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How Orka Integrates Amazon EKS to EC2 Mac to Support Ephemeral Workloads

macOS Virtualization
Jason Davis
|
September 30, 2025

Key takeaways

  • Integrate Amazon EKS with EC2 Mac using Orka on AWS to orchestrate macOS workloads and simplify Kubernetes management.
  • Accelerate CI/CD pipelines using Amazon EKS with ephemeral macOS VMs that provision in seconds instead of 10–25 minutes.
  • Optimize EC2 Mac efficiency by running multiple macOS VMs per host and automating VM lifecycle management through your EKS cluster.
  • Enhance developer productivity with EKS orchestration, reproducible environments, and seamless CI/CD toolchain integrations.

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Introduction

Enterprises building iOS and macOS applications rely on AWS EC2 Macs for cloud-based development and testing. While EC2 Mac provides dedicated macOS environments, scaling these instances across CI pipelines introduces operational complexity. Provisioning can be slow, and Kubernetes-native orchestration doesn’t extend naturally to macOS workloads.  



Orka on AWS bridges this gap by integrating Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) with EC2 Mac. As a result, teams can orchestrate ephemeral macOS virtual machines (VMs), run reproducible builds, and maximize their AWS investment, using the same Kubernetes-native workflows already used for Linux and containerized workloads.  

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Architecture: Orka on AWS with Amazon EKS and EC2 Mac

The following diagram shows how Orka connects Amazon EKS with EC2 Mac instances to deliver scalable macOS workloads.



  • Amazon EC2 Mac Hosts provide secure, dedicated macOS hardware inside your AWS VPC.
  • Orka AMI + VMs enable multiple macOS VMs per host, improving resource utilization.
  • Amazon EKS serves as the control plane, deploying workloads to EC2 devices with resource availability.
  • Orka EKS components translate the Kubernetes commands into macOS VM lifecycle operations, automating the spin-up and tear-down of runtimes.
  • Amazon ECR and External OCI registries store and distribute macOS VM images that can be customized with proper dependencies.
  • Developers and CI systems interact through Orka’s CLI, REST API, and packaged CI plugins.



This architecture allows macOS environments to become first-class citizens in Kubernetes-native workflows.

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Why Orka on AWS matters for DevOps

Faster, ephemeral build environments

With Orka, macOS VMs can be created and destroyed in seconds, enabling true ephemeral builds. This reduces pipeline bottlenecks and ensures every run executes in a clean, reproducible environment. Without Orka, it would take 10-25 minutes to provision an EC2 Mac and spin up an AMI for the same outcomes.

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Kubernetes native management

Orka is Kubernetes-native and CNCF-certified, working directly with Amazon EKS to manage macOS workloads effortlessly. It allows DevOps teams to orchestrate macOS workloads with the same patterns they already use for Linux containers.

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Maximize EC2 Mac utilization

Each EC2 Mac can host up to two macOS VMs, providing teams with higher density and lower costs per build. Orka automates VM allocation to match demand, so resources can be scheduled across the fleet of EC2 Mac as needed.

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CI toolchain integrations

Orka provides open-source plugins for GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and GitLab, amongst others, making it easy to add macOS build and test into existing pipelines without rearchitecting their build pipelines.

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Proven enterprise use

Organizations using Orka on AWS have modernized their macOS build pipelines by reducing wait times for test environments and gaining the ability to scale workloads through EKS.

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Get started with Orka on AWS

Orka on AWS takes the pain out of scaling macOS build infrastructure by automating VM provisioning, cutting spin-up times from minutes to seconds, and integrating directly with the CI/CD tools your teams already use.



You get ephemeral, reproducible environments that improve reliability, stronger utilization of expensive EC2 Mac resources, and a Kubernetes-native workflow that aligns with how enterprises already run at scale. The result: faster pipelines, less overhead, and more time for your developers to focus on shipping features.



Contact a MacStadium Mac expert today to get started with Orka on AWS.