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We are excited to announce the availability of Kubernetes version 1.33 for your clusters that are running in IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service. This marks our 28th release of Kubernetes.
Our Kubernetes service ensures a straightforward upgrade experience by using the IBM Cloud console, sparing you the need for extensive Kubernetes expertise with just a few clicks! For more information and methods on upgrading your cluster, look here.
When you deploy new clusters, the default Kubernetes version remains 1.32 (soon to be 1.33); however, you have the flexibility to opt for immediate deployment of version 1.33.
In addition to all the great Kubernetes features provided in this release, IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service version 1.33 also includes numerous component updates that our community is excited about. Some of the highlights for the release include:
IBM Cloud Cluster Health Operator: A new framework for looking at cluster health has been released as part of v1.33. This operator, which can now be found in kube-system namespace, offers more detailed status reports for the cluster’s managed components by aggregating results from various health checks performed on the cluster.
Multiple Service CIDRs: Previously, Kubernetes clusters used a single, static CIDR range for allocating ClusterIP addresses, which often led to IP exhaustion and required complex reconfiguration to expand. Multiple Service CIDRs introduces a significant networking enhancement through two stable APIs – ServiceCIDR and IPAddress – that allow administrators to dynamically add new CIDR blocks and track IP allocations per Service. To learn more visit here.
Topology aware routing: As Kubernetes clusters are increasingly deployed into multi-zone environments, the preference for traffic to stay in the same zone has grown. This is because locality provides cost savings and performance – that is, traffic within a zone usually has less latency and bandwidth constraints than when leaving the zone. With v1.33, topology-aware routing and traffic distribution graduate to generally available, delivering smarter, zone-aware service traffic management for multi-zone clusters. With this release, EndpointSlices now include topology hints that allow components like kube-proxy to prioritize routing traffic to endpoints within the same zone. Additionally, a new trafficDistribution introduces the PreferClose option, directing traffic to the nearest available endpoints based on network topology. Visit here to learn more.
To see the full list of IBM and Kubernetes community enhancements, visit Kubernetes v1.33: Octarine and IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service version 1.33 change log for more details.
Now that IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service supports Kubernetes version 1.33, clusters running version 1.30 are deprecated with end of support tentatively scheduled for October 31, 2025. It is important to note clusters that run a deprecated Kubernetes version may not receive fixes for security vulnerabilities until they are updated to a supported version.
As a reminder, if your cluster runs a deprecated or unsupported Kubernetes version, review the potential impact of each Kubernetes version update, and update today. If your cluster runs an archived Kubernetes version, create a new cluster and deploy your apps to the new cluster. Here is the current support status for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters running an earlier Kubernetes version:
Clusters running Kubernetes version 1.29 remain unsupported with end of support reached on July 31, 2025. Such clusters will not receive fixes for security vulnerabilities until they are updated to a deprecated or supported version.
Clusters running Kubernetes version 1.28 or earlier remain archived. For security reasons, IBM reserves the right to shutdown the control planes of such clusters.
For general questions, engage our team via Slack and join the discussion in the #general channel on our public IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service Slack.
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