Creating Kubernetes Cluster on vSphere with Kublr

Prerequisites

The Kublr Demo/Installer must be installed. If you haven’t done that yet, please refer to the Installation Guide for the Kublr Demo/Installer.

System requirements for the cluster nodes:

1. x86 64-bit hardware
2. At least 5Gb of RAM and 2 vCPU per master node
3. At least 16Gb og RAM and 8 vCPU in sum for work nodes if you plan deploying Kublr Platform
4. Supported OS on nodes: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and above, RHEL 7.4 and above, CentOS 7.4 and above
5. Direct connection to the virtual machine network
6. Direct connection to vCenter and ESXi hosts
7. 100Mb stable internet connection

Overview

Steps below describe how to use Kublr to create VMware vSphere Kubernetes cluster. The following steps are described:

1. Preparing virtual machine template in vCenter.
2. Creating Kubernetes cluster on vSphere with Kublr.

Preparing Virtual Machine Template in vCenter

Kublr can use two kinds of VM templates:

1. With installed vm-tools (This case is used for custom VM templates)
2. With installed cloud-init (This case is used for prepared VM templates from the vendor)

For a quick start, you can prepare VM template with installed cloud-init:

1. Prepare Ubuntu VM Template with cloud-init
2. Prepare CentOS-7 VM Template with cloud-init
3. Prepare CentOS-8 VM Template with cloud-init (Technical preview)

Creating a VMware vSphere cluster with Kublr

To add a new cluster:

1. On the left menu, click Clusters.

2. Click Add Cluster. The Select Installation Type dialog is displayed.

3. In the Select Installation Type dialog, select Platform or Cluster.

4. Click Continue Setup. The add cluster/platform dialog is displayed.

5. Set Provider to “VMware vSphere”.

6. From the Credentials list, select previously created VMware vSphere credentials.

   If credentials were not created previously, use Add New Credentials.

7. Specify Cluster Name.

8. Set in order listed:

   • Datacenter
   • Resource Pool
   • Datastore Type and Datastore
   • Resource Pool
   • Kubernetes Version

9. Optionally, set Advanced Options.

10. Scroll to the Network Configuration section.

11. Set:

    • Network
    • Network CIDR

12. Optionally, set Advanced Options.

13. Use the INSTANCES tab.

14. Use the Master Configuration section.

15. Specify the parameters of the master node(s) of your cluster as described below.

16. From the Masters list, select the number of master nodes.

17. Set Master X: IP for each node.

18. For 3 and 5 master nodes configuration, optionally specify Load Balancer Address.

19. Select from lists:

    • VM Template (If you don’t have template, please create one as specified here.)
    • VM Initialization Type

20. Set:

    • Number of CPUs cores to use per VM.
    • Amount of RAM in GB to use per VM.

21. Optionally, set Advanced Options.

22. Scroll to the instance group section (default name group1).

23. Specify the parameters of the work node(s) in your group as described below.

24. Select IP Address Allocation Mode.

25. Enter number of Nodes to be provisioned in the node group.

26. Select from lists:

    • VM Template (If you don’t have template, please create one as specified here.)
    • VM Initialization Type

27. Set:

    • Number of CPUs cores to use per VM.
    • Amount of RAM in GB to use per VM.

28. If necessary, set your own name for the instance group.

    Note For your working nodes, you can have as many intance groups as you need (clone or delete the current instance group, or add another one). If necessary, give specific name to each group.

    

29. Optionally, set Advanced Options.

30. Use the FEATURES tab to select and configure FEATURES that you want to include into your cluster.

31. Click the REVIEW & CREATE step.

32. Review your cluster parameters.

33. At the bottom of the dialog, click CONFIRM AND INSTALL.

    A notification is displayed “Your cluster is being created. It might take a few minutes.”

34. In the notification window, click OK.

    Your new cluster page is displayed on the Events tab showing the cluster creation progress.

Congratulations! You have just deployed a VMWare vSphere cluster in Kublr

See Also

• Search this documentation or for “vSphere” or anything you meet in the vSphere cluster ADD/EDIT dialog to find more information about using Kublr with vSphere, like:
• vSphere troubleshooting
• And others
• Search support.kublr.com for “vSphere”.

Specific vSphere Scenarios:

• Information will be provided soon.