Amazon EKS introduces programmatic access to Kubernetes version availability

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) now lets you programmatically access availability of Kubernetes versions. This simplifies how you can discover and select available versions before creating or upgrading clusters.

Kubernetes evolves rapidly, introducing three minor version releases each year with new features, design updates, and bug fixes. EKS provides standard support for each minor version for 14 months after release. After standard support ends, the version enters a 12-month extended support period. EKS stops supporting Kubernetes versions 26 months after their release. With this launch, you can now programmatically retrieve Kubernetes version metadata, including support status and dates. You can also discover the EKS platform version and default Kubernetes version EKS will use when creating new clusters.

This feature is now generally available in all commercial AWS regions and the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. To get started, see the EKS user guide and API specification.