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Running Kubernetes on Google Kubernetes Engine

Following example will use pharmer to create a Kubernetes cluster with 1 worker node on on Google Kubernetes Engine.

Before you start

As a prerequisite, you need to have pharmer installed. To install pharmer use the setup guide

Pharmer storage

To store your cluster and credential resource, you can configure pharmer to use local file system or postgres database. In this document we will use local file system (vfs) as a storage provider. To know more click here

Credential importing

Follow this guide for creating credential here

Cluster provisioning

There are two steps to create a Kubernetes cluster using pharmer. In first step pharmer create basic configuration file with user choice. Then in second step pharmer applies those information to create cluster on specific provider.

Here, we discuss how to use pharmer to create a Kubernetes cluster on gce * Cluster Creating: We want to create a cluster with following information: - Provider: GKE - Cluster name: gkex - Location: us-central1-f (Central US) - Number of nodes: 1 - Node sku: n1-standard-2 (cpu:2, ram: 7.5) - Kubernetes version: 1.10.4-gke.2 - Credential name: gce

For location code and sku details click hrere

Available options in pharmer to create a cluster are:

 $ pharmer create cluster -h
Create a Kubernetes cluster for a given cloud provider

Usage:
  pharmer create cluster [flags]

Aliases:
  cluster, clusters, Cluster

Examples:
pharmer create cluster demo-cluster

Flags:
      --credential-uid string       Use preconfigured cloud credential uid
  -h, --help                        help for cluster
      --kubernetes-version string   Kubernetes version
      --network-provider string     Name of CNI plugin. Available options: calico, flannel, kubenet, weavenet (default "calico")
      --nodes stringToInt           Node set configuration (default [])
      --provider string             Provider name
      --zone string                 Cloud provider zone name

Global Flags:
      --alsologtostderr                  log to standard error as well as files
      --analytics                        Send analytical events to Google Guard (default true)
      --config-file string               Path to Pharmer config file
      --env string                       Environment used to enable debugging (default "dev")
      --log_backtrace_at traceLocation   when logging hits line file:N, emit a stack trace (default :0)
      --log_dir string                   If non-empty, write log files in this directory
      --logtostderr                      log to standard error instead of files (default true)
      --stderrthreshold severity         logs at or above this threshold go to stderr (default 2)
  -v, --v Level                          log level for V logs
      --vmodule moduleSpec               comma-separated list of pattern=N settings for file-filtered logging

So, we need to run following command to create cluster with our information.

$ pharmer create cluster gkex \
	--provider=gke \
	--zone=us-central1-f \
	--nodes=n1-standard-2=1 \
	--credential-uid=gce \
	--kubernetes-version=1.10.4-gke.2

To know about pod networks supports in pharmer click here

The directory structure of the storage provider will be look like:

~/.pharmer/store.d/$USER/clusters/
        |-- v1
        |    |__ nodegroups
        |    |       |
        |    |       |__ n1-standard-2-pool.json
        |    |
        |    |--- pki
        |    |     |__ ca.crt
        |    |     |
        |    |     |__ ca.key
        |    |     |
        |    |     |__ front-proxy-ca.crt
        |    |     |
        |    |     |__ fron-proxy-ca.key
        |    |
        |    |__ ssh
        |          |__ id_gkex-liw4ux
        |          |
        |          |__ id_gkex-liw4ux.pub
        |
        |__ gkex.json

Here,

  • /v1/nodegroups/: contains the node groups information. Check below for node group operations.You can see the node group list using following command.

    $ pharmer get nodegroups -k g1

  • v1/pki: contains the cluster certificate information containing ca and front-proxy-ca.

  • v1/ssh: has the ssh credentials on cluster’s nodes. With this key you can ssh into any node on a cluster

  • v1.json: contains the cluster resource information

You can view your cluster configuration file by following command.

$ pharmer get cluster g1 -o yaml
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: 2018-06-23T07:12:27Z
  generation: 1529737947731374709
  name: gkex
  uid: c93e989e-76b4-11e8-b244-382c4a73a7c4
spec:
  api:
    advertiseAddress: ""
    bindPort: 0
  caCertName: ca
  cloud:
    cloudProvider: gke
    gke:
      networkName: default
      password: JvZApK9JKYuK9dLV
      userName: pharmer
    instanceImage: Ubuntu
    region: us-central1
    sshKeyName: gkex-liw4ux
    zone: us-central1-f
  credentialName: gce
  frontProxyCACertName: front-proxy-ca
  kubernetesVersion: 1.10.4-gke.2
  networking:
    networkProvider: CALICO
    nonMasqueradeCIDR: 10.0.0.0/8
    podSubnet: 10.244.0.0/16
status:
  cloud: {}
  phase: Pending

Here,

  • metadata.name refers the cluster name, which should be unique within your cluster list.
  • metadata.uid is a unique ACID, which is generated by pharmer
  • spec.cloud specifies the cloud provider information.
  • spc.cloud.sshKeyName shows which ssh key added to cluster instance.
  • spec.networking specifies the network information of the cluster
    • networkProvider: by default it is CALICO. To modify it click here.
    • podSubnet: in order for network policy to work correctly this field is needed. For flannel it will be 10.244.0.0/16
  • spec.kubernetesVersion is the cluster server version. It can be modified.
  • spec.credentialName is the credential name which is provider during cluster creation command.
  • status.phase may be Pending, Ready, Deleting, Deleted, Upgrading depending on current cluster status.

You can modify this configuration by:

$ pharmer edit cluster gkex
  • Applying: If everything looks ok, we can now apply the resources. This actually creates resources on GKE. Up to now we’ve only been working locally.

To apply run:

$ pharmer apply gkex

Now, pharmer will apply that configuration, thus create a Kubernetes cluster. After completing task the configuration file of the cluster will be look like

 $ pharmer get cluster g1 -o yaml
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: 2018-06-23T07:12:27Z
  generation: 1529737947731374709
  name: gkex
  uid: c93e989e-76b4-11e8-b244-382c4a73a7c4
spec:
  api:
    advertiseAddress: ""
    bindPort: 0
  caCertName: ca
  cloud:
    cloudProvider: gke
    gke:
      networkName: default
      password: JvZApK9JKYuK9dLV
      userName: pharmer
    instanceImage: Ubuntu
    project: k8s-qa
    region: us-central1
    sshKeyName: gkex-liw4ux
    zone: us-central1-f
  credentialName: gce
  frontProxyCACertName: front-proxy-ca
  kubernetesVersion: 1.10.4-gke.2
  networking:
    networkProvider: CALICO
    nonMasqueradeCIDR: 10.0.0.0/8
status:
  apiServer:
  - address: 35.188.204.137
    type: ExternalIP
  cloud: {}
  phase: Ready

Here,

  • status.phase: is ready. So, you can use your cluster from local machine.
  • status.apiserver is the cluster’s apiserver address
  • status.cloud.gce contains provider resource information that are created by pharmer while creating cluster.

To get the kubectl configuration file(kubeconfig) on your local filesystem run the following command.

$ pharmer use cluster gkex

If you don’t have kubectl installed click here

Now you can run kubectl get nodes and verify that your kubernetes 1.9.0 is running.

$ kubectl get nodes
NAME                                        STATUS    ROLES     AGE       VERSION
gke-gkex-n1-standard-2-pool-9c900da6-hcsz   Ready     <none>    14m       v1.10.4-gke.2

Cluster Scaling

Scaling a cluster refers following meanings:- 1. Increment the number of nodes of a certain node group 2. Decrement the number of nodes of a certain node group 3. Introduce a new node group with a number of nodes 4. Drop existing node group

To see the current node groups list, you need to run following command:

$ pharmer get nodegroup -k gkex
NAME                 Cluster   Node      SKU
n1-standard-2-pool   gkex      1         n1-standard-2
  • Updating existing NG

For scenario 1 & 2 we need to update our existing node group. To update existing node group configuration run the following command.

$ pharmer edit nodegroup n1-standard-2-pool -k gkex

# Please edit the object below. Lines beginning with a '#' will be ignored,
# and an empty file will abort the edit. If an error occurs while saving this file will be
# reopened with the relevant failures.
#
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: NodeGroup
metadata:
  clusterName: gkex
  creationTimestamp: 2018-06-23T07:12:28Z
  labels:
    node-role.kubernetes.io/node: ""
  name: n1-standard-2-pool
  uid: c9ce370c-76b4-11e8-b244-382c4a73a7c4
spec:
  nodes: 1
  template:
    spec:
      nodeDiskSize: 100
      nodeDiskType: pd-standard
      sku: n1-standard-2
      type: regular
status:
  nodes: 1

Here, * metadata.name refers the node group name, which is unique within a cluster. * metadata.labels specifies the label of the nodegroup, which will be add to all nodes of following node group. * For master label will be "node-role.kubernetes.io/master": "" * For node label will be like "node-role.kubernetes.io/node": "" * metadata.clusterName indicates the cluster, which has this node group. * spec.nodes shows the number of nodes for this following group. * spec.template.spec.nodeDiskSize: pharmer put 100GB by default. You can change it before apply the node group * spec.template.spec.nodeDiskType: pharmer put gp2 as disk type by default. You can change it before apply the node group * spec.template.sku refers the size of the machine * spec.template.spec.type: regular for regular node and spot for spot type node * status.node shows the number of nodes that are really present on the current cluster while scaling

To update number of nodes for this nodegroup modify the node number under spec field.

  • Introduce new NG
  • Regular NG :

To add a new regular node group for an existing cluster you need to run

$ pharmer create ng --nodes=n1-standard-1=1 -k gkex

$ pharmer get nodegroup -k gkex
NAME                 Cluster   Node      SKU
n1-standard-1-pool   gkex      1         n1-standard-1
n1-standard-2-pool   gkex      1         n1-standard-2

You can see the yaml of the newly created node group by running

$ pharmer get nodegroup n1-standard-1-pool -k gkex -o yaml
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: NodeGroup
metadata:
  clusterName: gkex
  creationTimestamp: 2018-06-23T09:20:50Z
  labels:
    node-role.kubernetes.io/node: ""
  name: n1-standard-1-pool
  uid: b82ad9e0-76c6-11e8-8382-382c4a73a7c4
spec:
  nodes: 1
  template:
    spec:
      nodeDiskSize: 100
      nodeDiskType: pd-standard
      sku: n1-standard-1
      type: regular
status:
  • Delete existing NG

If you want delete existing node group following command will help.

$ pharmer delete ng n1-standard-2-pool -k gkex


$ pharmer get ng n1-standard-2-pool -k g1 -o yaml
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: NodeGroup
metadata:
  clusterName: gkex
  creationTimestamp: 2018-06-23T07:12:28Z
  deletionTimestamp: 2018-06-23T09:29:13Z
  labels:
    node-role.kubernetes.io/node: ""
  name: n1-standard-2-pool
  uid: c9ce370c-76b4-11e8-b244-382c4a73a7c4
spec:
  nodes: 1
  template:
    spec:
      nodeDiskSize: 100
      nodeDiskType: pd-standard
      sku: n1-standard-2
      type: regular
status:
  nodes: 1

Here,

  • metadata.deletionTimestamp: will appear if node group deleted command was run

After completing your change on the node groups, you need to apply that via pharmer so that changes will be applied on provider cluster.

$ pharmer apply gkex

This command will take care of your actions that you applied on the node groups recently.

 $ pharmer get ng -k gkex
NAME                 Cluster   Node      SKU
n1-standard-1-pool   gkex      1         n1-standard-1

Cluster Upgrading

Pharmer currently does not support upgrading cluster on GKE.

Cluster Backup

To get a backup of your cluster run the following command:

$ pharmer backup cluster --cluster gkex --backup-dir=gkex-backup

Here, --backup-dir is the flag for specifying your backup directory where phamer puts the backup file

After finishing task pharmer creates a .tar.gz file in your backup directory where you find the backup yaml of your cluster

Cluster Deleting

To delete your cluster run

$ pharmer delete cluster gkex

Then, the yaml file looks like

 $ pharmer get cluster gkex -o yaml
apiVersion: v1alpha1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: 2018-06-23T07:12:27Z
  deletionTimestamp: 2018-06-23T09:52:39Z
  generation: 1529737947731374709
  name: gkex
  uid: c93e989e-76b4-11e8-b244-382c4a73a7c4
spec:
  api:
    advertiseAddress: ""
    bindPort: 0
  caCertName: ca
  cloud:
    cloudProvider: gke
    gke:
      networkName: default
      password: JvZApK9JKYuK9dLV
      userName: pharmer
    instanceImage: Ubuntu
    project: k8s-qa
    region: us-central1
    sshKeyName: gkex-liw4ux
    zone: us-central1-f
  credentialName: gce
  frontProxyCACertName: front-proxy-ca
  kubernetesVersion: 1.10.4-gke.2
  networking:
    networkProvider: CALICO
    nonMasqueradeCIDR: 10.0.0.0/8
status:
  apiServer:
  - address: 35.188.204.137
    type: ExternalIP
  cloud: {}
  phase: Deleting

Here,

  • metadata.deletionTimestamp: is set when cluster deletion command was applied.

Now, to apply delete on provider cluster run

$ pharmer apply gkex

Congratulations !!! , you’re an official pharmer user now.

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