IPv6 Only Amazon EKS Clusters using Rafay

As the demand for IP addresses continues to grow, the Internet is rapidly running out of available IPv4 addresses. This has led to the adoption of IPv6, which provides a much larger pool of IP addresses. By using IPv6, organizations can ensure that they have enough IP addresses for their containerized applications, without running into address exhaustion issues.

Our most recent release to our Preview environment adds support for the creation of IPv6 Only Amazon EKS Clusters. This update streamlines the process of establishing Amazon EKS clusters with IPv6 only configuration, making it easier for you to harness the advantages of IPv6 networking without dealing with complexities.

---

Cluster Configuration with IPV6

To create an Amazon EKS cluster with IPv6, users can seamlessly provision new clusters using Rafay's platform through various interfaces such as UI, CLI, Terraform, or GitOps SystemSync. The following managed add-ons must be enabled for IPv6 clusters: VPC-CNI, CoreDNS, and kube-proxy. If creating the cluster using a configuration file, set the withoidc flag to true along with these add-ons.

When creating an EKS cluster with IPv6, be sure to review this link for important considerations regarding the use of the IPv6 family in your cluster.

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant RafayPlatform
    participant AWS

    User->>RafayPlatform: Request to create EKS cluster with IPv6

    note over RafayPlatform: The following managed add-ons MUST be enabled for <br>IPv6 clusters:VPC-CNI,CoreDNS,and kube-proxy. <br>If creating the cluster using a configuration file,\nset the `withoidc` <br>flag to true along with these add-ons.


    RafayPlatform-->>User: Acknowledge request

    alt Cluster Creation Steps
        RafayPlatform->>AWS: Trigger EKS cluster creation with IPv6 configuration
        AWS-->>RafayPlatform: EKS cluster creation in progress
        RafayPlatform-->>User: Acknowledge request
    end

Users can configure Amazon EKS clusters with IPv6 through the Web Console. The screenshot below shows the required settings.

Web Console

IPV6-Enabled Cluster

---

Automation Interfaces

Organizations with automation pipelines like Jenkins and GitHub Actions can use GitOps to create and manage their Rafay managed EKS clusters.

1. RCTL CLI

Here is a sample cluster configuration file, with the highlighted configurations being the prerequisites:

apiVersion: infra.k8smgmt.io/v3
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: eks-ipv6
  project: ipv6demo
spec:
  blueprintConfig:
    name: minimal
    version: Latest
  cloudCredentials: aws_cred
  config:
    addons:
    - name: kube-proxy
      version: v1.27.1-eksbuild.1
    - name: vpc-cni
      version: v1.12.6-eksbuild.2
    - name: coredns
      version: v1.10.1-eksbuild.1
    iam:
      withOIDC: true
    kubernetesNetworkConfig:
      ipFamily: IPv6
    managedNodeGroups:
    - amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
      desiredCapacity: 2
      iam:
        withAddonPolicies:
          autoScaler: true
      instanceTypes:
      - t3.xlarge
      maxSize: 2
      minSize: 2
      name: managed-ng-1
      version: "1.27"
      volumeSize: 80
      volumeType: gp3
    metadata:
      name: eks-ipv6
      region: us-west-2
      version: "1.27"
    network:
      cni:
        name: aws-cni
    vpc:
      cidr: 192.168.0.0/16
      clusterEndpoints:
        privateAccess: true
        publicAccess: false
  proxyConfig: {}
  type: aws-eks

Create Cluster:

./rctl apply -f <cluster config file>

2. Terraform Provider

Use Rafay's Terraform Provider to create an EKS cluster with IPv6. Refer to the sample cluster configuration mentioned in our Terraform documentation.

3.GitOps with Write Back to Git

If you are interested, read through our step-by-step Getting Started Guide for ClickOps to GitOps for EKS using Rafay.

4. APIs

You can use the Rafay API to interact directly with the Rafay Platform programmatically, enabling you to create Amazon EKS clusters with IPV6 as well.

---

Conclusion

Rafay's streamlined approach to provisioning Amazon EKS clusters with IPv6 configuration enables organizations to seamlessly adopt this and experience the seamless transition and enhanced capabilities it offers.

---

Try It Out

Sign up here for a free trial and try it out yourself. Get Started with EKS using Rafay includes a number of hands-on exercises that will help you get familiar with capabilities of Rafay's Kubernetes Management Platform.

Important

Since this capability is not available by default for all organizations, enabling IPV6 requires you to contact your Rafay CSM. The IPV6 feature is available at no extra charge for all Rafay customers. Please get in touch with your Rafay CSM to have this feature enabled for you in your Org.

Sincere thanks to readers of our blog who spend time reading our product blogs. Please Contact the Rafay Product Team if you would like us to write about other topics.

---