CILIUM for AKS : Unable to view hubble observability after enabling cilium without ACNS

Ekanthappa, Chaithra 20 Reputation points
2026-07-21T05:50:10.7766667+00:00

Hubble is in disabled state after enabling cilium for an AKS managed cluster without ACNS, some documents state that the hubble cli and basic ui is available without ACNS. Currently the cluster is 1.34.7 AKS version, does future versions enable hubble without ACNS?

Azure Kubernetes Service
Azure Kubernetes Service

An Azure service that provides serverless Kubernetes, an integrated continuous integration and continuous delivery experience, and enterprise-grade security and governance.

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AI answer

2026-07-21T05:50:36.8433333+00:00

No. In the provided AKS documentation, Hubble flow analysis for AKS requires Advanced Container Networking Services (ACNS) to be enabled on the cluster.

For the current behavior:

  1. On clusters without ACNS, hubble observe commands fail and Hubble flow analysis is unavailable.
  2. The Container Network Insights Agent can still provide diagnostics using kubectl and standard Kubernetes resources, but not Hubble-based flow visibility.
  3. If the extension is deployed on a cluster that does not use ACNS, the documented configuration is to set hubble.enabled=false.
  4. For on-demand container network logs, the documentation states this is Cilium only and requires enabling ACNS.

To verify the current cluster state:

kubectl get pods -n kube-system -l k8s-app=hubble-relay

If no pods are returned, Hubble is not enabled on the cluster.

The provided documentation does not state that future AKS versions will enable Hubble without ACNS. The supported documented path to use Hubble is:

  • use Azure CNI powered by Cilium
  • enable ACNS
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  1. SUNOJ KUMAR YELURU 18,736 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-07-25T15:32:25.32+00:00

    Hello @Ekanthappa, Chaithra,

    Thank you for using Q & A forum.

    The issue you’re experiencing with Hubble being in a disabled state after enabling Cilium on an AKS managed cluster without Advanced Container Networking Services (ACNS) is expected. Hubble flow analysis and diagnostics require ACNS to be enabled on the cluster. If your cluster does not use ACNS, you can deploy the extension with hubble.enabled=false, which allows the agent to provide standard Kubernetes networking diagnostics without Hubble, such as DNS and packet drop diagnostics.

    If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Up-Vote for the same. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

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