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Overview

For purposes of automation, it is strongly recommended that users create and manage version controlled "cluster specs" to provision and manage the lifecycle of clusters. This is well suited for scenarios where the cluster lifecycle (creation etc) needs to be embedded into a larger workflow where reproducible environments are required. For example:

  • Jenkins or a CI system that needs to provision a cluster as part of a larger workflow
  • Reproducible Infrastructure
  • Ephemeral clusters for QA/Testing

Credentials

Ensure you have created valid cloud credentials for the controller to manage the lifecycle of Amazon EKS clusters on your behalf in your AWS account.


Automation Pipelines

The RCTL CLI can be easily embedded and integrated into your preferred platform for automation pipelines. Here is an example of a Jenkins based pipeline that uses RCTL to provision an Amazon EKS Cluster based on the provided cluster specification.

Sequence Diagram


Examples

Multiple ready to use examples of cluster specifications are maintained and provided in this Public Git Repo.


Create Cluster

Imperative

Create an EKS cluster object in the configured project in the Controller. You can optionally also specify the cluster blueprint during this step. To create an EKS cluster, region and cloud credentials name are mandatory. If not specified, the default cluster blueprint will be used.

./rctl create cluster eks eks-cluster sample-credentials --region us-west-2

To create an EKS cluster with a custom blueprint

./rctl create cluster eks eks-cluster sample-credentials --region us-west-2 -b standard-blueprint

Declarative

You can also create an EKS cluster based on a version controlled cluster spec that you can manage in a Git repository. This enables users to develop automation for reproducible infrastructure.

./rctl create cluster eks -f cluster-spec.yml

An illustrative example of the split cluster spec YAML file for EKS is shown below

kind: Cluster
metadata:
  # cluster labels
  labels:
    env: dev
    type: eks-workloads
  name: eks-cluster
  project: defaultproject
spec:
  blueprint: default
  cloudprovider: dev-credential # Name of the cloud credential object created on the Controller
  proxyconfig: {}
  systemComponentsPlacement:
    daemonSetOverride:
      nodeSelectionEnabled: false
      tolerations:
      - effect: NoExecute
        key: app_daemon
        operator: Equal
        value: infra_daemon
    nodeSelector:
      app: infra
      dedicated: "true"
    tolerations:
    - effect: NoExecute
      key: app
      operator: Equal
      value: infra
    - effect: NoSchedule
      key: dedicated
      operator: Equal
      value: "true"
  type: eks
---
apiVersion: rafay.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: eks-cluster
  region: us-west-1
  version: "1.22"
  tags:
    'demo': 'true'
nodeGroups:
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  desiredCapacity: 2
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  labels:
    app: infra
    dedicated: "true"
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 0
  name: demo-ng1
  ssh:
    allow: true
    publicKeyName: demo-key
  taints:
  - effect: NoSchedule
    key: dedicated
    value: "true"
  - effect: NoExecute
    key: app
    value: infra
  version: "1.22"
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp3
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  desiredCapacity: 2
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  labels:
    app: infra
    dedicated: "true"
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 0
  name: demo-ng2
  ssh:
    allow: true
    publicKeyName: demo-key
  taints:
  - effect: NoExecute
    key: app_daemon
    value: infra_daemon
  version: "1.22"
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp3
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  availabilityZones:
  - us-west-2-wl1-phx-wlz-1
  desiredCapacity: 1
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
      imageBuilder: true
  instanceType: t3.medium
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 1
  name: ng-second-wlz-wed-1
  privateNetworking: true
  subnetCidr: 192.168.213.0/24
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp2
  vpc:
    cidr: 192.168.0.0/16
    clusterEndpoints:
      privateAccess: true
      publicAccess: false
    nat:
      gateway: Single

An illustrative example of the unified cluster spec YAML file for EKS is shown below

apiVersion: infra.k8smgmt.io/v3
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: eks-cluster
  project: default-project
spec:
  blueprintConfig:
    name: default
  cloudCredentials: demo-cred
  config:
    managedNodeGroups:
    - amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
      desiredCapacity: 2
      iam:
        withAddonPolicies:
          autoScaler: true
      instanceType: t3.xlarge
      labels:
        app: infra
        dedicated: "true"
      maxSize: 2
      minSize: 2
      name: demo-ng3
      ssh:
        allow: true
        publicKeyName: demokey
      taints:
      - effect: NoSchedule
        key: dedicated
        value: "true"
      - effect: NoExecute
        key: app
        value: infra
      version: "1.22"
      volumeSize: 80
      volumeType: gp3
    metadata:
      name: eks-cluster
      region: us-west-2
      version: "1.22"
    network:
      cni:
        name: aws-cni
    vpc:
      cidr: 192.168.0.0/16
      clusterEndpoints:
        privateAccess: false
        publicAccess: true
      nat:
        gateway: Single
  proxyConfig: {}
  systemComponentsPlacement:
    daemonSetOverride:
      nodeSelectionEnabled: false
      tolerations:
      - effect: NoExecute
        key: app_daemon
        operator: Equal
        value: infra_daemon
    nodeSelector:
      app: infra
      dedicated: "true"
    tolerations:
    - effect: NoSchedule
      key: dedicated
      operator: Equal
      value: "true"
    - effect: NoExecute
      key: app
      operator: Equal
      value: infra
  type: aws-eks

Recommendation

Users can add the below wild toleration to daemon set which would tolerate any taints

tolerations:
  operator: "Exists"

Below is an illustrative example of the cluster spec YAML file with Managed Addon parameters

kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: demo-cluster
  project: default
spec:
  blueprint: minimal
  blueprintversion: 1.23.0
  cloudprovider: provider_aws
  cniprovider: aws-cni
  proxyconfig: {}
  type: eks
---
addons:
- name: vpc-cni
  version: v1.11.4-eksbuild.1
- name: coredns
  version: v1.8.7-eksbuild.3
- name: kube-proxy
  version: v1.24.7-eksbuild.2
- name: aws-ebs-csi-driver
  version: latest
apiVersion: rafay.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
managedNodeGroups:
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  desiredCapacity: 2
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 2
  name: managed-ng-1
  version: "1.24"
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp3
metadata:
  name: demo-cluster
  region: us-west-2
  tags:
    email: demo@rafay.co
    env: qa
  version: "1.24"
vpc:
  cidr: 192.168.0.0/16
  clusterEndpoints:
    privateAccess: true
    publicAccess: false
  nat:
    gateway: Single

Cluster Upgrade

Use the below command to upgrade a cluster

./rctl upgrade cluster <cluster-Name> --version <version>

Below is an example of cluster version upgrade

./rctl upgrade cluster eks-cluster --version 1.20

Get Cluster Details

Once the cluster has been created, use this command to retrieve details about the cluster.

./rctl get cluster cluster-name

An example for a successfully provisioned and operational cluster is shown below.

+--------------+-----------------------------+---------+--------+-----------+----------------------------+----------+
| NAME         | CREATED AT                  | TYPE    | STATUS | BLUEPRINT | PROVISION                  | COMMENTS |
+--------------+-----------------------------+---------+--------+-----------+----------------------------+----------+
| cluster-name | 2021-02-20T00:05:10.425154Z | aws-eks | READY  | default   | CLUSTER_PROVISION_COMPLETE |          |
+--------------+-----------------------------+---------+--------+-----------+----------------------------+----------+

Download Cluster Configuration

Once the cluster is provisioned either using Web Console or CLI, cluster configuration can be downloaded and stored it in a code repository.

./rctl get cluster config cluster-name

The above command will output the cluster config onto stdout. It can be redirected to a file and stored in the code repository of your choice.

./rctl get cluster config cluster-name > cluster-name-config.yaml

Important

Download the cluster configuration only after the cluster is completely provisioned.


Node Groups

Both Managed and Self Managed node groups are supported.

Add Node Groups

You can add a new node group (Spot or On-Demand) to an existing EKS cluster. Here is an example YAML file to add a spot node group to an existing EKS cluster.

apiVersion: rafay.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: eks-cluster
  region: us-west-1

nodeGroups:
  - name: spot-ng-1
    minSize: 2
    maxSize: 4
    volumeType: gp3
    instancesDistribution:
      maxPrice: 0.030
      instanceTypes: ["t3.large","t2.large"]
      onDemandBaseCapacity: 0
      onDemandPercentageAboveBaseCapacity: 0
      spotInstancePools: 2

To add a spot node group to an existing cluster based on the config shown above.

./rctl create node-group -f eks-nodegroup.yaml

Scale Node Group

To Scale an existing node group in a cluster

./rctl scale node-group nodegroup-name cluster-name --desired-nodes <node-count>

Drain Node Group

To drain a node group in a cluster

./rctl drain node-group nodegroup-name cluster-name

Node group Labels and Tags

Post Cluster provisioning, users can update Managed Node group Labels and Tags via RCTL

Update Node group labels

To update the node group labels in a cluster

./rctl update nodegroup <node-group-name> <cluster-name> --labels 'k1=v1,k2=v2,k3=v3'

Update Node group tags

To update the node group labels in a cluster

./rctl update nodegroup <node-group-name> <cluster-name> --tags 'k1=v1,k2=v2,k3='

Delete Node Group

To delete a node group from an existing cluster

./rctl delete node-group nodegroup-name cluster-name

Node Groups in Wavelength Zone

Users can also create a Node Group in Wavelength Zone using the below config file

Manual Network Configuration

apiVersion: rafay.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: demo-eks-testing
  region: us-west-1
nodeGroups:
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  desiredCapacity: 4
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
      imageBuilder: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  maxSize: 4
  minSize: 0
  name: ng-2220fc4d
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp3
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  availabilityZones:
  - us-east-1-wl1-atl-wlz-1
  desiredCapacity: 2
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
      imageBuilder: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 2
  name: demo-wlzone1
  privateNetworking: true
  securityGroups:
    attachIDs:
    - test-grpid
  subnets:
  - 701d1419
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp2

Automatic Network Configuration

apiVersion: rafay.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: demo-eks-autonode
  region: us-west-2
nodeGroups:
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  desiredCapacity: 4
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
      imageBuilder: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  maxSize: 4
  minSize: 0
  name: ng-2220fc4d
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp3
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  availabilityZones:
  - us-west-2-wl1-phx-wlz-1
  desiredCapacity: 2
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
      imageBuilder: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 2
  name: ng-rctl-4-new
  privateNetworking: true
  subnetCidr: 10.51.0.0/20
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp2

Node Group in Wavelength Zone

To create a node group configuration, use the below command

./rctl create -f nodegroup.yaml

Users who wish to perform the required changes in the Cluster config file must use the below command to create Wavelength Zone Node Group in the cluster

./rctl apply -f <configfile.yaml>

Example:

./rctl apply -f newng.yaml

Output:

{
  "taskset_id": "1ky4gkz",
  "operations": [
    {
      "operation": "NodegroupCreation",
      "resource_name": "ng-ui-new-ns",
      "status": "PROVISION_TASK_STATUS_PENDING"
    },
    {
      "operation": "NodegroupCreation",
      "resource_name": "ng-wlz-ui-222",
      "status": "PROVISION_TASK_STATUS_PENDING"
    },
    {
      "operation": "NodegroupCreation",
      "resource_name": "ng-default-thurs-222",
      "status": "PROVISION_TASK_STATUS_PENDING"
    },
    {
      "operation": "ClusterCreation",
      "resource_name": "rajat-rctl-friday-3",
      "status": "PROVISION_TASK_STATUS_PENDING"
    }
  ],
  "comments": "The status of the operations can be fetched using taskset_id",
  "status": "PROVISION_TASKSET_STATUS_PENDING"
}

Delete Node Group

Delete the required Node Group from the config file and use the below command to apply the deletion change

./rctl apply -f <configfile.yaml>

Example:

./rctl apply -f <newng.yaml>

Output:

{
  "taskset_id": "6kno42l",
  "operations": [
    {
      "operation": "NodegroupDeletion",
      "resource_name": "ng-wlz-thurs",
      "status": "PROVISION_TASK_STATUS_PENDING"
    }
  ],
  "comments": "The status of the operations can be fetched using taskset_id",
  "status": "PROVISION_TASKSET_STATUS_PENDING"
}

Delete Cluster

This will delete the EKS cluster and all associated resources in AWS.

./rctl delete cluster eks-cluster

Identity Mapping

During cluster provisioning, users can also create a static mapping between IAM Users and Roles, and Kubernetes RBAC groups. This allows users/roles to access specified EKS cluster resources.

Below is a cluster config spec YAML with IAM Identity Mapping objects (highlighted)

kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: demo-eks-cluster
  project: defaultproject
spec:
  blueprint: minimal
  cloudprovider: demo-cp-aws
  cniprovider: aws-cni
  proxyconfig: {}
  type: eks
---
apiVersion: rafay.io/v1alpha5
identityMappings:
  accounts:
  - "679196758850"
  - "656256256267"
  arns:
  - arn: arn:aws:iam::679196758854:user/demo1@rafay.co
    group:
    - System Master
    username: demo1
  - arn: arn:aws:iam::679196758854:user/demo2@rafay.co
    group:
    - Systemmaster
    username: demo2
  - arn: arn:aws:iam::679196758854:user/demo5@rafay.co
    group:
    - Systemmaster
    username: demo5
  - arn: arn:aws:iam::679196758854:user/demo6@rafay.co
    group:
    - system:masters
    username: demo6
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: demo-eks-cluster
  region: us-west-2
  version: "1.22"
nodeGroups:
- amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
  desiredCapacity: 1
  iam:
    withAddonPolicies:
      autoScaler: true
      imageBuilder: true
  instanceType: t3.xlarge
  maxSize: 2
  minSize: 0
  name: demo-node-group
  version: "1.22"
  volumeSize: 80
  volumeType: gp3
vpc:
  cidr: 192.168.0.0/16
  clusterEndpoints:
    privateAccess: true
    publicAccess: false
  nat:
    gateway: Single

On successful cluster provisioning, the users can access the cluster resources via AWS Console

To add IAM Mappings post cluster provisioning, refer Identity Mapping