Version: latest

Register Nutanix Cloud

A system administrator registers the Nutanix cloud in Palette by invoking system-level APIs. These APIs provide specific cloud information, the cloud logo, and the key-value pairs required to add the cloud to Palette. They also allow you to upload YAML templates used to create the cluster, control plane, and worker nodes. This section provides instructions on how to download and modify YAML templates, upgrade the default Cluster API (CAPI) version, and use APIs to register a Nutanix cloud to Palette.

Prerequisites

A Nutanix Cluster API (CAPX) version compatible with the desired CAPI version. The default CAPI version for Palette is v1.5.3. Refer to the Nutanix CAPI Validated Integrations compatibility matrix for more information.
A Nutanix Prism Central version compatible with the desired CAPX version. Refer to the Nutanix Prism Central Validated Integrations compatibility matrix for more information.
A Palette account with system console access. The user with this privilege is the system administrator of the self-hosted Palette or VerteX instance.
A Nutanix logo downloaded. Review logo requirements in Register the Cloud.
curl command installed or the method of your choice to make API calls for Palette and VerteX.

Customize YAML Configuration Files

Before you can register your Nutanix cloud with Palette, you must download the appropriate CAPX manifests and edit them accordingly so that the APIs can communicate with Palette.

You need to configure certain components explicitly, while others are optional and will fall back to default settings if not configured. By default, Palette uses CAPI version v1.5.3.

warning

If you upgrade any optional component, we strongly recommend upgrading the other optional components to the same version to ensure compatibility.

Component	Requirement
`cluster-template`	Required
`control-plane-template`	Required
`infrastructure-components`	Required
`worker-template`	Required
`bootstrap-components`	Optional
`control-plane-components`	Optional
`core-component`	Optional

Required Components

The following components are required to register your Nutanix cloud with Palette. Use the following procedure to download and format the manifests appropriately.

Review the Nutanix compatibility matrix to ensure your desired CAPX version is compatible with your CAPI version. Once you have verified they are compatible, export your CAPX version as an environment variable. For example, if you want to download version v1.5.0, issue the following command.
```
export CAPX_VERSION="v1.5.0"
```

Issue the commands below to download the appropriate versions of infrastructure-components.yaml and cluster-template.yaml.

curl --remote-name --location https://github.com/nutanix-cloud-native/cluster-api-provider-nutanix/releases/download/$CAPX_VERSION/cluster-template.yaml
curl --remote-name --location https://github.com/nutanix-cloud-native/cluster-api-provider-nutanix/releases/download/$CAPX_VERSION/infrastructure-components.yaml

Create two copies of cluster-template.yaml and rename them.

cp cluster-template.yaml cloudClusterTemplate.yaml
cp cluster-template.yaml controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml
mv cluster-template.yaml workerPoolTemplate.yaml

Verify that you have the following files downloaded using a command such as ls -l.
- infrastructure-components.yaml
- cloudClusterTemplate.yaml
- controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml
- workerPoolTemplate.yaml
Open the cloudClusterTemplate.yaml, controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml, and workerPoolTemplate.yaml files in your editor of choice.

Modify the YAML files so that only the top-level objects listed in the table below remain in each file.

Template	Objects to Keep
`cloudClusterTemplate.yaml`	`ConfigMap` `Secret` `Cluster` `MachineHealthCheck` `NutanixCluster`
`controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml`	`KubeadmControlPlane` `NutanixMachineTemplate`
`workerPoolTemplate.yaml`	`KubeadmConfigTemplate` `MachineDeployment` `NutanixMachineTemplate`

In all three templates, remove all occurrences of ${NAMESPACE}, as Palette provides its own namespace.
In controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml, make the following changes.
1. In the KubeadmControlPlane object, rename spec.machineTemplate.infrastructureRef.name: to ${CLUSTER_NAME}-cp-0.
2. In the KubeadmControlPlane object, below the spec.kubeadmConfigSpec.preKubeadmCommands: line, add the line - systemctl enable --now iscsid to enable the nutanix-csi pack, keeping proper indentation as illustrated below.
```
preKubeadmCommands:
 - systemctl enable --now iscsid
```
3. In the NutanixMachineTemplate object, rename metadata.name: to ${CLUSTER_NAME}-cp-0.
4. In the NutanixMachineTemplate object, rename spec.template.spec.providerID: to nutanix://${CLUSTER_NAME}-m1-cp-0.
In workerPoolTemplate.yaml, make the following changes.
1. In the NutanixMachineTemplate object, rename spec.template.spec.providerID: to nutanix://${CLUSTER_NAME}-m1-mt-0.
2. In the KubeadmConfigTemplate object, below the spec.template.spec.preKubeadmCommands: line, add the line - systemctl enable --now iscsid to enable the nutanix-csi pack, keeping proper indentation as illustrated below.
```
preKubeadmCommands:
- systemctl enable --now iscsid
```
(VerteX only) Make the following modifications for VerteX environments.
Additional VerteX Modifications
1. In controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml, edit the KubeadmControlPlane object. Below both kubeletExtraArgs: lines, add the line rotate-server-certificates: "true", keeping proper indentation as illustrated below.
  
  kubeletExtraArgs: rotate-server-certificates: "true"
2. In workerPoolTemplate.yaml, edit the KubeadmConfigTemplate object. Below kubeletExtraArgs:, add the line rotate-server-certificates: "true", keeping proper indentation as illustrated below.
  
  kubeletExtraArgs: rotate-server-certificates: "true"

If you are not upgrading the core CAPI version or another optional component, proceed to the Register the Cloud section of this guide.

Optional Components

To use a core, bootstrap, or control plane component other than v1.5.3, you must specify the desired version and download additional CAPI manifests. If you upgrade one of these components, we strongly recommend upgrading the others to the same version to ensure compatibility.

The following example upgrades all three optional components.

Export your CAPI version as an environment variable. For example, if you want to download version v1.8.6, issue the following command.
```
export CAPI_VERSION="v1.8.6"
```

Issue the commands below to download the optional components. If you do not wish to upgrade all three components, download only the ones you need.

curl --remote-name --location https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/$CAPI_VERSION/bootstrap-components.yaml
curl --remote-name --location https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/$CAPI_VERSION/control-plane-components.yaml
curl --remote-name --location https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/$CAPI_VERSION/core-components.yaml

Verify that you have the applicable files downloaded using a command such as ls -l.
- bootstrap-components.yaml
- control-plane-components.yaml
- core-components.yaml

Generally, these manifests do not require additional modifications and are designed to work as-is. If you need to customize these files, do so now.

Register the Cloud

Follow the steps below to set the necessary environment variables and invoke the APIs required to register a Nutanix cloud to Palette. Alternatively, you can use an API platform such as Postman.

Prerequisites

You have completed the steps in Customize YAML Configuration Files.
Only an Operations Administrator is allowed to register a Nutanix cloud.
The logo file must not exceed 100 KB in size. To ensure image quality, ensure at least one dimension in either width or height is 40 pixels. It is preferable that the image be transparent.

Enablement

Export the URL of your self-hosted Palette or VerteX instance and the cloud type as environment variables. Additionally, export the path to the YAML templates and logo file.

export ENDPOINT="https://palette.example.com"
export CLOUD_TYPE="nutanix"
export cloudLogo="/path/to/the/file/cloud-logo.png"
export infraComponents="/path/to/the/file/infrastructure-components.yaml"
export cloudClusterTemplate="/path/to/the/file/cloudClusterTemplate.yaml"
export controlPlanePoolTemplate="/path/to/the/file/controlPlanePoolTemplate.yaml"
export workerPoolTemplate="/path/to/the/file/workerPoolTemplate.yaml"

warning

The CLOUD_TYPE variable must be set as nutanix, as this value will be used in the following steps.

To acquire system administrator credentials, use the /v1/auth/syslogin endpoint. Issue the curl command below and ensure you replace the credentials with your system console credentials.
```
curl --location "${ENDPOINT}/v1/auth/syslogin" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"password": "**********",
"username": "**********"
}'
```
The output contains your authorization token. The token is valid for 15 minutes.
```
{
"Authorization": "**********",
"IsPasswordReset": true
}
```
Copy the authorization token, assign it to the TOKEN variable, and export it. Replace the authorization value below with the value from the output.
```
export TOKEN="**********"
```

info

You must set the cloud name as nutanix to automatically make the out-of-the-box nutanix-csi pack available to users when they create a cluster profile in Palette.

curl --location --request POST "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/register" \
     --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --data '{
        "metadata": {
           "annotations": {},
           "labels": {},
           "name": "nutanix"
        },
        "spec": {
           "displayName": "Nutanix",
           "isControlPlaneManaged": false
        }
     }'

Upload the Nutanix cloud logo.

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/logo" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${cloudLogo}"

(Optional) If you configured any optional components to use a specific CAPI version, register them using the following API calls.

Modify CAPI Version

Export the paths to the optional component YAML files.

export coreComponentsTemplate="/path/to/the/file/core-components.yaml"
export controlPlaneComponentsTemplate="/path/to/the/file/control-plane-components.yaml"
export bootstrapComponentsTemplate="/path/to/the/file/bootstrap-components.yaml"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/core" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Cookie: Authorization=${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${coreComponentsTemplate}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/controlPlane" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Cookie: Authorization=${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${controlPlaneComponentsTemplate}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/bootstrap" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Cookie: Authorization=${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${bootstrapComponentsTemplate}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/cloudProvider" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${infraComponents}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/templates/clusterTemplate" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${cloudClusterTemplate}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/templates/controlPlanePoolTemplate" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${controlPlanePoolTemplate}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/content/templates/workerPoolTemplate" \
     --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --form "fileName=@${workerPoolTemplate}"

curl --location --request PUT "${ENDPOINT}/v1/clouds/cloudTypes/${CLOUD_TYPE}/cloudAccountKeys" \
     --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
     --header "Authorization: ${TOKEN}" \
     --data '{
        "keys": [
           "NUTANIX_USER",
           "NUTANIX_PASSWORD",
           "NUTANIX_ENDPOINT",
           "NUTANIX_PORT",
           "NUTANIX_INSECURE"
        ]
     }'

Validate

Follow the steps below to confirm that the Nutanix cloud is successfully registered with Palette.

Log in to Palette as a tenant admin.
From the left main menu, select Tenant Settings.
Under Cloud Accounts, verify that Nutanix is listed. You may need to scroll to view the account.

Next Steps

Now that your cloud is successfully registered with Palette, you are ready to deploy a self-hosted Private Cloud Gateway (PCG). For guidance, review Install Private Cloud Gateway.

Prerequisites​

Customize YAML Configuration Files​

Required Components​

Optional Components​

Register the Cloud​

Prerequisites​

Enablement​

Validate​

Next Steps​

Prerequisites

Customize YAML Configuration Files

Required Components

Optional Components

Register the Cloud

Prerequisites

Enablement

Validate

Next Steps