The Ultimate Guide to Setting Up a Self-Managed Kubernetes Cluster on AWS in India

With the exponential rise in containerized applications, Kubernetes has become the de-facto standard for container orchestration. Setting up a Kubernetes cluster, however, can be a daunting task, especially in a cloud environment like Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process of setting up a self-managed Kubernetes cluster on AWS in India, ensuring seamless deployment and management of your containerized applications.

Prerequisites

To kickstart your journey, ensure you have the following prerequisites:

AWS account
Familiarity with AWS CLI
AWS IAM user with necessary policy permissions
Kubectl installed and configured

Create an EC2 Key Pair

First, log into your AWS management console and create an EC2 key pair for managing your cluster. This key pair is used to authenticate SSH connections to your EC2 instances:

Navigate to the EC2 dashboard
Click on "Key Pairs" under the "Network & Security" section
Click on "Create key pair"
Name your key pair and save it as a .pem file

Create a VPC and Subnet

Next, create a VPC and subnet for your Kubernetes cluster. This VPC will serve as the network environment for your cluster:

Create a new VPC by clicking on "VPC" under the "Network & Security" section
Name your VPC and choose the default Amazon VPC settings
Create a new subnet by clicking on "Subnets" under the "Network & Security" section
Name your subnet and choose the "Availability Zone" and "VPC" accordingly

Launch Master and Worker Nodes

Launch EC2 instances for your Kubernetes cluster by using the AWS CLI. This will include the master node, worker nodes, and an optional etcd node:

Run the command aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0 --instance-type t2.medium --key-name your-key-pair --security-group-ids sg-11111111 --count 3 - replace "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0" with the official AWS Amazon Linux 2 AMI and "sg-11111111" with your security group ID
Wait for the instances to start and reach ready status

Install kubeadm and Docker

Once the instances are running, SSH into the master node and install kubeadm and Docker:

Run the command sudo yum install -y docker
Run the command sudo systemctl start docker
Run the command sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr 10.244.0.0/16

Download and Configure Calico

Run the command kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/projectcalico/calico/v3.18.1/manifests/calico.yaml

Add Worker Nodes

Add the worker nodes to your Kubernetes cluster:

Run the command kubectl get nodes to check the status of your worker nodes
Run the command kubectl drain --delete-local-data --force --ignore-daemonsets to drain the node of pods
Run the command kubeadm join your-master-node-ip:8443 –discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:discovery_token_hash_here to add the worker node to the cluster

Verify your Kubernetes Cluster

Verify your Kubernetes cluster by checking the node status and running a simple application deployment:

Run the command kubectl get nodes to check the status of your nodes
Run the command kubectl run -i --tty busybox --image=busybox --restart=Never -- /bin/sh to run a busybox container

Conclusion

By following this guide, you have successfully set up a self-managed Kubernetes cluster on AWS in India. This setup allows you to manage your containerized applications with flexibility and scalability. Cpluz can provide further assistance and ensure seamless Kubernetes deployment and management for your applications.