--- title: Rancher Deployment Strategy --- There are two recommended deployment strategies for a Rancher instance that manages downstream Kubernetes clusters. Each one has its own pros and cons. Read more about which one would fit best for your use case. ## Hub & Spoke Strategy --- In this deployment scenario, there is a single Rancher instance managing Kubernetes clusters across the globe. The Rancher instance would be run on a high-availability Kubernetes cluster, and there would be impact due to latencies. ### Pros * Single control plane interface to view/see all regions and environments. * Kubernetes does not require Rancher to operate and can tolerate losing connectivity to the Rancher instance. ### Cons * Subject to network latencies. * If Rancher goes down, global provisioning of new services is unavailable until it is restored. However, each Kubernetes cluster can continue to be managed individually. ## Regional Strategy --- In the regional deployment model a Rancher instance is deployed in close proximity to the downstream Kubernetes clusters. ### Pros * Rancher functionality in regions stay operational if a Rancher instance in another region goes down. * Network latency between Rancher and downstream clusters is greatly reduced, improving the performance of functionality in Rancher. * Upgrades of Rancher can be done independently per region. ### Cons * Overhead of managing multiple Rancher installations. * Visibility into Kubernetes clusters in different regions requires multiple interfaces/panes of glass. * Deploying multi-cluster apps in Rancher requires repeating the process for each Rancher server.