Embarking on Kubernetes Excellence: Unveiling the Basics of AWS EKS
In this article, you will learn:
As the demand for scalable and efficient container orchestration solutions intensifies, Kubernetes has emerged as a leading choice for managing containerized applications. Amazon Web Services (AWS) caters to this need with its managed Kubernetes service, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).
This article serves as a beginner's guide, explaining the fundamental concepts of AWS EKS and offering insights into why it has become a cornerstone in the world of container orchestration.
What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
Deploying and managing containerized applications at scale on bare-metal Kubernetes is demanding and presents challenges, such as operational complexity, possibility of node failure, backup and migration requirement, and the task of maintaining the servers. This is why we have managed Kubernetes services such as Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to simplify Kubernetes adoption and operation.
Amazon EKS is an AWS variant of Kubernetes. It is an AWS-managed service that helps you to run Kubernetes on AWS cloud and on-premises data centers in an easier way.
Benefits of Amazon EKS
- Highly available: By design, EKS is highly available and fault tolerant.
- Scalability: with tools such as cluster auto-scaler, EKS can seamlessly and automatically scale containerized applications to meet changing demands, without impacting application performance.
- Security: EKS utilizes a combination of AWS IAM and role-base access control to secure your cluster.
- Serverless compute option: To run your application using serverless computing, EKS supports AWS Fargate. This service removes the need to provision and manage servers.
- Observability: EKS integrates with other AWS monitoring, observability and logging services, such as CloudWatch and Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus, to gain visibility into your Kubernetes clusters.
Understanding EKS architecture
EKS provides a robust and scalable architecture for running Kubernetes clusters on AWS. The EKS architecture comprises a control plane and worker nodes. The control plane, managed by AWS, consists of multiple Amazon EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.
Worker nodes, which run your containerized applications, can be provisioned using EC2 instances or AWS Fargate, depending on your workload requirements. These nodes are registered with the EKS control plane and interact with it to schedule and run containers. The EKS architecture supports integration with other AWS services, such as IAM for access control, CloudWatch for monitoring, and Elastic Load Balancing for distributing traffic.
And here is a simple EKS architecture diagram:
EKS Tutorial and Demo Deployment
EKS can be deployed using various methods, such as AWS management console, AWS CLI. CloudFormation, and Terraform, but we shall be using eksctl as the deployment tool. Eksctl offers a streamlined and user-friendly experience, abstracting the complexities of Kubernetes management and incorporating AWS best practices, making it an efficient and effective choice for both beginners and experienced users.
Prerequisites:
AWS CLI Installation: Make sure you have the AWS CLI installed and configured with the necessary access rights. To install the latest version, see Installing, updating, and uninstalling the AWS CLI
kubectl Installation: kubectl is used to interact with your Kubernetes clusters. To install or upgrade kubectl, see Installing or updating kubectl.
eksctl Installation: eksctl is a command-line tool used to create and manage EKS clusters. To install eksctl see eksctl installation guide.
Deployment Steps:
1. Create a Cluster Configuration File: Create a YAML configuration file for your EKS cluster. Specify parameters like region, node instance type, and cluster name. For example:
apiVersion: eksctl.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
name: my-eks-cluster
region: us-west-2
-name: ng-1
instanceType: t2.small
minSize: 2
maxSize: 3
2. Create the EKS Cluster: Use eksctl to create your EKS cluster by running the following command:
eksctl create cluster -f cluster-config.yaml
This command provisions the EKS cluster and associated resources.
3. Configure kubectl:
After the cluster is created, update your kubectl configuration to point to the new cluster:
aws eks --region us-west-2 update-kubeconfig --name my-eks-cluster
4. Verify the Cluster: Ensure that your cluster is running by checking the nodes:
kubectl get nodes
5. Deploy an Application: You can deploy a sample Nginx web server to test your cluster:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/website/master/content/en/examples/application/nginx-app.yaml
Verify the deployment:
kubectl get deployments kubectl get pods
6. Clean Up: This ensures that you won't incur additional costs if you're done testing. To delete the cluster and associated resources, use:
eksctl delete cluster -f cluster-config.yaml
In conclusion, embrace the future of container orchestration with AWS EKS and unlock the full potential of your cloud-native journey. Now that you've gained insights into the benefits and capabilities of AWS EKS,
It's time to take the next step by implementing it yourself, or you can contact our experienced team of certified DevOps engineers.
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