EKS Anywhere Bare Metal Cluster Management Made Easy with Rafay¶

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a managed service that you can use to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install, operate, and maintain your own Kubernetes control plane or nodes. One of the options available with EKS is EKS Anywhere for Bare Metal environments, which allows you to run Kubernetes on your own hardware. While this provides more control and flexibility to businesses, it also comes with its own set of challenges.

While the benefits of managing EKS Anywhere on Bare Metal are significant, it’s important to note that the process can be challenging and time consuming, particularly if you lack experience with kubernetes on Bare Metal infrastructure. This is where Rafay’s Kubernetes Platform for managing EKS Anywhere Bare Metal clusters can come in handy.

In this blog, we'll explore how Rafay’s Platform can address pain points and simplify the management process.

Simple Cluster Management Workflows¶

One of the biggest advantages of using Rafay’s Kubernetes Platform solution for managing EKS Anywhere Bare Metal clusters is an intuitive, user-friendly web console Rafay provides an easy-to-use UI that makes it simple to configure, provision and manage your EKS Anywhere Bare Metal clusters in remote data centers. You can create, scale, and manage clusters with just a few clicks.Scaling EKS Anywhere bare metal clusters can be a challenging task, particularly when you need to add or remove nodes. The platform simplifies this process by providing an easy-to-use UI for scaling your clusters. You can add or remove nodes with just a few clicks, eliminating the need for manual intervention.

Automated Template Generation¶

Creating and managing EKS Anywhere Bare Metal clusters using eksctl can be error prone and time-consuming, especially when you need to manually prepare large templates. The Rafay platform eliminates this by automatically generating the templates . You only need to provide a few inputs, and the Platform will generate the template for you. This will save users a lot of time and effort in preparing the template manually.

Zero Trust Internet based Remote Management¶

Rafay eliminates the need for administrators to require direct access to the data center for cluster operations.This is achieved through a secure, zero trust, dial out connection between the Rafay Kubernetes Controller and cluster nodes via a gateway deployed in the remote datacenter.

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant admin as Administrator 
    participant rafay as Rafay Controller
    box Remote Datacenter
    participant gateway as Gateway
    participant kind as Temporary Kind Cluster
    participant cluster as EKSA Bare Metal Cluster
    end
    note over rafay, gateway: Port 443 Outbound Control Channel
    admin->>rafay: Cluster Spec
    gateway->>rafay: Pull Cluster Spec 
    gateway->>kind: Provision kind Cluster
    kind->>cluster: Provision EKSA Cluster
    kind->>cluster: Pivot Management
    gateway->>kind: Destroy kind Cluster
    cluster->>rafay: Ongoing Management
    admin->>rafay: Interact with Remote Cluster

Eliminate Need for Admin Machine.¶

The Rafay gateway serves as both the EKSA admin machine and the gateway, meaning there are no extra infrastructure requirements beyond those of EKS Anywhere.Also it can be operationally cumbersome to install and manage software packages on admin machine. The Rafay platform gets rid of the need to install and manage software packages, which can save you a lot of time and effort. The platform also automatically manages the installation of these tools, ensuring they are up to date and compatible with EKS Anywhere Bare Metal.

Remote Troubleshooting¶

Troubleshooting issues with EKS Anywhere Bare Metal clusters running in remote data centers can be a significant challenge, particularly when there is a lack of visibility into the provisioning steps. The Platform provides an integrated debug channel that offers detailed visibility into status and insights into the provisioning process, making it easier to troubleshoot issues. This can save you a lot of time and effort in identifying and resolving issues.

Summary¶

Managing EKS Anywhere Clusters on Bare Metal can be a challenging task, particularly for those who are not familiar with Kubernetes or Bare M etal infrastructure. A Platform like Rafay for managing EKS Anywhere Bare Metal clusters can dramatically simplify and streamline the management process with web console, automated template generation proces and integrated remote debug channel makes the Rafay’s Platform Solution an attractive option for enterprises.

Try It Out¶

If you want to try this out yourself, sign up for a Free Org/Tenant and check out our "Getting Started Guide" and documentation. We also have a YouTube video that covers the lifecycle management of Amazon EKS Anywhere clusters on bare metal.

Getting Started Guide

Rafay Documentation

Watch the EKS Anywhere Bare Metal tutorial on YouTube

The official Amazon EKS Anywhere documentation