Administering vSphere On-prem Clusters

You can create, modify, or delete vSphere on-prem Kubernetes clusters using the Cisco Container Platform web interface.

This chapter contains the following topics:

Creating Kubernetes Clusters on vSphere On-prem Clusters

Procedure

Step 1

From the left pane, click Clusters, and then click the vSphere tab.

Step 2

Click NEW CLUSTER.

Step 3

In the Basic Information screen, specify the following information:

  1. From the INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDER drop-down list, choose the provider related to your Kubernetes cluster.

    For more information, see Adding vSphere Provider Profile.

  2. In the KUBERNETES CLUSTER NAME field, enter a name for your Kubernetes tenant cluster.

  3. In the VERSION drop-down list, choose the version of Kubernetes that you want to use for creating the cluster.

  4. In the CNI field, enter the Container Network Interface (CNI) that you want to use.

  5. In the DESCRIPTION field, add a description.

  6. If you are using ACI, specify the ACI profile, see Adding ACI Profile.

  7. Click NEXT.

Step 4

In the Provider Settings screen, the data center, cluster, resource pool, network, HyperFlex local network, datastore, VM template, and storage class that you want to use, and then click NEXT.

Note 

  • Ensure that DRS and HA are enabled on the cluster that you choose in this step. For more information on enabling DRS and HA on clusters, refer to the Cisco Container Platform Installation Guide.

  • Ensure that the datastore that you choose in this step is accessible to the hosts in the cluster.

  • The selected network must have access to vCenter.

  • The default Storage Class is VSPHERE. If the selected vCenter cluster is running on HyperFlex 3.5+ that supports Dynamic Volume Provisioning, you need to choose the Storage Class as HYPERFLEX.

  • If you have chosen HYPERFLEX as the storage class, ensure that the selected network has access to the HypexFlex Connect server.

Step 5

In the Node Configuration screen, specify the following information, and then click NEXT:

  • The number of worker and master nodes, and their VCPU and memory configurations.

  • The SSH public key that you want to use for creating the cluster.

  • The VM username that you want to use as the login for the VM.

  • The subnet that you want to use for this cluster.

  • The number of load balancer IP addresses for this cluster.

    For more information, see Load Balancer Services.

  • The IP addresses in CIDR notation that you want to use as the pod subnet.

  • Whether or not you want to enable Istio

  • A root CA certificate to allow tenant clusters to securely connect to additional services
Step 6

In the Harbor Registry screen, specify if you want to enable Harbor. If no, click NEXT. If yes, you must specify the following information, and then click NEXT:

  1. Ensure the switch to enable Harbor is activated

  2. A password for Harbor server admin

  3. The immutable registry size in gigabits
Step 7

In the Summary screen, verify the configuration, and then click FINISH.

The cluster deployment takes few minutes to complete. The newly created cluster is displayed on the Clusters screen.

For more information on deploying applications on clusters, see Deploying Applications on Kubernetes Clusters.

Upgrading vSphere Clusters

Before you begin

Ensure that you have imported the latest tenant cluster OVA to the vSphere environment.

For more information on importing the tenant cluster OVA, refer to the Cisco Container Platform Installation Guide.

Procedure

Step 1

From the left pane, click Clusters, and then click the vSphere tab.

Step 2

From the drop-down list displayed under the ACTIONS column, choose Upgrade.

Step 3

In the Upgrade Cluster dialog box, choose a Kubernetes version and a new template for the VM, and then click Submit.

It may take a few minutes for the Kuberenetes cluster upgrade to complete.

Scaling vSphere Clusters

You can scale clusters by adding or removing worker nodes to them based on the demands of the workloads you want to run. You can add worker nodes in a default or custom node pool.

For more information on adding worker node pools, see Configuring Node Pools.

Configuring Node Pools

Node pools allow the creation of worker nodes with varying configurations. Nodes belonging to a single node pool have identical characteristics.

In the Cisco Container Platform vSphere implementation, a node pool has the following properties:

Labels and taints are optional parameters. All nodes that belong to a nodepool are tagged with labels and they are tainted. Taints are key-value pairs, which are associated with an effect.

The following table describes the available effects.

Effect

Description

NoSchedule

Ensures that the pods that do not contain this taint are not scheduled on the node.

PreferNoSchedule

Ensures that Kubernetes avoids scheduling pods that do not contain this taint on the node.

NoExecute

Ensures that a pod is removed from the node if it is already running on the node, and is not scheduled on the node if it is not yet running on the node.

During cluster creation, each cluster is assigned a default node pool. Cisco Container Platform supports the ability for different master and worker configurations. Upon cluster creation, the master node is created in the default-master-pool and the worker nodes are created in the default-pool.

Cisco Container Platform supports the ability to create multiple node pools and customize each pool characteristics such as vCCPUs, memory, labels, and taints.

Adding Node Pools

Cisco Container Platform allows you to add custom node pools to an existing cluster.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the cluster for which you want to add a node pool.

The Cluster Details page displays the node pools of the cluster that you have selected.
Step 2

From the right pane, click ADD NODE POOL.

The Add Node Pool page appears.
Step 3

Under POOL NAME, enter a name for the node pool.

Step 4

Under WORKERS, enter the number of nodes, vCPU, or memory requirement of the pool.

Step 5

Under Kubernetes Labels, enter the key-value pair of the label.

You can click the Delete icon to delete a label and the +LABEL icon to add a label.
Step 6

Under Kubernetes Taints, enter the key-value pair and the effect you want to set for the label.

You can click the Delete icon to delete a taint and the +TAINT icon to add a taint.
Step 7

Click ADD.

The Cluster Details page displays the node pools. You can point the mouse over the Labels and Taints to view a summary of the labels and taints that are assigned to a pool.

Modifying Node Pools

Cisco Container Platform allows you to modify the worker node pools.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the cluster that contains the node pool that you want to modify.

The Cluster Details dialog box appears displaying the node pools of the cluster that you have chosen.
Step 2

From the drop-down list next to the name of the node pool, click Edit.

The Update Node Pool page appears.
Step 3

Under WORKERS, modify the number of nodes of the pool.

Step 4

Under Kubernetes Labels, modify the key-value pair of the label.

Step 5

Under Kubernetes Taints, modify the key-value pair and the effect you want to set for the label.

Step 6

Click UPDATE.

Deleting Node Pools

Cisco Container Platform allows you to delete the worker node pools. You cannot delete the default master pool.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the cluster that contains the node pool that you want to delete.

The Cluster Details page displays the node pools of the cluster that you have chosen.
Step 2

From the drop-down list next to the worker pool that you want to delete, choose Delete.

The worker pool is deleted from the Cluster Details page.

Deleting vSphere Clusters

Before you begin

Ensure that the cluster you want to delete is not currently in use, as deleting a cluster removes the containers and data associated with it.

Procedure

Step 1

From the left pane, click Clusters, and then click the vSphere tab.

Step 2

From the drop-down list displayed under the ACTIONS column, choose Delete for the cluster that you want to delete.

Step 3

Click DELETE in the confirmation dialog box.