.

-### Specifying the Bootstrap Password in Helm Installs
+For details on how to set the bootstrap password, see below.

-For a Helm install, users can specify the bootstrap password variable by configuring it in the Helm chart values with `.Values.bootstrapPassword`.
+## Password Requirements

-The password will be stored in a Kubernetes secret. After Rancher is installed, the UI will show instructions for how to retrieve the password using kubectl:
+The bootstrap password can be any length.

+When you reset the first admin account's password after first login, the new password must be at least 12 characters long.
+
+You can [customize the minimum password length](../../../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/authentication-config/manage-users-and-groups.md#minimum-password-length) for user accounts, within limitations.
+
+Minimum password length can be any positive integer value between 2 and 256. Decimal values and leading zeroes are not allowed.
+
+## Specifying the Bootstrap Password
+
+<Tabs>
+<TabItem value="Helm">
+
+During [Rancher installation](../install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster/install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster.md), set `bootstrapPassword` alongside any other flags for the Rancher Helm chart. For example:
+
+```bash
+helm install rancher rancher-<chart-repo>/rancher \
+  --set bootstrapPassword=<password>
 ```
+
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="Docker">
+
+Pass the following value to the [Docker install command](../other-installation-methods/air-gapped-helm-cli-install/docker-install-commands.md):
+
+```bash
+-e CATTLE_BOOTSTRAP_PASSWORD=<password>
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+## Retrieving the Bootstrap Password
+
+The bootstrap password is stored in the Docker container logs. After Rancher is installed, the UI shows instructions for how to retrieve the password based on your installation method. 
+
+<Tabs>
+<TabItem value="Helm">
+
+```bash
 kubectl get secret --namespace cattle-system bootstrap-secret -o go-template='{{ .data.bootstrapPassword|base64decode}}{{ "\n" }}'
 ```

-### Specifying the Bootstrap Password in Docker Installs
-
-For a Docker install, you can specify the bootstrap password by passing `-e CATTLE_BOOTSTRAP_PASSWORD=password` to the Docker install command.
-
-The password will be stored in the Docker container logs. After Rancher is installed, the UI will show instructions for how to retrieve the password using the Docker container ID:
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="Docker">

+```bash
+docker logs container-id  2>&1 | grep "Bootstrap Password:"
 ```
-docker logs  container-id  2>&1 | grep "Bootstrap Password:"
-```
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ Rancher Server is distributed as a Docker image, which have tags attached to the
 | -------------------------- | ------ |
 | `rancher/rancher:latest`   | Our latest development release. These builds are validated through our CI automation framework. These releases are not recommended for production environments. |
 | `rancher/rancher:stable`   | Our newest stable release. This tag is recommended for production.                                                                                              |
-| `rancher/rancher:<v2.X.X>` | You can install specific versions of Rancher by using the tag from a previous release. See what's available at DockerHub.                                       |
+| `rancher/rancher:<v2.X.X>` | You can install specific versions of Rancher by using the tag from a previous release. See what's available at Docker Hub.                                       |

 :::note

@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ Repeat the below steps for each downstream cluster:

 ### 5. Force Update Fleet clusters to reconnect the fleet-agent to Rancher

-Select 'Force Update' for the clusters within the [Continuous Delivery](../../../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters/fleet.md#accessing-fleet-in-the-rancher-ui) view of the Rancher UI to allow the fleet-agent in downstream clusters to successfully connect to Rancher.
+Select 'Force Update' for the clusters within the [Continuous Delivery](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/overview.md#accessing-fleet-in-the-rancher-ui) view of the Rancher UI to allow the fleet-agent in downstream clusters to successfully connect to Rancher.

 #### Why is this step required?

@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ As a private CA is no longer being used, the `CATTLE_CA_CHECKSUM` environment va

 ### 5. Force Update Fleet clusters to reconnect the fleet-agent to Rancher

-Select 'Force Update' for the clusters within the [Continuous Delivery](../../../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters/fleet.md#accessing-fleet-in-the-rancher-ui) view of the Rancher UI to allow the fleet-agent in downstream clusters to successfully connect to Rancher.
+Select 'Force Update' for the clusters within the [Continuous Delivery](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/overview.md#accessing-fleet-in-the-rancher-ui) view of the Rancher UI to allow the fleet-agent in downstream clusters to successfully connect to Rancher.

 #### Why is this step required?

@@ -102,8 +102,6 @@ There is a [known issue](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/issues/25478) in whi

 ### Maintaining Availability for Applications During Upgrades

-_Available as of RKE v1.1.0_
-
 In [this section of the RKE documentation,](https://rancher.com/docs/rke/latest/en/upgrades/maintaining-availability/) you'll learn the requirements to prevent downtime for your applications when upgrading the cluster.

 ### Configuring the Upgrade Strategy in the cluster.yml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ The AWS module just creates an EC2 KeyPair, an EC2 SecurityGroup and an EC2 inst

    - `aws_access_key` - Amazon AWS Access Key
    - `aws_secret_key` - Amazon AWS Secret Key
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters)
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`. See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [AWS Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/aws) for more information.
 Suggestions include:
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ Deploying to Microsoft Azure will incur charges.
    - `azure_client_id` - Microsoft Azure Client ID
    - `azure_client_secret` - Microsoft Azure Client Secret
    - `azure_tenant_id` - Microsoft Azure Tenant ID
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters)
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`.
 See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [Azure Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/azure) for more information. Suggestions include:
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Deploying to DigitalOcean will incur charges.

 4. Edit `terraform.tfvars` and customize the following variables:
    - `do_token` - DigitalOcean access key
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters)
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`.
 See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [DO Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/do) for more information. Suggestions include:
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Deploying to Google GCP will incur charges.

 4. Edit `terraform.tfvars` and customize the following variables:
    - `gcp_account_json` - GCP service account file path and file name
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters)
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`.
 See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [GCP Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/gcp) for more information.
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ To install a specific Rancher version, use the `--version` flag (e.g., `--versio

 For Kubernetes v1.25 or later, set `global.cattle.psp.enabled` to `false` when using Rancher v2.7.2-v2.7.4. This is not necessary for Rancher v2.7.5 and above, but you can still manually set the option if you choose.

-Note the password requires a minimum of 12 characters.
+See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 ```
 helm install rancher rancher-latest/rancher \
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Deploying to Hetzner Cloud will incur charges.

 4. Edit `terraform.tfvars` and customize the following variables:
    - `hcloud_token` - Hetzner API access key
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters)
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`.
 See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [Hetzner Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/hcloud) for more information.
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Deploying to Linode will incur charges.

 4. Edit `terraform.tfvars` and customize the following variables:
    - `linode_token` - The Linode Personal Access Token mentioned above.
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters).
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`.
 See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [Linode Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/linode) for more information. Suggestions include:
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Deploying to Outscale will incur charges.
 4. Edit `terraform.tfvars` and customize the following variables:
    - `access_key_id` - Outscale access key
    - `secret_key_id` - Outscale secret key
-    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server (minimum 12 characters)
+    - `rancher_server_admin_password` - Admin password for created Rancher server. See [Setting up the Bootstrap Password](../../installation-and-upgrade/resources/bootstrap-password.md#password-requirements) for password requirments.

 5. **Optional:** Modify optional variables within `terraform.tfvars`.
 See the [Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart) and the [Outscale Quickstart Readme](https://github.com/rancher/quickstart/tree/master/rancher/outscale) for more information.
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ title: Rancher Prime
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/getting-started/quick-start-guides/deploy-rancher-manager/prime"/>
 </head>

-Rancher v2.7 introduces Rancher Prime, an evolution of the Rancher enterprise offering. Rancher Prime is a new edition of the commercial, enterprise offering built on the the same source code. Rancher’s product will therefore continue to be 100% open source with additional value coming in from security assurances, extended lifecycles, access to focused architectures and Kubernetes advisories. Rancher Prime will also offer options to get production support for innovative Rancher projects. With Rancher Prime, installation assets are hosted on a trusted registry owned and managed by Rancher.
+SUSE Rancher introduces Rancher Prime – an evolution of Rancher – from version v2.7. Rancher Prime is the new commercially available enterprise offering of Rancher, built on the same open source code. The Rancher project will continue to be 100% open source. Prime introduces additional value with greater security assurances, extended lifecycles, access to focused architectures and Kubernetes advisories. Rancher Prime will also offer options to get production support for innovative Rancher projects. With Rancher Prime, installation assets are hosted on a trusted registry owned and managed by Rancher.

 To get started with Rancher Prime, [go to this page](https://www.rancher.com/quick-start) and fill out the form.
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+title: Glossary
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/glossary"/>
+</head>
+
+This page covers Rancher-specific terminology and symbols which might be unfamiliar, or which differ between Rancher versions.
+
+```mdx-code-block
+import Glossary, {toc as GlossaryTOC} from "/shared-files/_glossary.md"
+
+<Glossary />
+
+export const toc = GlossaryTOC;
+```
@@ -28,14 +28,14 @@ spec:
  rkeConfig:
    machineGlobalConfig:
      audit-policy-file: |
-        apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1 
-        kind: Policy 
-        rules: 
-        - level: RequestResponse
-          resources:
-          - group: ""
-            resources: 
-            - pods
+        apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1
+        kind: Policy
+        rules:
+          - level: RequestResponse
+            resources:
+              - group: ""
+                resources:
+                  - pods
 ```

 ### Method 2: Use the Directives, `machineSelectorFiles` and `machineGlobalConfig`
@@ -36,12 +36,12 @@ The usage below defines rules about what the audit log should record and what da

 The following table displays what parts of API transactions are logged for each [`AUDIT_LEVEL`](#api-audit-log-options) setting.

-| `AUDIT_LEVEL` Setting | Request Metadata | Request Body | Response Metadata | Response Body |
-| --------------------- | ---------------- | ------------ | ----------------- | ------------- |
-| `0`                   |                  |              |                   |               |
-| `1`                   | ✓                |              |                   |               |
-| `2`                   | ✓                | ✓            |                   |               |
-| `3`                   | ✓                | ✓            | ✓                 | ✓             |
+| `AUDIT_LEVEL` Setting | Metadata | Request Body | Response Body |
+| --------------------- | -------- | ------------ | ------------- |
+| `0`                   |          |              |               |
+| `1`                   | ✓        |              |               |
+| `2`                   | ✓        | ✓            |               |
+| `3`                   | ✓        | ✓            | ✓             |

 ## Viewing API Audit Logs

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ title: Continuous Delivery
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/continuous-delivery"/>
 </head>

-[Fleet](../../../how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters/fleet.md) comes preinstalled in Rancher can't be fully disabled. However, the Fleet feature for GitOps continuous delivery may be disabled using the `continuous-delivery` feature flag.
+[Continuous Delivery with Fleet](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/fleet.md) comes preinstalled in Rancher and can't be fully disabled. However, the Fleet feature for GitOps continuous delivery may be disabled using the `continuous-delivery` feature flag.

 To enable or disable this feature, refer to the instructions on [the main page about enabling experimental features.](enable-experimental-features.md)

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+title: UI Server-Side Pagination
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-experimental-features/ui-server-side-pagination"/>
+</head>
+
+:::caution
+UI server-side pagination is not intended for use in production at this time. This feature is considered highly experimental. SUSE customers should consult SUSE Support before activating this feature.
+:::
+
+
+UI server-side pagination caching provides an optional SQLite-backed cache of Kubernetes objects to improve performance. This unlocks sorting, filtering and pagination features used by the UI to restrict the amount of resources it fetches and stores in browser memory. These features are primarily used to improve list performance for resources with high counts.
+
+This feature creates file system based caches in the `rancher` pods of the upstream cluster, and in the `cattle-cluster-agent` pods of the downstream clusters. In most environments, disk usage and I/O should not be significant. However, you should monitor activity after you enable caching.
+
+SQLite-backed caching persists copies of any cached Kubernetes objects to disk. See [Encrypting SQLite-backed Caching](#encrypting-sqlite-backed-caches) if this is a security concern.
+
+## Enabling UI Server-Side Pagination
+
+1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Global Settings > Feature Flags**.
+1. Find **`ui-sql-cache`** and select **⋮ > Activate > Activate**.
+1. Wait for Rancher to restart. This also restarts agents on all downstream clusters.
+1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Global Settings > Performance**.
+1. Go to **Server-side Pagination** and check the **Enable Server-side Pagination** option.
+1. Click **Apply**.
+1. Reload the page with the browser button (or the equivalent keyboard combination, typically `CTRL + R` on Windows and Linux, and `⌘ + R` on macOS).
+
+
+## Encrypting SQLite-backed Caches
+
+UI server-side pagination persists copies of any cached Kubernetes objects to disk. If you're concerned about the safety of this data, you can encrypt all objects before they are persisted to disk, by setting the environment variable `CATTLE_ENCRYPT_CACHE_ALL` to `true` in `rancher` pods in the upstream cluster and `cattle-cluster-agent` pods in the downstream clusters.
+
+Secrets and security Tokens are always encrypted regardless of the above setting.
+
+## Known Limitations of UI Server-Side Pagination
+
+This initial release improves the performance of Pods, Secrets, Nodes and ConfigMaps in the Cluster Explorer pages, and most resources in the Explorer's **More Resources** section.
+
+Pages can't be automatically refreshed. You can manually refresh table contents by clicking the **Refresh** button.
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+---
+title: Enabling User Retention
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-user-retention"/>
+</head>
+
+In Rancher v2.8.5 and later, you can enable user retention to automatically disable or delete inactive user accounts after a configurable time period.
+
+The user retention feature is off by default.
+
+## Enabling User Retention with kubectl
+
+To enable user retention, you must set `user-retention-cron`. You must also set at least one of  `disable-inactive-user-after` or `delete-inactive-user-after`. You can use `kubectl edit setting <name-of-setting>` to open your editor of choice and set these values.
+
+## Configuring Rancher to Delete Users, Disable Users, or Combine Operations
+
+Rancher uses two global user retention settings to determine if and when users are disabled or deleted after a certain period of inactivity. Disabled accounts must be re-enabled before users can log in again. If an account is deleted without being disabled, users may be able to log in through external authentication and the deleted account will be recreated.
+
+The global settings, `disable-inactive-user-after` and  `delete-inactive-user-after`, do not block one another from running. 
+
+For example, you can set both operations to run. If you give `disable-inactive-user-after` a shorter duration than `delete-inactive-user-after`, the user retention process disables inactive accounts before deleting them.
+
+You can also edit some user retention settings on a specific user's `UserAttribute`. Setting these values overrides the global settings. See [User-specific User Retention Overrides](#user-specific-user-retention-overrides) for more details.
+
+### Required User Retention Settings
+
+The following are global settings:
+
+- `user-retention-cron`: Describes how often the user retention process runs. The value is a cron expression (for example, `0 * * * *` for every hour).
+ - `disable-inactive-user-after`: The amount of time that a user account can be inactive before the process disables an account. Disabling an account forces the user to request that an administrator re-enable the account before they can log in to use it. Values are expressed in [time.Duration units](https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration) (for example, `720h` for 720 hours or 30 days). The value must be greater than `auth-user-session-ttl-minutes`, which is `16h` by default. If the value is not set, set to the empty string, or is equal to 0, the process does not disable any inactive accounts.
+- `delete-inactive-user-after`: The amount of time that a user account can be inactive before the process deletes the account. Values are expressed in time.Duration units (for example, `720h` for 720 hours or 30 days). The value must be greater than `auth-user-session-ttl-minutes`, which is `16h` by default. The value should be greater than `336h` (14 days), otherwise it is rejected by the Rancher webhook. If you need the value to be lower than 14 days, you can [bypass the webhook](../../reference-guides/rancher-webhook.md#bypassing-the-webhook). If the value is not set, set to the empty string, or is equal to 0, the process does not delete any inactive accounts.
+
+### Optional User Retention Settings
+
+The following are global settings:
+
+- `user-retention-dry-run`: If set to `true`, the user retention process runs without actually deleting or disabling any user accounts. This can help test user retention behavior before allowing the process to disable or delete user accounts in a production environment.
+- `user-last-login-default`: If a user does not have `UserAttribute.LastLogin` set on their account, this setting is used instead. The value is expressed as an [RFC 3339 date-time](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3339#section-5.6) truncated to the last second; for example, `2023-03-01T00:00:00Z`. If the value is set to the empty string or is equal to 0, this setting is not used.
+
+#### User-specific User Retention Overrides
+
+The following are user-specific overrides to the global settings for special cases. These settings are applied by editing the `UserAttribute` associated with a given account:
+
+```
+kubectl edit userattribute <user-name>
+```
+
+- `disableAfter`: The user-specific override for `disable-inactive-user-after`. The value is expressed in [time.Duration units](https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration) and truncated to the second. If the value is set to `0s` then the account won't be subject to disabling. 
+- `deleteAfter`: The user-specific override for `delete-inactive-user-after`. The value is expressed in [time.Duration units](https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration) and truncated to the second. If the value is set to `0s` then the account won't be subject to deletion.
+
+## Viewing User Retention Settings in the Rancher UI
+
+You can see which user retention settings are applied to which users. 
+
+1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Users & Authentication**.
+1. In the left navigation menu, select **Users**. 
+
+The **Disable After** and **Delete After** columns for each user account indicate how long the account can be inactive before it is disabled or deleted from Rancher. There is also a **Last Login** column roughly indicating when the account was last active. 
+
+The same information is available if you click a user's name in the **Users** table and select the **Detail** tab.
@@ -6,19 +6,21 @@ title: Generate and View Traffic from Istio
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/istio-setup-guide/generate-and-view-traffic"/>
 </head>

-This section describes how to view the traffic that is being managed by Istio.
-
 ## The Kiali Traffic Graph

-The Istio overview page provides a link to the Kiali dashboard. From the Kiali dashboard, you are able to view graphs for each namespace. The Kiali graph provides a powerful way to visualize the topology of your Istio service mesh. It shows you which services communicate with each other.
+The Istio overview page provides a link to the Kiali dashboard. From the Kiali dashboard, you can view graphs for each namespace. The Kiali graph provides a powerful way to visualize the topology of your Istio service mesh. It shows you which services communicate with each other.

-:::note Prerequisites:
+## Prerequisites

-To enable traffic to show up in the graph, ensure you have prometheus installed in the cluster. Rancher-istio installs Kiali configured by default to work with the rancher-monitoring chart. You can use rancher-monitoring or install your own monitoring solution. Optional: you can change configuration on how data scraping occurs by setting the [Selectors & Scrape Configs](../../../integrations-in-rancher/istio/configuration-options/selectors-and-scrape-configurations.md) options.
+To enable traffic to show up in the graph, ensure that you have Prometheus installed in the cluster. `Rancher-istio` installs Kiali, and configures it by default to work with the `rancher-monitoring` chart. You can use `rancher-monitoring` or install your own monitoring solution.

-:::
+Additionally, for Istio installations version `103.1.0+up1.19.6` and later, Kiali uses a token value for its authentication strategy. If you are trying to generate or retrieve the token (e.g. for login), note that the name of the Kiali service account in Rancher is `kiali`. For more information, refer to the [Kiali token authentication FAQ](https://kiali.io/docs/faq/authentication/).

-To see the traffic graph,
+Optional: You can configure which namespaces data scraping occurs in by setting the Helm chart options described in [Selectors & Scrape Configs](../../../integrations-in-rancher/istio/configuration-options/selectors-and-scrape-configurations.md).
+
+## Traffic Visualization
+
+To see the traffic graph follow the steps below:

 1. In the cluster where Istio is installed, click **Istio** in the left navigation bar.
 1. Click the **Kiali** link.
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Setup Guide
+title: Istio Setup Guides
 ---

 <head>
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ For more information about the default limits, see [this page.](../../../referen

 ### Enable Monitoring for use without SSL

-1.  Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
 1. Go to the cluster that you created and click **Explore**.
 1. Click **Cluster Tools** (bottom left corner).
 1. Click **Install** by Monitoring.
@@ -77,3 +77,79 @@ key.pfx=`base64-content`
 ```

 Then **Cert File Path** would be set to `/etc/alertmanager/secrets/cert.pem`.
+
+## Rancher Performance Dashboard
+
+When monitoring is installed on the upstream (local) cluster, you are given basic health metrics about the Rancher pods, such as CPU and memory data. To get advanced metrics for your local Rancher server, you must additionally enable the Rancher Performance Dashboard for Grafana.
+
+This dashboard provides access to the following advanced metrics:
+
+- Handler Average Execution Times Over Last 5 Minutes
+- Rancher API Average Request Times Over Last 5 Minutes
+- Subscribe Average Request Times Over Last 5 Minutes
+- Lasso Controller Work Queue Depth (Top 20)
+- Number of Rancher Requests (Top 20)
+- Number of Failed Rancher API Requests (Top 20)
+- K8s Proxy Store Average Request Times Over Last 5 Minutes (Top 20)
+- K8s Proxy Client Average Request Times Over Last 5 Minutes (Top 20)
+- Cached Objects by GroupVersionKind (Top 20)
+- Lasso Handler Executions (Top 20)
+- Handler Executions Over Last 2 Minutes (Top 20)
+- Total Handler Executions with Error (Top 20)
+- Data Transmitted by Remote Dialer Sessions (Top 20)
+- Errors for Remote Dialer Sessions (Top 20)
+- Remote Dialer Connections Removed (Top 20)
+- Remote Dialer Connections Added by Client (Top 20)
+
+:::note
+
+Profiling data (such as advanced memory or CPU analysis) is not present as it is a very context-dependent technique that's meant for debugging and not intended for normal observation.
+
+:::
+
+### Enabling the Rancher Performance Dashboard
+
+To enable the Rancher Performance Dashboard:
+
+<Tabs groupId="UIorCLI">
+<TabItem value="Helm">
+
+Use the following options with the Helm CLI:
+
+```bash
+--set extraEnv\[0\].name="CATTLE_PROMETHEUS_METRICS" --set-string extraEnv\[0\].value=true
+```
+
+You can also include the following snippet in your Rancher Helm chart's values.yaml file:
+
+```yaml
+extraEnv:
+  - name: "CATTLE_PROMETHEUS_METRICS"
+    value: "true"
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="UI">
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Go to the row of the `local` cluster and click **Explore**.
+1. Click **Workloads > Deployments**.
+1. Use the dropdown menu at the top to filter for **All Namespaces**.
+1. Under the `cattle-system` namespace, go to the `rancher` row and click **⋮ > Edit Config**
+1. Under **Environment Variables**, click **Add Variable**.
+1. For **Type**, select `Key/Value Pair`.
+1. For **Variable Name**, enter `CATTLE_PROMETHEUS_METRICS`.
+1. For **Value**, enter `true`.
+1. Click **Save** to apply the change.
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+### Accessing the Rancher Performance Dashboard
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Go to the row of the `local` cluster and click **Explore**.
+1. Click **Monitoring**
+1. Select the **Grafana** dashboard.
+1. From the sidebar, click **Search dashboards**.
+1. Enter `Rancher Performance Debugging` and select it.
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Configuration
+title: Monitoring Configuration Guides
 ---

 <head>
@@ -6,7 +6,17 @@ title: Opening Ports with firewalld
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/open-ports-with-firewalld"/>
 </head>

-> We recommend disabling firewalld. For Kubernetes 1.19.x and higher, firewalld must be turned off.
+:::danger
+
+Enabling firewalld can cause serious network communication problems. 
+
+For proper network function, firewalld must be disabled on systems running RKE2. [Firewalld conflicts with Canal](https://docs.rke2.io/known_issues#firewalld-conflicts-with-default-networking), RKE2's default networking stack.
+
+Firewalld must also be disabled on systems running Kubernetes 1.19 and later.
+
+If you enable firewalld on systems running Kubernetes 1.18 or earlier, understand that this may cause networking issues. CNIs in Kubernetes dynamically update iptables and networking rules independently of any external firewalls, such as firewalld. This can cause unexpected behavior when the CNI and the external firewall conflict.
+
+:::

 Some distributions of Linux [derived from RHEL,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux#Rebuilds) including Oracle Linux, may have default firewall rules that block communication with Helm.

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ title: Tuning etcd for Large Installations

 When Rancher is used to manage [a large infrastructure](../../getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/installation-requirements/installation-requirements.md) it is recommended to increase the default keyspace for etcd from the default 2 GB. The maximum setting is 8 GB and the host should have enough RAM to keep the entire dataset in memory. When increasing this value you should also increase the size of the host. The keyspace size can also be adjusted in smaller installations if you anticipate a high rate of change of pods during the garbage collection interval.

-The etcd data set is automatically cleaned up on a five minute interval by Kubernetes. There are situations, e.g. deployment thrashing, where enough events could be written to etcd and deleted before garbage collection occurs and cleans things up causing the keyspace to fill up. If you see `mvcc: database space exceeded` errors, in the etcd logs or Kubernetes API server logs, you should consider increasing the keyspace size. This can be accomplished by setting the [quota-backend-bytes](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.4.0/op-guide/maintenance/#space-quota) setting on the etcd servers.
+The etcd data set is automatically cleaned up on a five minute interval by Kubernetes. There are situations, e.g. deployment thrashing, where enough events could be written to etcd and deleted before garbage collection occurs and cleans things up causing the keyspace to fill up. If you see `mvcc: database space exceeded` errors, in the etcd logs or Kubernetes API server logs, you should consider increasing the keyspace size. This can be accomplished by setting the [quota-backend-bytes](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.5/op-guide/maintenance/#space-quota) setting on the etcd servers.

 ### Example: This snippet of the RKE cluster.yml file increases the keyspace size to 5GB

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ services:

 ## Scaling etcd disk performance

-You can follow the recommendations from [the etcd docs](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.4.0/tuning/#disk) on how to tune the disk priority on the host.
+You can follow the recommendations from [the etcd docs](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.5/tuning/#disk) on how to tune the disk priority on the host.

 Additionally, to reduce IO contention on the disks for etcd, you can use a dedicated device for the data and wal directory. Based on etcd best practices, mirroring RAID configurations are unnecessary because etcd replicates data between the nodes in the cluster. You can use striping RAID configurations to increase available IOPS.

@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ title: Node Drivers
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/about-provisioning-drivers/manage-node-drivers"/>
 </head>

-Node drivers are used to provision hosts, which Rancher uses to launch and manage Kubernetes clusters. A node driver is the same as a [Docker Machine driver](https://docs.docker.com/machine/drivers/). The availability of which node driver to display when creating node templates is defined based on the node driver's status. Only `active` node drivers will be displayed as an option for creating node templates. By default, Rancher is packaged with many existing Docker Machine drivers, but you can also create custom node drivers to add to Rancher.
+A node driver is the same as a [Docker Machine driver](https://docs.docker.com/machine/drivers/). Node drivers are used to provision hosts, which Rancher uses to launch and manage Kubernetes clusters. By default, Rancher is packaged with many node drivers, but you can also create and add custom node drivers to Rancher.

-If there are specific node drivers that you don't want to show to your users, you would need to de-activate these node drivers.
+Only `Active` node drivers are displayed in the Rancher UI when you create node templates. If there are specific node drivers that you don't want to show your users, you must deactivate these node drivers.

-#### Managing Node Drivers
+## Managing Node Drivers

 :::note Prerequisites:

@@ -21,17 +21,31 @@ To create, edit, or delete drivers, you need _one_ of the following permissions:

 :::

-## Activating/Deactivating Node Drivers
+### Activating/Deactivating Node Drivers

-By default, Rancher only activates drivers for the most popular cloud providers, Amazon EC2, Azure, DigitalOcean, Linode and vSphere. If you want to show or hide any node driver, you can change its status.
+By default, Rancher only activates drivers for the most popular cloud providers, such as Amazon EC2, Azure, DigitalOcean, Linode and vSphere. If you want to show or hide any node driver, you can change its status.

 1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1.  In the left navigation menu, click **Drivers**.
+1.	On the **Node Drivers** tab, select the driver that you wish to activate or deactivate and click **⋮ > Activate** or **⋮ > Deactivate**.

-2.  In the left navigation menu, click **Drivers**.
+:::danger 

-2.	On the **Node Drivers** tab, select the driver that you wish to activate or deactivate and click **⋮ > Activate** or **⋮ > Deactivate**.
+You can lose access to clusters after deactivating a node driver.

-## Adding Custom Node Drivers
+Deactivating a node driver doesn't just affect its visibility in the Rancher UI. When you deactivate or delete a node driver, any nodes deployed with that driver become inaccessible. 
+
+For example, if you deactivate a vSphere node driver to hide it in the UI, and you have a vSphere cluster that was deployed with that driver, the initial node in the cluster will fail, and the entire cluster will become inaccessible. Attempts to delete the vSphere nodes will fail, with nodes stuck in an extended `Removing` state.
+
+Before you deactivate a node driver, make sure that it has no associated clusters. One way to check is to see if the respective platform for a driver is listed among your clusters:
+
+1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Select **Clusters**.
+1. Check the **Provider** column of the table for instances of the node driver you are deactivating.
+
+:::
+
+### Adding Custom Node Drivers

 If you want to use a node driver that Rancher doesn't support out-of-the-box, you can add that provider's driver in order to start using them to create node templates and eventually node pools for your Kubernetes cluster.

@@ -40,6 +54,8 @@ If you want to use a node driver that Rancher doesn't support out-of-the-box, yo
 1. On **Node Drivers** tab, click **Add Node Driver**.
 1.	Complete the **Add Node Driver** form. Then click **Create**.

-### Developing your own node driver
+### Developing Your Own Node Drivers

-Node drivers are implemented with [Docker Machine](https://docs.docker.com/machine/).
+Node drivers are implemented with [Rancher Machine](https://github.com/rancher/machine), a fork of [Docker Machine](https://github.com/docker/machine). Docker Machine is no longer under active development.
+
+Refer to the original [Docker Machine documentation](https://github.com/docker/docs/blob/vnext-engine/machine/overview.md) for details on how to develop your own node drivers.
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: RKE Templates
+title: About RKE1 Templates
 ---

 <head>
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ This section focuses on how to use Terraform with the [Rancher 2 Terraform provi
 Terraform allows you to:

 - Define almost any kind of infrastructure-as-code, including servers, databases, load balancers, monitoring, firewall settings, and SSL certificates
- Leverage catalog apps and multi-cluster apps
 - Codify infrastructure across many platforms, including Rancher and major cloud providers
 - Commit infrastructure-as-code to version control
 - Easily repeat configuration and setup of infrastructure
@@ -21,20 +21,21 @@ The account used to enable the external provider will be granted admin permissio

 The Rancher authentication proxy integrates with the following external authentication services.

-| Auth Service                                                                                     |
-| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
-| [Microsoft Active Directory](configure-active-directory.md)  |
-| [GitHub](configure-github.md)                  |
-| [Microsoft Azure AD](configure-azure-ad.md)    |
-| [FreeIPA](configure-freeipa.md)                |
-| [OpenLDAP](../configure-openldap/configure-openldap.md)              |
+| Auth Service                                                                                                           |
+|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| [Microsoft Active Directory](configure-active-directory.md)                                                            |
+| [GitHub](configure-github.md)                                                                                          |
+| [Microsoft Azure AD](configure-azure-ad.md)                                                                            |
+| [FreeIPA](configure-freeipa.md)                                                                                        |
+| [OpenLDAP](../configure-openldap/configure-openldap.md)                                                                |
 | [Microsoft AD FS](../configure-microsoft-ad-federation-service-saml/configure-microsoft-ad-federation-service-saml.md) |
-| [PingIdentity](configure-pingidentity.md)     |
-| [Keycloak (OIDC)](configure-keycloak-oidc.md)  |
-| [Keycloak (SAML)](configure-keycloak-saml.md)  |
-| [Okta](configure-okta-saml.md)                      |
-| [Google OAuth](configure-google-oauth.md)            |
-| [Shibboleth](../configure-shibboleth-saml/configure-shibboleth-saml.md)           |
+| [PingIdentity](configure-pingidentity.md)                                                                              |
+| [Keycloak (OIDC)](configure-keycloak-oidc.md)                                                                          |
+| [Keycloak (SAML)](configure-keycloak-saml.md)                                                                          |
+| [Okta](configure-okta-saml.md)                                                                                         |
+| [Google OAuth](configure-google-oauth.md)                                                                              |
+| [Shibboleth](../configure-shibboleth-saml/configure-shibboleth-saml.md)                                                |
+| [Generic (OIDC)](configure-generic-oidc.md)                                                                            |

 However, Rancher also provides [local authentication](create-local-users.md).

@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ In most cases, you should use an external authentication service over local auth

 ## Users and Groups

-Rancher relies on users and groups to determine who is allowed to log in to Rancher and which resources they can access. When authenticating with an external provider, groups are provided from the external provider based on the user. These users and groups are given specific roles to resources like clusters, projects, multi-cluster apps, and global DNS providers and entries. When you give access to a group, all users who are a member of that group in the authentication provider will be able to access the resource with the permissions that you've specified. For more information on roles and permissions, see [Role Based Access Control](../manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac.md).
+Rancher relies on users and groups to determine who is allowed to log in to Rancher and which resources they can access. When authenticating with an external provider, groups are provided from the external provider based on the user. These users and groups are given specific roles to resources like clusters, projects, and global DNS providers and entries. When you give access to a group, all users who are a member of that group in the authentication provider will be able to access the resource with the permissions that you've specified. For more information on roles and permissions, see [Role Based Access Control](../manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac.md).

 :::note

@@ -62,6 +63,12 @@ After you configure Rancher to allow sign on using an external authentication se
 | Allow members of Clusters, Projects, plus Authorized Users and Organizations | Any user in the authorization service and any group added as a **Cluster Member** or **Project Member** can log in to Rancher. Additionally, any user in the authentication service or group you add to the **Authorized Users and Organizations** list may log in to Rancher. |
 | Restrict access to only Authorized Users and Organizations | Only users in the authentication service or groups added to the Authorized Users and Organizations can log in to Rancher. |

+:::warning 
+
+Only trusted admin-level users should have access to the local cluster, which manages all of the other clusters in a Rancher instance. Rancher is directly installed on the local cluster, and Rancher's management features allow admins on the local cluster to provision, modify, connect to, and view details about downstream clusters. Since the local cluster is key to a Rancher instance's architecture, inappropriate access carries security risks.
+
+:::
+
 To set the Rancher access level for users in the authorization service, follow these steps:

 1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Users & Authentication**.
@@ -133,7 +133,17 @@ Here are a few examples of permission combinations that satisfy Rancher's needs:

 :::

-#### 4. Copy Azure Application Data
+#### 4. Allow Public Client Flows
+
+To login from Rancher CLI you must allow public client flows:
+
+1. From the left navigation menu, select **Authentication**.
+
+1. Under **Advanced Settings**, select **Yes** on the toggle next to **Allow public client flows**.
+
+    ![Allow Public Client Flows](/img/azure-public-client-flows.png)
+
+#### 5. Copy Azure Application Data

 ![Application ID](/img/app-configuration.png)

@@ -167,7 +177,7 @@ Custom Endpoints are not tested or fully supported by Rancher.

 You'll also need to manually enter the Graph, Token, and Auth Endpoints.

- From <b>App registrations</b>, click <b>Endpoints</b>:
+- From **App registrations**, click **Endpoints**:

 ![Click Endpoints](/img/endpoints.png)

@@ -176,7 +186,7 @@ You'll also need to manually enter the Graph, Token, and Auth Endpoints.
  - **OAuth 2.0 token endpoint (v1)** (Token Endpoint)
  - **OAuth 2.0 authorization endpoint (v1)** (Auth Endpoint)

-#### 5. Configure Azure AD in Rancher
+#### 6. Configure Azure AD in Rancher

 To complete configuration, enter information about your AD instance in the Rancher UI.

@@ -188,7 +198,7 @@ To complete configuration, enter information about your AD instance in the Ranch

 1. Click **AzureAD**.

-1. Complete the **Configure Azure AD Account** form using the information you copied while completing [Copy Azure Application Data](#4-copy-azure-application-data).
+1. Complete the **Configure Azure AD Account** form using the information you copied while completing [Copy Azure Application Data](#5-copy-azure-application-data).

    :::caution

@@ -221,10 +231,15 @@ To complete configuration, enter information about your AD instance in the Ranch

    <code>http<span>s://g</span>raph.microsoft.com<del>/abb5adde-bee8-4821-8b03-e63efdc7701c</del></code>

+1. (Optional) In Rancher v2.9.0 and later, you can filter users' group memberships in Azure AD to reduce the amount of log data generated. See steps 4–5 of [Filtering Users by Azure AD Auth Group Memberships](#filtering-users-by-azure-ad-auth-group-memberships) for full instructions.
+
 1. Click **Enable**.

 **Result:** Azure Active Directory authentication is configured.

+#### (Optional) Configure Authentication with Multiple Rancher Domains
+
+If you have multiple Rancher domains, it's not possible to configure multiple redirect URIs through the Rancher UI. The Azure AD configuration file, `azuread`, only allows one redirect URI by default. You must manually edit `azuread` to set the redirect URI as needed for any other domains. If you don't manually edit `azuread`, then upon a successful login attempt to any domain, Rancher automatically redirects the user to the **Redirect URI** value you set when you registered the app in [Step 1. Register Rancher with Azure](#1-register-rancher-with-azure).

 ### Migrating from Azure AD Graph API to Microsoft Graph API

@@ -311,6 +326,29 @@ Endpoint         | https://login.partner.microsoftonline.cn/
 Graph Endpoint   | https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn
 Token Endpoint   | https://login.partner.microsoftonline.cn/{tenantID}/oauth2/v2.0/token

+## Filtering Users by Azure AD Auth Group Memberships
+
+In Rancher v2.9.0 and later, you can filter users' group memberships from Azure AD to reduce the amount of log data generated. If you did not filter group memberships during initial setup, you can still add filters on an existing Azure AD configuration.
+
+:::warning
+    
+Filtering out a user group membership affects more than just logging. 
+
+Since the filter prevents Rancher from seeing that the user belongs to an excluded group, it also does not see any permissions from that group. This means that excluding a group from the filter can have the side effect of denying users permissions they should have.
+
+:::
+
+1. In Rancher, in the top left corner, click **☰ > Users & Authentication**.
+
+1. In the left navigation menu, click **Auth Provider**.
+
+1. Click **AzureAD**.
+
+1. Click the checkbox next to **Limit users by group membership**.
+    
+1. Enter an [OData filter clause](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/odata/concepts/queryoptions-overview#filter) into the **Group Membership Filter** field. For example, if you want to limit logging to group memberships whose name starts with `test`, click the checkbox and enter `startswith(displayName,'test')`.
+
+![Adding a group membership filter to Azure AD](/img/auth-setup-azure-ad-filter.png)

 ## Deprecated Azure AD Graph API

@@ -325,4 +363,3 @@ Token Endpoint   | https://login.partner.microsoftonline.cn/{tenantID}/oauth2/v2
 >- If you don't wish to upgrade to v2.7.0+ after the Azure AD Graph API is retired, you'll need to either:
    - Use the built-in Rancher auth or
    - Use another third-party auth system and set that up in Rancher. Please see the [authentication docs](authentication-config.md) to learn how to configure other open authentication providers.
-
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+---
+title: Configure Generic OIDC
+description: Create an OpenID Connect (OIDC) client and configure Rancher to work with your authentication provider. Your users can then sign into Rancher using their login from the authentication provider.
+---
+
+<head> 
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/authentication-config/configure-generic-oidc"/>
+</head>
+
+If your organization uses an OIDC provider for user authentication, you can configure Rancher to allow login using Identity Provider (IdP) credentials. Rancher supports integration with the OpenID Connect (OIDC) protocol and the SAML protocol. Both implementations are functionally equivalent when used with Rancher. The following instructions describe how to configure Rancher to work using the OIDC protocol.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- In Rancher:
+  - Generic OIDC is disabled.
+
+:::note
+Consult the documentation for your specific IdP to complete the listed prerequisites.
+:::
+
+- In your IdP:
+  - Create a new client with the settings below:
+
+    Setting | Value
+    ------------|------------
+    `Client ID` | <CLIENT_ID> (e.g. `rancher`)
+    `Name` | <CLIENT_NAME> (e.g. `rancher`)
+    `Client Protocol` | `openid-connect`
+    `Access Type` | `confidential`
+    `Valid Redirect URI` | `https://yourRancherHostURL/verify-auth`
+
+  - In the new OIDC client, create mappers to expose the users fields.
+    - Create a new Groups Mapper with the settings below:
+
+      Setting | Value
+      ------------|------------
+      `Name` | `Groups Mapper`
+      `Mapper Type` | `Group Membership`
+      `Token Claim Name` | `groups`
+      `Add to ID token` | `OFF`
+      `Add to access token` | `OFF`
+      `Add to user info` | `ON`
+
+    - Create a new Client Audience with the settings below:
+
+      Setting | Value
+      ------------|------------
+      `Name` | `Client Audience`
+      `Mapper Type` | `Audience`
+      `Included Client Audience` | <CLIENT_NAME>
+      `Add to access token` | `ON`
+
+    - Create a new "Groups Path" with the settings below.
+
+      Setting | Value
+      ------------|------------
+      `Name` | `Group Path`
+      `Mapper Type` | `Group Membership`
+      `Token Claim Name` | `full_group_path`
+      `Full group path` | `ON`
+      `Add to user info` | `ON`
+
+- Important:  Rancher will use the value received in the "sub" claim to form the PrincipalID which is the unique identifier in Rancher.  It is important to make this a value that will be unique and immutable.
+
+## Configuring Generic OIDC in Rancher
+
+1. In the upper left corner of the Rancher UI, click **☰ > Users & Authentication**.
+1. In the left navigation bar, click **Auth Provider**.
+1. Select **Generic OIDC**.
+1. Complete the **Configure an OIDC account** form. For help with filling the form, see the [configuration reference](#configuration-reference).
+1. Click **Enable**.
+
+   Rancher will redirect you to the IdP login page. Enter your IdP credentials to validate your Rancher Keycloak configuration.
+
+   :::note
+
+   You may need to disable your popup blocker to see the IdP login page.
+
+   :::
+
+**Result:** Rancher is configured to work with your provider using the OIDC protocol. Your users can now sign into Rancher using their IdP logins.
+
+## Configuration Reference
+
+| Field                     | Description                                                                                                                                        |
+| ------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| Client ID                 | The Client ID of your OIDC client.                                                                                                               |
+| Client Secret             | The generated Secret of your OIDC client.                                                                                                        |
+| Private Key/Certificate | A key/certificate pair to create a secure shell between Rancher and your IdP. Required if HTTPS/SSL is enabled on your OIDC server.                |
+| Endpoints                 | Choose whether to use the generated values for the Rancher URL, Issue, and Auth Endpoint fields or to provide manual overrides if incorrect. |
+| Rancher URL               | The URL for your Rancher Server.                                                                                                                   |
+| Issuer                    | The URL of your IdP.  If your provider has discovery enabled, Rancher uses the Issuer URL to fetch all of the required URLs.                   |
+| Auth Endpoint             | The URL where users are redirected to authenticate.                                                                                                |
+## Troubleshooting
+
+If you are experiencing issues while testing the connection to the OIDC server, first double-check the configuration options of your OIDC client. You can also inspect the Rancher logs to help pinpoint what's causing issues. Debug logs may contain more detailed information about the error. Please refer to [How can I enable debug logging](../../../../faq/technical-items.md#how-can-i-enable-debug-logging) in this documentation.
+
+All Generic OIDC related log entries are prepended with either `[generic oidc]` or `[oidc]`.
+
+### You are not redirected to your authentication provider
+
+If you fill out the **Configure a Generic OIDC account** form and click on **Enable**, and you are not redirected to your IdP, verify your OIDC client configuration.
+
+### The generated `Issuer` and `Auth Endpoint` are incorrect
+
+If the `Issuer` and `Auth Endpoint` are generated incorrectly, open the **Configure an OIDC account** form, change **Endpoints** to `Specify (advanced)` and override the `Issuer` value.
+
+### Error: "Invalid grant_type"
+
+In some cases, the "Invalid grant_type" error message may be misleading and is actually caused by setting the `Valid Redirect URI` incorrectly.
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ You can integrate Okta with Rancher, so that authenticated users can access Ranc

    :::

-
 1. After you complete the **Configure Okta Account** form, click **Enable**.

    Rancher redirects you to the IdP login page. Enter credentials that authenticate with Okta IdP to validate your Rancher Okta configuration.
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ title: Users and Groups

 Rancher relies on users and groups to determine who is allowed to log in to Rancher and which resources they can access. When you configure an external authentication provider, users from that provider will be able to log in to your Rancher server. When a user logs in, the authentication provider will supply your Rancher server with a list of groups to which the user belongs.

-Access to clusters, projects, multi-cluster apps, and global DNS providers and entries can be controlled by adding either individual users or groups to these resources. When you add a group to a resource, all users who are members of that group in the authentication provider, will be able to access the resource with the permissions that you've specified for the group. For more information on roles and permissions, see [Role Based Access Control](../manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac.md).
+Access to clusters, projects, and global DNS providers and entries can be controlled by adding either individual users or groups to these resources. When you add a group to a resource, all users who are members of that group in the authentication provider, will be able to access the resource with the permissions that you've specified for the group. For more information on roles and permissions, see [Role Based Access Control](../manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac.md).

 ## Managing Members

@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ Since SAML does not support user lookup, SAML-based authentication providers do

 :::

+## Minimum Password Length
+
+By default, user passwords must be at least 12 characters long. However, you can customize the password length requirement:
+
+1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Global Settings**.
+1. Go to **`password-min-length`** and click **⋮ > Edit Setting**.
+1. Enter an integer value between 2 and 256, and click **Save**.
+
 ## Session Length

 The default length (TTL) of each user session is adjustable. The default session length is 16 hours.
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@ Within Rancher, each person authenticates as a _user_, which is a login that gra

 For more information how authorization works and how to customize roles, see [Roles Based Access Control (RBAC)](manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac.md).

+## User Retention
+
+In Rancher v2.8.5 and later, you can enable user retention. This feature automatically removes inactive users after a configurable period of time.
+
+The user retention feature is disabled by default.
+
+For more information, see [Enabling User Retention](../../advanced-user-guides/enable-user-retention.md).
+
 ## Pod Security Policies

 _Pod Security Policies_ (or PSPs) are objects that control security-sensitive aspects of pod specification, e.g. root privileges. If a pod does not meet the conditions specified in the PSP, Kubernetes will not allow it to start, and Rancher will display an error message.
@@ -82,4 +90,4 @@ The following features are available under **Global Configuration**:
 - **Global DNS Entries**
 - **Global DNS Providers**

-As these are legacy features, please see the Rancher v2.0—v2.4 docs on [catalogs](/versioned_docs/version-2.0-2.4/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/helm-charts-in-rancher.md), [global DNS entries](/versioned_docs/version-2.0-2.4/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/globaldns.md#adding-a-global-dns-entry), and [global DNS providers](/versioned_docs/version-2.0-2.4/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/globaldns.md#editing-a-global-dns-provider) for more details.
+As these are legacy features, please see the Rancher v2.0—v2.4 docs on [catalogs](/versioned_docs/version-2.0-2.4/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/helm-charts-in-rancher.md), [global DNS entries](/versioned_docs/version-2.0-2.4/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/globaldns.md#adding-a-global-dns-entry), and [global DNS providers](/versioned_docs/version-2.0-2.4/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/globaldns.md#editing-a-global-dns-provider) for more details.
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ This option replaces "Rancher" with the value you provide in most places. Files

 ### Support Links

-Use a url address to send new "File an Issue" reports instead of sending users to the Github issues page. Optionally show Rancher community support links.
+Use a url address to send new "File an Issue" reports instead of sending users to the GitHub issues page. Optionally show Rancher community support links.

 ### Logo

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+title: JSON Web Token (JWT) Authentication
+---
+<head> 
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/jwt-authentication"/>
+</head>
+
+Many 3rd party integrations available for Kubernetes, such as GitLab and HashiCorp Vault, involve giving an external process access to the Kubernetes API using a native Kubernetes Service Account token for authentication.
+
+In Rancher v2.9.0 and later, service accounts on downstream clusters can now authenticate through a JSON web token (JWT) using the Rancher authentication proxy. In Rancher versions earlier than  v2.9.0, only Rancher-issued tokens were supported.
+
+To enable this feature, follow these steps:
+
+1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Click **Advanced** to open the dropdown menu.
+1. Select **JWT Authentication**.
+1. Click the checkbox for the cluster you want to enable JWT authentication for, and click **Enable**. Alternatively, you can click **⋮** > **Enable**.
@@ -238,3 +238,9 @@ When you revoke the cluster membership for a standard user that's explicitly ass
 - Exercise any [individual project roles](#project-role-reference) they are assigned.

 If you want to completely revoke a user's access within a cluster, revoke both their cluster and project memberships.
+
+### External `RoleTemplate` Behavior
+
+In Rancher v2.9.0 and later, external `RoleTemplate` objects can only be created if the backing `ClusterRole` exists in the local cluster or the `ExternalRules` is set in your configuration.
+
+For context, the backing `ClusterRole` holds cluster rules and privileges, and shares the same `metadata.name` used in the `RoleTemplate` in your respective cluster referenced by the `ClusterRoleTemplateBinding/ProjectRoleTemplateBinding`. Additionally, note that `escalate` permissions on `RoleTemplates` are required to create external `RoleTemplates` with `ExternalRules`.
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Backups are created as .tar.gz files. These files can be pushed to S3 or Minio,

 :::note

-There is a known issue in Fleet that occurs after performing a restoration using the backup-restore-operator: Secrets used for clientSecretName and helmSecretName are not included in Fleet gitrepos. Refer [here](../deploy-apps-across-clusters/fleet.md#troubleshooting) for a workaround.
+There is a known issue in Fleet that occurs after performing a restoration using the backup-restore-operator: Secrets used for clientSecretName and helmSecretName are not included in Fleet gitrepos. Refer [here](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/overview.md#troubleshooting) for a workaround.

 :::

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Backups and Disaster Recovery
+title: Backup, Restore, and Disaster Recovery
 keywords: [rancher backup restore, rancher backup and restore, backup restore rancher, rancher backup and restore rancher]
 ---

@@ -8,14 +8,13 @@ title: Migrating Rancher to a New Cluster

 If you are migrating Rancher to a new Kubernetes cluster, you don't need to install Rancher on the new cluster first. If Rancher is restored to a new cluster with Rancher already installed, it can cause problems.

-
 ### Prerequisites

 These instructions assume that you have [created a backup](back-up-rancher.md) and  already installed a new Kubernetes cluster where Rancher will be deployed. The backup is specific to the Rancher application and can only migrate the Rancher application.

 :::caution

-It is required to use the same hostname that was set as the server URL in the first cluster. If not done, downstream clusters will show as unavailable in the cluster management page of the UI, and you won't be able to click inside the cluster or on the cluster's <b>Explore</b> button.
+You must use the same hostname that was set as the server URL in the original cluster. If you don't, downstream clusters will show as unavailable in the cluster management page of the UI, and you won't be able to click inside the cluster or on the cluster's **Explore** button.

 :::

@@ -25,7 +24,6 @@ Rancher can be installed on any Kubernetes cluster, including hosted Kubernetes

 Since Rancher can be installed on any Kubernetes cluster, you can use this backup and restore method to migrate Rancher from one Kubernetes cluster to any other Kubernetes cluster. This method *only* migrates Rancher-related resources and won't affect other applications on the cluster. Refer to the [support matrix](https://www.suse.com/lifecycle/) to identify which Kubernetes cluster types and versions are supported for your Rancher version.

-
 ### 1. Install the rancher-backup Helm chart

 Install the [`rancher-backup chart`](https://github.com/rancher/backup-restore-operator/tags):
@@ -54,31 +52,16 @@ Install the [`rancher-backup chart`](https://github.com/rancher/backup-restore-o

     The above assumes an environment with outbound connectivity to Docker Hub.

-     For an **air-gapped environment**, use the Helm value below to pull the `backup-restore-operator` image from your private registry when installing the rancher-backup Helm chart.
+     For an **air-gapped environment**, use the following Helm value to pull the `backup-restore-operator` image from your private registry when you install the rancher-backup Helm chart.

     ```bash
-     --set image.repository $REGISTRY/rancher/backup-restore-operator
+     --set image.repository <registry>/rancher/backup-restore-operator
     ```

     :::

 ### 2. Restore from backup using a Restore custom resource

-:::note Important:
-
-Kubernetes v1.22, available as an experimental feature of v2.6.3, does not support restoring from backup files containing CRDs with the apiVersion `apiextensions.k8s.io/v1beta1`. In v1.22, the default `resourceSet` in the rancher-backup app is updated to collect only CRDs that use `apiextensions.k8s.io/v1`. There are currently two ways to work around this issue:
-
-1. Update the default `resourceSet` to collect the CRDs with the apiVersion v1.
-1. Update the default `resourceSet` and the client to use the new APIs internally, with `apiextensions.k8s.io/v1` as the replacement.
-
-    :::note
-
-    When making or restoring backups for v1.22, the Rancher version and the local cluster's Kubernetes version should be the same. The Kubernetes version should be considered when restoring a backup since the supported apiVersion in the cluster and in the backup file could be different.
-
-    :::
-
-:::
-
 1. When using S3 object storage as the backup source for a restore that requires credentials, create a `Secret` object in this cluster to add the S3 credentials. The secret data must have two keys - `accessKey`, and `secretKey`, that contain the S3 credentials.

   The secret can be created in any namespace, this example uses the default namespace.
@@ -189,3 +172,9 @@ helm install rancher rancher-latest/rancher -n cattle-system -f rancher-values.y
 ```

 :::
+
+### 5. Redirect Traffic to the New Cluster
+
+After migration completes, update your DNS records and any load balancers, so that traffic is routed correctly to the migrated cluster. Remember that you must use the same hostname that was set as the server URL in the original cluster.
+
+Full instructions on how to redirect traffic to the migrated cluster differ based on your specific environment. Refer to your hosting provider's documentation for more details.
@@ -79,15 +79,20 @@ If you are using [local snapshots](./back-up-rancher-launched-kubernetes-cluster
    1. In the **Clusters** page, go to the cluster where you want to remove nodes.
    1. In the **Machines** tab, click **⋮ > Delete** on each node you want to delete. Initially, you will see the nodes hang in a `deleting` state, but once all etcd nodes are deleting, they will be removed together. This is due to the fact that Rancher sees all etcd nodes deleting and proceeds to "short circuit" the etcd safe-removal logic.

-1. After all etcd nodes are removed, add a new etcd node that you are planning to restore from.
+1. After all etcd nodes are removed, add the new etcd node that you are planning to restore from. Assign the new node the role of `all` (etcd, controlplane, and worker).

-    - For custom clusters, go to the **Registration** tab then copy and run the registration command on your node. If the node has previously been used in a cluster, [clean the node](../manage-clusters/clean-cluster-nodes.md#cleaning-up-nodes) first.
+    - If the node was previously in a cluster, [clean the node](../manage-clusters/clean-cluster-nodes.md#cleaning-up-nodes) first.
+    - For custom clusters, go to the **Registration** tab and check the box for `etcd, controlplane, and worker`. Then copy and run the registration command on your node.
    - For node driver clusters, a new node is provisioned automatically.

    At this point, Rancher will indicate that restoration from etcd snapshot is required.

 1. Restore from an etcd snapshot.

+    :::note
+    As the etcd node is a clean node, you may need to manually create the `/var/lib/rancher/<k3s/rke2>/server/db/snapshots/` path.
+    :::
+
    - For S3 snapshots, restore using the UI.
      1. Click the **Snapshots** tab to view the list of saved snapshots.
      1. Go to the snapshot you want to restore and click **⋮ > Restore**.
@@ -95,7 +100,15 @@ If you are using [local snapshots](./back-up-rancher-launched-kubernetes-cluster
      1. Click **Restore**.
    - For local snapshots, restore using the UI is **not** available.
      1. In the upper right corner, click **⋮ > Edit YAML**.
-      1. Define `spec.cluster.rkeConfig.etcdSnapshotRestore.name` as the filename of the snapshot on disk in `/var/lib/rancher/<k3s/rke2>/server/db/snapshots/`.
+      1. The example YAML below can be added under your `rkeConfig` to configure the etcd restore:
+
+      ```yaml
+        ...
+        rkeConfig:
+          etcdSnapshotRestore:
+            name: <string> # This field is required. Refers to the filename of the associated etcdsnapshot object.
+        ...
+      ```

 1. After restoration is successful, you can scale your etcd nodes back up to the desired redundancy.

@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
---
-title: Deploying Applications across Clusters
---
-
-<head>
-  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters"/>
-</head>
-
-Rancher offers several ways to deploy applications across clusters, depending on version.
-
-## Fleet
-
-Rancher v2.5 and later uses Fleet to deploy applications across clusters.
-
-Continuous Delivery with Fleet is GitOps at scale. For more information, refer to the [Fleet section](fleet.md).
-
-## Multi-cluster Apps
-
-In Rancher before v2.5, the multi-cluster apps feature was used to deploy applications across clusters. The multi-cluster apps feature is deprecated, but still available as a legacy feature.
-
-See the [multi-cluster app documentation](multi-cluster-apps.md) for more details.
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
---
-title: Continuous Delivery with Fleet
---
-
-<head>
-  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters/fleet"/>
-</head>
-
-Continuous Delivery with Fleet is GitOps at scale. Fleet is designed to manage up to a million clusters. It's also lightweight enough that it works great for a [single cluster](https://fleet.rancher.io/installation#default-install) too, but it really shines when you get to a [large scale.](https://fleet.rancher.io/installation#configuration-for-multi-cluster) By large scale we mean either a lot of clusters, a lot of deployments, or a lot of teams in a single organization.
-
-Fleet is a separate project from Rancher, and can be installed on any Kubernetes cluster with Helm.
-
-
-## Architecture
-
-For information about how Fleet works, see [this page.](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/architecture.md)
-
-## Accessing Fleet in the Rancher UI
-
-Fleet comes preinstalled in Rancher and is managed by the **Continous Delivery** option in the Rancher UI. For additional information on Continuous Delivery and other Fleet troubleshooting tips, refer [here](https://fleet.rancher.io/troubleshooting).
-
-Users can leverage continuous delivery to deploy their applications to the Kubernetes clusters in the git repository without any manual operation by following **gitops** practice.
-
-Follow the steps below to access Continuous Delivery in the Rancher UI:
-
-1. Click **☰ > Continuous Delivery**.
-
-1. Select your namespace at the top of the menu, noting the following:
-    - By default,`fleet-default` is selected which includes all downstream clusters that are registered through Rancher.
-    - You may switch to `fleet-local`, which only contains the `local` cluster, or you may create your own workspace to which you may assign and move clusters.
-    - You can then manage clusters by clicking on **Clusters** on the left navigation bar.
-
-1. Click on **Gitrepos** on the left navigation bar to deploy the gitrepo into your clusters in the current workspace.
-
-1. Select your [git repository](https://fleet.rancher.io/gitrepo-add) and [target clusters/cluster group](https://fleet.rancher.io/gitrepo-targets). You can also create the cluster group in the UI by clicking on **Cluster Groups** from the left navigation bar.
-
-1. Once the gitrepo is deployed, you can monitor the application through the Rancher UI.
-
-## Windows Support
-
-For details on support for clusters with Windows nodes, see [this page.](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/windows-support.md)
-
-
-## GitHub Repository
-
-The Fleet Helm charts are available [here.](https://github.com/rancher/fleet/releases/latest)
-
-
-## Using Fleet Behind a Proxy
-
-For details on using Fleet behind a proxy, see [this page.](../../../integrations-in-rancher/fleet/use-fleet-behind-a-proxy.md)
-
-## Helm Chart Dependencies
-
-In order for Helm charts with dependencies to deploy successfully, you must run a manual command (as listed below), as it is up to the user to fulfill the dependency list. If you do not do this and proceed to clone your repository and run `helm install`, your installation will fail because the dependencies will be missing.
-
-The Helm chart in the git repository must include its dependencies in the charts subdirectory. You must either manually run `helm dependencies update $chart` or run `helm dependencies build $chart` locally, then commit the complete charts directory to your git repository. Note that you will update your commands with the applicable parameters.
-
-## Troubleshooting
-
---
-* **Known Issue:** clientSecretName and helmSecretName secrets for Fleet gitrepos are not included in the backup nor restore created by the [backup-restore-operator](../backup-restore-and-disaster-recovery/back-up-rancher.md#1-install-the-rancher-backup-operator). We will update the community once a permanent solution is in place.
-
-* **Temporary Workaround:** <br/>
-By default, user-defined secrets are not backed up in Fleet. It is necessary to recreate secrets if performing a disaster recovery restore or migration of Rancher into a fresh cluster. To modify resourceSet to include extra resources you want to backup, refer to docs [here](https://github.com/rancher/backup-restore-operator#user-flow).
-
---
-
-## Documentation
-
-The Fleet documentation is at [https://fleet.rancher.io/.](https://fleet.rancher.io/)
@@ -1,179 +0,0 @@
---
-title: Multi-cluster Apps
---
-
-<head>
-  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/deploy-apps-across-clusters/multi-cluster-apps"/>
-</head>
-
-Typically, most applications are deployed on a single Kubernetes cluster, but there will be times you might want to deploy multiple copies of the same application across different clusters and/or projects. In Rancher, a _multi-cluster application_,  is an application deployed using a Helm chart across multiple clusters. With the ability to deploy the same application across multiple clusters, it avoids the repetition of the same action on each cluster, which could introduce user error during application configuration. With multi-cluster applications, you can customize to have the same configuration across all projects/clusters as well as have the ability to change the configuration based on your target project. Since multi-cluster application is considered a single application, it's easy to manage and maintain this application.
-
-Any Helm charts from a global catalog can be used to deploy and manage multi-cluster applications.
-
-After creating a multi-cluster application, you can program a global DNS entry to make it easier to access the application.
-
-## Prerequisites
-
-### Permissions
-
-To create a multi-cluster app in Rancher, you must have at least one of the following permissions:
-
- A [project-member role](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#project-roles) in the target cluster(s), which gives you the ability to create, read, update, and delete the workloads
- A [cluster owner role](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#cluster-roles) for the clusters(s) that include the target project(s)
-
-### Enable Legacy Features
-
-Because multi-cluster apps were deprecated and replaced with Fleet in Rancher v2.5, you will need to enable multi-cluster apps with a feature flag.
-
-1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Global Settings**.
-1. Click **Feature Flags**.
-1. Go to the `legacy` feature flag and click **Activate**.
-
-## Launching a Multi-Cluster App
-
-1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Multi-cluster Apps**.
-1. Click **Launch**.
-1. Find the application that you want to launch.
-1.  (Optional) Review the detailed descriptions, which are derived from the Helm chart's `README`.
-1. Under **Configuration Options** enter a **Name** for the multi-cluster application. By default, this name is also used to create a Kubernetes namespace in each [target project](#targets) for the multi-cluster application. The namespace is named as `<MULTI-CLUSTER_APPLICATION_NAME>-<PROJECT_ID>`.
-1. Select a **Template Version**.
-1. Complete the [multi-cluster applications specific configuration options](#multi-cluster-app-configuration-options) as well as the [application configuration options](#application-configuration-options).
-1. Select the **Members** who can [interact with the multi-cluster application](#members).
-1. Add any [custom application configuration answers](#overriding-application-configuration-options-for-specific-projects) that would change the configuration for specific project(s) from the default application configuration answers.
-1. Review the files in the **Preview** section. When you're satisfied, click **Launch**.
-
-**Result**: Your application is deployed to your chosen namespace. You can view the application status from the project's:
-
-## Multi-cluster App Configuration Options
-
-Rancher has divided the configuration option for the multi-cluster application into several sections.
-
-### Targets
-
-In the **Targets** section, select the projects that you want the application to be deployed in. The list of projects is based on what projects you have access to. For each project that you select, it will be added to the list, which shows the cluster name and project name that were selected. To remove a target project, click on **-**.
-
-### Upgrades
-
-In the **Upgrades** section, select the upgrade strategy to use, when you decide to upgrade your application.
-
-* **Rolling Update (batched):** When selecting this upgrade strategy, the number of applications upgraded at a time is based on the selected **Batch size** and the **Interval** specifies how many seconds to wait before starting the next batch of updates.
-
-* **Upgrade all apps simultaneously:** When selecting this upgrade strategy, all applications across all projects will be upgraded at the same time.
-
-### Roles
-
-In the **Roles** section, you define the role of the multi-cluster application. Typically, when a user [launches catalog applications](../helm-charts-in-rancher/helm-charts-in-rancher.md), that specific user's permissions are used for creation of all workloads/resources that is required by the app.
-
-For multi-cluster applications, the application is deployed by a _system user_ and is assigned as the creator of all underlying resources. A _system user_ is used instead of the actual user due to the fact that the actual user could be removed from one of the target projects. If the actual user was removed from one of the projects, then that user would no longer be able to manage the application for the other projects.
-
-Rancher will let you select from two options for Roles, **Project** and **Cluster**. Rancher will allow creation using any of these roles based on the user's permissions.
-
- **Project** - This is the equivalent of a [project member](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#project-roles). If you select this role, Rancher will check that in all the target projects, the user has minimally the [project member](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#project-roles) role. While the user might not be explicitly granted the _project member_ role, if the user is an [administrator](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/global-permissions.md), a [cluster owner](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#cluster-roles), or a [project owner](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#project-roles), then the user is considered to have the appropriate level of permissions.
-
- **Cluster** - This is the equivalent of a [cluster owner](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#cluster-roles). If you select this role, Rancher will check that in all the target projects, the user has minimally the [cluster owner](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/cluster-and-project-roles.md#project-roles) role. While the user might not be explicitly granted the _cluster owner_ role, if the user is an [administrator](../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/global-permissions.md), then the user is considered to have the appropriate level of permissions.
-
-When launching the application, Rancher will confirm if you have these permissions in the target projects before launching the application.
-
-:::note
-
-There are some applications like _Grafana_ or _Datadog_ that require access to specific cluster-scoped resources. These applications will require the _Cluster_ role. If you find out later that the application requires cluster roles, the multi-cluster application can be upgraded to update the roles.
-
-:::
-
-## Application Configuration Options
-
-For each Helm chart, there are a list of desired answers that must be entered in order to successfully deploy the chart. When entering answers, you must format them using the syntax rules found in [Using Helm: The format and limitations of –set](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/using_helm/#the-format-and-limitations-of---set), as Rancher passes them as `--set` flags to Helm.
-
-:::note Example
-
-When entering an answer that includes two values separated by a comma (i.e. `abc, bcd`), it is required to wrap the values with double quotes (i.e., ``"abc, bcd"``).
-
-:::
-
-### Using a questions.yml file
-
-If the Helm chart that you are deploying contains a `questions.yml` file, Rancher's UI will translate this file to display an easy to use UI to collect the answers for the questions.
-
-### Key Value Pairs for Native Helm Charts
-
-For native Helm charts (i.e., charts from the **Helm Stable** or **Helm Incubator** catalogs or a custom Helm chart repository, answers are provided as key value pairs in the **Answers** section. These answers are used to override the default values.
-
-### Members
-
-By default, multi-cluster applications can only be managed by the user who created it. In the **Members** section, other users can be added so that they can also help manage or view the multi-cluster application.
-
-1. Find the user that you want to add by typing in the member's name in the **Member** search box.
-
-2. Select the **Access Type** for that member. There are three access types for a multi-cluster project, but due to how the permissions of a multi-cluster application are launched, please read carefully to understand what these access types mean.
-
-    - **Owner**: This access type can manage any configuration part of the multi-cluster application including the template version, the [multi-cluster applications specific configuration options](#Multi-cluster App Configuration Options), the [application specific configuration options](#application-configuration-options), the members who can interact with the multi-cluster application and the [custom application configuration answers](#overriding-application-configuration-options-for-specific-projects). Since a multi-cluster application is created with a different set of permissions from the user, any _owner_ of the multi-cluster application can manage/remove applications in [target projects](#targets) without explicitly having access to these project(s). Only trusted users should be provided with this access type.
-
-    - **Member**: This access type can only modify the template version, the [application specific configuration options](#application-configuration-options) and the [custom application configuration answers](#overriding-application-configuration-options-for-specific-projects). Since a multi-cluster application is created with a different set of permissions from the user, any _member_ of the multi-cluster application can modify the application without explicitly having access to these project(s). Only trusted users should be provided with this access type.
-
-    - **Read-only**: This access type cannot modify any configuration option for the multi-cluster application. Users can only view these applications.
-
-    :::caution
-
-    Please ensure only trusted users are given _Owner_ or _Member_ access as they will automatically be able to manage applications created for this multi-cluster application in target projects they might not have direct access to.
-
-    :::
-
-### Overriding Application Configuration Options for Specific Projects
-
-The ability to use the same configuration to deploy the same application across multiple clusters/projects is one of the main benefits of multi-cluster applications. There might be a specific project that requires a slightly different configuration option, but you want to manage that application with all the other matching applications. Instead of creating a brand new application, you can override specific [application specific configuration options](#application-configuration-options) for specific projects.
-
-1. In the **Answer Overrides** section, click **Add Override**.
-
-2. For each override, you can select the following:
-
-    - **Scope**: Select which target projects you want to override the answer in the configuration option.
-
-    - **Question**: Select which question you want to override.
-
-    - **Answer**: Enter the answer that you want to be used instead.
-
-## Upgrading Multi-Cluster App Roles and Projects
-
- **Changing Roles on an existing Multi-Cluster app**
-The creator and any users added with the access-type "owner" to a multi-cluster app, can upgrade its Roles. When adding a new Role, we check if the user has that exact role in all current target projects. These checks allow the same relaxations for global admins, cluster owners and project-owners as described in the installation section for the field `Roles`.
-
- **Adding/Removing target projects**
-1. The creator and any users added with access-type "owner" to a multi-cluster app, can add or remove its target projects. When adding a new project, we check if the caller of this request has all Roles defined on multi-cluster app, in the new projects they want to add. The roles checks are again relaxed for global admins, cluster-owners and project-owners.
-2. We do not do these membership checks when removing target projects. This is because the caller's permissions could have with respect to the target project, or the project could have been deleted and hence the caller wants to remove it from targets list.
-
-
-## Multi-Cluster Application Management
-
-One of the benefits of using a multi-cluster application as opposed to multiple individual applications of the same type, is the ease of management. Multi-cluster applications can be cloned, upgraded or rolled back.
-
-:::note Prerequisite:
-
-The `legacy` feature flag needs to be enabled.
-
-:::
-
-1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Multi-cluster Apps**.
-
-2. Choose the multi-cluster application you want to take one of these actions on and click the **⋮**. Select one of the following options:
-
-   * **Clone**: Creates another multi-cluster application with the same configuration. By using this option, you can easily duplicate a multi-cluster application.
-   * **Upgrade**: Upgrade your multi-cluster application to change some part of the configuration. When performing an upgrade for multi-cluster application, the [upgrade strategy](#upgrades) can be modified if you have the correct [access type](#members).
-   * **Rollback**: Rollback your application to a specific version. If after an upgrade, there are issues for your multi-cluster application for one or more of your [targets](#targets), Rancher has stored up to 10 versions of the multi-cluster application. Rolling back a multi-cluster application reverts the application for **all** target clusters and projects, not just the targets(s) affected by the upgrade issue.
-
-## Deleting a Multi-Cluster Application
-
-:::note Prerequisite:
-
-The `legacy` feature flag needs to be enabled.
-
-:::
-
-1. In the upper left corner, click **☰ > Multi-cluster Apps**.
-
-2. Choose the multi-cluster application you want to delete and click the **⋮ > Delete**. When deleting the multi-cluster application, all applications and namespaces are deleted in all of the target projects.
-
-   :::note
-
-   The applications in the target projects, that are created for a multi-cluster application, cannot be deleted individually. The applications can only be deleted when the multi-cluster application is deleted.
-
-   :::
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ To display prerelease versions:
 | rancher-logging | 100.0.0+up3.12.0 | 100.1.2+up3.17.4 |
 | rancher-longhorn | 100.0.0+up1.1.2 | 100.1.2+up1.2.4 |
 | rancher-monitoring | 100.0.0+up16.6.0 | 100.1.2+up19.0.3 |
-| rancher-sriov (experimental) | 100.0.0+up0.1.0 | 100.0.3+up0.1.0 |
+| rancher-sriov<sup>[1](#sriov-chart-deprecation-and-migration)</sup> | 100.0.0+up0.1.0 | 100.0.3+up0.1.0 |
 | rancher-vsphere-cpi | 100.3.0+up1.2.1 | 100.3.0+up1.2.1 |
 | rancher-vsphere-csi | 100.3.0+up2.5.1-rancher1 | 100.3.0+up2.5.1-rancher1 |
 | rancher-wins-upgrader | 0.0.100 | 100.0.1+up0.0.1 |
@@ -163,10 +163,37 @@ spec:

 :::

+### Add Custom OCI Chart Repositories
+
+:::caution
+
+This feature is currently experimental and is not officially supported in Rancher.
+
+:::
+
+Helm v3 introduced storing Helm charts as [Open Container Initiative (OCI)](https://opencontainers.org/about/overview/) artifacts in container registries. With Rancher v2.9.0, you can add [OCI-based Helm chart repositories](https://helm.sh/docs/topics/registries/) alongside HTTP-based and Git-based repositories. This means you can deploy apps that are stored as OCI artifacts. For more information, see [Using OCI Helm Chart Repositories](./oci-repositories.md).
+
 ### Helm Compatibility

 Only Helm 3 compatible charts are supported.

+### Refresh Chart Repositories
+
+The **Refresh** button can be used to sync changes from selected Helm chart repositories on the **Repositories** page.
+
+To refresh a chart repository:
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Find the name of the cluster whose repositories you want to access. Click **Explore** at the end of the cluster's row.
+1. In the left navigation menu on the **Cluster Dashboard**, click **Apps > Repositories**.
+1. Use the toggle next to the **State** field to select all repositories, or toggle specified chart repositories to sync changes.
+1. Click **Refresh**.
+1. The **⋮** at the end of each chart repository row also includes a **Refresh** option, which can be clicked to refresh the respective repository.
+
+Non-Airgap Rancher installations upon refresh will reflect any chart repository changes immediately and you will see the **State** field for updated repositories move from `In Progress` to `Active` once the action is completed.
+
+Airgap installations where Rancher is configured to use the packaged copy of Helm system charts ([`useBundledSystemChart=true`](../../../getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/other-installation-methods/air-gapped-helm-cli-install/install-rancher-ha.md#helm-chart-options-for-air-gap-installations)) will only refer to the [system-chart](https://github.com/rancher/system-charts) repository that comes bundled and will not be able to be refreshed or synced.
+
 ## Deploy and Upgrade Charts

 To install and deploy a chart:
@@ -212,6 +239,31 @@ To upgrade legacy multi-cluster apps:
 1. Click **☰**. 
 1. Under **Legacy Apps**, click **Multi-cluster Apps**.

+### Chart-Specific Information
+
+#### sriov Chart Deprecation and Migration
+
+The `sriov` (SR-IOV network operator) chart from the Rancher Charts repository is deprecated and will be removed in Rancher v2.10. Please migrate to the `sriov-network-operator` chart from the SUSE Edge repository (https://github.com/suse-edge/charts) instead.
+
+To migrate, follow these steps:
+
+1. Add the SUSE Edge repository to your cluster by following the steps in [Add Custom Git Repositories](#add-custom-git-repositories).
+1. For the **Git Repo URL** field, enter `https://github.com/suse-edge/charts`.
+1. Click **Create**.
+1. In the left navigation menu on the **Cluster Dashboard**, click **Apps > Charts**.
+1. Find the `sriov-network-operator` chart and click on it.
+1. Click **Install**.
+1. In the **Name** field, enter the same name you used for your existing `sriov` chart installation.
+1. Click **Next**.
+1. Click **Install**.
+
+**Result:** Rancher redirects to the **Installed Apps** page where your existing installation enters the **Updating** state. The migration is complete when it enters the **Deployed** state.
+
 ## Limitations

-Dashboard apps or Rancher feature charts can't be installed using the Rancher CLI.
+- Dashboard apps or Rancher feature charts can't be installed using the Rancher CLI.
+
+- When determining the most recent version to display for the **Upgradable** column on the **Apps > Installed Apps** page, rather than only considering versions of the Helm chart from the repository it was installed from, Rancher considers versions of the Helm chart from all repositories on the cluster.
+
+  For example, suppose you install `cert-manager` v1.13.0 from repository A, where v1.14.0 is now the most recent version available. In this case, you expect **Upgradable** to display v1.14.0. However, if the cluster also has access to repository B where v1.15.0 of `cert-manager` is available, then **Upgradable** displays v1.15.0 even though the original installation used repository A.
+  
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+---
+title: Using OCI-Based Helm Chart Repositories
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/helm-charts-in-rancher/oci-registries"/>
+</head>
+
+:::caution
+
+This feature is currently experimental and is not officially supported in Rancher.
+
+:::
+
+Helm v3 introduced storing Helm charts as [Open Container Initiative (OCI)](https://opencontainers.org/about/overview/) artifacts in container registries. With Rancher v2.9.0, you can add [OCI-based Helm chart repositories](https://helm.sh/docs/topics/registries/) alongside HTTP-based and Git-based repositories. This means that you can deploy apps that are stored as OCI artifacts.
+
+## Add an OCI-Based Helm Chart Repository
+
+To add an OCI-based Helm chart repository through the Rancher UI:
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+2. Find the name of the cluster whose repositories you want to access. Click **Explore** at the end of the cluster's row.
+3. In the left navigation bar, select **Apps > Repositories**.
+4. Click **Create**.
+5. Enter a **Name** for the registry. Select **OCI Repository** as the target.
+6. Enter the **OCI Repository Host URL** for the registry. The registry endpoint must not contain anything besides OCI Helm Chart artifacts. The artifacts should all have unique names. If you attempt to add an endpoint that contains any other kinds of files or artifacts, the OCI repository will not be added. 
+  
+  :::note
+  
+  You can use the **OCI URL** field to fine-tune how many charts from the registry are available for installation on Rancher. More generic endpoints target more charts, as the following examples demonstrate:
+
+    - `oci://<registry-host>`: Every chart in the registry becomes available for installation, regardless of namespace or tag.
+    - `oci://<registry-host>/<namespace>`: Every chart in the specified namespace within the registry becomes available for installation.
+    - `oci://<registry-host>/<namespace>/<chart-name>`: Only the specified chart and any associated tags or versions of that chart become available for installation.
+    - `oci://<registry-host>/<namespace>/<chart-name>:<tag>`: Only the chart with the specified tag becomes available for installation.
+  
+  :::
+
+7. Set up authentication. Select **Basicauth** from the authentication field and enter a username and password as required. Otherwise, create or select an **Authentication** secret. See [Authentication](#authentication-for-oci-based-helm-chart-repositories) for a full description.
+8. (optional) Enter a base64 encoded DER certificate in the **CA Cert Bundle** field. This field is for cases where you have a private OCI-based Helm chart repository and need Rancher to trust its certificates.   
+9. (optional) To allow insecure connections without performing an SSL check, select **Skip TLS Verification**. To force Rancher to use HTTP instead of HTTPS to send requests to the repository, select **Insecure Plain Http**.
+10. (optional) If your repository has a rate limiting policy and may respond with status code `429 Too Many Requests`, you may want to fill out the fields under **Exponential Back Off**:
+    - **Min Wait**: The minimum duration in seconds that Rancher should wait before retrying. The default is 1 second.
+    - **Max Wait**: The maximum duration in seconds that Rancher should wait before retrying. The default is 5 second.
+    - **Max Number of Retries**: The default is 5 retries.
+
+    Once these values are set, Rancher responds to the `429` status code by staggering requests based on the minimum and maximum wait values. The wait time between retries increases exponentially, until Rancher has sent the maximum number of retries set. See [Rate Limiting](#rate-limiting-of-oci-based-helm-chart-repositories) for more details.
+11. Add any labels and annotations.
+12. Click **Create**.
+
+It may take some time for the OCI repository to activate. This is particularly true if the OCI endpoint contains multiple namespaces. 
+
+## Authentication for OCI-Based Helm Chart Repositories
+
+Rancher supports BasicAuth for OCI registries. You must create a [**BasicAuth** Kubernetes secret](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/#basic-authentication-secret). You can also [create the secret through the Rancher UI](../kubernetes-resources-setup/secrets.md). 
+
+
+The CRD that is linked to the OCI-based Helm repository is `ClusterRepo`.
+
+## View Helm Charts in OCI-Based Helm Chart Repositories
+
+To view Helm charts in the OCI-based Helm chart repository after it achieves an `Active` state:
+
+1. Click **☰**. Under **Explore Cluster** in the left navigation menu, select a cluster.
+1. Click **Apps > Charts**.
+1. Select the OCI-based Helm chart repository from the dropdown.
+
+## Refresh an OCI-Based Helm Chart Repository
+
+Rancher automatically refreshes the OCI-based Helm chart repository every 6 hours. 
+
+If you need to update immediately, you can [perform a manual refresh](../helm-charts-in-rancher/helm-charts-in-rancher.md#refresh-chart-repositories).
+
+## Update an OCI-Based Helm Chart Repository Configuration
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Find the name of the cluster whose repositories you want to access. Click **Explore** at the end of the cluster's row.
+1. In the left navigation bar, select **Apps > Repositories**.
+1. Find the row associated with the OCI-based Helm chart repository, and click **⋮**.
+1. From the submenu, select **Edit Config**.
+
+## Delete an OCI-Based Helm Chart Repository
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Find the name of the cluster whose repositories you want to access. Click **Explore** at the end of the cluster's row.
+1. In the left navigation bar, select **Apps > Repositories**.
+1. Select the row associated with the OCI-based Helm chart repository, and click **Delete**.
+
+## Size Limitations of OCI-Based Helm Chart Repositories in Rancher
+
+Due to security concerns, there are limitations on how large of a Helm chart you can deploy through an OCI-based repository, and how much metadata you can use to describe the Helm charts within a single OCI endpoint.
+
+Rancher can deploy OCI Helm charts up to 20 MB in size.
+
+## Rate Limiting of OCI-Based Helm Chart Repositories
+
+Different OCI registries implement rate limiting in different ways. 
+
+Most servers return a `Retry-After` header, indicating how long to wait before rate limiting is lifted. 
+
+Docker Hub returns a `429` status code when it completes all allocated requests. It also returns a `RateLimit-Remaining` header which describes the rate limiting policy. 
+
+Rancher currently checks for the `Retry-After` header. It also handles Docker Hub-style responses (status code `429` and the `RateLimit-Remaining` header) and automatically waits before making a new request. When handling `Retry-After` or Docker Hub-style responses, Rancher ignores `ExponentialBackOff` values. 
+
+If you have an OCI-based Helm chart repository which doesn't implement the `Retry-After` or `RateLimit-Remaining` headers, and think you may be rate-limited at some point, fill out the fields under **Exponential Back Off** when you add the repository. 
+
+For example, if you have an OCI-based Helm chart repository that doesn't return a `Retry-After` header, but you know that the server allows 50 requests in 24 hours, you can provide Rancher a **Min Wait** value of **86400** seconds, a **Max Wait** value of **90000** seconds, and a **Max Number of Retries** value of **1**. Then, if Rancher gets rate limited by the server, Rancher will wait for 24 hours before trying again. The request should succeed as Rancher hasn't sent any other requests in the previous 24 hours.
+
+## Troubleshooting OCI-based Helm Registries
+
+- To enhance logging information, [enable the debug option](../../../troubleshooting/other-troubleshooting-tips/logging.md#kubernetes-install) while deploying Rancher.
+
+- If there is any discrepancy between the repository contents and Rancher, you should refresh the cluster repository as a first resort. If the discrepancy persists, delete the OCI-based Helm chart repository from Rancher and add it again. Deleting the repository won't delete any Helm charts that are already installed.
+
+- Apps installed through OCI-based Helm chart repositories are subject to a known issue with how Rancher displays upgradeable version information. See the [Limitations](./helm-charts-in-rancher.md#limitations) section of **Helm Charts and Apps** for more details.
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 ---
-title: Don't have infrastructure for your Kubernetes cluster? Try one of these tutorials.
+title: Infrastructure Setup
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/infrastructure-setup"/>
 </head>

-To set up infrastructure for a high-availability K3s Kubernetes cluster with an external DB, refer to [this page.](ha-k3s-kubernetes-cluster.md)
+Don't have infrastructure for your Kubernetes cluster? Try one of these tutorials.

+To set up infrastructure for a high-availability K3s Kubernetes cluster with an external database, refer to [this page.](ha-k3s-kubernetes-cluster.md)

 To set up infrastructure for a high-availability RKE Kubernetes cluster, refer to [this page.](ha-rke1-kubernetes-cluster.md)
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 ---
-title: "Don't have a Kubernetes cluster? Try one of these tutorials."
+title: Setting up a Kubernetes Cluster for Rancher Server
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/kubernetes-cluster-setup"/>
 </head>

+Don't have a Kubernetes cluster? Try one of these tutorials.
+
 This section contains information on how to install a Kubernetes cluster that the Rancher server can be installed on.

 Rancher can run on any Kubernetes cluster.
@@ -49,5 +49,5 @@ number of nodes for each Kubernetes role, refer to the section on [recommended a

 ### Networking

-* Minimize network latency. Rancher recommends minimizing latency between the etcd nodes. The default setting for `heartbeat-interval` is `500`, and the default setting for `election-timeout` is `5000`. These [settings for etcd tuning](https://coreos.com/etcd/docs/latest/tuning.html) allow etcd to run in most networks (except really high latency networks).
+* Minimize network latency. Rancher recommends minimizing latency between the etcd nodes. The default setting for `heartbeat-interval` is `500`, and the default setting for `election-timeout` is `5000`. These [settings for etcd tuning](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.5/tuning/) allow etcd to run in most networks (except really high latency networks).
 * Cluster nodes should be located within a single region. Most cloud providers provide multiple availability zones within a region, which can be used to create higher availability for your cluster. Using multiple availability zones is fine for nodes with any role. If you are using [Kubernetes Cloud Provider](../set-up-cloud-providers/set-up-cloud-providers.md) resources, consult the documentation for any restrictions (i.e. zone storage restrictions).
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ The number of nodes that you can lose at once while maintaining cluster availabi

 References:

-* [Official etcd documentation on optimal etcd cluster size](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.4.0/faq/#what-is-failure-tolerance)
+* [Official etcd documentation on optimal etcd cluster size](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.5/faq/#what-is-failure-tolerance)
 * [Official Kubernetes documentation on operating etcd clusters for Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/configure-upgrade-etcd/)

 ### Number of Worker Nodes
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Setting up Kubernetes Clusters in Rancher
+title: Kubernetes Clusters in Rancher Setup
 description: Provisioning Kubernetes Clusters
 ---

@@ -0,0 +1,211 @@
+---
+title: Migrating Azure In-tree to Out-of-tree
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/migrate-to-an-out-of-tree-cloud-provider/migrate-to-out-of-tree-azure"/>
+</head>
+
+Kubernetes is moving away from maintaining cloud providers in-tree.
+
+Starting with Kubernetes 1.29, in-tree cloud providers have been disabled. You must disable `DisableCloudProviders` and `DisableKubeletCloudCredentialProvider` to use the in-tree Azure cloud provider or migrate from in-tree cloud provider to out-of-tree provider. You can disable the required feature gates by setting `feature-gates=DisableCloudProviders=false` as an additional argument for the cluster's Kubelet, Controller Manager, and API Server in the advanced cluster configuration. Additionally, set `DisableKubeletCloudCredentialProvider=false` in the Kubelet's arguments to enable in-tree functionality for authenticating to Azure container registries for image pull credentials. See [upstream docs](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/117503) for more details.
+
+In Kubernetes v1.30 and later, the in-tree cloud providers have been removed. Rancher allows you to upgrade to Kubernetes v1.30 when you migrate from an in-tree to out-of-tree provider.
+
+To migrate from the in-tree cloud provider to the out-of-tree Azure cloud provider, you must stop the existing cluster's kube controller manager and install the Azure cloud controller manager.
+
+If it's acceptable to have some downtime during migration, follow the instructions to [set up an external cloud provider](../set-up-cloud-providers/azure.md#using-the-out-of-tree-azure-cloud-provider). These instructions outline how to configure the out-of-tree cloud provider for a newly provisioned cluster. During set up, there will be some downtime, as there is a time gap between when the old cloud provider stops running and when the new cloud provider starts to run.
+
+If your setup can't tolerate any control plane downtime, you must enable leader migration. This facilitates a smooth transition from the controllers in the kube controller manager to their counterparts in the cloud controller manager.
+
+:::note Important:
+The Kubernetes [cloud controller migration documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/controller-manager-leader-migration/#before-you-begin) states that it's possible to migrate with the same Kubernetes version, but assumes that the migration is part of a Kubernetes upgrade. Refer to the Kubernetes documentation on [migrating to use the cloud controller manager](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/controller-manager-leader-migration/) to see if you need to customize your setup before migrating. Confirm your [migration configuration values](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/controller-manager-leader-migration/#default-configuration). If your cloud provider provides an implementation of the Node IPAM controller, you also need to [migrate the IPAM controller](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/controller-manager-leader-migration/#node-ipam-controller-migration).
+
+Starting with Kubernetes v1.26, in-tree persistent volume types `kubernetes.io/azure-disk` and `kubernetes.io/azure-file` are deprecated and no longer supported. There are no plans to remove these drivers following their deprecation, however you should migrate to the corresponding CSI drivers, `disk.csi.azure.com` and `file.csi.azure.com`. To review the migration options for your storage classes and upgrade your cluster to use Azure Disks and Azure Files CSI drivers, see [Migrate from in-tree to CSI drivers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/csi-migrate-in-tree-volumes).
+:::
+
+<Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
+<TabItem value="RKE2">
+
+1. Update the cluster config to enable leader migration:
+
+```yaml
+spec:
+  rkeConfig:
+    machineSelectorConfig:
+      - config:
+          kube-controller-manager-arg:
+            - enable-leader-migration
+        machineLabelSelector:
+          matchExpressions:
+            - key: rke.cattle.io/control-plane-role
+              operator: In
+              values:
+                - 'true'
+```
+
+Note that the cloud provider is still `azure` at this step:
+
+```yaml
+spec:
+  rkeConfig:
+    machineGlobalConfig:
+      cloud-provider-name: azure
+```
+
+2. Cordon control plane nodes so that Azure cloud controller pods run on nodes only after upgrading to the external cloud provider:
+
+```shell
+kubectl cordon -l "node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane=true"
+```
+
+3. To deploy the Azure cloud controller manager, use any of the available options: 
+- UI: Follow steps 1-10 of [Helm chart installation from UI](../set-up-cloud-providers/azure.md#helm-chart-installation-from-ui) to install the cloud controller manager chart.
+- CLI: Follow steps 1-4 of [Helm chart installation from CLI](../set-up-cloud-providers/azure.md#helm-chart-installation-from-cli).
+- Update the cluster's additional manifest: Follow steps 2-3 to [install the cloud controller manager chart](../set-up-cloud-providers/azure.md#using-the-out-of-tree-azure-cloud-provider).
+
+Confirm that the chart is installed but that the new pods aren't running yet due to cordoned controlplane nodes.
+
+4. To enable leader migration, add `--enable-leader-migration` to the container arguments of `cloud-controller-manager`:
+
+```shell 
+kubectl -n kube-system patch deployment cloud-controller-manager \
+--type=json \
+-p='[{"op": "add", "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/args/-", "value": "--enable-leader-migration"}]'
+```
+
+5. Update the provisioning cluster to change the cloud provider and remove leader migration args from the kube controller manager.
+   If upgrading the Kubernetes version, set the Kubernetes version as well in the `spec.kubernetesVersion` section of the cluster YAML file.
+
+```yaml
+spec:
+  rkeConfig:
+    machineGlobalConfig:
+      cloud-provider-name: external
+```
+
+Remove `enable-leader-migration` from the kube controller manager:
+
+```yaml
+spec:
+  rkeConfig:
+    machineSelectorConfig:
+      - config:
+          kube-controller-manager-arg:
+            - enable-leader-migration
+        machineLabelSelector:
+          matchExpressions:
+            - key: rke.cattle.io/control-plane-role
+              operator: In
+              values:
+                - 'true'
+```
+
+6. Uncordon control plane nodes so that Azure cloud controller pods now run on nodes:
+
+```shell
+kubectl uncordon -l "node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane=true"
+```
+
+7. Update the cluster. The `cloud-controller-manager` pods should now be running.
+
+```shell
+kubectl rollout status deployment -n kube-system cloud-controller-manager
+kubectl rollout status daemonset -n kube-system cloud-node-manager
+```
+
+8. The cloud provider is responsible for setting the ProviderID of the node. Check if all nodes are initialized with the ProviderID:
+
+```shell
+kubectl describe nodes | grep "ProviderID"
+```
+
+9. (Optional) You can also disable leader migration after the upgrade, as leader migration is not required with only one cloud-controller-manager.
+    Update the `cloud-controller-manager` deployment to remove leader migration from the container arguments:
+
+```yaml
+- --enable-leader-migration=true 
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+
+<TabItem value="RKE">
+
+1. Update the cluster config to enable leader migration in `cluster.yml`:
+
+```yaml
+services:
+  kube-controller:
+    extra_args:
+      enable-leader-migration: "true"
+```
+
+Note that the cloud provider is still `azure` at this step:
+
+```yaml
+cloud_provider:
+  name: azure
+```
+
+2. Cordon the control plane nodes, so that Azure cloud controller pods run on nodes only after upgrading to the external cloud provider:
+
+```shell
+kubectl cordon -l "node-role.kubernetes.io/controlplane=true"
+```
+
+3. To install the Azure cloud controller manager, follow the same steps as when installing Azure cloud provider on a new cluster:
+- UI: Follow steps 1-10 of [Helm chart installation from UI](../set-up-cloud-providers/azure.md#helm-chart-installation-from-ui) to install the cloud controller manager chart.
+- CLI: Follow steps 1-4 of [Helm chart installation from CLI](../set-up-cloud-providers/azure.md#helm-chart-installation-from-cli) to install the cloud controller manager chart.
+
+4. Confirm that the chart is installed but that the new pods aren't running yet due to cordoned controlplane nodes. After updating the cluster in the next step, RKE will upgrade and uncordon each node, and schedule `cloud-controller-manager` pods.
+
+5. To enable leader migration, add `--enable-leader-migration` to the container arguments of `cloud-controller-manager`:
+
+```shell 
+kubectl -n kube-system patch deployment cloud-controller-manager \
+--type=json \
+-p='[{"op": "add", "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/args/-", "value": "--enable-leader-migration"}]'
+```
+
+6. Update `cluster.yml` to change the cloud provider to `external` and remove the leader migration arguments from the kube-controller.
+
+```yaml
+rancher_kubernetes_engine_config:
+  cloud_provider:
+    name: external
+```
+
+Remove `enable-leader-migration` if you don't want it enabled in your cluster:
+
+```yaml
+services:
+  kube-controller:
+    extra_args:
+      enable-leader-migration: "true"
+```
+
+7. If you're upgrading the cluster's Kubernetes version, set the Kubernetes version as well.
+
+8. Update the cluster. The `cloud-controller-manager` pods should now be running. 
+
+```shell
+kubectl rollout status deployment -n kube-system cloud-controller-manager
+kubectl rollout status daemonset -n kube-system cloud-node-manager
+```
+
+9. The cloud provider is responsible for setting the ProviderID of the node. Verify that all nodes are initialized with the ProviderID:
+
+```shell
+kubectl describe nodes | grep "ProviderID"
+```
+
+10. (Optional) You can also disable leader migration after the upgrade, as leader migration is not required with only one cloud-controller-manager.
+    Update the `cloud-controller-manager` deployment to remove leader migration from the container arguments:
+
+```yaml
+- --enable-leader-migration=true 
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: Migrating vSphere In-tree to Out-of-tree
+title: Migrating VMware vSphere In-tree to Out-of-tree
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/migrate-to-an-out-of-tree-cloud-provider/migrate-to-out-of-tree-vsphere"/>
 </head>

-Kubernetes is moving away from maintaining cloud providers in-tree. vSphere has an out-of-tree cloud provider that can be used by installing the vSphere cloud provider and cloud storage plugins.
+Kubernetes is moving away from maintaining cloud providers in-tree. VMware vSphere has an out-of-tree cloud provider that can be used by installing the vSphere cloud provider and cloud storage plugins.

 This page covers how to migrate from the in-tree vSphere cloud provider to out-of-tree, and manage the existing VMs post migration.

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ Regarding CPU and memory, it is recommended that the different planes of Kuberne

 For hardware recommendations for large Kubernetes clusters, refer to the official Kubernetes documentation on [building large clusters.](https://kubernetes.io/docs/setup/best-practices/cluster-large/)

-For hardware recommendations for etcd clusters in production, refer to the official [etcd documentation.](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.4.0/op-guide/hardware/)
+For hardware recommendations for etcd clusters in production, refer to the official [etcd documentation.](https://etcd.io/docs/v3.5/op-guide/hardware/)

 ## Networking Requirements

@@ -184,9 +184,7 @@ To prevent issues when upgrading, the [Kubernetes upgrade best practices](https:

 ## Authorized Cluster Endpoint Support for RKE2 and K3s Clusters

-_Available as of v2.6.3_
-
-Authorized Cluster Endpoint (ACE) support has been added for registered RKE2 and K3s clusters. This support includes manual steps you will perform on the downstream cluster to enable the ACE. For additional information on the authorized cluster endpoint, click [here](../manage-clusters/access-clusters/authorized-cluster-endpoint.md).
+Rancher supports Authorized Cluster Endpoints (ACE) for registered RKE2 and K3s clusters. This support includes manual steps you will perform on the downstream cluster to enable the ACE. For additional information on the authorized cluster endpoint, click [here](../manage-clusters/access-clusters/authorized-cluster-endpoint.md).

 :::note Notes:

@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ Refer to the offical AWS upstream documentation for the [cloud controller manage
 <Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
 <TabItem value="RKE2">

-Official upstream docs for [Helm chart installation](https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-aws/tree/master/charts/aws-cloud-controller-manager) can be found on Github.
+Official upstream docs for [Helm chart installation](https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-aws/tree/master/charts/aws-cloud-controller-manager) can be found on GitHub.

 1. Add the Helm repository:

@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ kubectl rollout status daemonset -n kube-system aws-cloud-controller-manager

 <TabItem value="RKE">

-Official upstream docs for [Helm chart installation](https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-aws/tree/master/charts/aws-cloud-controller-manager) can be found on Github.
+Official upstream docs for [Helm chart installation](https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-aws/tree/master/charts/aws-cloud-controller-manager) can be found on GitHub.

 1. Add the Helm repository:

@@ -737,7 +737,7 @@ nodeSelector:
 10. Install the chart and confirm that the Daemonset `aws-cloud-controller-manager` deploys successfully:

 ```shell
-kubectl rollout status daemonset -n kube-system aws-cloud-controller-manager
+kubectl rollout status deployment -n kube-system aws-cloud-controller-manager
 ```

 </TabItem>
@@ -6,6 +6,17 @@ title: Setting up the Azure Cloud Provider
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/set-up-cloud-providers/azure"/>
 </head>

+:::note Important:
+
+In Kubernetes 1.30 and later, you must use an out-of-tree Azure cloud provider. The Azure cloud provider has been [removed completely](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122857), and won't work after an upgrade to Kubernetes 1.30. The steps listed below are still required to set up an Azure cloud provider. You can [set up an out-of-tree cloud provider](#using-the-out-of-tree-azure-cloud-provider) after completing the prerequisites for Azure.
+
+You can also [migrate from an in-tree to an out-of-tree Azure cloud provider](../migrate-to-an-out-of-tree-cloud-provider/migrate-to-out-of-tree-azure.md) on Kubernetes 1.29 and earlier. All existing clusters must migrate prior to upgrading to v1.30 in order to stay functional.
+
+Starting with Kubernetes 1.29, in-tree cloud providers have been disabled. You must disable `DisableCloudProviders` and `DisableKubeletCloudCredentialProvider` to use the in-tree Azure cloud provider. You can do this by setting `feature-gates=DisableCloudProviders=false` as an additional argument for the cluster's Kubelet, Controller Manager, and API Server in the advanced cluster configuration. Additionally, set `DisableKubeletCloudCredentialProvider=false` in the Kubelet's arguments to enable in-tree functionality for authenticating to Azure container registries for image pull credentials. See [upstream docs](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/117503) for more details.
+
+Starting with Kubernetes version 1.26, in-tree persistent volume types `kubernetes.io/azure-disk` and `kubernetes.io/azure-file` are deprecated and will no longer be supported. For new clusters, [install the CSI drivers](#installing-csi-drivers), or migrate to the corresponding CSI drivers `disk.csi.azure.com` and `file.csi.azure.com` by following the [upstream migration documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/csi-migrate-in-tree-volumes).
+:::
+
 When using the `Azure` cloud provider, you can leverage the following capabilities:

 - **Load Balancers:** Launches an Azure Load Balancer within a specific Network Security Group.
@@ -76,12 +87,15 @@ Only hosts expected to be load balancer back ends need to be in this group.

 ## RKE2 Cluster Set-up in Rancher

+:::note Important: 
+This section is valid only for creating clusters with the in-tree cloud provider. 
+::: 
+
 1. Choose "Azure" from the Cloud Provider drop-down in the Cluster Configuration section.

-1. * Supply the Cloud Provider Configuration. Note that Rancher will automatically create a new Network Security Group, Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, and Virtual Network. If you already have some or all of these created, you will need to specify them before creating the cluster.
-   * You can click on "Show Advanced" to see more of these automatically generated names and update them if
-   necessary. Your Cloud Provider Configuration **must** match the fields in the Machine Pools section. If you have multiple pools, they must all use the same Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, Virtual Network, and Network Security Group.
-   * An example is provided below. You will modify it as needed.
+2. Supply the Cloud Provider Configuration. Note that Rancher automatically creates a new Network Security Group, Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, and Virtual Network. If you already have some or all of these created, you must specify them before creating the cluster.
+   * Click **Show Advanced** to view or edit these automatically generated names. Your Cloud Provider Configuration **must** match the fields in the **Machine Pools** section. If you have multiple pools, they must all use the same Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, Virtual Network, and Network Security Group.
+   * An example is provided below. Modify it as needed.

   <details id="v2.6.0-cloud-provider-config-file">
     <summary>Example Cloud Provider Config</summary>
@@ -110,6 +124,492 @@ Only hosts expected to be load balancer back ends need to be in this group.

    </details>

-1. Under the **Cluster Configuration > Advanced** section, click **Add** under **Additional Controller Manager Args** and add this flag: `--configure-cloud-routes=false`
+3. Under the **Cluster Configuration > Advanced** section, click **Add** under **Additional Controller Manager Args** and add this flag: `--configure-cloud-routes=false`

-1. Click the **Create** button to submit the form and create the cluster.
+4. Click **Create** to submit the form and create the cluster.
+
+## Cloud Provider Configuration
+
+Rancher automatically creates a new Network Security Group, Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, and Virtual Network. If you already have some or all of these created, you will need to specify them before creating the cluster. You can check **RKE1 Node Templates** or **RKE2 Machine Pools** to view or edit these automatically generated names.
+
+**Refer to the full list of configuration options in the [upstream docs](https://cloud-provider-azure.sigs.k8s.io/install/configs/).**
+
+:::note 
+1. `useInstanceMetadata` must be set to `true` for the cloud provider to correctly configure `providerID`.
+2. `excludeMasterFromStandardLB` must be set to `false` if you need to add nodes labeled `node-role.kubernetes.io/master` to the backend of the Azure Load Balancer (ALB).
+3. `loadBalancerSku` can be set to `basic` or `standard`. Basic SKU will be deprecated in September 2025. Refer to the [Azure upstream docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/public-ip-basic-upgrade-guidance#basic-sku-vs-standard-sku) for more information.
+:::
+
+Azure supports reading the cloud config from Kubernetes secrets. The secret is a serialized version of the azure.json file. When the secret is changed, the cloud controller manager reconstructs itself without restarting the pod. It is recommended for the Helm chart to read the Cloud Provider Config from the secret.
+
+Note that the chart reads the Cloud Provider Config from a given secret name in the `kube-system` namespace. Since Azure reads Kubernetes secrets, RBAC also needs to be configured. An example secret for the Cloud Provider Config is shown below. Modify it as needed and create the secret.
+
+  ```yaml
+# azure-cloud-config.yaml
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: azure-cloud-config
+  namespace: kube-system
+type: Opaque
+stringData:
+  cloud-config: |-
+    {
+      "cloud": "AzurePublicCloud",
+      "tenantId": "<tenant-id>",
+      "subscriptionId": "<subscription-id>",
+      "aadClientId": "<client-id>",
+      "aadClientSecret": "<tenant-id>",
+      "resourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "location": "westus",
+      "subnetName": "docker-machine",  
+      "securityGroupName": "rancher-managed-kqmtsjgJ",
+      "securityGroupResourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "vnetName": "docker-machine-vnet",
+      "vnetResourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "primaryAvailabilitySetName": "docker-machine",  
+      "routeTableResourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "cloudProviderBackoff": false,
+      "useManagedIdentityExtension": false,
+      "useInstanceMetadata": true,
+      "loadBalancerSku": "standard",
+      "excludeMasterFromStandardLB": false,
+    }
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: ClusterRole
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    kubernetes.io/cluster-service: "true"
+  name: system:azure-cloud-provider-secret-getter
+rules:
+  - apiGroups: [""]
+resources: ["secrets"]
+resourceNames: ["azure-cloud-config"]
+verbs:
+  - get
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: ClusterRoleBinding
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    kubernetes.io/cluster-service: "true"
+  name: system:azure-cloud-provider-secret-getter
+roleRef:
+  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
+  kind: ClusterRole
+  name: system:azure-cloud-provider-secret-getter
+  subjects:
+    - kind: ServiceAccount
+      name: azure-cloud-config
+      namespace: kube-system
+   ``` 
+
+## Using the Out-of-tree Azure Cloud Provider
+
+<Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
+<TabItem value="RKE2">
+
+1. Select **External** from the **Cloud Provider** drop-down in the **Cluster Configuration** section.
+
+2. Prepare the Cloud Provider Configuration to set it in the next step. Note that Rancher automatically creates a new Network Security Group, Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, and Virtual Network. If you already have some or all of these created, you must specify them before creating the cluster.
+  - Click **Show Advanced** to view or edit these automatically generated names. Your Cloud Provider Configuration **must** match the fields in the **Machine Pools** section. If you have multiple pools, they must all use the same Resource Group, Availability Set, Subnet, Virtual Network, and Network Security Group.
+
+3. Under **Cluster Configuration > Advanced**, click **Add** under **Additional Controller Manager Args** and add this flag: `--configure-cloud-routes=false`. 
+
+Note that the chart reads the Cloud Provider Config from the secret in the `kube-system` namespace. An example secret for the Cloud Provider Config is shown below. Modify it as needed. Refer to the full list of configuration options in the [upstream docs](https://cloud-provider-azure.sigs.k8s.io/install/configs/).
+
+  ```yaml
+apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
+kind: HelmChart
+metadata:
+  name: azure-cloud-controller-manager
+  namespace: kube-system
+spec:
+  chart: cloud-provider-azure
+  repo: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/cloud-provider-azure/master/helm/repo
+  targetNamespace: kube-system
+  bootstrap: true
+  valuesContent: |-
+    infra:
+      clusterName: <cluster-name>
+    cloudControllerManager:
+      cloudConfigSecretName: azure-cloud-config
+      cloudConfig: null
+      clusterCIDR: null
+      enableDynamicReloading: 'true'
+      nodeSelector: 
+        node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane: 'true'
+      allocateNodeCidrs: 'false' 
+      hostNetworking: true
+      caCertDir: /etc/ssl
+      configureCloudRoutes: 'false'
+      enabled: true
+      tolerations:
+        - effect: NoSchedule
+          key: node-role.kubernetes.io/master
+        - effect: NoSchedule
+          key: node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane
+          value: 'true'
+        - effect: NoSchedule
+          key: node.cloudprovider.kubernetes.io/uninitialized
+          value: 'true'
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: azure-cloud-config
+  namespace: kube-system
+type: Opaque
+stringData:
+  cloud-config: |-
+    {
+      "cloud": "AzurePublicCloud",
+      "tenantId": "<tenant-id>",
+      "subscriptionId": "<subscription-id>",
+      "aadClientId": "<client-id>",
+      "aadClientSecret": "<tenant-id>",
+      "resourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "location": "westus",
+      "subnetName": "docker-machine",
+      "securityGroupName": "rancher-managed-kqmtsjgJ",
+      "securityGroupResourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "vnetName": "docker-machine-vnet",
+      "vnetResourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "primaryAvailabilitySetName": "docker-machine",  
+      "routeTableResourceGroup": "docker-machine",
+      "cloudProviderBackoff": false,
+      "useManagedIdentityExtension": false,
+      "useInstanceMetadata": true,
+      "loadBalancerSku": "standard",
+      "excludeMasterFromStandardLB": false,
+    }
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: ClusterRole
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    kubernetes.io/cluster-service: "true"
+  name: system:azure-cloud-provider-secret-getter
+rules:
+  - apiGroups: [""]
+resources: ["secrets"]
+resourceNames: ["azure-cloud-config"]
+verbs:
+  - get
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: ClusterRoleBinding
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    kubernetes.io/cluster-service: "true"
+  name: system:azure-cloud-provider-secret-getter
+roleRef:
+  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
+  kind: ClusterRole
+  name: system:azure-cloud-provider-secret-getter
+  subjects:
+    - kind: ServiceAccount
+      name: azure-cloud-config
+      namespace: kube-system
+  ```
+
+4. Click **Create** to submit the form and create the cluster.
+
+</TabItem>
+
+<TabItem value="RKE1">
+
+1. Choose **External** from the **Cloud Provider** drop-down in the **Cluster Options** section. This sets `--cloud-provider=external` for Kubernetes components.
+
+2. Install the `cloud-provider-azure` chart after the cluster finishes provisioning. Note that the cluster is not successfully provisioned and nodes are still in an `uninitialized` state until you deploy the cloud controller manager. This can be done [manually using CLI](#helm-chart-installation-from-cli), or via [Helm charts in UI](#helm-chart-installation-from-ui).
+
+Refer to the [official Azure upstream documentation](https://cloud-provider-azure.sigs.k8s.io/install/azure-ccm/) for more details on deploying the Cloud Controller Manager.
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+### Helm Chart Installation from CLI
+
+Official upstream docs for [Helm chart installation](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cloud-provider-azure/tree/master/helm/cloud-provider-azure) can be found on Github.
+
+1. Create a `azure-cloud-config` secret with the required [cloud provider config](#cloud-provider-configuration). 
+
+```shell 
+kubectl apply -f azure-cloud-config.yaml
+```
+
+2. Add the Helm repository:
+
+```shell
+helm repo add azure-cloud-controller-manager https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/cloud-provider-azure/master/helm/repo
+helm repo update
+```
+
+3. Create a `values.yaml` file with the following contents to override the default `values.yaml`:
+
+<Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
+<TabItem value="RKE2">
+
+```yaml
+# values.yaml
+infra:
+  clusterName: <cluster-name>
+cloudControllerManager:
+  cloudConfigSecretName: azure-cloud-config
+  cloudConfig: null
+  clusterCIDR: null
+  enableDynamicReloading: 'true'
+  configureCloudRoutes: 'false'
+  allocateNodeCidrs: 'false'
+  caCertDir: /etc/ssl
+  enabled: true
+  replicas: 1
+  hostNetworking: true
+  nodeSelector:
+    node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane: 'true'
+  tolerations:
+    - effect: NoSchedule
+      key: node-role.kubernetes.io/master
+    - effect: NoSchedule
+      key: node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane
+      value: 'true'
+    - effect: NoSchedule
+      key: node.cloudprovider.kubernetes.io/uninitialized
+      value: 'true'
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+
+<TabItem value="RKE">
+
+```yaml
+# values.yaml
+cloudControllerManager:
+  cloudConfigSecretName: azure-cloud-config
+  cloudConfig: null
+  clusterCIDR: null  
+  enableDynamicReloading: 'true'
+  configureCloudRoutes: 'false'
+  allocateNodeCidrs: 'false'
+  caCertDir: /etc/ssl
+  enabled: true
+  replicas: 1
+  hostNetworking: true
+  nodeSelector:
+    node-role.kubernetes.io/controlplane: 'true'
+    node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane: null
+  tolerations:
+    - effect: NoSchedule
+      key: node-role.kubernetes.io/controlplane
+      value: 'true'
+    - effect: NoSchedule
+      key: node.cloudprovider.kubernetes.io/uninitialized
+      value: 'true'
+infra:
+  clusterName: <cluster-name>
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+4. Install the Helm chart:
+
+```shell
+helm upgrade --install cloud-provider-azure azure-cloud-controller-manager/cloud-provider-azure -n kube-system --values values.yaml
+```
+
+Verify that the Helm chart installed successfully:
+
+```shell
+helm status cloud-provider-azure -n kube-system
+```
+
+5. (Optional) Verify that the cloud controller manager update succeeded:
+
+```shell
+kubectl rollout status deployment -n kube-system cloud-controller-manager
+kubectl rollout status daemonset -n kube-system cloud-node-manager
+```
+
+6. The cloud provider is responsible for setting the ProviderID of the node. Check if all nodes are initialized with the ProviderID:
+
+```shell
+kubectl describe nodes | grep "ProviderID"
+```
+
+### Helm Chart Installation from UI
+
+1. Click **☰**, then select the name of the cluster from the left navigation.
+
+2. Select **Apps** > **Repositories**.
+
+3. Click the **Create** button.
+
+4. Enter `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/cloud-provider-azure/master/helm/repo` in the **Index URL** field.
+
+5. Select **Apps** > **Charts** from the left navigation and install **cloud-provider-azure** chart.
+
+6. Select the namespace, `kube-system`, and enable **Customize Helm options before install**.
+
+7. Replace `cloudConfig: /etc/kubernetes/azure.json` to read from the Cloud Config Secret and enable dynamic reloading:
+
+```yaml
+  cloudConfigSecretName: azure-cloud-config
+  enableDynamicReloading: 'true'
+```
+
+8. Update the following fields as required:
+
+```yaml 
+  allocateNodeCidrs: 'false'
+  configureCloudRoutes: 'false'
+  clusterCIDR: null
+```
+
+<Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
+<TabItem value="RKE2">
+
+9. Rancher-provisioned RKE2 nodes have the selector `node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane` set to `true`. Update the nodeSelector:
+```yaml
+nodeSelector:
+  node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane: 'true'
+```
+</TabItem>
+
+<TabItem value="RKE">
+
+10. Rancher-provisioned RKE nodes are tainted `node-role.kubernetes.io/controlplane`. Update tolerations and the nodeSelector:
+
+```yaml
+tolerations:
+  - effect: NoSchedule
+    key: node.cloudprovider.kubernetes.io/uninitialized
+    value: 'true'
+  - effect: NoSchedule
+    value: 'true'
+    key: node-role.kubernetes.io/controlplane
+```
+
+```yaml
+nodeSelector:
+  node-role.kubernetes.io/controlplane: 'true'
+```
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+11. Install the chart and confirm that the cloud controller and cloud node manager deployed successfully:
+
+```shell
+kubectl rollout status deployment -n kube-system cloud-controller-manager
+kubectl rollout status daemonset -n kube-system cloud-node-manager
+```
+
+12. The cloud provider is responsible for setting the ProviderID of the node. Check if all nodes are initialized with the ProviderID:
+
+```shell
+kubectl describe nodes | grep "ProviderID"
+```
+
+### Installing CSI Drivers
+
+Install [Azure Disk CSI driver](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/azuredisk-csi-driver) or [Azure File CSI Driver](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/azurefile-csi-driver) to access [Azure Disk](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/storage/disks/) or [Azure File](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/storage/disks/) volumes respectively.
+
+The steps to install the Azure Disk CSI driver are shown below. You can install the Azure File CSI Driver in a similar manner by following the [helm installation documentation](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/azurefile-csi-driver/blob/master/charts/README.md).
+
+::: note Important: 
+
+Clusters must be provisioned using `Managed Disk` to use Azure Disk. You can configure this when creating **RKE1 Node Templates** or **RKE2 Machine Pools*. 
+
+::: 
+
+Official upstream docs for [Helm chart installation](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/azuredisk-csi-driver/blob/master/charts/README.md) can be found on Github.
+
+1. Add and update the helm repository:
+
+```shell 
+helm repo add azuredisk-csi-driver https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/azuredisk-csi-driver/master/charts
+helm repo update azuredisk-csi-driver
+``` 
+
+1. Install the chart as shown below, updating the --version argument as needed. Refer to the full list of latest chart configurations in the [upstream docs](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/azuredisk-csi-driver/blob/master/charts/README.md#latest-chart-configuration).
+
+```shell
+helm install azuredisk-csi-driver azuredisk-csi-driver/azuredisk-csi-driver --namespace kube-system --version v1.30.1 --set controller.cloudConfigSecretName=azure-cloud-config --set controller.cloudConfigSecretNamespace=kube-system --set controller.runOnControlPlane=true
+``` 
+
+2. (Optional) Verify that the azuredisk-csi-driver installation succeeded: 
+
+```shell 
+kubectl --namespace=kube-system get pods --selector="app.kubernetes.io/name=azuredisk-csi-driver" --watch 
+``` 
+
+3. Provision an example Storage Class: 
+
+```shell
+cat <<EOF | kubectl create -f -
+kind: StorageClass
+apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
+metadata:
+  name: standard
+provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-disk
+parameters:
+  storageaccounttype: Standard_LRS
+  kind: Managed
+EOF
+```
+
+Verify that the storage class has been provisioned: 
+```shell 
+kubectl get storageclasses
+```
+
+4. Create a PersistentVolumeClaim:
+```shell 
+cat <<EOF | kubectl create -f -
+kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: azure-disk-pvc
+spec:
+  storageClassName: standard
+  accessModes:
+    - ReadWriteOnce
+  resources:
+    requests:
+      storage: 5Gi
+EOF
+```
+
+Verify that the PersistentVolumeClaim and PersistentVolume have been created: 
+```shell
+kubectl get persistentvolumeclaim 
+kubectl get persistentvolume
+```
+
+5. Attach the new Azure Disk: 
+
+You can now mount the Kubernetes PersistentVolume into a Kubernetes Pod. The disk can be consumed by any Kubernetes object type, including a Deployment, DaemonSet, or StatefulSet. However, the following example simply mounts the PersistentVolume into a standalone Pod. 
+
+```shell
+cat <<EOF | kubectl create -f -
+kind: Pod
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: mypod-dynamic-azuredisk
+spec:
+  containers:
+    - name: mypod
+      image: nginx
+      ports:
+        - containerPort: 80
+          name: "http-server"
+      volumeMounts:
+        - mountPath: "/usr/share/nginx/html"
+          name: storage
+  volumes:
+    - name: storage
+      persistentVolumeClaim:
+        claimName: azure-disk-pvc
+EOF
+```
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: Setting Up an In-tree vSphere Cloud Provider
+title: Setting Up an In-tree VMware vSphere Cloud Provider
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/set-up-cloud-providers/configure-in-tree-vsphere"/>
 </head>

-To set up the in-tree vSphere cloud provider, follow these steps while creating the vSphere cluster in Rancher:
+To set up the in-tree VMware vSphere cloud provider, follow these steps while creating the vSphere cluster in Rancher:

 1. Set **Cloud Provider** option to `Custom` or `Custom (In-Tree)`.
 1. Click on **Edit as YAML**
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: Setting Up an Out-of-tree vSphere Cloud Provider
+title: Setting Up an Out-of-tree VMware vSphere Cloud Provider
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/set-up-cloud-providers/configure-out-of-tree-vsphere"/>
 </head>

-Kubernetes is moving away from maintaining cloud providers in-tree. vSphere has an out-of-tree cloud provider that can be used by installing the vSphere cloud provider and cloud storage plugins.
+Kubernetes is moving away from maintaining cloud providers in-tree. VMware vSphere has an out-of-tree cloud provider that can be used by installing the vSphere cloud provider and cloud storage plugins.

 This page covers how to install the Cloud Provider Interface (CPI) and Cloud Storage Interface (CSI) plugins after setting up a cluster.

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Using the vSphere out-of-tree cloud provider requires Linux nodes and is not sup

 The Cloud Provider Interface (CPI) should be installed first before installing the Cloud Storage Interface (CSI).

-### 1. Create a vSphere cluster
+### 1. Create a VMware vSphere cluster

 1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
 1. On the **Clusters** page, click **Create**.
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ For details on enabling the Azure cloud provider, refer to [this page.](azure.md

 For details on enabling the Google Compute Engine cloud provider, refer to [this page.](google-compute-engine.md)

-### Setting up the vSphere Cloud Provider
+### Setting up the VMware vSphere Cloud Provider

 For details on enabling the vSphere cloud provider, refer to [in-tree vSphere config](configure-in-tree-vsphere.md) and [out-of-tree vSphere config](configure-out-of-tree-vsphere.md).

@@ -21,65 +21,48 @@ To interact with Azure APIs, an AKS cluster requires an Azure Active Directory (
 Before creating the service principal, you need to obtain the following information from the [Microsoft Azure Portal](https://portal.azure.com):

 - Subscription ID
- Client ID
+- Client ID (also known as app ID)
 - Client secret

 The below sections describe how to set up these prerequisites using either the Azure command line tool or the Azure portal.

 ### Setting Up the Service Principal with the Azure Command Line Tool

-You can create the service principal by running this command:
+You must assign roles to the service principal so that it has communication privileges with the AKS API. It also needs access to create and list virtual networks. 
+
+In the following example, the command creates the service principal and gives it the Contributor role. The Contributor role can manage anything on AKS but cannot give access to others. Note that you must provide `scopes` a full path to at least one Azure resource: 

 ```
-az ad sp create-for-rbac --skip-assignment
+az ad sp create-for-rbac --role Contributor --scopes /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/<resource-group-name>
 ```

 The result should show information about the new service principal:
+
 ```
 {
  "appId": "xxxx--xxx",
-  "displayName": "<SERVICE-PRINCIPAL-NAME>",
-  "name": "http://<SERVICE-PRINCIPAL-NAME>",
-  "password": "<SECRET>",
-  "tenant": "<TENANT NAME>"
+  "displayName": "<service-principal-name>",
+  "name": "http://<service-principal-name>",
+  "password": "<secret>",
+  "tenant": "<tenant-name>"
 }
 ```

-You also need to add roles to the service principal so that it has privileges for communication with the AKS API. It also needs access to create and list virtual networks.
-
-Below is an example command for assigning the Contributor role to a service principal. Contributors can manage anything on AKS but cannot give access to others:
+The following creates a [Resource Group](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/manage-resource-groups-cli) to contain your Azure resources:

 ```
-az role assignment create \
-  --assignee $appId \
-  --scope /subscriptions/$<SUBSCRIPTION-ID>/resourceGroups/$<GROUP> \
-  --role Contributor
-```
-
-You can also create the service principal and give it Contributor privileges by combining the two commands into one. In this command, the scope needs to provide a full path to an Azure resource:
-
-```
-az ad sp create-for-rbac \
-  --scope /subscriptions/$<SUBSCRIPTION-ID>/resourceGroups/$<GROUP> \
-  --role Contributor
-```
-
-Create the Resource Group by running this command:
-
-```
-az group create --location AZURE_LOCATION_NAME --resource-group AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME
+az group create --location <azure-location-name> --resource-group <resource-group-name>
 ```

 ### Setting Up the Service Principal from the Azure Portal

-You can also follow these instructions to set up a service principal and give it role-based access from the Azure Portal.
+Follow these instructions to set up a service principal and give it role-based access from the Azure Portal.

 1. Go to the Microsoft Azure Portal [home page](https://portal.azure.com).
-
 1. Click **Azure Active Directory**.
 1. Click **App registrations**.
 1. Click **New registration**.
-1. Enter a name. This will be the name of your service principal.
+1. Enter a name for your service principal.
 1. Optional: Choose which accounts can use the service principal.
 1. Click **Register**.
 1. You should now see the name of your service principal under **Azure Active Directory > App registrations**.
@@ -101,7 +84,7 @@ To give role-based access to your service principal,

 **Result:** Your service principal now has access to AKS.

-## 1. Create the AKS Cloud Credentials
+## Create the AKS Cloud Credentials

 1. In the Rancher UI, click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
 1. Click **Cloud Credentials**.
@@ -110,7 +93,7 @@ To give role-based access to your service principal,
 1. Fill out the form. For help with filling out the form, see the [configuration reference.](../../../../reference-guides/cluster-configuration/rancher-server-configuration/aks-cluster-configuration.md#cloud-credentials)
 1. Click **Create**.

-## 2. Create the AKS Cluster
+## Create the AKS Cluster

 Use Rancher to set up and configure your Kubernetes cluster.

@@ -124,7 +107,8 @@ Use Rancher to set up and configure your Kubernetes cluster.

 You can access your cluster after its state is updated to **Active**.

-## Role-based Access Control
+## Configure Role-based Access Control
+
 When provisioning an AKS cluster in the Rancher UI, RBAC is not configurable because it is required to be enabled.

 RBAC is required for AKS clusters that are registered or imported into Rancher.
@@ -135,8 +119,8 @@ Assign the Rancher AKSv2 role to the service principal with the Azure Command Li

 ```
 az role assignment create \
--assignee CLIENT_ID \
--scope "/subscriptions/SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroups/RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME" \
+--assignee <client-id> \
+--scope "/subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/<resource-group-name>" \
 --role "Rancher AKSv2"
 ```

@@ -95,10 +95,15 @@ This [tutorial](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/opensource/managing-eks-clusters-ra

 These are the minimum set of permissions necessary to access the full functionality of Rancher's EKS driver. You'll need additional permissions for Rancher to provision the `Service Role` and `VPC` resources. If you create these resources **before** you create the cluster, they'll be available when you configure the cluster.

+:::note
+In EKS v1.23 and above, you must use the out-of-tree drivers for EBS-backed volumes. You need [specific permissions](#ebs-csi-driver-addon-permissions) to enable this add-on.
+:::
+
 Resource | Description
 ---------|------------
 Service Role | Provides permissions that allow Kubernetes to manage resources on your behalf. Rancher can create the service role with the following [Service Role Permissions](#service-role-permissions).
 VPC | Provides isolated network resources utilised by EKS and worker nodes. Rancher can create the VPC resources with the following [VPC Permissions](#vpc-permissions).
+EBS CSI Driver add-on | Provides permissions that allow Kubernetes to interact with EBS and configure the cluster to enable the add-on (required for EKS v1.23 and above). Rancher can install the add-on with the following [EBS CSI Driver addon Permissions](#ebs-csi-driver-addon-permissions).


 Resource targeting uses `*` as the ARN of many of the resources created cannot be known before creating the EKS cluster in Rancher.
@@ -314,6 +319,43 @@ These are permissions that are needed by Rancher to create a Virtual Private Clo
 }
 ```

+### EBS CSI Driver addon Permissions
+
+Permissions required for Rancher to install the Amazon EBS CSI Driver add-on.
+
+```json
+{
+    "Version": "2012-10-17",
+    "Statement": [
+        {
+            "Effect": "Allow",
+            "Action": [
+                "iam:GetRole",
+                "eks:DescribeAddonConfiguration",
+                "eks:UpdateAddon",
+                "eks:ListAddons",
+                "iam:CreateRole",
+                "iam:AttachRolePolicy",
+                "eks:DescribeAddon",
+                "iam:CreateOpenIDConnectProvider",
+                "iam:PassRole",
+                "eks:DescribeIdentityProviderConfig",
+                "eks:DeleteAddon",
+                "iam:ListOpenIDConnectProviders",
+                "iam:ListAttachedRolePolicies",
+                "eks:CreateAddon",
+                "eks:DescribeCluster",
+                "eks:DescribeAddonVersions",
+                "sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity",
+                "eks:AssociateIdentityProviderConfig",
+                "eks:ListIdentityProviderConfigs"
+            ],
+            "Resource": "*"
+        }
+    ]
+}
+```
+
 ## Syncing

 The EKS provisioner can synchronize the state of an EKS cluster between Rancher and the provider. For an in-depth technical explanation of how this works, see [Syncing.](../../../../reference-guides/cluster-configuration/rancher-server-configuration/sync-clusters.md)
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ Some Linux operating systems accept multiple domain names separated by spaces. H

 :::

-### Rancher on vSphere with ESXi 6.7u2 and above
+### Rancher on VMware vSphere with ESXi 6.7u2 and above

 If you are using Rancher on VMware vSphere with ESXi 6.7u2 or later with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3, CentOS 8.3, or SUSE Enterprise Linux 15 SP2 or later, it is necessary to disable the `vmxnet3` virtual network adapter hardware offloading feature. Failure to do so will result in all network connections between pods on different cluster nodes to fail with timeout errors. All connections from Windows pods to critical services running on Linux nodes, such as CoreDNS, will fail as well. It is also possible that external connections may fail. This issue is the result of Linux distributions enabling the hardware offloading feature in `vmxnet3` and a bug in the `vmxnet3` hardware offloading feature that results in the discarding of packets for guest overlay traffic. To address this issue, it is necessary disable the `vmxnet3` hardware offloading feature. This setting does not survive reboot, so it is necessary to disable on every boot. The recommended course of action is to create a systemd unit file at `/etc/systemd/system/disable_hw_offloading.service`, which disables the `vmxnet3` hardware offloading feature on boot. A sample systemd unit file which disables the `vmxnet3` hardware offloading feature is as follows. Note that `<VM network interface>` must be customized to the host `vmxnet3` network interface, e.g., `ens192`:

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: The Horizontal Pod Autoscaler
+title: Horizontal Pod Autoscaler
 description: Learn about the horizontal pod autoscaler (HPA). How to manage HPAs and how to test them with a service deployment
 ---

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ If you need to create a private registry, refer to the documentation pages for y
    :::

 1. Select a namespace for the registry.
-1. Select the website that hosts your private registry. Then enter credentials that authenticate with the registry. For example, if you use DockerHub, provide your DockerHub username and password.
+1. Select the website that hosts your private registry. Then enter credentials that authenticate with the registry. For example, if you use Docker Hub, provide your Docker Hub username and password.
 1. Click **Save**.

 **Result:**
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ Before v2.6, secrets were required to be in a project scope. Projects are no lon
    :::

 1. Select a namespace for the registry.
-1. Select the website that hosts your private registry. Then enter credentials that authenticate with the registry. For example, if you use DockerHub, provide your DockerHub username and password.
+1. Select the website that hosts your private registry. Then enter credentials that authenticate with the registry. For example, if you use Docker Hub, provide your Docker Hub username and password.
 1. Click **Save**.

 **Result:**
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Kubernetes Resources
+title: Kubernetes Resources Setup
 ---

 <head>
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Set Up Load Balancer and Ingress Controller within Rancher
+title: Load Balancer and Ingress Controller Setup within Rancher
 description: Learn how you can set up load balancers and ingress controllers to redirect service requests within Rancher, and learn about the limitations of load balancers
 ---

@@ -21,11 +21,62 @@ The `cattle-cluster-agent` is used to connect to the Kubernetes API of [Rancher

 The `cattle-node-agent` is used to interact with nodes in a [Rancher Launched Kubernetes](launch-kubernetes-with-rancher.md) cluster when performing cluster operations. Examples of cluster operations are upgrading Kubernetes version and creating/restoring etcd snapshots. The `cattle-node-agent` is deployed using a DaemonSet resource to make sure it runs on every node. The `cattle-node-agent` is used as fallback option to connect to the Kubernetes API of [Rancher Launched Kubernetes](launch-kubernetes-with-rancher.md) clusters when `cattle-cluster-agent` is unavailable.

+### Requests
+
+The `cattle-cluster-agent` pod does not define the default CPU and memory request values. As a baseline, we recommend setting the CPU request at `50m` and memory request at `100Mi`. However, it is important that you assess your use case appropriately and that you allocate the correct resources to your cluster for your needs.
+
+To configure request values through the UI:
+
+<Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
+<TabItem value="RKE">
+
+1. When you [create](./launch-kubernetes-with-rancher.md) or edit an existing cluster, go to the **Cluster Options** section.
+1. Expand the **Cluster Configuration** subsection.
+1. Configure your request values using the **CPU Requests** and **Memory Requests** fields as needed.
+
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="RKE2/K3s">
+
+1. When you [create](./launch-kubernetes-with-rancher.md) or edit an existing cluster, go to the **Cluster Configuration**.
+1. Select the **Cluster Agent** subsection.
+1. Configure your request values using the **CPU Reservation** and **Memory Reservation** fields as needed.
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+If you prefer to configure via YAML, add the following snippet to your configuration file:
+
+<Tabs groupId="k8s-distro">
+<TabItem value="RKE">
+
+```yaml
+cluster_agent_deployment_customization:
+  override_resource_requirements:
+    requests:
+      cpu: 50m
+      memory: 100Mi
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="RKE2/K3s">
+
+```yaml
+spec:
+  clusterAgentDeploymentCustomization:
+    overrideResourceRequirements:
+      requests:
+        cpu: 50m
+        memory: 100Mi 
+```
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
 ### Scheduling rules

-The `cattle-cluster-agent` uses either a fixed set of tolerations, or dynamically-added tolerations based on taints applied to the control plane nodes. This structure allows [Taint based Evictions](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/scheduling-eviction/taint-and-toleration/#taint-based-evictions) to work properly for `cattle-cluster-agent`. 
+The `cattle-cluster-agent` uses either a fixed set of tolerations, or dynamically-added tolerations based on taints applied to the control plane nodes. This structure allows [Taint based Evictions](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/scheduling-eviction/taint-and-toleration/#taint-based-evictions) to work properly for `cattle-cluster-agent`.

-If control plane nodes are present in the cluster, the default tolerations will be replaced with tolerations matching the taints on the control plane nodes. The default set of tolerations are described below. 
+If control plane nodes are present in the cluster, the default tolerations will be replaced with tolerations matching the taints on the control plane nodes. The default set of tolerations are described below.

 | Component              | nodeAffinity nodeSelectorTerms             | nodeSelector | Tolerations                                                                    |
 | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Creating a vSphere Virtual Machine Template
+title: Creating a VMware vSphere Virtual Machine Template
 ---

 <head>
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: Creating Credentials in the vSphere Console
+title: Creating Credentials in the VMware vSphere Console
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/launch-kubernetes-with-rancher/use-new-nodes-in-an-infra-provider/vsphere/create-credentials"/>
 </head>

-This section describes how to create a vSphere username and password. You will need to provide these vSphere credentials to Rancher, which allows Rancher to provision resources in vSphere.
+This section describes how to create a VMware vSphere username and password. You must provide these vSphere credentials to Rancher, which allows Rancher to provision resources in vSphere.

 The following table lists the permissions required for the vSphere user account:

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: Provisioning Kubernetes Clusters in vSphere
+title: Provisioning Kubernetes Clusters in VMware vSphere
 ---

 <head>
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/launch-kubernetes-with-rancher/use-new-nodes-in-an-infra-provider/vsphere/provision-kubernetes-clusters-in-vsphere"/>
 </head>

-In this section, you'll learn how to use Rancher to install an [RKE](https://rancher.com/docs/rke/latest/en/)  Kubernetes cluster in vSphere.
+In this section, you'll learn how to use Rancher to install an [RKE](https://rancher.com/docs/rke/latest/en/)  Kubernetes cluster in VMware vSphere.

 First, you will set up your vSphere cloud credentials in Rancher. Then you will use your cloud credentials to create a node template, which Rancher will use to provision nodes in vSphere.

@@ -17,16 +17,16 @@ For details on configuring the vSphere node template, refer to the [vSphere node
 For details on configuring RKE Kubernetes clusters in Rancher, refer to the [cluster configuration reference.](../../../../../reference-guides/cluster-configuration/rancher-server-configuration/rke1-cluster-configuration.md#rke-cluster-config-file-reference)


- [Preparation in vSphere](#preparation-in-vsphere)
- [Creating a vSphere Cluster](#creating-a-vsphere-cluster)
+- [Preparation in vSphere](#preparation-in-vmware-vsphere)
+- [Creating a vSphere Cluster](#creating-a-vmware-vsphere-cluster)

-## Preparation in vSphere
+## Preparation in VMware vSphere

 This section describes the requirements for setting up vSphere so that Rancher can provision VMs and clusters.

 The node templates are documented and tested with the vSphere Web Services API version 6.5.

-### Create Credentials in vSphere
+### Create Credentials in VMware vSphere

 Before proceeding to create a cluster, you must ensure that you have a vSphere user with sufficient permissions. When you set up a node template, the template will need to use these vSphere credentials.

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ It must be ensured that the hosts running the Rancher server are able to establi

 See [Node Networking Requirements](../../../kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/node-requirements-for-rancher-managed-clusters.md#networking-requirements) for a detailed list of port requirements applicable for creating nodes on an infrastructure provider.

-### Valid ESXi License for vSphere API Access
+### Valid ESXi License for VMware vSphere API Access

 The free ESXi license does not support API access. The vSphere servers must have a valid or evaluation ESXi license.

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ The free ESXi license does not support API access. The vSphere servers must have

 If you have a cluster with DRS enabled, setting up [VM-VM Affinity Rules](https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc/GUID-7297C302-378F-4AF2-9BD6-6EDB1E0A850A.html) is recommended. These rules allow VMs assigned the etcd and control-plane roles to operate on separate ESXi hosts when they are assigned to different node pools. This practice ensures that the failure of a single physical machine does not affect the availability of those planes.

-## Creating a vSphere Cluster
+## Creating a VMware vSphere Cluster

 1. [Create your cloud credentials](#1-create-your-cloud-credentials)
 2. [Create a node template with your cloud credentials](#2-create-a-node-template-with-your-cloud-credentials)
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+---
+title: Graceful Shutdown for VMware vSphere Virtual Machines
+---
+
+<head>
+  <link rel="canonical" href="https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/launch-kubernetes-with-rancher/use-new-nodes-in-an-infra-provider/vsphere/shutdown-vm"/>
+</head>
+
+In Rancher v2.8.3 and later, you can configure the graceful shutdown of virtual machines (VMs) for VMware vSphere node driver clusters. Graceful shutdown introduces a delay before the VM is forcibly deleted, which allows time for terminating any running processes and open connections.
+
+In RKE2/K3s, you can set up graceful shutdown when you create the cluster, or edit the cluster configuration to add it afterward. 
+
+In RKE, you can edit node templates to similar results.
+
+:::note 
+
+Since Rancher can't detect the platform of an imported cluster, you cannot enable graceful shutdown on VMware vSphere clusters you have imported.
+
+:::
+
+## Enable Graceful Shutdown During VMware vSphere Cluster Creation 
+
+<Tabs>
+<TabItem value="RKE2/K3s">
+
+In RKE2/K3s, you can configure new VMware vSphere clusters with graceful shutdown for VMs:
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. Click **Create** and select **VMware vSphere** to provision a new cluster.
+1. Under **Machine Pools > Scheduling**, in the **Graceful Shutdown Timeout** field, enter an integer value greater than 0. The value you enter is the amount of time in seconds Rancher waits before deleting VMs on the cluster. If the value is set to `0`, graceful shutdown is disabled.
+
+</TabItem>
+<TabItem value="RKE">
+
+In RKE, you can't directly configure a new cluster with graceful shutdown. However, you can configure node templates which automatically create node pools with graceful shutdown enabled. The node template can then be used to provision new VMware vSphere clusters that have a graceful shutdown delay. 
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. From the left navigation, select **RKE1 Configuration > Node Templates**.
+1. Click **Add Template** and select **vSphere** to create a node template.
+1. Under **2. Scheduling**, in the **Graceful Shutdown Timeout** field, enter an integer value greater than 0. The value you enter is the amount of time in seconds Rancher waits before deleting VMs on the cluster. If the value is set to `0`, graceful shutdown is disabled.
+
+When you [use the newly-created node template to create node pools](../use-new-nodes-in-an-infra-provider.md), the nodes will gracefully shutdown of VMs according to the **Graceful Shutdown Timeout** value you have set.
+
+</TabItem>
+</Tabs>
+
+## Enable Graceful Shutdown in Existing RKE2/K3s Clusters
+
+In RKE2/K3s, you can edit the configuration of an existing VMware vSphere cluster to enable graceful shutdown, which adds a delay before deleting VMs.
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. On the **Clusters** page, find the VMware vSphere hosted cluster you want to edit. Click **⋮** at the end of the row associated with the cluster. Select **Edit Config**.
+1. Under **Machine Pools > Scheduling**, in the **Graceful Shutdown Timeout** field, enter an integer value greater than 0. The value you enter is the amount of time in seconds Rancher waits before deleting VMs on the cluster. If the value is set to `0`, graceful shutdown is disabled.
+
+## Enable Graceful Shutdown in Existing RKE Clusters
+
+In RKE, you can't directly edit an existing cluster's configuration to add graceful shutdown to existing VMware vSphere clusters. However, you can edit the configuration of existing node templates. As noted in [Updating a Node Template](../../../../../reference-guides/user-settings/manage-node-templates.md#updating-a-node-template), all node pools using the node template automatically use the updated information when new nodes are added to the cluster.
+
+To edit an existing node template to enable graceful shutdown:
+
+1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
+1. From the left navigation, select **RKE1 Configuration > Node Templates**.
+1. Find the VMware vSphere node template you want to edit. Click **⋮** at the end of the row associated with the template. Select **Edit**.
+1. Under **2. Scheduling**, in the **Graceful Shutdown Timeout** field, enter an integer value greater than 0. The value you enter is the amount of time in seconds Rancher waits before deleting VMs on the cluster. If the value is set to `0`, graceful shutdown is disabled.
+1. Click **Save**.
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
-title: Creating a vSphere Cluster
-description: Use Rancher to create a vSphere cluster. It may consist of groups of VMs with distinct properties which allow for fine-grained control over the sizing of nodes.
+title: Creating a VMware vSphere Cluster
+description: Use Rancher to create a VMware vSphere cluster. It may consist of groups of VMs with distinct properties which allow for fine-grained control over the sizing of nodes.
 ---

 <head>
@@ -9,15 +9,15 @@ description: Use Rancher to create a vSphere cluster. It may consist of groups o

 import YouTube from '@site/src/components/YouTube'

-By using Rancher with vSphere, you can bring cloud operations on-premises.
+By using Rancher with VMware vSphere, you can bring cloud operations on-premises.

 Rancher can provision nodes in vSphere and install Kubernetes on them. When creating a Kubernetes cluster in vSphere, Rancher first provisions the specified number of virtual machines by communicating with the vCenter API. Then it installs Kubernetes on top of them.

 A vSphere cluster may consist of multiple groups of VMs with distinct properties, such as the amount of memory or the number of vCPUs. This grouping allows for fine-grained control over the sizing of nodes for each Kubernetes role.

-## vSphere Enhancements in Rancher v2.3
+## VMware vSphere Enhancements

-The vSphere node templates have been updated, allowing you to bring cloud operations on-premises with the following enhancements:
+The vSphere node templates allow you to bring cloud operations on-premises with the following enhancements:

 ### Self-healing Node Pools

@@ -33,19 +33,13 @@ It is not recommended to enable node auto-replace on a node pool of master nodes

 Node templates for vSphere have been updated so that when you create a node template with your vSphere credentials, the template is automatically populated with the same options for provisioning VMs that you have access to in the vSphere console.

-For the fields to be populated, your setup needs to fulfill the [prerequisites.](provision-kubernetes-clusters-in-vsphere.md#preparation-in-vsphere)
+For the fields to be populated, your setup needs to fulfill the [prerequisites.](provision-kubernetes-clusters-in-vsphere.md#preparation-in-vmware-vsphere)

 ### More Supported Operating Systems

 You can provision VMs with any operating system that supports `cloud-init`. Only YAML format is supported for the [cloud config.](https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/examples.html)

-### Video Walkthrough of v2.3.3 Node Template Features
-
-In this YouTube video, we demonstrate how to set up a node template with the new features designed to help you bring cloud operations to on-premises clusters.
-
-<YouTube id="dPIwg6x1AlU"/>
-
-## Creating a vSphere Cluster
+## Creating a VMware vSphere Cluster

 In [this section,](provision-kubernetes-clusters-in-vsphere.md) you'll learn how to use Rancher to install an [RKE](https://rancher.com/docs/rke/latest/en/) Kubernetes cluster in vSphere.

@@ -53,7 +47,7 @@ In [this section,](provision-kubernetes-clusters-in-vsphere.md) you'll learn how

 For an example of how to provision storage in vSphere using Rancher, refer to [this section.](../../../manage-clusters/provisioning-storage-examples/vsphere-storage.md) In order to dynamically provision storage in vSphere, the vSphere provider must be enabled. Refer to [in-tree vSphere config](../../../kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/set-up-cloud-providers/configure-in-tree-vsphere.md) and [out-of-tree vSphere config](../../../kubernetes-clusters-in-rancher-setup/set-up-cloud-providers/configure-out-of-tree-vsphere.md).

-## Enabling the vSphere Cloud Provider
+## Enabling the VMware vSphere Cloud Provider

 When a cloud provider is set up in Rancher, the Rancher server can automatically provision new infrastructure for the cluster, including new nodes or persistent storage devices.

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Cluster Access
+title: Access Clusters
 ---

 <head>
--- a/Show More
+++ b/Show More