[HEALTH]: OpenELB

[mrbobbytables]

Project name

OpenELB

Concern

There has been minimal activity over the past 90 days, and decreased activity before that.

No commits since October of last year

Additional information can be seen on OpenELB's LFX insights dashboard

Prior engagement

No response

Additional Information

No response

[dims]

from: https://openelb.devstats.cncf.io/d/74/contributions-chart?orgId=1&from=now-2y&to=now&var-period=d7&var-metric=commits&var-repogroup_name=All&var-country_name=All&var-company_name=All&var-company=all

[dims]

@renyunkang @chaunceyjiang @FeynmanZhou @zheng1 @duanjiong @magicsong @patrick-luoyu @AnuragThePathak @liangyuanpeng @amal-thundiyil

[dims]

Notes:

• Commit Activity: No commits in the last 3 months, with the last commit 160 days ago.
• Contributors: 5 contributors in the last 3 months, down from 8 in the previous 3 months.
• Issues/PRs: Minimal activity, with no issues or PRs closed in the last 3 months.
• Releases: Last release was on 06/14/2024.
• Health: Struggling. While there was a recent release, the lack of recent commits and declining contributor activity suggest the project is struggling.

[mrbobbytables]

Another inactivity indicator; they never completed onboarding: cncf/sandbox#182

[renyunkang]

We sincerely appreciate the community’s ongoing attention and support for the OpenELB project. We deeply apologize for the recent decline in project activity, which stemmed primarily from internal resource reallocations and insufficient community engagement, leading to delays in planned developments. However, OpenELB remains a critical tool for Kubernetes load balancing, and we are fully committed to revitalizing the project and delivering sustained improvements.

Future Plans & Commitments:

1. Adaptation to Emerging Cloud-Native Scenarios

• Align closely with Kubernetes core updates, enhance support for hybrid-cloud and edge computing environments, and explore deeper integration with technologies like Cilium and eBPF to boost performance and flexibility.

2. Feature Enhancements & Stability Optimization

• Strengthen multi-protocol load balancing support (e.g., BGP, Layer2), refine IP allocation strategies to reduce resource fragmentation, and improve fault tolerance for edge-case scenarios.

3. Community Collaboration & Ecosystem Growth

• Publish clear contributor guidelines and roadmap, and host regular community meetings and technical workshops.
• Launch a feedback incentive program to encourage issue reporting and real-world use case sharing.
• Foster partnerships with other CNCF projects to build integrated solutions.

4. Documentation & User Experience Improvements

• Revamp official documentation with multilingual support, deployment best practices, and troubleshooting guides, supplemented by performance-tuning case studies.

We recognize that the project’s vitality hinges on community trust and participation. Moving forward, we will provide regular progress updates and rebuild an active, collaborative environment through transparent communication. Thank you for your understanding and continued support. OpenELB is dedicated to empowering seamless Kubernetes load balancing with renewed openness and innovation.

[mupeifeiyi]

We sincerely appreciate the community’s ongoing attention and support for the OpenELB project. We deeply apologize for the recent decline in project activity, which stemmed primarily from internal resource reallocations and insufficient community engagement, leading to delays in planned developments. However, OpenELB remains a critical tool for Kubernetes load balancing, and we are fully committed to revitalizing the project and delivering sustained improvements.

Future Plans & Commitments:

1. Adaptation to Emerging Cloud-Native Scenarios

• Align closely with Kubernetes core updates, enhance support for hybrid-cloud and edge computing environments, and explore deeper integration with technologies like Cilium and eBPF to boost performance and flexibility.

2. Feature Enhancements & Stability Optimization

• Strengthen multi-protocol load balancing support (e.g., BGP, Layer2), refine IP allocation strategies to reduce resource fragmentation, and improve fault tolerance for edge-case scenarios.

3. Community Collaboration & Ecosystem Growth

• Publish clear contributor guidelines and roadmap, and host regular community meetings and technical workshops.
• Launch a feedback incentive program to encourage issue reporting and real-world use case sharing.
• Foster partnerships with other CNCF projects to build integrated solutions.

4. Documentation & User Experience Improvements

• Revamp official documentation with multilingual support, deployment best practices, and troubleshooting guides, supplemented by performance-tuning case studies.

We recognize that the project’s vitality hinges on community trust and participation. Moving forward, we will provide regular progress updates and rebuild an active, collaborative environment through transparent communication. Thank you for your understanding and continued support. OpenELB is dedicated to empowering seamless Kubernetes load balancing with renewed openness and innovation.

Therefore, the official website of openelb ​​has been inaccessible so far, and there is no description of this in kubesphere. There is no reference for using it in kubesphere 4.1.2.

[zheng1]

The website has been restored now. Previously, the Vercel team account provided by the CNCF for the website expired. Currently, the migration to the CNCF's Netlify account is in progress through http://cncfservicedesk.atlassian.net/ CNCFSD-2715

[dims]

@zheng1 what other activities are planned, more importantly when?

[renyunkang]

@zheng1 what other activities are planned, more importantly when?

Thank you for keeping us accountable. Here’s our updated action plan to revitalize OpenELB, focusing on technical enhancements:

Core Technical Focus

• KubeSphere Plugin Integration

  • Adapt OpenELB as a native plugin for KubeSphere 4.x, seamlessly integrating with its UI, RBAC, auditing, and multi-tenancy capabilities for enterprise-grade LoadBalancer management.

• GoBGP Version Upgrade

  • Migrate to GoBGP for improved BGP policy control.
  • Add IPv6 ECMP support and graceful BGP session restart.
  • ... ...

• ARP/Keepalived Reliability

  • Enhance reliability through auto ARP conflict isolation, dynamic Keepalived config generation, and RFC 7511 ARP signing, ensuring sub-second failover, encrypted VRRP authentication and more.

• Observability Enhancement

  • Add critical Prometheus metrics (e.g., ARP latency, IP allocation errors) and enrich CRD status fields (allocated IP tracking, conflict conditions) for granular troubleshooting.

• Documentation Enhancements

• Bug Fixes & Security Patches

Release Milestones

• v0.6.x (June 2025)
  GoBGP upgrade | ARP validation
• v0.7 (December 2025)
  KubeSphere plugin | Keepalived health checks | Advanced metrics