Rancher Kubernetes Single Node Setup

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A group of cows in a dirt field.

Pre-req

  1. VM requirements
    • One Ubuntu 20.04 VM node where RKE Cluster will be running.
    • One Ubuntu 20.04 host node where RKE CLI will be configured to use to setup cluster.
  2. Disable swap and firewall
sudo ufw disable
sudo swapoff -a; sudo sed -i '/swap/d' /etc/fstab
  1. Update sysctl settings
sudo cat >>/etc/sysctl.d/kubernetes.conf<<EOF
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables = 1
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables = 1
EOF
sudo sysctl --system
  1. Docker installed on all nodes
    • Login to Ubuntu VM with your sudo account.
    • Execute the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo curl https://releases.rancher.com/install-docker/19.03.sh | sh
  1. New User and add to Docker group
sudo adduser rkeuser
sudo passwd rkeuser >/dev/null 2>&1
sudo usermod -aG docker rkeuser
  1. SSH Key Gen and copy keys
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
ssh-copy-id rkeuser@192.168.1.188

Download rke package and set executable permissions

wget https://github.com/rancher/rke/releases/download/v1.1.0/rke_linux-amd64
sudo cp rke_linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/rke
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/rke

RKE Cluster setup

First, we must setup rke cluster configuration file to deploy it to rke node where the cluster will be setup. Continue with interactive configurations to setup single node cluster.

rke config

Run the below command to setup rke cluster

rke up

Output:

INFO[0000] Running RKE version: v1.1.9
INFO[0000] Initiating Kubernetes cluster
INFO[0000] [dialer] Setup tunnel for host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0000] Checking if container [cluster-state-deployer] is running on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0000] Pulling image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0005] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0005] Starting container [cluster-state-deployer] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0005] [state] Successfully started [cluster-state-deployer] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0005] [certificates] Generating CA kubernetes certificates 
INFO[0005] [certificates] Generating Kubernetes API server aggregation layer requestheader client CA certificates 
INFO[0006] [certificates] GenerateServingCertificate is disabled, checking if there are unused kubelet certificates 
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Kubernetes API server certificates
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Service account token key 
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Kube Controller certificates
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Kube Scheduler certificates 
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Kube Proxy certificates
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Node certificate
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating admin certificates and kubeconfig
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating Kubernetes API server proxy client certificates 
INFO[0006] [certificates] Generating kube-etcd-192-168-1-188 certificate and key
INFO[0006] Successfully Deployed state file at [./cluster.rkestate] 
INFO[0006] Building Kubernetes cluster
INFO[0006] [dialer] Setup tunnel for host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0007] [network] Deploying port listener containers 
INFO[0007] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0007] Starting container [rke-etcd-port-listener] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0007] [network] Successfully started [rke-etcd-port-listener] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0007] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0007] Starting container [rke-cp-port-listener] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0008] [network] Successfully started [rke-cp-port-listener] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0008] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0008] Starting container [rke-worker-port-listener] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0008] [network] Successfully started [rke-worker-port-listener] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0008] [network] Port listener containers deployed successfully
INFO[0008] [network] Running control plane -> etcd port checks
INFO[0008] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0008] Starting container [rke-port-checker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0009] [network] Successfully started [rke-port-checker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0009] Removing container [rke-port-checker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0009] [network] Running control plane -> worker port checks 
INFO[0009] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0009] Starting container [rke-port-checker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0009] [network] Successfully started [rke-port-checker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0009] Removing container [rke-port-checker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0009] [network] Running workers -> control plane port checks 
INFO[0009] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0009] Starting container [rke-port-checker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0009] [network] Successfully started [rke-port-checker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0009] Removing container [rke-port-checker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0009] [network] Checking KubeAPI port Control Plane hosts
INFO[0009] [network] Removing port listener containers  
INFO[0009] Removing container [rke-etcd-port-listener] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0010] [remove/rke-etcd-port-listener] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0010] Removing container [rke-cp-port-listener] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0010] [remove/rke-cp-port-listener] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0010] Removing container [rke-worker-port-listener] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0010] [remove/rke-worker-port-listener] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0010] [network] Port listener containers removed successfully
INFO[0010] [certificates] Deploying kubernetes certificates to Cluster nodes
INFO[0010] Checking if container [cert-deployer] is running on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0010] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0010] Starting container [cert-deployer] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0010] Checking if container [cert-deployer] is running on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0015] Checking if container [cert-deployer] is running on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0015] Removing container [cert-deployer] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0015] [reconcile] Rebuilding and updating local kube config 
INFO[0015] Successfully Deployed local admin kubeconfig at [./kube_config_cluster.yml]
INFO[0015] [certificates] Successfully deployed kubernetes certificates to Cluster nodes
INFO[0015] [file-deploy] Deploying file [/etc/kubernetes/audit-policy.yaml] to node [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0015] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0016] Starting container [file-deployer] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0016] Successfully started [file-deployer] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0016] Waiting for [file-deployer] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0016] Waiting for [file-deployer] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0016] Container [file-deployer] is still running on host [192.168.1.188]: stderr: [], stdout: []
INFO[0017] Waiting for [file-deployer] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0017] Removing container [file-deployer] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0017] [remove/file-deployer] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0017] [/etc/kubernetes/audit-policy.yaml] Successfully deployed audit policy file to Cluster control nodes
INFO[0017] [reconcile] Reconciling cluster state
INFO[0017] [reconcile] This is newly generated cluster
INFO[0017] Pre-pulling kubernetes images
INFO[0017] Pulling image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0047] Image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0047] Kubernetes images pulled successfully
INFO[0047] [etcd] Building up etcd plane..
INFO[0047] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0047] Starting container [etcd-fix-perm] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0047] Successfully started [etcd-fix-perm] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0047] Waiting for [etcd-fix-perm] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0047] Waiting for [etcd-fix-perm] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0047] Container [etcd-fix-perm] is still running on host [192.168.1.188]: stderr: [], stdout: []
INFO[0048] Waiting for [etcd-fix-perm] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0048] Removing container [etcd-fix-perm] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0048] [remove/etcd-fix-perm] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0048] Pulling image [rancher/coreos-etcd:v3.4.3-rancher1] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0051] Image [rancher/coreos-etcd:v3.4.3-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0051] Starting container [etcd] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0051] [etcd] Successfully started [etcd] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0051] [etcd] Running rolling snapshot container [etcd-snapshot-once] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0051] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0051] Starting container [etcd-rolling-snapshots] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0051] [etcd] Successfully started [etcd-rolling-snapshots] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0056] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0057] Starting container [rke-bundle-cert] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0057] [certificates] Successfully started [rke-bundle-cert] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0057] Waiting for [rke-bundle-cert] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0057] Container [rke-bundle-cert] is still running on host [192.168.1.188]: stderr: [], stdout: []
INFO[0058] Waiting for [rke-bundle-cert] container to exit on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0058] [certificates] successfully saved certificate bundle [/opt/rke/etcd-snapshots//pki.bundle.tar.gz] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0058] Removing container [rke-bundle-cert] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0058] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0058] Starting container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0059] [etcd] Successfully started [rke-log-linker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0059] Removing container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0059] [remove/rke-log-linker] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0059] [etcd] Successfully started etcd plane.. Checking etcd cluster health
INFO[0059] [controlplane] Building up Controller Plane.. 
INFO[0059] Checking if container [service-sidekick] is running on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0059] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0059] Image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0059] Starting container [kube-apiserver] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0059] [controlplane] Successfully started [kube-apiserver] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0059] [healthcheck] Start Healthcheck on service [kube-apiserver] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0067] [healthcheck] service [kube-apiserver] on host [192.168.1.188] is healthy 
INFO[0067] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0068] Starting container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0068] [controlplane] Successfully started [rke-log-linker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0068] Removing container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0068] [remove/rke-log-linker] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0068] Image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0068] Starting container [kube-controller-manager] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0068] [controlplane] Successfully started [kube-controller-manager] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0068] [healthcheck] Start Healthcheck on service [kube-controller-manager] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0074] [healthcheck] service [kube-controller-manager] on host [192.168.1.188] is healthy 
INFO[0074] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0074] Starting container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0074] [controlplane] Successfully started [rke-log-linker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0074] Removing container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0075] [remove/rke-log-linker] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0075] Image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0075] Starting container [kube-scheduler] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0075] [controlplane] Successfully started [kube-scheduler] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0075] [healthcheck] Start Healthcheck on service [kube-scheduler] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0080] [healthcheck] service [kube-scheduler] on host [192.168.1.188] is healthy 
INFO[0080] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0080] Starting container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0081] [controlplane] Successfully started [rke-log-linker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0081] Removing container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0081] [remove/rke-log-linker] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0081] [controlplane] Successfully started Controller Plane..
INFO[0081] [authz] Creating rke-job-deployer ServiceAccount
INFO[0081] [authz] rke-job-deployer ServiceAccount created successfully 
INFO[0081] [authz] Creating system:node ClusterRoleBinding
INFO[0081] [authz] system:node ClusterRoleBinding created successfully
INFO[0081] [authz] Creating kube-apiserver proxy ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding
INFO[0081] [authz] kube-apiserver proxy ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding created successfully
INFO[0081] Successfully Deployed state file at [./cluster.rkestate]
INFO[0081] [state] Saving full cluster state to Kubernetes
INFO[0081] [state] Successfully Saved full cluster state to Kubernetes ConfigMap: full-cluster-state 
INFO[0081] [worker] Building up Worker Plane..
INFO[0081] Checking if container [service-sidekick] is running on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0081] [sidekick] Sidekick container already created on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0081] Image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0081] Starting container [kubelet] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0081] [worker] Successfully started [kubelet] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0081] [healthcheck] Start Healthcheck on service [kubelet] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0092] [healthcheck] service [kubelet] on host [192.168.1.188] is healthy 
INFO[0092] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0092] Starting container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0093] [worker] Successfully started [rke-log-linker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0093] Removing container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0093] [remove/rke-log-linker] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0093] Image [rancher/hyperkube:v1.18.9-rancher1] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0093] Starting container [kube-proxy] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0093] [worker] Successfully started [kube-proxy] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0093] [healthcheck] Start Healthcheck on service [kube-proxy] on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0098] [healthcheck] service [kube-proxy] on host [192.168.1.188] is healthy 
INFO[0098] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0099] Starting container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0099] [worker] Successfully started [rke-log-linker] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0099] Removing container [rke-log-linker] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0099] [remove/rke-log-linker] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0099] [worker] Successfully started Worker Plane..
INFO[0099] Image [rancher/rke-tools:v0.1.65] exists on host [192.168.1.188]
INFO[0099] Starting container [rke-log-cleaner] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1 
INFO[0099] [cleanup] Successfully started [rke-log-cleaner] container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0099] Removing container [rke-log-cleaner] on host [192.168.1.188], try #1
INFO[0100] [remove/rke-log-cleaner] Successfully removed container on host [192.168.1.188] 
INFO[0100] [sync] Syncing nodes Labels and Taints
INFO[0100] [sync] Successfully synced nodes Labels and Taints
INFO[0100] [network] Setting up network plugin: canal   
INFO[0100] [addons] Saving ConfigMap for addon rke-network-plugin to Kubernetes
INFO[0100] [addons] Successfully saved ConfigMap for addon rke-network-plugin to Kubernetes
INFO[0100] [addons] Executing deploy job rke-network-plugin
INFO[0115] [addons] Setting up coredns
INFO[0115] [addons] Saving ConfigMap for addon rke-coredns-addon to Kubernetes
INFO[0115] [addons] Successfully saved ConfigMap for addon rke-coredns-addon to Kubernetes
INFO[0115] [addons] Executing deploy job rke-coredns-addon
INFO[0120] [addons] CoreDNS deployed successfully       
INFO[0120] [dns] DNS provider coredns deployed successfully
INFO[0120] [addons] Setting up Metrics Server
INFO[0120] [addons] Saving ConfigMap for addon rke-metrics-addon to Kubernetes 
INFO[0120] [addons] Successfully saved ConfigMap for addon rke-metrics-addon to Kubernetes
INFO[0120] [addons] Executing deploy job rke-metrics-addon
INFO[0130] [addons] Metrics Server deployed successfully 
INFO[0130] [ingress] Setting up nginx ingress controller
INFO[0130] [addons] Saving ConfigMap for addon rke-ingress-controller to Kubernetes
INFO[0130] [addons] Successfully saved ConfigMap for addon rke-ingress-controller to Kubernetes
INFO[0130] [addons] Executing deploy job rke-ingress-controller
INFO[0140] [ingress] ingress controller nginx deployed successfully 
INFO[0140] [addons] Setting up user addons
INFO[0140] [addons] no user addons defined
INFO[0140] Finished building Kubernetes cluster successfully

Connecting to Kubernetes cluster

  1. Download latest kubectl
curl -LO "https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
  1. Assign executable permissions
chmod +x ./kubectl
  1. Move file to default executable location
sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
  1. Check kubectl version
kubectl version --client
  1. Copy rancher exported kube cluster YAML file to $HOME/.kube/config
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
cp kube_config_cluster.yml $HOME/.kube/config
  1. Connect to Kubernetes cluster and get pods
kubectl get pods -A

HELM Installation

curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https --yes
echo "deb https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install helm

Setup Rancher in Kubernetes cluster

helm repo add rancher-latest https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/latest
kubectl create namespace cattle-system
kubectl apply --validate=false -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v0.15.0/cert-manager.crds.yaml
kubectl create namespace cert-manager
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
helm repo update
helm install \
  cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \
  --namespace cert-manager \
  --version v0.15.0

Set cert-manager

Define DNS cert request. You can replace rancher.my.org with your own DNS alias.

helm install rancher rancher-latest/rancher \
  --namespace cattle-system \
  --set hostname=rancher.my.org
kubectl -n cattle-system rollout status deploy/rancher

NOTE: Make sure to add rancher.my.org in the host entry of your system if you are working in a lab environment if you don’t have a DNS.

Rancher UI instructions here followed from here.

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