This repository contains the source code for a local Kubernetes cluster setup using Vagrant and Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE). It also outlines the steps to install Rancher.
To spin up the virtual machines, run the following command at the root level of the project directory:
vagrant up
Once the VMs are up and running, you can check their status with vagrant status or by connecting to anyone of them using vagrant ssh [hostname]. Once you've confirmed that all machines are running with no issues, copy over the generated SSH keys from your workstation/host to each guest machine with the following commands:
ssh-copy-id root@[relevant ip address]
When prompted, enter the root user password configured in the bootstrap node script.
To provision the cluster on the VMs, run the rke config command. You will be presented with a series of questions to which the answers will be used to declare the cluster config in a generated cluster.yml file upon completion. Alternatively, you can create the cluster.yml file and populate it with your desired configuration. Once you have the cluster.yml file, run the following command:
rke up
When the cluster has been provisioned, the following files will be generated in the root directory:
- cluster.rkestate - the cluster state file
- kube_config_cluster.yml - kube config file
To add the cluster to your context, copy the kube config file:
cp kube_config_cluster.yml ~/.kube/config
If you do not have a ./kube directory on your machine you will have to create one.
The last step will be to check that you can connect to your cluster:
kubectl cluster-info
or
kubectl config current-context
If you have a tool like K9s, you can start it up to see the objects that are currently running in your cluster.
The steps below outline how to install Rancher on your RKE cluster.
Rancher relies on cert-manager to issue certificates from Rancher's own generated CA or to request Let's Encrypt certificates.
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.4.0/cert-manager.yaml
Create the namespace where the Rancher application resources will be deployed.
kubectl create namespace cattle-system
helm repo add rancher-stable https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/stable
helm install rancher rancher-stable/rancher \
--namespace cattle-system \
--set hostname=<hostname>
You may need to update the hosts on your local machine to resolve to the addresses of the Virtual Machines. To do this, go to /etc/hosts and add an entry for your hostname like this:
172.16.129.21 <hostname>
172.16.129.22 <hostname>
172.16.129.23 <hostname>
Lastly, go to your web browser and enter your selected hostname and you should see the following landing page.
