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Part 1: Provision

This is Part 1 of a multi-part, self-paced quick start exercise that will delpoy an AKS cluster through the Azure console. You will then import the cluster and convert it to a managed resource.


Step 1: Deploy Cluster

In this step you will deploy an Azure AKS cluster from the Azure console. The cluster will be used in the remainder of this excercise.

  • Login to the Azure console
  • Navigate to "Kubernetes Services"
  • Click "Create" -> "Create a Kubernetes Cluster"

Create Cluster

  • Populate the "Subscription"
  • Populate the "Resource Group"
  • Enter the "Kubernetes cluster name"
  • Select the "Region" to be used
  • Click "Review and Create"

Create Cluster

  • Click "Create" to begin creating the cluster

Create Cluster

The deployment process will begin.

Create Cluster

After about 20 minutes, the cluster deployement will complete.

Create Cluster


Step 2: Import Cluster

In this step you will import the Azure AKS cluster into the controller.

  • Login to the Rafay console
  • Navigate to your project
  • Select Infrastructure -> Clusters
  • Click "New Cluster"
  • Select "Import Existing Kubernetes Cluster"
  • Click "Continue"

Import Cluster

  • Select "Public Cloud"
  • Select "Azure AKS"
  • Enter a cluster name
  • Click "Continue"

Import Cluster

  • Select the "default-aks" blueprint
  • Click "Continue"

Import Cluster

Now, we will need to bootstrap the AKS cluster so that it can register with the controller.

  • Click "Download Bootstrap YAML"

Import Cluster

  • Navigate to the Azure console
  • Click "Connect to cluster"

Create Cluster

  • Follow the on screen instructions to connect to the cluster to gain access to kubectl.

Import Cluster

Next, we will need to copy the previously downloaded bootstrap file to the cluster.

  • Click the "Upload" button at the top of the terminal window

Import Cluster

  • Select the previously downloaded bootstrap YAML file
  • Run the following command in the Azure terminal being sure to update the command with the name of the bootstrap yaml file
kubectl apply -f  <bootstrap-yaml-file>
  • Navigate back to the Rafay console

You will see the cluster will be registered and begin syncronizing with the controller.

Import Cluster

After a few minutes, the cluster will be fully imported.

Import Cluster

  • Click "Exit"

You will now see the cluster card showing the state and summary of the cluster. You will also see a button on the cluster card with the text "Convert To Managed". This will be used in the next section.

Import Cluster


Step 3: Takeover Cluster

In this step you will convert the imported cluster into a managed cluster to gain full lifecycle control.

  • Navigate to your project
  • Select Infrastructure -> Clusters
  • Click "Convert To Managed" on the cluster card
  • Select the Azure Cloud Credential
  • Enter the Resource Group of the cluster
  • Select the cluster name from the list of available clusters
  • Click "Convert to Managed Cluster"

Takeover Cluster

  • Click "Yes" to confirm the conversion

Takeover Cluster

You will then see the cluster has been successfully converted to a managed cluster.

Takeover Cluster

You will now have full control over the lifecyle management of this cluster through the controller.

  • Click "Exit"

The cluster card will now show more detailed information since the cluster is now managed.

Takeover Cluster


Step 4: Scale Cluster

In this step you will use the newly added managed cluster capabilities and scale the number of nodes in the cluster.

  • Navigate to your project
  • Select Infrastructure -> Clusters
  • Click on the cluster name in the cluster card
  • Click on the "Node Pools" tab

Scale Cluster

  • Click on the edit button of the node pool
  • Increase the "Min Count" by 1
  • Click "Save & Provision"

Scale Cluster

After a few minutes, you will see that the number of nodes has increased.

Scale Cluster

  • Click on the "kubectl" button at the top-right of the screen
  • Enter the following command into the terminal
kubectl get nodes

You will also see here the number of nodes has increased.

Scale Cluster


Recap

Congratulations! At this point, you have

  • Deployed an AKS cluster in Azure
  • Imported the AKS cluster into the controller
  • Converted the cluster to a managed cluster
  • Managed the cluster by scaling the number of nodes