Set up an Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cluster

This guide walks you through installing an Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cluster. If you need more information, refer to Create an Amazon EKS cluster

Prerequisites

• Install:
  • kubectl
  • AWS CLI
  • eksctl
  • An existing VPC and subnets
  • Dapr CLI

Deploy an EKS cluster

1. In the terminal, log into AWS.

   aws configure
   

2. Create a new file called cluster-config.yaml and add the content below to it, replacing [your_cluster_name], [your_cluster_region], and [your_k8s_version] with the appropriate values:

   apiVersion: eksctl.io/v1alpha5
   kind: ClusterConfig
   
   metadata:
     name: [your_cluster_name]
     region: [your_cluster_region]
     version: [your_k8s_version]
     tags:
       karpenter.sh/discovery: [your_cluster_name]
   
   iam:
     withOIDC: true
   
   managedNodeGroups:
     - name: mng-od-4vcpu-8gb
       desiredCapacity: 2
       minSize: 1
       maxSize: 5
       instanceType: c5.xlarge
       privateNetworking: true
   
   addons:
     - name: vpc-cni 
       attachPolicyARNs:
         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEKS_CNI_Policy
     - name: coredns
       version: latest 
     - name: kube-proxy
       version: latest
     - name: aws-ebs-csi-driver
       wellKnownPolicies: 
         ebsCSIController: true
   

3. Create the cluster by running the following command:

   eksctl create cluster -f cluster.yaml
   

4. Verify the kubectl context:

   kubectl config current-context
   

Add Dapr requirements for sidecar access and default storage class:

1. Update the security group rule to allow the EKS cluster to communicate with the Dapr Sidecar by creating an inbound rule for port 4000.

   aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --region [your_aws_region] \
   --group-id [your_security_group] \
   --protocol tcp \
   --port 4000 \
   --source-group [your_security_group]
   

2. Add a default storage class if you don’t have one:

kubectl patch storageclass gp2 -p '{"metadata": {"annotations":{"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class":"true"}}}'

Install Dapr

Install Dapr on your cluster by running:

dapr init -k

You should see the following response:

⌛  Making the jump to hyperspace...
ℹ️  Note: To install Dapr using Helm, see here: https://docs.dapr.io/getting-started/install-dapr-kubernetes/#install-with-helm-advanced

ℹ️  Container images will be pulled from Docker Hub
✅  Deploying the Dapr control plane with latest version to your cluster...
✅  Deploying the Dapr dashboard with latest version to your cluster...
✅  Success! Dapr has been installed to namespace dapr-system. To verify, run `dapr status -k' in your terminal. To get started, go here: https://docs.dapr.io/getting-started

Troubleshooting

Access permissions

If you face any access permissions, make sure you are using the same AWS profile that was used to create the cluster. If needed, update the kubectl configuration with the correct profile. More information here:

aws eks --region [your_aws_region] update-kubeconfig --name [your_eks_cluster_name] --profile [your_profile_name]

Related links

• Learn more about EKS clusters
• Learn more about eksctl
• Try out a Dapr quickstart
• Learn how to deploy Dapr on your cluster
• Kubernetes production guidelines