In this guide, we shall be focusing on the installation of Kubernetes Cluster on Rocky Linux 8 with Kubeadm & CRI-O container runtime engine. It is no doubt that Kubernetes continues to transform how we deploy and manage business applications, at scale. Irregardless of the model used to deploy applications, whether manual or through CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes still remains the best choice to handle orchestration, management, and scaling your applications.
For those who do not know, Kubernetes has deprecated dockershim which means they no longer support docker as the container runtime. It is for this reason we’ll be using CRI-O container runtime. CRI-O is a lightweight alternative to using Docker as the runtime for kubernetes. Before you throw tantrums, it is important to note Cri-o works similar to Docker. The way Developer build and deploy application images is not affected.
What is CRI-O?
CRI-O is an implementation of the Kubernetes CRI (Container Runtime Interface) to enable using OCI (Open Container Initiative) compatible runtimes. CRI-O allows Kubernetes to use any OCI-compliant runtime as the container runtime for running pods.
CRI-O supports OCI container images and can pull from any container registry. It is a lightweight alternative to using Docker, Moby or rkt as the runtime for Kubernetes.
CRI-O architecture pulled from official project’s website:
My Lab environment setup
I’ll deploy a Kubernetes cluster on Rocky Linux 8 set of nodes as outlined below:
- 3 Control plane nodes (Masters)
- 4 Worker node machines (Data plane)
- Ansible version required 2.10+
But it is okay to setup a Kubernetes Cluster with 1 master node
using the process demonstrated in this guide.
Virtual Machines and Specs
We can see all the running nodes in my lab environment using the virsh command since it is powered by Vanilla KVM:
[root@kvm-private-lab ~]# virsh list
Id Name State
--------------------------------------
4 k8s-bastion-server running
17 k8s-master-01-server running
22 k8s-master-02-server running
26 k8s-master-03-server running
31 k8s-worker-01-server running
36 k8s-worker-02-server running
38 k8s-worker-03-server running
41 k8s-worker-04-server running
The first machine in the list will be our bastion / workstation machine. This is where we’ll perform the installation of Kubernetes Cluster on Rocky Linux 8 servers.
My list of servers with hostnames and IP addresses:
Hostname | IP Address | Cluster Role |
k8s-bastion.example.com | 192.168.200.9 | Bastion host |
k8s-master-01.example.com | 192.168.200.10 | Master Node |
k8s-master-02.example.com | 192.168.200.11 | Master Node |
k8s-master-03.example.com | 192.168.200.12 | Worker Node |
k8s-worker-01.example.com | 192.168.200.13 | Worker Node |
k8s-worker-02.example.com | 192.168.200.14 | Worker Node |
k8s-worker-03.example.com | 192.168.200.15 | Worker Node |
k8s-worker-04.example.com | 192.168.200.16 | Worker Node |
Each machine in my cluster has the following hardware specifications:
# Memory
$ free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.5Gi 169Mi 7.0Gi 8.0Mi 285Mi 7.1Gi
# Disk space
$ df -hT /
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/vda4 xfs 39G 2.0G 37G 5% /
# CPU Cores
$ egrep ^processor /proc/cpuinfo | wc -l
2
DNS Settings
Set A records for the hostnames in your DNS server and optionally on /etc/hosts file in each cluster node in case DNS resolution fails.
DNS bind records creation sample:
; Create entries for the master nodes
k8s-master-01 IN A 192.168.200.10
k8s-master-02 IN A 192.168.200.11
k8s-master-03 IN A 192.168.200.12
; Create entries for the worker nodes
k8s-worker-01 IN A 192.168.200.13
k8s-worker-02 IN A 192.168.200.14
k8s-worker-03 IN A 192.168.200.15
;
; The Kubernetes cluster ControlPlaneEndpoint point these to the IP of the masters
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.10
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.11
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.12
Step 1: Prepare Bastion Server for Kubernetes installation
Install basic tools required for the setup on the Bastion / Workstation system:
### Ubuntu / Debian ###
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git wget curl vim bash-completion
### CentOS / RHEL / Fedora / Rocky Linux ###
sudo yum -y install git wget curl vim bash-completion
Install Ansible configuration management
With Python 3:
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python3 get-pip.py --user
With Python 2:
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python get-pip.py --user
Installing Ansible using pip
# Python 3
python3 -m pip install ansible --user
# Python 2
python -m pip install ansible --user
Check Ansible version after installation:
$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.11.5]
config file = None
configured module search path = ['/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible
ansible collection location = /root/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible
python version = 3.9.7 (default, Aug 30 2021, 00:00:00) [GCC 11.2.1 20210728 (Red Hat 11.2.1-1)]
jinja version = 3.0.1
libyaml = True
Update /etc/hosts
file in your Bastion machine:
$ sudo vim /etc/hosts
192.168.200.9 k8s-bastion.example.com k8s-bastion
192.168.200.10 k8s-master-01.example.com k8s-master-01
192.168.200.11 k8s-master-02.example.com k8s-master-02
192.168.200.12 k8s-master-03.example.com k8s-master-03
192.168.200.13 k8s-worker-01.example.com k8s-worker-01
192.168.200.14 k8s-worker-02.example.com k8s-worker-02
192.168.200.15 k8s-worker-03.example.com k8s-worker-03
192.168.200.16 k8s-worker-04.example.com k8s-worker-04
Generate SSH keys:
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -N ''
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa):
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:LwgX4oCWENqWAyW9oywAv9jTK+BEk4+XShgX0galBqE root@k8s-master-01.example.com
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 4096]----+
|OOo |
|B**. |
|EBBo. . |
|===+ . . |
|=*+++ . S |
|*=++.o . . |
|=.o. .. . . |
| o. . . |
| . |
+----[SHA256]-----+
Create SSH client configuration file
$ vim ~/.ssh/config
Host *
UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null
StrictHostKeyChecking no
IdentitiesOnly yes
ConnectTimeout 0
ServerAliveInterval 30
Copy SSH keys to all Kubernetes cluster nodes
# Master Nodes
for host in k8s-master-0{1..3}; do
ssh-copy-id root@$host
done
# Worker Nodes
for host in k8s-worker-0{1..4}; do
ssh-copy-id root@$host
done
Step 2: Set correct hostname on all nodes
Login to each node in the cluster and configure correct hostname:
# Examples
# Master Node 01
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname k8s-master-01.example.com
# Worker Node 01
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname k8s-worker-01.example.com
Logout then back in to confirm the hostname is set correctly:
$ hostnamectl
Static hostname: k8s-master-01.example.com
Icon name: computer-vm
Chassis: vm
Machine ID: 7a7841970fc6fab913a02ca8ae57fe18
Boot ID: 4388978e190a4be69eb640b31e12a63e
Virtualization: kvm
Operating System: Rocky Linux 8.4 (Green Obsidian)
CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:rocky:rocky:8.4:GA
Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-305.19.1.el8_4.x86_64
Architecture: x86-64
For a cloud instance using cloud-init check out the guide below:
Step 3: Prepare Rocky Linux 8 servers for Kubernetes (Pre-reqs setup)
I wrote an Ansible role for doing the standard Kubernetes node preparation. The role contain the tasks to:
- Install standard packages required to manage nodes
- Setup standard system requirements – Disable Swap, Modify sysctl, Disable SELinux
- Install and configure a container runtime of your Choice – cri-o, Docker, Containerd
- Install the Kubernetes packages – kubelet, kubeadm and kubectl
- Configure Firewalld on Kubernetes Master and Worker nodes – open all ports required
Clone my Ansible role that we’ll use to setup Kubernetes Requirements before kubeadm init to your Bastion machine:
git clone https://github.com/jmutai/k8s-pre-bootstrap.git
Switch to k8s-pre-bootstrap directory created from the clone process:
cd k8s-pre-bootstrap
Set hosts inventory correctly with your Kubernetes nodes. Here is my inventory list:
$ vim hosts
[k8snodes]
k8s-master-01
k8s-master-02
k8s-master-03
k8s-worker-01
k8s-worker-02
k8s-worker-03
k8s-worker-04
You should also update the variables in playbook file. The most important being:
- Kubernetes version: k8s_version
- Your timezone: timezone
- Kubernetes CNI to use: k8s_cni
- Container runtime: container_runtime
$ vim k8s-prep.yml
---
- name: Setup Proxy
hosts: k8snodes
remote_user: root
become: yes
become_method: sudo
#gather_facts: no
vars:
k8s_version: "1.21" # Kubernetes version to be installed
selinux_state: permissive # SELinux state to be set on k8s nodes
timezone: "Africa/Nairobi" # Timezone to set on all nodes
k8s_cni: calico # calico, flannel
container_runtime: cri-o # docker, cri-o, containerd
configure_firewalld: true # true / false
# Docker proxy support
setup_proxy: false # Set to true to configure proxy
proxy_server: "proxy.example.com:8080" # Proxy server address and port
docker_proxy_exclude: "localhost,127.0.0.1" # Addresses to exclude from proxy
roles:
- kubernetes-bootstrap
Check Playbook syntax:
$ ansible-playbook --syntax-check -i hosts k8s-prep.yml
playbook: k8s-prep.yml
If your SSH private key has a passphrase then save it to prevent prompts at the time of executing playbook:
eval `ssh-agent -s` && ssh-add
Run the playbook to prepare your nodes:
$ ansible-playbook -i hosts k8s-prep.yml
If the servers are accessible execution should start immediately:
PLAY [Setup Proxy] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [k8s-worker-02]
ok: [k8s-worker-01]
ok: [k8s-master-03]
ok: [k8s-master-01]
ok: [k8s-worker-03]
ok: [k8s-master-02]
ok: [k8s-worker-04]
TASK [kubernetes-bootstrap : Add the OS specific variables] ******************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [k8s-master-01] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
ok: [k8s-master-02] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
ok: [k8s-master-03] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
ok: [k8s-worker-01] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
ok: [k8s-worker-02] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
ok: [k8s-worker-03] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
ok: [k8s-worker-04] => (item=/root/k8s-pre-bootstrap/roles/kubernetes-bootstrap/vars/RedHat8.yml)
TASK [kubernetes-bootstrap : Put SELinux in permissive mode] *****************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [k8s-master-01]
changed: [k8s-worker-01]
changed: [k8s-master-03]
changed: [k8s-master-02]
changed: [k8s-worker-02]
changed: [k8s-worker-03]
changed: [k8s-worker-04]
TASK [kubernetes-bootstrap : Update system packages] *************************************************************************************************************************************************
Here is a screenshot with playbook execution initiated:
After the setup confirm there are no errors in the output:
...output omitted...
PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
k8s-master-01 : ok=28 changed=20 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=12 rescued=0 ignored=0
k8s-master-02 : ok=28 changed=20 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=12 rescued=0 ignored=0
k8s-master-03 : ok=28 changed=20 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=12 rescued=0 ignored=0
k8s-worker-01 : ok=27 changed=19 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=13 rescued=0 ignored=0
k8s-worker-02 : ok=27 changed=19 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=13 rescued=0 ignored=0
k8s-worker-03 : ok=27 changed=19 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=13 rescued=0 ignored=0
k8s-worker-04 : ok=27 changed=19 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=13 rescued=0 ignored=0
If you encounter any errors while running the playbook reach out using the comments section and we’ll be happy to help.
Login to one of the nodes and validate below settings:
- Configured
/etc/hosts
file contents:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4
::1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
192.168.200.10 k8s-master-01.example.com k8s-master-01
192.168.200.11 k8s-master-02.example.com k8s-master-02
192.168.200.12 k8s-master-03.example.com k8s-master-03
192.168.200.13 k8s-worker-01.example.com k8s-worker-01
192.168.200.14 k8s-worker-02.example.com k8s-worker-02
192.168.200.15 k8s-worker-03.example.com k8s-worker-03
192.168.200.16 k8s-worker-04.example.com k8s-worker-04
- Status of cri-o service:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# systemctl status crio
● crio.service - Container Runtime Interface for OCI (CRI-O)
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/crio.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-09-24 18:06:53 EAT; 11min ago
Docs: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
Main PID: 13445 (crio)
Tasks: 10
Memory: 41.9M
CGroup: /system.slice/crio.service
└─13445 /usr/bin/crio
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.052576977+03:00" level=info msg="Using default capabilities: CAP_CHOWN, CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE, CAP_FSETID, CAP_>
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.111352936+03:00" level=info msg="Conmon does support the --sync option"
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.111623836+03:00" level=info msg="No seccomp profile specified, using the internal default"
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.111638473+03:00" level=info msg="AppArmor is disabled by the system or at CRI-O build-time"
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.117006450+03:00" level=info msg="Found CNI network crio (type=bridge) at /etc/cni/net.d/100-crio-bridge.co>
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.120722070+03:00" level=info msg="Found CNI network 200-loopback.conf (type=loopback) at /etc/cni/net.d/200>
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: time="2021-09-24 18:06:53.120752984+03:00" level=info msg="Updated default CNI network name to crio"
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: W0924 18:06:53.126936 13445 hostport_manager.go:71] The binary conntrack is not installed, this can cause failures in network conn>
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com crio[13445]: W0924 18:06:53.130986 13445 hostport_manager.go:71] The binary conntrack is not installed, this can cause failures in network conn>
Sep 24 18:06:53 k8s-master-01.example.com systemd[1]: Started Container Runtime Interface for OCI (CRI-O).
- Configured sysctl kernel parameters
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sysctl -p
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables = 1
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables = 1
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
- Firewalld opened ports:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# firewall-cmd --list-all
public (active)
target: default
icmp-block-inversion: no
interfaces: enp1s0
sources:
services: cockpit dhcpv6-client ssh
ports: 22/tcp 80/tcp 443/tcp 6443/tcp 2379-2380/tcp 10250/tcp 10251/tcp 10252/tcp 30000-32767/tcp 4789/udp 5473/tcp 179/tcp
protocols:
masquerade: no
forward-ports:
source-ports:
icmp-blocks:
rich rules:
Step 4: Bootstrap Kubernetes Control Plane (Single / Multi-node)
We’ll use kubeadm init
command to initialize a Kubernetes control-plane node. It will start by running a series of pre-flight checks to validate the system state before making changes
Below are the key options you should be aware of:
- –apiserver-advertise-address: The IP address the API Server will advertise it’s listening on. If not set the default network interface will be used.
- –apiserver-bind-port: Port for the API Server to bind to; default is 6443
- –control-plane-endpoint: Specify a stable IP address or DNS name for the control plane.
- –cri-socket: Path to the CRI socket to connect. If empty kubeadm will try to auto-detect this value; use this option only if you have more than one CRI installed or if you have non-standard CRI socket.
- –dry-run: Don’t apply any changes; just output what would be done
- –image-repository: Choose a container registry to pull control plane images from; Default: “k8s.gcr.io“
- –kubernetes-version: Choose a specific Kubernetes version for the control plane.
- –pod-network-cidr: Specify range of IP addresses for the pod network. If set, the control plane will automatically allocate CIDRs for every node.
- –service-cidr: Use alternative range of IP address for service VIPs. Default: “10.96.0.0/12“
The following table lists container runtimes and their associated socket paths:
Runtime | Path to Unix domain socket |
---|---|
Docker | /var/run/dockershim.sock |
containerd | /run/containerd/containerd.sock |
CRI-O | /var/run/crio/crio.sock |
Checking Kubernetes Version release notes
Release notes can be found by reading the Changelog that matches your Kubernetes version
Option 1: Bootstrapping single node Control Plane Kubernetes Cluster
If you have plans to upgrade a single control-plane kubeadm cluster to high availability you should specify the --control-plane-endpoint
to set the shared endpoint for all control-plane nodes.
But if this is meant for test environment with single node control plane then you can ignore –control-plane-endpoint option.
Login to the master node:
[root@k8s-bastion ~]# ssh k8s-master-01
Warning: Permanently added 'k8s-master-01' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Last login: Fri Sep 24 18:07:55 2021 from 192.168.200.9
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]#
Then initialize the Control Plane:
sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=192.168.0.0/16
Deploy Calico Pod network to the cluster
Use the commands below to deploy the Calico Pod network add-on:
kubectl create -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/tigera-operator.yaml
kubectl create -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/custom-resources.yaml
Check pods status with the following command:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# kubectl get pods -n calico-system
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
calico-kube-controllers-bdd5f97c5-6856t 1/1 Running 0 60s
calico-node-vnlkf 1/1 Running 0 60s
calico-typha-5f857549c5-hkbwq 1/1 Running 0 60s
Option 2: Bootstrapping Multi-node Control Plane Kubernetes Cluster
The --control-plane-endpoint
option can be used to set the shared endpoint for all control-plane nodes. This option allows both IP addresses and DNS names that can map to IP addresses
Example of A records in Bind DNS server
; Create entries for the master nodes
k8s-master-01 IN A 192.168.200.10
k8s-master-02 IN A 192.168.200.11
k8s-master-03 IN A 192.168.200.12
;
; The Kubernetes cluster ControlPlaneEndpoint point these to the IP of the masters
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.10
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.11
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.12
Example of A records /etc/hosts file
$ sudo vim /etc/hosts
192.168.200.10 k8s-master-01.example.com k8s-master-01
192.168.200.11 k8s-master-02.example.com k8s-master-02
192.168.200.12 k8s-master-03.example.com k8s-master-03
## Kubernetes cluster ControlPlaneEndpoint Entries ###
192.168.200.10 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
#192.168.200.11 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
#192.168.200.12 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
Using Load Balancer IP for ControlPlaneEndpoint
The most ideal approach for HA setups is mapping ControlPlane Endpoint to a Load balancer IP. The LB will then point to the Control Plane nodes with some form of health checks.
# Entry in Bind DNS Server
k8s-endpoint IN A 192.168.200.8
# Entry in /etc/hosts file
192.168.200.8 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
Bootstrap Multi-node Control Plane Kubernetes Cluster
Login to Master Node 01 from the bastion server or your workstation machine:
[root@k8s-bastion ~]# ssh k8s-master-01
Warning: Permanently added 'k8s-master-01' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Last login: Fri Sep 24 18:07:55 2021 from 192.168.200.9
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]#
Update /etc/hosts
file with this node IP address and a custom DNS name that maps to this IP:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# vim /etc/hosts
192.168.200.10 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
To initialize the control-plane node run:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# kubeadm init \
--pod-network-cidr=192.168.0.0/16 \
--control-plane-endpoint=k8s-endpoint.example.com \
--cri-socket=/var/run/crio/crio.sock \
--upload-certs
Where:
- k8s-endpoint.example.com is a valid DNS name configured for ControlPlane Endpoint
- /var/run/crio/crio.sock is Cri-o runtime socket file
- 192.168.0.0/16 is your Pod network to be used in Kubernetes
- –upload-certs Flag used ti upload the certificates that should be shared across all the control-plane instances to the cluster
If successful you’ll get an output with contents similar to this:
...output omitted...
[mark-control-plane] Marking the node k8s-master-01.example.com as control-plane by adding the taints [node-role.kubernetes.io/master:NoSchedule]
[bootstrap-token] Using token: p11op9.eq9vr8gq9te195b9
[bootstrap-token] Configuring bootstrap tokens, cluster-info ConfigMap, RBAC Roles
[bootstrap-token] configured RBAC rules to allow Node Bootstrap tokens to get nodes
[bootstrap-token] configured RBAC rules to allow Node Bootstrap tokens to post CSRs in order for nodes to get long term certificate credentials
[bootstrap-token] configured RBAC rules to allow the csrapprover controller automatically approve CSRs from a Node Bootstrap Token
[bootstrap-token] configured RBAC rules to allow certificate rotation for all node client certificates in the cluster
[bootstrap-token] Creating the "cluster-info" ConfigMap in the "kube-public" namespace
[kubelet-finalize] Updating "/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf" to point to a rotatable kubelet client certificate and key
[addons] Applied essential addon: CoreDNS
[addons] Applied essential addon: kube-proxy
Your Kubernetes control-plane has initialized successfully!
To start using your cluster, you need to run the following as a regular user:
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
Alternatively, if you are the root user, you can run:
export KUBECONFIG=/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf
You should now deploy a pod network to the cluster.
Run "kubectl apply -f [podnetwork].yaml" with one of the options listed at:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/cluster-administration/addons/
You can now join any number of the control-plane node running the following command on each as root:
kubeadm join k8s-endpoint.example.com:6443 --token 78oyk4.ds1hpo2vnwg3yykt \
--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4fbb0d45a1989cf63624736a005dc00ce6068eb7543ca4ae720c7b99a0e86aca \
--control-plane --certificate-key 999110f4a07d3c430d19ca0019242f392e160216f3b91f421da1a91f1a863bba
Please note that the certificate-key gives access to cluster sensitive data, keep it secret!
As a safeguard, uploaded-certs will be deleted in two hours; If necessary, you can use
"kubeadm init phase upload-certs --upload-certs" to reload certs afterward.
Then you can join any number of worker nodes by running the following on each as root:
kubeadm join k8s-endpoint.example.com:6443 --token 78oyk4.ds1hpo2vnwg3yykt \
--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4fbb0d45a1989cf63624736a005dc00ce6068eb7543ca4ae720c7b99a0e86aca
Configure Kubectl as shown in the output:
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
Test by checking active Nodes:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# kubectl get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
k8s-master-01.example.com Ready control-plane,master 4m3s v1.26.2
Deploy Calico Pod network to the cluster
Use the commands below to deploy the Calico Pod network add-on:
kubectl create -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/tigera-operator.yaml
kubectl create -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/custom-resources.yaml
Check pods status with the following command:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# kubectl get pods -n calico-system -w
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
calico-kube-controllers-bdd5f97c5-6856t 1/1 Running 0 60s
calico-node-vnlkf 1/1 Running 0 60s
calico-typha-5f857549c5-hkbwq 1/1 Running 0 60s
Add other control plane nodes
Add Master Node 02
Login to k8s-master-02:
[root@k8s-bastion ~]# ssh k8s-master-02
Warning: Permanently added 'k8s-master-02' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Last login: Sat Sep 25 01:49:15 2021 from 192.168.200.9
[root@k8s-master-02 ~]#
Update /etc/hosts
file by setting the ControlPlaneEndpoint to first control node from where bootstrap process was initiated:
[root@k8s-master-02 ~]# vim /etc/hosts
192.168.200.10 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
#192.168.200.11 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
#192.168.200.12 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
I’ll use the command printed after a successful initialization:
kubeadm join k8s-endpoint.example.com:6443 --token 78oyk4.ds1hpo2vnwg3yykt \
--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4fbb0d45a1989cf63624736a005dc00ce6068eb7543ca4ae720c7b99a0e86aca \
--control-plane --certificate-key 999110f4a07d3c430d19ca0019242f392e160216f3b91f421da1a91f1a863bba
Add Master Node 03
Login to k8s-master-03:
[root@k8s-bastion ~]# ssh k8s-master-03
Warning: Permanently added 'k8s-master-02' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Last login: Sat Sep 25 01:55:11 2021 from 192.168.200.9
[root@k8s-master-02 ~]#
Update /etc/hosts
file by setting the ControlPlaneEndpoint to first control node from where bootstrap process was initiated:
[root@k8s-master-02 ~]# vim /etc/hosts
192.168.200.10 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
#192.168.200.11 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
#192.168.200.12 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
I’ll use the command printed after a successful initialization:
kubeadm join k8s-endpoint.example.com:6443 --token 78oyk4.ds1hpo2vnwg3yykt \
--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4fbb0d45a1989cf63624736a005dc00ce6068eb7543ca4ae720c7b99a0e86aca \
--control-plane --certificate-key 999110f4a07d3c430d19ca0019242f392e160216f3b91f421da1a91f1a863bba
Check Control Plane Nodes List
From one of the master nodes with Kubectl configured check the list of nodes:
[root@k8s-master-03 ~]# kubectl get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
k8s-master-01.example.com Ready control-plane,master 11m v1.26.2
k8s-master-02.example.com Ready control-plane,master 5m v1.26.2
k8s-master-03.example.com Ready control-plane,master 32s v1.26.2
You can now remove uncomment other lines in /etc/hosts
file on each control node if not using Load Balancer IP:
# Perform on all control plane nodes
[root@k8s-master-03 ~]# vim /etc/hosts
### Kubernetes cluster ControlPlaneEndpoint Entries ###
192.168.200.10 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
192.168.200.11 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
192.168.200.12 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
Step 5: Adding Worker Nodes to Kubernetes Cluster
Login to each of the worker machines using ssh:
### Example ###
[root@k8s-bastion ~]# ssh root@k8s-worker-01
Warning: Permanently added 'k8s-worker-01' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Enter passphrase for key '/root/.ssh/id_rsa':
Last login: Sat Sep 25 04:27:42 2021 from 192.168.200.9
[root@k8s-worker-01 ~]#
Update /etc/hosts
file on each node with master and worker nodes hostnames/ip address if no DNS in place:
[root@k8s-worker-01 ~]# sudo vim /etc/hosts
### Also add Kubernetes cluster ControlPlaneEndpoint Entries for multiple control plane nodes(masters) ###
192.168.200.10 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
192.168.200.11 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
1192.168.200.12 k8s-endpoint.example.com k8s-endpoint
Join your worker machines to the cluster using the commands given earlier:
kubeadm join k8s-endpoint.example.com:6443 \
--token 78oyk4.ds1hpo2vnwg3yykt \
--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4fbb0d45a1989cf63624736a005dc00ce6068eb7543ca4ae720c7b99a0e86aca
Once done run kubectl get nodes
on the control-plane to see the nodes join the cluster:
[root@k8s-master-02 ~]# kubectl get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
k8s-master-01.example.com Ready control-plane,master 23m v1.26.2
k8s-master-02.example.com Ready control-plane,master 16m v1.26.2
k8s-master-03.example.com Ready control-plane,master 12m v1.26.2
k8s-worker-01.example.com Ready <none> 3m25s v1.26.2
k8s-worker-02.example.com Ready <none> 2m53s v1.26.2
k8s-worker-03.example.com Ready <none> 2m31s v1.26.2
k8s-worker-04.example.com Ready <none> 2m12s v1.26.2
Step 6: Deploy test application on cluster
We need to validate that our cluster is working by deploying an application. We’ll work with Guestbook application.
For single node cluster check out our guide on how to run pods on control plane nodes:
Create a temporary namespace:
$ kubectl create namespace temp
namespace/temp created
Deploy guestbook application in temp namespace created.
kubectl -n temp apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-leader-deployment.yaml
kubectl -n temp apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-leader-service.yaml
kubectl -n temp apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-follower-deployment.yaml
kubectl -n temp apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-follower-service.yaml
kubectl -n temp apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/frontend-deployment.yaml
kubectl -n temp apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/frontend-service.yaml
Query the list of Pods to verify that they are running after few minutes:
$ kubectl get all -n temp
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
pod/frontend-85595f5bf9-j9xlp 1/1 Running 0 81s
pod/frontend-85595f5bf9-m6lsl 1/1 Running 0 81s
pod/frontend-85595f5bf9-tht82 1/1 Running 0 81s
pod/redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-hjjf6 1/1 Running 0 83s
pod/redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-vg4sf 1/1 Running 0 83s
pod/redis-leader-fb76b4755-82xlp 1/1 Running 0 7m34s
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
service/frontend ClusterIP 10.101.239.74 <none> 80/TCP 7s
service/redis-follower ClusterIP 10.109.129.97 <none> 6379/TCP 83s
service/redis-leader ClusterIP 10.101.73.117 <none> 6379/TCP 84s
NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE
deployment.apps/frontend 3/3 3 3 81s
deployment.apps/redis-follower 2/2 2 2 83s
deployment.apps/redis-leader 1/1 1 1 7m34s
NAME DESIRED CURRENT READY AGE
replicaset.apps/frontend-85595f5bf9 3 3 3 81s
replicaset.apps/redis-follower-dddfbdcc9 2 2 2 83s
replicaset.apps/redis-leader-fb76b4755 1 1 1 7m34s
Run the following command to forward port 8080
on your local machine to port 80
on the service.
$ kubectl -n temp port-forward svc/frontend 8080:80
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:8080 -> 80
Forwarding from [::1]:8080 -> 80
Now load the page http://localhost:8080 in your browser to view your guestbook.
Step 7: Install Metrics Server ( For checking Pods and Nodes resource usage)
Metrics Server is a cluster-wide aggregator of resource usage data. It collects metrics from the Summary API, exposed by Kubelet on each node. Use our guide below to deploy it:
Step 8: Install Ingress Controller
You can also install and Ingress controller for Kubernetes workloads, you can use one of our guides for the installation process:
- Deploy Nginx Ingress Controller on Kubernetes using Helm Chart
- Install and Configure Traefik Ingress Controller on Kubernetes Cluster
Step 9: Deploy Prometheus / Grafana Monitoring
Prometheus is a full fledged solution that enables you to access advanced metrics capabilities in a Kubernetes cluster. Grafana is used for analytics and interactive visualization of metrics that’s collected and stored in Prometheus database. We have a complete guide on how to setup complete monitoring stack on Kubernetes Cluster:
Step 10: Deploy Kubernetes Dashboard (Optional)
Kubernetes dashboard can be used to deploy containerized applications to a Kubernetes cluster, troubleshoot your containerized application, and manage the cluster resources.
Refer to our guide for installation:
Step 11: Persistent Storage Configuration ideas (Optional)
If you’re also looking for a Persistent storage solution for your Kubernetes, checkout:
- Configure NFS as Kubernetes Persistent Volume Storage
- How To Deploy Rook Ceph Storage on Kubernetes Cluster
- Ceph Persistent Storage for Kubernetes with Cephfs
- Persistent Storage for Kubernetes with Ceph RBD
- How To Configure Kubernetes Dynamic Volume Provisioning With Heketi & GlusterFS
Step 12: Deploy MetalLB on Kubernetes
Follow the guide below to install and configure MetalLB on Kubernetes:
Step 13: CRI-O Basic management using crictl – Bonus
Display information of the container runtime:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl info
{
"status": {
"conditions": [
{
"type": "RuntimeReady",
"status": true,
"reason": "",
"message": ""
},
{
"type": "NetworkReady",
"status": true,
"reason": "",
"message": ""
}
]
}
}
Listing available images pulled on each node:
sudo crictl images
Listing running Pods in a node:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl pods
POD ID CREATED STATE NAME NAMESPACE ATTEMPT RUNTIME
4f9630e87f62f 45 hours ago Ready calico-apiserver-77dffffcdf-fvkp6 calico-apiserver 0 (default)
cbb3e8f3e027f 45 hours ago Ready calico-kube-controllers-bdd5f97c5-thmhs calico-system 0 (default)
e54575c66d1f4 45 hours ago Ready coredns-78fcd69978-wnmdw kube-system 0 (default)
c4d03ba28658e 45 hours ago Ready coredns-78fcd69978-w25zj kube-system 0 (default)
350967fe5a9ae 45 hours ago Ready calico-node-24bff calico-system 0 (default)
a05fe07cac170 45 hours ago Ready calico-typha-849b9f85b9-l6sth calico-system 0 (default)
813176f56c107 45 hours ago Ready tigera-operator-76bbbcbc85-x6kzt tigera-operator 0 (default)
f2ff65cae5ff9 45 hours ago Ready kube-proxy-bpqf8 kube-system 0 (default)
defdbef7e8f3f 45 hours ago Ready kube-apiserver-k8s-master-01.example.com kube-system 0 (default)
9a165c4313dc9 45 hours ago Ready kube-scheduler-k8s-master-01.example.com kube-system 0 (default)
b2fd905625b90 45 hours ago Ready kube-controller-manager-k8s-master-01.example.com kube-system 0 (default)
d23524b1b3345 45 hours ago Ready etcd-k8s-master-01.example.com kube-system 0 (default)
List running containers using crictl:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl ps
CONTAINER IMAGE CREATED STATE NAME ATTEMPT POD ID
7dbb7957f9e46 98e04bee275750acf8b94e3e7dec47336ade7efda240556cd39273211d090f74 45 hours ago Running tigera-operator 1 813176f56c107
22a2a949184bf b51ddc1014b04295e85be898dac2cd4c053433bfe7e702d7e9d6008f3779609b 45 hours ago Running kube-scheduler 5 9a165c4313dc9
3db88f5f14181 5425bcbd23c54270d9de028c09634f8e9a014e9351387160c133ccf3a53ab3dc 45 hours ago Running kube-controller-manager 5 b2fd905625b90
b684808843527 4e7da027faaa7b281f076bccb81e94da98e6394d48efe1f46517dcf8b6b05b74 45 hours ago Running calico-apiserver 0 4f9630e87f62f
43ef02d79f68e 5df320a38f63a072dac00e0556ff1fba5bb044b12cb24cd864c03b2fee089a1e 45 hours ago Running calico-kube-controllers 0 cbb3e8f3e027f
f488d1d1957ff 8d147537fb7d1ac8895da4d55a5e53621949981e2e6460976dae812f83d84a44 45 hours ago Running coredns 0 e54575c66d1f4
db2310c6e2bc7 8d147537fb7d1ac8895da4d55a5e53621949981e2e6460976dae812f83d84a44 45 hours ago Running coredns 0 c4d03ba28658e
823b9d049c8f3 355c1ee44040be5aabadad8a0ca367fbadf915c50a6ddcf05b95134a1574c516 45 hours ago Running calico-node 0 350967fe5a9ae
5942ea3535b3c 8473ae43d01b845e72237bf897fda02b7e28594c9aa8bcfdfa2c9a55798a3889 45 hours ago Running calico-typha 0 a05fe07cac170
9072655f275b1 873127efbc8a791d06e85271d9a2ec4c5d58afdf612d490e24fb3ec68e891c8d 45 hours ago Running kube-proxy 0 f2ff65cae5ff9
3855de8a093c1 0048118155842e4c91f0498dd298b8e93dc3aecc7052d9882b76f48e311a76ba 45 hours ago Running etcd 4 d23524b1b3345
87f03873cf9c4 e64579b7d8862eff8418d27bf67011e348a5d926fa80494a6475b3dc959777f5 45 hours ago Running kube-apiserver 4 defdbef7e8f3f
List container(s) resource usage statistics in a Kubernetes node:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl stats
CONTAINER CPU % MEM DISK INODES
22a2a949184bf 0.89 27.51MB 232B 13
3855de8a093c1 1.85 126.8MB 297B 17
3db88f5f14181 0.75 68.62MB 404B 21
43ef02d79f68e 0.00 24.32MB 437B 18
5942ea3535b3c 0.09 26.72MB 378B 20
7dbb7957f9e46 0.19 30.97MB 368B 20
823b9d049c8f3 1.55 129.5MB 12.11kB 93
87f03873cf9c4 3.98 475.7MB 244B 14
9072655f275b1 0.00 20.13MB 2.71kB 23
b684808843527 0.71 36.68MB 405B 21
db2310c6e2bc7 0.10 22.51MB 316B 17
f488d1d1957ff 0.09 21.5MB 316B 17
Fetch the logs of a container:
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl ps
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl logs <containerid>
# Example
[root@k8s-master-01 ~]# sudo crictl logs 9072655f275b1
I0924 18:06:37.800801 1 proxier.go:659] "Failed to load kernel module with modprobe. You can ignore this message when kube-proxy is running inside container without mounting /lib/modules" moduleName="nf_conntrack_ipv4"
I0924 18:06:37.815013 1 node.go:172] Successfully retrieved node IP: 192.168.200.10
I0924 18:06:37.815040 1 server_others.go:140] Detected node IP 192.168.200.10
W0924 18:06:37.815055 1 server_others.go:565] Unknown proxy mode "", assuming iptables proxy
I0924 18:06:37.833413 1 server_others.go:206] kube-proxy running in dual-stack mode, IPv4-primary
I0924 18:06:37.833459 1 server_others.go:212] Using iptables Proxier.
I0924 18:06:37.833469 1 server_others.go:219] creating dualStackProxier for iptables.
W0924 18:06:37.833487 1 server_others.go:495] detect-local-mode set to ClusterCIDR, but no IPv6 cluster CIDR defined, , defaulting to no-op detect-local for IPv6
I0924 18:06:37.833761 1 server.go:649] Version: v1.26.2
I0924 18:06:37.837601 1 conntrack.go:52] Setting nf_conntrack_max to 131072
I0924 18:06:37.837912 1 config.go:315] Starting service config controller
I0924 18:06:37.837921 1 shared_informer.go:240] Waiting for caches to sync for service config
I0924 18:06:37.838003 1 config.go:224] Starting endpoint slice config controller
I0924 18:06:37.838007 1 shared_informer.go:240] Waiting for caches to sync for endpoint slice config
E0924 18:06:37.843521 1 event_broadcaster.go:253] Server rejected event '&v1.Event{TypeMeta:v1.TypeMeta{Kind:"", APIVersion:""}, ObjectMeta:v1.ObjectMeta{Name:"k8s-master-01.example.com.16a7d4488288392d", GenerateName:"", Namespace:"default", SelfLink:"", UID:"", ResourceVersion:"", Generation:0, CreationTimestamp:v1.Time{Time:time.Time{wall:0x0, ext:0, loc:(*time.Location)(nil)}}, DeletionTimestamp:(*v1.Time)(nil), DeletionGracePeriodSeconds:(*int64)(nil), Labels:map[string]string(nil), Annotations:map[string]string(nil), OwnerReferences:[]v1.OwnerReference(nil), Finalizers:[]string(nil), ClusterName:"", ManagedFields:[]v1.ManagedFieldsEntry(nil)}, EventTime:v1.MicroTime{Time:time.Time{wall:0xc04ba2cb71ef9faf, ext:72545250, loc:(*time.Location)(0x2d81340)}}, Series:(*v1.EventSeries)(nil), ReportingController:"kube-proxy", ReportingInstance:"kube-proxy-k8s-master-01.example.com", Action:"StartKubeProxy", Reason:"Starting", Regarding:v1.ObjectReference{Kind:"Node", Namespace:"", Name:"k8s-master-01.example.com", UID:"k8s-master-01.example.com", APIVersion:"", ResourceVersion:"", FieldPath:""}, Related:(*v1.ObjectReference)(nil), Note:"", Type:"Normal", DeprecatedSource:v1.EventSource{Component:"", Host:""}, DeprecatedFirstTimestamp:v1.Time{Time:time.Time{wall:0x0, ext:0, loc:(*time.Location)(nil)}}, DeprecatedLastTimestamp:v1.Time{Time:time.Time{wall:0x0, ext:0, loc:(*time.Location)(nil)}}, DeprecatedCount:0}': 'Event "k8s-master-01.example.com.16a7d4488288392d" is invalid: involvedObject.namespace: Invalid value: "": does not match event.namespace' (will not retry!)
I0924 18:06:37.938785 1 shared_informer.go:247] Caches are synced for endpoint slice config
I0924 18:06:37.938858 1 shared_informer.go:247] Caches are synced for service config
Books For Learning Kubernetes Administration:
Conclusion
You now have a functional Multi-node Kubernetes Cluster deployed on Rocky Linux 8 servers. Our cluster has three control plane nodes, which can guarantee high availability when placed in front of a Load Balancer with node health state checks. In this guide we used CRI-O as a lightweight alternative to the Docker container runtime for our Kubernetes setup. We also chose Calico plugin for the Pod network.
You’re now ready to deploy your containerized applications on the cluster or join more worker nodes to the cluster. We have other articles written earlier to help you start Kubernetes journey:
- k9s – Best Kubernetes CLI To Manage Your Clusters In Style
- Setup Prometheus and Grafana on Kubernetes using prometheus-operator
- Active Directory Authentication for Kubernetes Kubectl CLI
- Install Ambassador API Gateway/Ingress Controller on Kubernetes
- Monitor Docker Containers and Kubernetes using Weave Scope
- Kubectl Cheat Sheet for Kubernetes Admins & CKA Exam Prep
- Secure Access to Linux Systems and Kubernetes With Teleport