Using EKS

Canonical publishes Ubuntu EKS images ready for use in your EKS clusters. These images come pre-configured to join a cluster and are integrated into eksctl, the official EKS management CLI tool. Ubuntu LTS and Ubuntu Pro LTS images are available via the AWS CLI, eksctl, or the AWS Marketplace.

The following table details the currently supported images and EKS version coverage:

amiFamily	Ubuntu release	Supported EKS versions
Ubuntu2204	22.04 Jammy Jellyfish	1.29 – 1.32
UbuntuPro2204	22.04 Jammy Jellyfish (Pro)	1.29 – 1.34
Ubuntu2404	24.04 Noble Numbat	1.31 – 1.36
UbuntuPro2404	24.04 Noble Numbat (Pro)	1.31 – 1.36
Ubuntu2604	26.04 Resolute Raccoon	1.36 only
UbuntuPro2604	26.04 Resolute Raccoon (Pro)	1.36 only

Cluster deployment options for Ubuntu on EKS

To use Ubuntu as the operating system for your EKS worker nodes, choose from the following deployment options:

• Deploy an Ubuntu EKS cluster

• Deploy an Ubuntu Pro EKS cluster (using the pre-activated Ubuntu Pro AMI)

• Deploy an Ubuntu Pro FIPS EKS cluster (using the pre-activated Ubuntu Pro AMI)

• Deploy an Ubuntu Pro cluster using tokens

Deployment options for node groups

You can create both managed and self-managed node groups using Ubuntu on EKS. Select from the following options:

• Deploy a self-managed Ubuntu node group

• Deploy managed Ubuntu node groups

Custom EKS deployments

For custom configurations, such as GPU-enabled deployments or installing Kubeflow, refer to these guides:

• Enable GPUs on EKS worker nodes

• Install Kubeflow on EKS (external link)