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Creating Highly Available Clusters with kubeadm

This page explains two different approaches to setting up a highly available Kubernetes cluster using kubeadm:

Your clusters must run Kubernetes version 1.12 or later. You should also be aware that setting up HA clusters with kubeadm is still experimental. You might encounter issues with upgrading your clusters, for example. We encourage you to try either approach, and provide feedback.

Caution: This page does not address running your cluster on a cloud provider. In a cloud environment, neither approach documented here works with Service objects of type LoadBalancer, or with dynamic PersistentVolumes.

Before you begin

For both methods you need this infrastructure:

For the external etcd cluster only, you also need:

Note: The following examples run Calico as the Pod networking provider. If you run another networking provider, make sure to replace any default values as needed.

First steps for both methods

Note: All commands in this guide on any control plane or etcd node should be run as root.

Configure SSH

  1. Enable ssh-agent on your main device that has access to all other nodes in the system:

    eval $(ssh-agent)

  2. Add your SSH identity to the session:

    ssh-add ~/.ssh/path_to_private_key

  3. SSH between nodes to check that the connection is working correctly.

    • When you SSH to any node, make sure to add the -A flag:

      ssh -A 10.0.0.7

    • When using sudo on any node, make sure to preserve the environment so SSH forwarding works:

      sudo -E -s

Create load balancer for kube-apiserver

Note: There are many configurations for load balancers. The following example is only one option. Your cluster requirements may need a different configuration.

  1. Create a kube-apiserver load balancer with a name that resolves to DNS.

    • In a cloud environment you should place your control plane nodes behind a TCP forwarding load balancer. This load balancer distributes traffic to all healthy control plane nodes in its target list. The health check for an apiserver is a TCP check on the port the kube-apiserver listens on (default value :6443).

    • It is not recommended to use an IP address directly in a cloud environment.

    • The load balancer must be able to communicate with all control plane nodes on the apiserver port. It must also allow incoming traffic on its listening port.

  2. Add the first control plane nodes to the load balancer and test the connection:

    nc -v LOAD_BALANCER_IP PORT
    • A connection refused error is expected because the apiserver is not yet running. A timeout, however, means the load balancer cannot communicate with the control plane node. If a timeout occurs, reconfigure the load balancer to communicate with the control plane node.

  3. Add the remaining control plane nodes to the load balancer target group.

Stacked control plane nodes

Bootstrap the first stacked control plane node

Note: Optionally replace the string stable with a different version of Kubernetes, for example v1.12.0.

  1. Create a kubeadm-config.yaml template file:

    apiVersion: kubeadm.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: ClusterConfiguration
kubernetesVersion: stable
apiServerCertSANs:
- "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS"
controlPlaneEndpoint: "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS:LOAD_BALANCER_PORT"
etcd:
  local:
    extraArgs:
      name: "CP0_HOSTNAME"
      listen-client-urls: "https://127.0.0.1:2379,https://CP0_IP:2379"
      advertise-client-urls: "https://CP0_IP:2379"
      listen-peer-urls: "https://CP0_IP:2380"
      initial-advertise-peer-urls: "https://CP0_IP:2380"
      initial-cluster: "CP0_HOSTNAME=https://CP0_IP:2380"
    serverCertSANs:
      - CP0_HOSTNAME
      - CP0_IP
    peerCertSANs:
      - CP0_HOSTNAME
      - CP0_IP
networking:
    # This CIDR is a Calico default. Substitute or remove for your CNI provider.
    podSubnet: "192.168.0.0/16"

  2. Replace the following variables in the template with the appropriate values for your cluster:

    • LOAD_BALANCER_DNS
    • LOAD_BALANCER_PORT
    • CP0_HOSTNAME
    • CP0_IP

  3. Run kubeadm init --config kubeadm-config.yaml

Copy required files to other control plane nodes

The following certificates and other required files were created when you ran kubeadm init. Copy these files to your other control plane nodes:

Copy the admin kubeconfig to the other control plane nodes:

In the following example, replace CONTROL_PLANE_IPS with the IP addresses of the other control plane nodes.

USER=ubuntu # customizable
CONTROL_PLANE_IPS="10.0.0.7 10.0.0.8"
for host in ${CONTROL_PLANE_IPS}; do
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt "${USER}"@$host:
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.key "${USER}"@$host:
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/sa.key "${USER}"@$host:
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/sa.pub "${USER}"@$host:
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/front-proxy-ca.crt "${USER}"@$host:
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/front-proxy-ca.key "${USER}"@$host:
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt "${USER}"@$host:etcd-ca.crt
    scp /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.key "${USER}"@$host:etcd-ca.key
    scp /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf "${USER}"@$host:
done
Note: Remember that your config may differ from this example.

Add the second stacked control plane node

  1. Create a second, different kubeadm-config.yaml template file:

    apiVersion: kubeadm.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: ClusterConfiguration
kubernetesVersion: stable
apiServerCertSANs:
- "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS"
controlPlaneEndpoint: "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS:LOAD_BALANCER_PORT"
etcd:
  local:
    extraArgs:
      name: "CP1_HOSTNAME"
      listen-client-urls: "https://127.0.0.1:2379,https://CP1_IP:2379"
      advertise-client-urls: "https://CP1_IP:2379"
      listen-peer-urls: "https://CP1_IP:2380"
      initial-advertise-peer-urls: "https://CP1_IP:2380"
      initial-cluster: "CP0_HOSTNAME=https://CP0_IP:2380,CP1_HOSTNAME=https://CP1_IP:2380"
      initial-cluster-state: existing
    serverCertSANs:
      - CP1_HOSTNAME
      - CP1_IP
    peerCertSANs:
      - CP1_HOSTNAME
      - CP1_IP
networking:
    # This CIDR is a calico default. Substitute or remove for your CNI provider.
    podSubnet: "192.168.0.0/16"

  2. Replace the following variables in the template with the appropriate values for your cluster:

    • LOAD_BALANCER_DNS
    • LOAD_BALANCER_PORT
    • CP0_HOSTNAME
    • CP0_IP
    • CP1_HOSTNAME
    • CP1_IP

  3. Move the copied files to the correct locations:

    USER=ubuntu # customizable
mkdir -p /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd
mv /home/${USER}/ca.crt /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/ca.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/sa.pub /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/sa.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/front-proxy-ca.crt /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/front-proxy-ca.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/etcd-ca.crt /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt
mv /home/${USER}/etcd-ca.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.key
mv /home/${USER}/admin.conf /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf

  4. Run the kubeadm phase commands to bootstrap the kubelet:

    kubeadm alpha phase certs all --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubelet config write-to-disk --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubelet write-env-file --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubeconfig kubelet --config kubeadm-config.yaml
systemctl start kubelet

  5. Run the commands to add the node to the etcd cluster:

    export CP0_IP=10.0.0.7
export CP0_HOSTNAME=cp0
export CP1_IP=10.0.0.8
export CP1_HOSTNAME=cp1

kubeadm alpha phase etcd local --config kubeadm-config.yaml
export KUBECONFIG=/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf
kubectl exec -n kube-system etcd-${CP0_HOSTNAME} -- etcdctl --ca-file /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt --cert-file /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/peer.crt --key-file /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/peer.key --endpoints=https://${CP0_IP}:2379 member add ${CP1_HOSTNAME} https://${CP1_IP}:2380
    • This command causes the etcd cluster to become unavailable for a brief period, after the node is added to the running cluster, and before the new node is joined to the etcd cluster.

  6. Deploy the control plane components and mark the node as a master:

    kubeadm alpha phase kubeconfig all --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase controlplane all --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubelet config annotate-cri --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase mark-master --config kubeadm-config.yaml

Add the third stacked control plane node

  1. Create a third, different kubeadm-config.yaml template file:

    apiVersion: kubeadm.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: ClusterConfiguration
kubernetesVersion: stable
apiServerCertSANs:
- "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS"
controlPlaneEndpoint: "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS:LOAD_BALANCER_PORT"
etcd:
  local:
    extraArgs:
      name: "CP2_HOSTNAME"
      listen-client-urls: "https://127.0.0.1:2379,https://CP2_IP:2379"
      advertise-client-urls: "https://CP2_IP:2379"
      listen-peer-urls: "https://CP2_IP:2380"
      initial-advertise-peer-urls: "https://CP2_IP:2380"
      initial-cluster: "CP0_HOSTNAME=https://CP0_IP:2380,CP1_HOSTNAME=https://CP1_IP:2380,CP2_HOSTNAME=https://CP2_IP:2380"
      initial-cluster-state: existing
    serverCertSANs:
      - CP2_HOSTNAME
      - CP2_IP
    peerCertSANs:
      - CP2_HOSTNAME
      - CP2_IP
networking:
    # This CIDR is a calico default. Substitute or remove for your CNI provider.
    podSubnet: "192.168.0.0/16"

  2. Replace the following variables in the template with the appropriate values for your cluster:

    • LOAD_BALANCER_DNS
    • LOAD_BALANCER_PORT
    • CP0_HOSTNAME
    • CP0_IP
    • CP1_HOSTNAME
    • CP1_IP
    • CP2_HOSTNAME
    • CP2_IP

  3. Move the copied files to the correct locations:

    USER=ubuntu # customizable
mkdir -p /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd
mv /home/${USER}/ca.crt /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/ca.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/sa.pub /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/sa.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/front-proxy-ca.crt /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/front-proxy-ca.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/
mv /home/${USER}/etcd-ca.crt /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt
mv /home/${USER}/etcd-ca.key /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.key
mv /home/${USER}/admin.conf /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf

  4. Run the kubeadm phase commands to bootstrap the kubelet:

    kubeadm alpha phase certs all --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubelet config write-to-disk --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubelet write-env-file --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubeconfig kubelet --config kubeadm-config.yaml
systemctl start kubelet

  5. Run the commands to add the node to the etcd cluster:

    export CP0_IP=10.0.0.7
export CP0_HOSTNAME=cp0
export CP2_IP=10.0.0.9
export CP2_HOSTNAME=cp2

export KUBECONFIG=/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf
kubectl exec -n kube-system etcd-${CP0_HOSTNAME} -- etcdctl --ca-file /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt --cert-file /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/peer.crt --key-file /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/peer.key --endpoints=https://${CP0_IP}:2379 member add ${CP2_HOSTNAME} https://${CP2_IP}:2380
kubeadm alpha phase etcd local --config kubeadm-config.yaml

  6. Deploy the control plane components and mark the node as a master:

    kubeadm alpha phase kubeconfig all --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase controlplane all --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase kubelet config annotate-cri --config kubeadm-config.yaml
kubeadm alpha phase mark-master --config kubeadm-config.yaml

External etcd

Set up the cluster

Copy required files from an etcd node to all control plane nodes

In the following example, replace USER and CONTROL_PLANE_HOSTS values with values for your environment.

# Make a list of required etcd certificate files
cat << EOF > etcd-pki-files.txt
/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt
/etc/kubernetes/pki/apiserver-etcd-client.crt
/etc/kubernetes/pki/apiserver-etcd-client.key
EOF

# create the archive
tar -czf etcd-pki.tar.gz -T etcd-pki-files.txt

# copy the archive to the control plane nodes
USER=ubuntu
CONTROL_PLANE_HOSTS="10.0.0.7 10.0.0.8 10.0.0.9"
for host in $CONTROL_PLANE_HOSTS; do
    scp etcd-pki.tar.gz "${USER}"@$host:
done

Set up the first control plane node

Note: Optionally replace the string stable with a different version of Kubernetes, for example v1.11.3.

  1. Extract the etcd certificates

    mkdir -p /etc/kubernetes/pki
tar -xzf etcd-pki.tar.gz -C /etc/kubernetes/pki --strip-components=3

  2. Create a kubeadm-config.yaml:

    apiVersion: kubeadm.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: ClusterConfiguration
kubernetesVersion: stable
apiServerCertSANs:
- "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS"
controlPlaneEndpoint: "LOAD_BALANCER_DNS:LOAD_BALANCER_PORT"
etcd:
    external:
        endpoints:
        - https://ETCD_0_IP:2379
        - https://ETCD_1_IP:2379
        - https://ETCD_2_IP:2379
        caFile: /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt
        certFile: /etc/kubernetes/pki/apiserver-etcd-client.crt
        keyFile: /etc/kubernetes/pki/apiserver-etcd-client.key
networking:
    # This CIDR is a calico default. Substitute or remove for your CNI provider.
    podSubnet: "192.168.0.0/16"

  3. Replace the following variables in the template with the appropriate values for your cluster:

    • LOAD_BALANCER_DNS
    • LOAD_BALANCER_PORT
    • ETCD_0_IP
    • ETCD_1_IP
    • ETCD_2_IP

  4. Run kubeadm init --config kubeadm-config.yaml

  5. Copy the output from the join command

Copy required files to the correct locations

The following pki files were created during the kubeadm init step and must be shared with all other control plane nodes.

In the following example, replace the list of CONTROL_PLANE_IPS values with the IP addresses of the other control plane nodes.

# make a list of required kubernetes certificate files
cat << EOF > certificate_files.txt
/etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt
/etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.key
/etc/kubernetes/pki/sa.key
/etc/kubernetes/pki/sa.pub
/etc/kubernetes/pki/front-proxy-ca.crt
/etc/kubernetes/pki/front-proxy-ca.key
EOF

# create the archive
tar -czf control-plane-certificates.tar.gz -T certificate_files.txt

USER=ubuntu # customizable
CONTROL_PLANE_IPS="10.0.0.7 10.0.0.8"
for host in ${CONTROL_PLANE_IPS}; do
    scp control-plane-certificates.tar.gz "${USER}"@$host:
done

Set up the other control plane nodes

  1. Extract the required certificates

    mkdir -p /etc/kubernetes/pki
tar -xzf etcd-pki.tar.gz -C /etc/kubernetes/pki --strip-components 3
tar -xzf control-plane-certificates.tar.gz -C /etc/kubernetes/pki --strip-components 3

  2. Verify the location of the copied files. Your /etc/kubernetes directory should look like this:

    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/apiserver-etcd-client.crt
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/apiserver-etcd-client.key
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.key
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/front-proxy-ca.crt
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/front-proxy-ca.key
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/sa.key
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/sa.pub
    • /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt

  3. Run the copied kubeadm join command from above. Add the flag “–experimental-control-plane”. The final command will look something like this:

    kubeadm join ha.k8s.example.com:6443 --token 5ynki1.3erp9i3yo7gqg1nv --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:a00055bd8c710a9906a3d91b87ea02976334e1247936ac061d867a0f014ecd81 --experimental-control-plane

Common tasks after bootstrapping control plane

Install a pod network

Follow these instructions to install the pod network. Make sure this corresponds to whichever pod CIDR you provided in the master configuration file.

Install workers

Each worker node can now be joined to the cluster with the command returned from any of the kubeadm init commands.

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