What changes when the VPC CNI assigns IP prefixes instead of individual secondary addresses?

Question

Accepted Answer

Each interface carries a block of addresses, so fewer EC2 calls serve more Pods — With prefix assignment the plugin attaches a prefix to an interface and allocates Pod addresses out of it, so a node reaches far higher Pod density and the cluster makes many fewer EC2 API calls to configure addresses — the calls themselves are what slow down Pod and instance launches at scale. Containers in a Pod share its single address rather than sub-allocating, no subnet is carved out per node, and the address family is unchanged. Prefixes require Nitro-based instances.

Answer

Each Pod receives a routable block it can sub-allocate to its own containers

Answer

Each node reserves a subnet of its own, which the CNI carves out on first boot

Answer

Each interface keeps its address count but gains a second address family

What changes when the VPC CNI assigns IP prefixes instead of individual secondary addresses?

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