Skip to main content
Version: latest

Prepare EKS Cluster

This guide explains how to create an EKS cluster with the required configuration so it can be imported into Palette.

Prerequisites​

  • Access to the AWS Management Console.

  • (Optional) The AWS CLI is installed and configured for your account.

  • Network connectivity between your on-prem environments and AWS.

    • An AWS VPC and subnet setup as guided in AWS VPC and subnet setup. During cluster creation, you will need to specify your configured VPC and subnets, as well as the CIDR block for your AWS node network.

    • A cluster security group is configured for your Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes environment. During cluster creation, you will need to specify this as an additional security group.

    • Your on-prem network is configured for hybrid network connectivity as guided in On-premises networking configuration. During cluster creation, you will need to provide the CIDR blocks for your on-prem node and pod network.

  • An Amazon EKS cluster Identity and Access Management (IAM) role created with the necessary policies attached as guided in Step 1: Create cluster IAM role. You will need to specify the IAM role during cluster creation.

  • An Amazon EKS node IAM role created with the necessary policies attached as guide in Amazon EKS node IAM role. You will need to specify the IAM role when creating a managed node group for your cluster.

Create the EKS Cluster​

These steps use the AWS Management Console.

  1. Log in to the Amazon EKS console.

  2. Click Create cluster.

  3. On the Configure cluster page, select Custom configuration in Configuration options.

  4. In the Cluster configuration section, enter a cluster Name.

  5. Select your Amazon EKS cluster IAM role for the Cluster IAM role. For example, myAmazonEKSClusterRole.

  6. In the Cluster access section, select EKS API and ConfigMap as the Cluster authentication mode.

  7. You can configure the remaining options as needed. Click Next when complete.

  8. On the Specify networking page, in the Networking section, select your Amazon EKS Hybrid VPC and subnets for VPC and Subnets.

  9. For Additional security groups, select the security group created for your Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes environment.

  10. For Choose cluster IP address family, ensure IPv4 is selected.

  11. Enable the toggle for Configure Kubernetes service IP address block, and provide the CIDR block for your AWS node network in the Service IPv4 range field.

    For example, 10.100.0.0/16.

  12. Enable the toggle for Configure remote networks to enable hybrid nodes.

  13. Click Add new CIDR block for Remote node networks and provide the CIDR block for your on-prem node network in the Node CIDR block field.

    For example, 10.200.0.0/16.

    Add as many entries as needed.

  14. Click Add new CIDR block for Remote pod networks and provide the CIDR block for your on-prem pod network in the Pod CIDR block field.

    For example, 192.168.0.0/16.

    Add as many entries as needed.

  15. In the Cluster endpoint access section, select the Public or Private option.

    warning

    The Public and private option is not supported for Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes.

  16. You can configure the remaining options as needed. Click Next when complete.

  17. On the Configure observability page, configure the options as needed. Click Next when complete.

  18. On the Select add-ons page, you must check the box to enable the Amazon VPC CNI in AWS add-ons.

    info

    The "Not compatible with Hybrid Nodes" warning is ignored in this case as affinity rules will be configured during the Configure CNI for Hybrid Nodes steps to ensure compatibility with your hybrid nodes.

  19. Select the remaining add-ons as needed. Click Next when complete.

  20. On the Configure selected add-ons settings page, configure the add-ons as needed. Click Next when complete.

  21. On the Review and create page, review your settings and click Create when ready.

  22. Wait until the cluster status shows Active in the EKS console before moving onto the next step.

  23. Follow the steps in Create a managed node group for your cluster to create a managed node group with the following configuration:

    • Minimum size - The node group must contain at least one node to host the Palette agent, which is essential for Palette to manage the cluster. Due to the EKS architecture, the Palette agent cannot be installed on the EKS control plane.

    • Instance types - The node must use an instance type of at least t3.xlarge to ensure adequate resources.

    • Disk size - AWS sets a default storage of 20 GB for Linux-based EKS worker nodes (the diskSize parameter), and we recommend this as the minimum size.

    You can configure all other options as needed.

    warning

    To maintain continuous management capabilities, at least one worker node should remain available at all times for the Palette agent to operate.

  24. (Optional) Obtain the kubeconfig for the cluster by following the steps in Step 3: Update kubeconfig.

Validate​

  1. In the EKS console, click on your cluster.

  2. Click the Compute tab.

  3. In the Node groups section, ensure that your newly created node group is Active.

  4. (Optional) If you obtained the kubeconfig for the cluster, using kubectl, check that nodes are Ready by issuing the following command.

    kubectl get nodes

    Example output

    NAME          STATUS   ROLES    AGE    VERSION
    worker-node   Ready    <none>   28h    v1.30.0

Next Steps​

If you have completed all sections as highlighted in Prepare Environment, you can now proceed to import the cluster into Palette.