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Provision

Step 2 - Create a Cluster Using the Cilium Blueprint

In this step, you will create a MKS Cluster in Rafay and attach the Blueprint you created in the previous step, which includes the Cilium CNI Add-On with Hubble and Hubble UI enabled.

Prerequisites

  • A Blueprint with Cilium Add-On configured (with values.yaml enabling Hubble and Hubble UI) — this was created in the previous step.
  • Access to Rafay Console with permissions to create clusters.
  • Access to your infrastructure (bare metal, virtual machines, or cloud instances) where you want to deploy the cluster.
  • Machines with Ubuntu (or other supported OS like RHEL, Ubuntu 24.04, etc.) for this demo.

Create MKS Cluster

  1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Clusters in the Rafay Console.
  2. Click Create New Cluster, then select Create a New Cluster.
  3. Click Data Center/Edge, then select Linux Installer > Upstream Kubernetes.
  4. Provide the following basic details:
    • Cluster Name (e.g., mks-demo-cilium)

cluster

  1. Click Continue
  2. In the General section, ensure:
    • K8s Version: Select the Kubernetes version you want to use for creating the cluster.
    • Blueprint: Select the Blueprint you created earlier with the Cilium Add-On.
  3. In the Advanced section, ensure the following:
    • Cluster Networking: Select CNI - via Blueprint, since the CNI will be applied through the Blueprint.

cluster

  1. Continue

cluster

Prepare Nodes

  1. SSH into your Ubuntu machine.
  2. In the Rafay Console, click on the newly created Cluster.

  3. Copy the node installer command shown under the Linux Installer tab.

    node-installer

  4. Paste and run the command in the terminal on your Ubuntu machine.

  5. Once the node appears in the Nodes screen in the console, approve the node.
  6. After approval, configure the node with the following roles:
    • Master
    • Worker
  7. Click Save.
  8. Click Provision to start the cluster provisioning process.

NodePrep

Once the cluster is fully provisioned and its status shows Healthy and READY, you will see Cilium pods and Hubble pods deployed on the cluster.

pods

Access Hubble UI (Optional)

In this guide, Hubble UI is exposed using NodePort for simplicity. After the cluster is up, you can access Hubble UI via:

Hubble UI

Hubble App

Hubble UI Gif