In this tutorial, we'll create a Kubernetes v1.31.2 cluster on Azure with Flatcar Linux.
We'll declare a Kubernetes cluster using the Typhoon Terraform module. Then apply the changes to create a resource group, virtual network, subnets, security groups, controller availability set, worker scale set, load balancer, and TLS assets.
Controller hosts are provisioned to run an etcd-member
peer and a kubelet
service. Worker hosts run a kubelet
service. Controller nodes run kube-apiserver
, kube-scheduler
, kube-controller-manager
, and coredns
, while kube-proxy
and (flannel
, calico
, or cilium
) run on every node. A generated kubeconfig
provides kubectl
access to the cluster.
- Azure account
- Azure DNS Zone (registered Domain Name or delegated subdomain)
- Terraform v0.13.0+
Install Terraform v0.13.0+ on your system.
$ terraform version
Terraform v1.0.0
Read concepts to learn about Terraform, modules, and organizing resources. Change to your infrastructure repository (e.g. infra
).
cd infra/clusters
Install the Azure az
command line tool to authenticate with Azure.
az login
Configure the Azure provider in a providers.tf
file.
provider "azurerm" {
features {}
}
provider "ct" {}
terraform {
required_providers {
ct = {
source = "poseidon/ct"
version = "0.11.0"
}
azurerm = {
source = "hashicorp/azurerm"
version = "3.50.0"
}
}
}
Additional configuration options are described in the azurerm
provider docs.
Flatcar Linux publishes images to the Azure Marketplace and requires accepting terms.
az vm image terms accept --publish kinvolk --offer flatcar-container-linux-free --plan stable
az vm image terms accept --publish kinvolk --offer flatcar-container-linux-free --plan stable-gen2
Define a Kubernetes cluster using the module azure/flatcar-linux/kubernetes
.
module "ramius" {
source = "git::https://github.com/poseidon/typhoon//azure/flatcar-linux/kubernetes?ref=v1.31.2"
# Azure
cluster_name = "ramius"
location = "centralus"
dns_zone = "azure.example.com"
dns_zone_group = "example-group"
network_cidr = {
ipv4 = ["10.0.0.0/20"]
}
# instances
worker_count = 2
# configuration
ssh_authorized_key = "ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nz..."
}
Reference the variables docs or the variables.tf source.
Initial bootstrapping requires bootstrap.service
be started on one controller node. Terraform uses ssh-agent
to automate this step. Add your SSH private key to ssh-agent
.
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
ssh-add -L
Initialize the config directory if this is the first use with Terraform.
terraform init
Plan the resources to be created.
$ terraform plan
Plan: 86 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
Apply the changes to create the cluster.
$ terraform apply
...
module.ramius.null_resource.bootstrap: Still creating... (6m50s elapsed)
module.ramius.null_resource.bootstrap: Still creating... (7m0s elapsed)
module.ramius.null_resource.bootstrap: Creation complete after 7m8s (ID: 3961816482286168143)
Apply complete! Resources: 69 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.
In 4-8 minutes, the Kubernetes cluster will be ready.
Install kubectl on your system. Obtain the generated cluster kubeconfig
from module outputs (e.g. write to a local file).
resource "local_file" "kubeconfig-ramius" {
content = module.ramius.kubeconfig-admin
filename = "/home/user/.kube/configs/ramius-config"
file_permission = "0600"
}
List nodes in the cluster.
$ export KUBECONFIG=/home/user/.kube/configs/ramius-config
$ kubectl get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
ramius-controller-0 Ready <none> 24m v1.31.2
ramius-worker-000001 Ready <none> 25m v1.31.2
ramius-worker-000002 Ready <none> 24m v1.31.2
List the pods.
$ kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
NAMESPACE NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
kube-system coredns-7c6fbb4f4b-b6qzx 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system coredns-7c6fbb4f4b-j2k3d 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system cilium-1m5bf 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system cilium-7jmr1 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system cilium-bknc8 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system kube-apiserver-ramius-controller-0 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system kube-controller-manager-ramius-controller-0 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system kube-proxy-j4vpq 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system kube-proxy-jxr5d 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system kube-proxy-lbdw5 1/1 Running 0 26m
kube-system kube-scheduler-ramius-controller-0 1/1 Running 0 26m
Learn about maintenance and addons.
Check the variables.tf source.
Name | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
cluster_name | Unique cluster name (prepended to dns_zone) | "ramius" |
location | Azure location | "centralus" |
dns_zone | Azure DNS zone | "azure.example.com" |
dns_zone_group | Resource group where the Azure DNS zone resides | "global" |
ssh_authorized_key | SSH public key for user 'core' | "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NZ..." |
!!! tip
Locations are shown in docs or with az account list-locations --output table
.
Clusters create a DNS A record ${cluster_name}.${dns_zone}
to resolve a load balancer backed by controller instances. This FQDN is used by workers and kubectl
to access the apiserver(s). In this example, the cluster's apiserver would be accessible at ramius.azure.example.com
.
You'll need a registered domain name or delegated subdomain on Azure DNS. You can set this up once and create many clusters with unique names.
# Azure resource group for DNS zone
resource "azurerm_resource_group" "global" {
name = "global"
location = "centralus"
}
# DNS zone for clusters
resource "azurerm_dns_zone" "clusters" {
resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.global.name
name = "azure.example.com"
zone_type = "Public"
}
Reference the DNS zone with azurerm_dns_zone.clusters.name
and its resource group with "azurerm_resource_group.global.name
.
!!! tip "" If you have an existing domain name with a zone file elsewhere, just delegate a subdomain that can be managed on Azure DNS (e.g. azure.mydomain.com) and update nameservers.
Name | Description | Default | Example |
---|---|---|---|
os_image | Channel for a Container Linux derivative | "flatcar-stable" | flatcar-stable, flatcar-beta, flatcar-alpha |
controller_count | Number of controllers (i.e. masters) | 1 | 1 |
controller_type | Machine type for controllers | "Standard_B2s" | See below |
controller_disk_type | Managed disk for controllers | Premium_LRS | Standard_LRS |
controller_disk_size | Managed disk size in GB | 30 | 50 |
worker_count | Number of workers | 1 | 3 |
worker_type | Machine type for workers | "Standard_D2as_v5" | See below |
worker_disk_type | Managed disk for workers | Standard_LRS | Premium_LRS |
worker_disk_size | Size of the disk in GB | 30 | 100 |
worker_ephemeral_disk | Use ephemeral local disk instead of managed disk | false | true |
worker_priority | Set priority to Spot to use reduced cost surplus capacity, with the tradeoff that instances can be deallocated at any time | Regular | Spot |
controller_snippets | Controller Container Linux Config snippets | [] | example |
worker_snippets | Worker Container Linux Config snippets | [] | example |
networking | Choice of networking provider | "cilium" | "calico" or "cilium" or "flannel" |
network_cidr | Virtual network CIDR ranges | { ipv4 = ["10.0.0.0/16"], ipv6 = [ULA, ...] } | { ipv4 = ["10.0.0.0/20"] } |
pod_cidr | CIDR IPv4 range to assign to Kubernetes pods | "10.2.0.0/16" | "10.22.0.0/16" |
service_cidr | CIDR IPv4 range to assign to Kubernetes services | "10.3.0.0/16" | "10.3.0.0/24" |
worker_node_labels | List of initial worker node labels | [] | ["worker-pool=default"] |
Check the list of valid machine types and their specs. Use az vm list-skus
to get the identifier.
!!! warning
Do not choose a controller_type
smaller than Standard_B2s
. Smaller instances are not sufficient for running a controller.
Add worker_priority=Spot
to use Spot Priority workers that run on Azure's surplus capacity at lower cost, but with the tradeoff that they can be deallocated at random. Spot priority VMs are Azure's analog to AWS spot instances or GCP premptible instances.