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Managed Kubernetes: Quick Start

You can work with a Managed Kubernetes cluster in the control panel, via the Managed Kubernetes API, or with Terraform.

  1. Create a cluster on a cloud server in the control panel.
  2. Connect to the cluster.
  3. Install Envoy Gateway.

To learn more about infrastructure planning and deploying applications in Managed Kubernetes, see the blog article Cloud-native in Kubernetes.

1. Create a cluster on a cloud server in the control panel

  1. Configure a cluster on a cloud server.
  2. Configure a node group.
  3. Configure automation.

1. Configure a cluster on a cloud server

  1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Managed Kubernetes.

  2. In the Clusters section, click Create cluster.

  3. Enter a cluster name. The name will be displayed in the names of cluster objects: node groups, nodes, load balancers, networks, and disks. For example, if the cluster name is kelsie, the node group name will be kelsie-node-gdc8q, and the boot disk name will be kelsie-node-gdc8q-volume.

  4. Select the location where the master nodes will reside. After the cluster is created, the location cannot be changed.

  5. Select the Kubernetes version. After the cluster is created, you can upgrade the Kubernetes version.

  6. Optional: select a network plugin (CNI). Calico is used in the cluster by default. You cannot change the CNI after the cluster is created.

    In the Cilium network plugin, the following are enabled by default:

    • the envoy daemonset setting is enabled — for details, see the Envoy article in the Cilium documentation;
    • the hubble-relay setting is disabled — for details, see the Hubble Relay section of the Hubble internals article in the Cilium documentation.

    If you want to change these settings, create a cluster using the Managed Kubernetes API. Note that to use the hubble-relay setting, a node must have at least 4 GB of RAM.

  7. Select the cluster type. After the cluster is created, the cluster type cannot be changed.

  8. Optional: to make the cluster accessible via a private network and inaccessible from the internet, check the Private kube API checkbox. By default, the cluster is created on a public network and is automatically assigned a public kube API IP address accessible from the internet. After the cluster is created, the kube API access type cannot be changed.

  9. Click Continue.

2. Configure a node group

  1. In the Server type field, select Cloud server.

  2. Select the location where all worker nodes in the group will be located. After the cluster is created, the location cannot be changed.

  3. Configure the worker node group settings:

    3.1. Click Select configuration and select the configuration of the worker nodes in the group:

    • custom — you can specify any resource ratio;
    • or fixed with GPU — pre-configured node configurations with GPUs and a fixed resource ratio.

    If standard configurations do not suit your needs, after creating the cluster you can add a node group with a fixed cloud server configuration via the Managed Kubernetes API or Terraform.

    3.2. If you selected a custom configuration, specify the number of vCPUs, RAM, and select the boot disk. Specify the disk size.

    3.3. If you selected a fixed configuration with GPU, select a pre-configured node configuration with GPUs, a boot disk, and specify the disk size. To install GPU drivers manually, turn off the GPU Drivers toggle. By default, the GPU Drivers toggle is enabled, and the cluster uses pre-installed drivers.

    3.4. Click Save.

  4. Configure the number of worker nodes. For fault-tolerant operation of system components and the Cilium network plugin, we recommend having at least two worker nodes in the cluster, which can be in different groups:

    4.1. To set a fixed number of nodes in the node group, open the Fixed tab and specify the number of nodes.

    4.2. To use autoscaling with Cluster Autoscaler in the node group, open the With autoscaling tab and set the minimum and maximum number of nodes in the group — the number of nodes will only change within this range. Autoscaling is not available for GPU node groups without drivers.

  5. Optional: to make the node group preemptible, check the Preemptible node group checkbox. Preemptible node groups are available in the regions of Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Novosibirsk.

  6. Optional: add node group labels:

    6.1. In the Labels field, click Add.

    6.2. Enter the label key.

    6.3. Enter the label value.

    6.4. Click Add.

  7. Optional: add node group taints:

    7.1. In the Taints field, click Add.

    7.2. Enter the taint key.

    7.3. Enter the taint value.

    7.4. Select the effect:

    • NoSchedule — new pods will not be scheduled, and existing ones will continue to run;
    • PreferNoSchedule — new pods will be scheduled if there is no other capacity in the cluster;
    • NoExecute — running pods without corresponding tolerations will be evicted.

    7.5. Click Add.

  8. Optional: add a script with custom parameters to configure the Managed Kubernetes cluster:

    8.1. In the User data field, click Add.

    8.2. Paste the script. The maximum size of a script with non-Base64-encoded data is 47 KB. For script examples and supported formats, see the User data instructions.

  9. Optional: to add an additional worker node group to the cluster, click Add node group. You can create a cluster with worker node groups in different segments of the same pool. This will increase fault tolerance and help maintain application availability if a failure occurs in one of the segments.

  10. In the Cloud network block, configure a private subnet without internet access to group all cluster nodes.

    10.1. To create a private subnet, in the Node subnet field, select New private subnet.

    A private network <cluster_name>-network, a private subnet, and a router <cluster_name>-router will be automatically created, where <cluster_name> is the cluster name. The CIDR is assigned automatically.

    The default security group will be assigned to node ports. Do not change its rules and do not assign another security group. This will help avoid cluster malfunctions.

    10.2. If a private subnet is already created, in the Node subnet field, select an existing subnet. The subnet must meet the following requirements:

    • belongs to the network of the project in which you are creating the cluster. You can check which project the network belongs to in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Managed Kubernetes → Network → Private networks tab → network card. If the network belongs to another project, the network card will have a Cross-project tag and information about the ID of the project in which it was created;
    • connected to a cloud router;
    • does not overlap with the ranges 10.10.0.0/16, 10.96.0.0/12, 10.250.0.0/16, and 10.251.0.0/24. These ranges are used in Managed Kubernetes internal addressing;
    • DHCP is disabled;
    • only the default security group is assigned to ports. Do not change its rules and do not assign another security group. This will help avoid cluster malfunctions. You can view security groups on ports.

  11. Click Continue.

3. Configure automation

  1. Optional: to enable node auto-recovery, check the Node auto-recovery checkbox. If a cluster has only one worker node, auto-recovery is not available.

  2. Optional: to enable automatic patch version updates, check the Automatic patch version updates checkbox. If a cluster has only one master node (basic cluster) or one worker node, automatic Kubernetes patch version updates are not available.

  3. Select the maintenance start time for the cluster — the time when automatic cluster maintenance activities will begin.

  4. Optional: to enable audit logs, check the Audit logs checkbox. After the cluster is created, configure integration with a log storage and analysis system.

  5. Check the price of the cluster on a cloud server.

  6. Click Create. Cluster creation takes several minutes, during which time the cluster will be in the status CREATING. The cluster will be ready for use when it switches to the status ACTIVE.

2. Connect to the cluster

To start working with the cluster, configure kubectl.

For your information

We recommend performing all actions with cluster nodes, load balancers, and volumes only via kubectl.

After updating certificates for system components, you must reconnect to the cluster.

  1. Install the Kubernetes kubectl CLI client following the official instructions.

  2. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Managed Kubernetes.

  3. In the Clusters section, open the cluster page → Settings tab.

  4. If you use a private kube API, check access to it. The IP address is specified in the Kube API field.

  5. Click Download kubeconfig. Downloading the kubeconfig file is not available if the cluster has the status PENDING_CREATE, PENDING_ROTATE_CERTS, PENDING_DELETE, or ERROR.

  6. Export the path to the kubeconfig file to the KUBECONFIG environment variable:

    export KUBECONFIG=<path>

    Specify <path> — the path to the kubeconfig file cluster_name.yaml.

  7. Check that the setup is correct — connect to the cluster via kubectl:

    kubectl get nodes

    The nodes should be in the Ready status.

3. Install Envoy Gateway

For the application to work, a load balancer of the type Basic with redundancy and a public floating IP address will be created. You cannot change the type of the created load balancer. If you want to change the load balancer type or its settings, install the application using a Helm chart.

  1. Make sure that a quota for at least one public floating IP address is allocated in the pool.
  2. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Managed Kubernetes.
  3. In the Clusters section, open the cluster page → tab Applications.
  4. In the Available for installation section, click Envoy Gateway.
  5. Check the price of the load balancer and the public floating IP address.
  6. Click Install. A new Basic with redundancy load balancer with a public floating IP address will be created. The load balancer will appear in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers → section Load Balancers → tab Load Balancers.