# submariner-io/submariner

Networking component for interconnecting Pods and Services across Kubernetes clusters.

Repository: https://github.com/submariner-io/submariner
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/submariner
Homepage: https://submariner.io
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T19:35:11+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 96/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 91, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2732, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 63, "gap_med": 18.0, "n_releases_24m": 27}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2686, forks 212 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:10.773954+00:00)

## What it is
Submariner is a CNCF sandbox tool that interconnects the overlay networks of multiple Kubernetes clusters, enabling direct Pod-to-Pod and Service-to-Service IP reachability across clusters on-premises or in the cloud. It provides encrypted or unencrypted tunnels (IPsec, WireGuard, VXLAN), cross-cluster DNS service discovery via Lighthouse, and Globalnet support for clusters with overlapping CIDRs.

## Use cases
- connect pods across multiple kubernetes clusters
- multi-cluster service discovery with dns
- network clusters with overlapping cidrs
- encrypted tunnels between kubernetes clusters on different clouds
- hybrid cloud and on-premises cluster networking
- expose a kubernetes service to other clusters
- multi-cluster applications spanning regions and providers

## When to choose
- you need direct L3 connectivity between Pods and Services in different Kubernetes clusters
- your clusters span multiple cloud providers, data centers, or regions
- you need cross-cluster DNS-based service discovery following Kubernetes Multi-Cluster Services APIs
- your clusters have overlapping Pod/Service CIDRs and you cannot change them
- you want a CNI-agnostic solution with pluggable cable drivers (IPsec, WireGuard, VXLAN)

## When to avoid
- you only have a single Kubernetes cluster
- you need application-layer (L7) routing or API aggregation rather than flat L3 connectivity
- you want a fully managed multi-cluster solution and prefer vendor offerings like Anthos or Azure Arc
- your gateway nodes lack IP reachability between clusters and you cannot open the required ports

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: networking, security, service-discovery, deployment, cli
- domain: networking, cloud-computing, microservices
- platform: go, cloud, self-hosted
- tags: multi-cluster, kubernetes-networking, cross-cluster-connectivity, ipsec, wireguard, vxlan, cni-agnostic, service-discovery, globalnet, lighthouse, cnfc-sandbox, subctl, containers, devops, kubernetes, docker, linux

## Member repositories
- submariner-io/submariner (main) score 96

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:10.773954+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:17:48.068481+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/submariner-io/submariner (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:10.773954+00:00, sha 0fa24c59daf8)
  - homepage: https://submariner.io (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.602640+00:00, sha 477303915138)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.605782+00:00, sha 4e4e8bd22d4e)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.608209+00:00, sha 869537df97a7)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture/broker (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.610281+00:00, sha 746a0ca0390c)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture/gateway-engine (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.612280+00:00, sha 668046ad442b)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture/service-discovery (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.615017+00:00, sha dee6fcf1a83e)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture/globalnet (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.617568+00:00, sha ff175d603d58)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture/networkplugin-syncer (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.619642+00:00, sha e40da174db12)
  - site_page: https://submariner.io/getting-started/architecture/networkplugin-syncer/ovn-kubernetes (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:01.621488+00:00, sha c62fffc223f6)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.