Amazon EKS introduces enhanced network policy capabilities

This article announces enhanced network policy capabilities for Amazon EKS, including Admin Policies and Application Network Policies for improved cluster-wide security control.

• Admin Network Policies enable cluster administrators to set cluster-wide security rules that cannot be overridden
• Application Network Policies allow filtering pod traffic using domain names instead of IP addresses
• Admin Tier policies are evaluated first, followed by standard NetworkPolicies, then Baseline Tier rules
• Application Network Policies operate at OSI layer 7, supporting FQDN-based filtering for external resources
• Ideal for cloud-to-on-premises communication and SaaS service access scenarios
• Requires Kubernetes 1.29 or later; available in new EKS clusters with existing cluster support coming soon
• DNS-based policies exclusive to EKS Auto Mode clusters

These enhancements provide centralized security controls and simplified management of pod egress traffic through domain name filtering, reducing operational complexity.