EKS in 2025: Auto Mode Hybrid Nodes and AI Workloads

Amazon EKS in 2025: Auto Mode, Hybrid Nodes, and Cost Savings

Kubernetes on AWS keeps getting easier. EKS Auto Mode removes node management entirely, while EKS Hybrid Nodes extend your cluster to on-premises. Here’s what’s new and how to take advantage.

EKS 2025 Features

EKS Auto Mode

No more managing node groups, AMIs, or scaling:

# Create cluster with Auto Mode
aws eks create-cluster \
    --name my-cluster \
    --kubernetes-version 1.31 \
    --compute-config '{
        "enabled": true,
        "nodePools": ["general-purpose", "system"]
    }' \
    --kubernetes-network-config '{
        "elasticLoadBalancing": {"enabled": true}
    }'

# That's it! No node groups to create.
# Deploy workloads and nodes appear automatically.

EKS Hybrid Nodes

# On your on-prem server, install nodeadm
curl -O https://hybrid-assets.eks.amazonaws.com/releases/latest/nodeadm-linux-amd64
chmod +x nodeadm-linux-amd64

# Join the EKS cluster
./nodeadm-linux-amd64 install \
    --cluster my-cluster \
    --region us-east-1 \
    --hybrid

# Node appears in EKS cluster
kubectl get nodes
# NAME                    STATUS   ROLES    AGE
# hybrid-node-1           Ready    <none>   1m

Pod Identity (Simplified IAM)

# Old way: IRSA (complex)
# 1. Create OIDC provider
# 2. Create IAM role with trust policy
# 3. Annotate service account

# New way: Pod Identity (simple)
aws eks create-pod-identity-association \
    --cluster-name my-cluster \
    --namespace default \
    --service-account my-app-sa \
    --role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/my-app-role

# That's it! Pods using my-app-sa get the IAM role.

Cost Optimization Tips