Harvester 1.5 Extends Kubernetes-Native Virtualization to ARM64and CSI-Compliant Storage

As organizations move beyond traditional hypervisors, Harvester continues to lead the way as an open source, Kubernetes-native virtualization solution. With the release of Harvester 1.5, users now have greater flexibility and ecosystem alignment than ever before—with General Availability (GA) for ARM64 and support for CSI-compatible storage backends.

Harvester is part of a growing shift toward cloud-native infrastructure that unifies VMs and containers under the Kubernetes API. Version 1.5 strengthens its role as a lightweight, flexible foundation for running virtual machines in a declarative, GitOps-friendly model with a powerful admin friendly UI.

ARM64 Now Generally Available

Harvester 1.5 brings full GA support for ARM64, unlocking more cost- and power-efficient deployment options across edge, lab, and datacenter environments.

Harvester now supports ARM-native virtualization, enabling organizations to run it directly on a wide range of ARM-based devices—no emulation required. Combined with its bare-metal architecture and lightweight footprint, Harvester opens up new possibilities for DevOps teams, including:

• Lightweight edge clusters 
• Power-constrained or air-gapped environments
• ARM-based instances on major cloud providers
• Lab and test infrastructure for ARM development

Get started with Harvester 1.5

Bring Your Own CSI Storage

A major update in Harvester 1.5 is support for the provisioning of root volumes and data volumes using external CSI (Container Storage Interface) drivers, giving users full control over their storage stack. Previously, Harvester deployments were coupled with Longhorn as the only storage option.

With this update, Harvester now supports any CSI-compliant backend—opening the door to:

• Enterprise SAN/NAS integrations
• Ceph, OpenEBS, and other open source storage stacks
• Hardware-optimized or zone-aware storage backends
• Existing infrastructure investments

This gives infrastructure teams and platform engineers more freedom to align Harvester with their performance, compliance, and operational needs.

Watch The 3rd Party Storage Support

What’s New in Harvester 1.5 – CSI Support Vicente Cheng walks through how Harvester now supports provisioning VM volumes using external CSI drivers—unlocking greater flexibility for storage integration

Open Source Virtualization for Kubernetes-First Teams

Harvester continues to embrace an open and modular approach to HCI. Unlike legacy hyperconverged platforms, Harvester is:

• 100% open source
• Built on CNCF-native components like KubeVirt, Longhorn, and Helm
• Integrated with Rancher for lifecycle and fleet management
• Designed for modern platform teams who want VMs and containers in one control plane

Harvester also includes features like secure boot, PXE install, and Fleet-based provisioning—giving you the freedom to treat VMs like first-class cloud-native resources.

🛠 Explore Harvester features in the docs

To see the full roadmap or contribute, visit the Harvester GitHub

Try Harvester 1.5 Today

Harvester is built for operators who want to simplify their virtualization footprint without giving up control. Whether you’re modernizing on bare metal or building a unified platform with Rancher, Harvester gives you the open source HCI layer designed for the Kubernetes era.

• Install Harvester
• Read the Docs
• Join the Community

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