The SAS Viya platform continually evolves to better align with modern, cloud-native environments. One of the most important recent updates will affect how Kubernetes support is defined moving forward.
Starting with the Stable 2026.05 release, SAS Viya now supports deployment on Kubernetes distributions that are certified under the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Kubernetes Software Conformance program. This change reflects a significant step forward in flexibility and scalability for customers running SAS Viya in enterprise or cloud environments.
What’s changing and why it matters
Previously, deployments of the SAS Viya platform in a Kubernetes distribution or environment that was not specifically mentioned in the official documentation received Limited Support from SAS. This Limited Support policy included vendor-packaged upstream Kubernetes distributions that were not installed from the CNCF Kubernetes repository. While this approach provided clarity, the number of Kubernetes options is always growing. As customers adopted newer or more specialized Kubernetes platforms, our previous policy might have led to some confusion about whether these environments were supported.
With this update, SAS is aligning its support model with industry standards. Going forward, SAS now supports any Kubernetes distribution that meets CNCF certification requirements and all published SAS system and cluster guidelines.
This support policy modernization brings several benefits:
- Greater flexibility to choose Kubernetes platforms that best fit your organization’s IT strategy
- Easier adoption of cloud and sovereign environments, where specific distributions are often required
- Faster time to value, without waiting for formal SAS validation of every distribution
In short, customers now have more freedom to deploy SAS Viya where and how it makes the most sense – while still operating within a clear, supported framework.
What remains the same
While the policy has become more flexible, the fundamentals of SAS support remain consistent:
- SAS continues to focus support on the SAS Viya platform itself, not on Kubernetes infrastructure management
- Customers are responsible for ensuring their Kubernetes environment meets all system requirements and certification standards
- Kubernetes distributions or versions that are not CNCF-certified are not supported
Additionally, SAS provides support on a best-effort basis for certified distributions. This means SAS Support will work to diagnose and resolve issues within the SAS Viya platform, but in some cases may ask customers to engage their Kubernetes vendor if an issue cannot be reproduced in SAS-managed environments.
What to do next
To ensure a smooth experience:
- Confirm your Kubernetes distribution and version are CNCF-certified
- Review the SAS Viya Platform Operations Guide for system and cluster requirements
- Partner with your infrastructure team or Kubernetes vendor to maintain certification compliance
By taking these steps, you can take full advantage of the flexibility this update provides while remaining within SAS-supported configurations.
For more information and technical details, visit the SAS Support for Kubernetes policy.
