Cluster API bootstrap provider kubeadm

What is the Cluster API bootstrap provider kubeadm?

Cluster API bootstrap provider Kubeadm (CABPK) is a component responsible for generating a cloud-init script to turn a Machine into a Kubernetes Node. This implementation uses kubeadm for Kubernetes bootstrap.

Resources

• design doc
• The Kubebuilder Book

How does CABPK work?

Assuming you have deployed the CAPI and CAPD controllers, create a Cluster object and its corresponding DockerCluster infrastructure object.

kind: DockerCluster
apiVersion: infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-cluster-docker
---
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-cluster
spec:
  infrastructureRef:
    kind: DockerCluster
    apiGroup: infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io
    name: my-cluster-docker

Now you can start creating machines by defining a Machine, its corresponding DockerMachine object, and the KubeadmConfig bootstrap object.

kind: KubeadmConfig
apiVersion: bootstrap.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-control-plane1-config
---
kind: DockerMachine
apiVersion: infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-control-plane1-docker
---
kind: Machine
apiVersion: cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-control-plane1
  labels:
    cluster.x-k8s.io/cluster-name: my-cluster
    cluster.x-k8s.io/control-plane: "true"
    set: controlplane
spec:
  bootstrap:
    configRef:
      apiGroup: bootstrap.cluster.x-k8s.io
      kind: KubeadmConfig
      name: my-control-plane1-config
  infrastructureRef:
    apiGroup: infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io
    kind: DockerMachine
    name: my-control-plane1-docker
  version: "v1.19.1"

CABPK’s main responsibility is to convert a KubeadmConfig bootstrap object into a cloud-init script that is going to turn a Machine into a Kubernetes Node using kubeadm.

The cloud-init script will be saved into a secret KubeadmConfig.Status.DataSecretName and then the infrastructure provider (CAPD in this example) will pick up this value and proceed with the machine creation and the actual bootstrap.

KubeadmConfig objects

The KubeadmConfig object allows full control of Kubeadm init/join operations by exposing raw InitConfiguration, ClusterConfiguration and JoinConfiguration objects.

InitConfiguration and JoinConfiguration exposes Patches field which can be used to specify the patches from a directory, this support is available from K8s 1.22 version onwards.

CABPK will fill in some values if they are left empty with sensible defaults:

IMPORTANT! overriding above defaults could lead to broken Clusters.

[1] if both clusterConfiguration.KubernetesVersion and Machine.Spec.Version are empty, the latest Kubernetes version will be installed (as defined by the default kubeadm behavior).

Examples

Valid combinations of configuration objects are:

• for KCP, InitConfiguration and ClusterConfiguration for the first control plane node; JoinConfiguration for additional control plane nodes
• for machine deployments, JoinConfiguration for worker nodes

Bootstrap control plane node:

kind: KubeadmConfig
apiVersion: bootstrap.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-control-plane1-config

Additional control plane nodes:

kind: KubeadmConfig
apiVersion: bootstrap.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-control-plane2-config
spec:
  joinConfiguration:
    controlPlane: {}

worker nodes:

kind: KubeadmConfig
apiVersion: bootstrap.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta2
metadata:
  name: my-worker1-config

Bootstrap Orchestration

CABPK supports multiple control plane machines initing at the same time. The generation of cloud-init scripts of different machines is orchestrated in order to ensure a cluster bootstrap process that will be compliant with the correct Kubeadm init/join sequence. More in detail:

1. cloud-config-data generation starts only after Cluster.Status.InfrastructureReady flag is set to true.
2. at this stage, cloud-config-data will be generated for the first control plane machine only, keeping on hold additional control plane machines existing in the cluster, if any (kubeadm init).
3. after the ControlPlaneInitialized conditions on the cluster object is set to true, the cloud-config-data for all the other machines are generated (kubeadm join/join —control-plane).

Certificate Management

The user can choose two approaches for certificate management:

1. provide required certificate authorities (CAs) to use for kubeadm init/kubeadm join --control-plane; such CAs should be provided as a Secrets objects in the management cluster.
2. let KCP to generate the necessary Secrets objects with a self-signed certificate authority for kubeadm

See here for more info about certificate management with kubeadm.

Additional Features

The KubeadmConfig object supports customizing the content of the config-data. The following examples illustrate how to specify these options. They should be adapted to fit your environment and use case.

• KubeadmConfig.Files specifies additional files to be created on the machine, either with content inline or by referencing a secret.

  files:
  - contentFrom:
      secret:
        key: node-cloud.json
        name: ${CLUSTER_NAME}-md-0-cloud-json
    owner: root:root
    path: /etc/kubernetes/cloud.json
    permissions: "0644"
  - path: /etc/kubernetes/cloud.json
    owner: "root:root"
    permissions: "0644"
    content: |
      {
        "cloud": "CustomCloud"
      }
  

• KubeadmConfig.BootCommands specifies a list of commands to be executed very early in the boot process

  bootCommands:
    - cloud-init-per once mymkfs mkfs /dev/vdb
  

• KubeadmConfig.PreKubeadmCommands specifies a list of commands to be executed before kubeadm init/join

  preKubeadmCommands:
    - hostname "{{ ds.meta_data.hostname }}"
    - echo "{{ ds.meta_data.hostname }}" >/etc/hostname
  

• KubeadmConfig.PostKubeadmCommands same as above, but after kubeadm init/join

  postKubeadmCommands:
    - echo "success" >/var/log/my-custom-file.log
  

• KubeadmConfig.Users specifies a list of users to be created on the machine

  users:
    - name: capiuser
      sshAuthorizedKeys:
      - '${SSH_AUTHORIZED_KEY}'
      sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
  

• KubeadmConfig.NTP specifies NTP settings for the machine

  ntp:
    servers:
      - IP_ADDRESS
    enabled: true
  

• KubeadmConfig.DiskSetup specifies options for the creation of partition tables and file systems on devices.

  diskSetup:
    filesystems:
    - device: /dev/disk/azure/scsi1/lun0
      extraOpts:
      - -E
      - lazy_itable_init=1,lazy_journal_init=1
      filesystem: ext4
      label: etcd_disk
    - device: ephemeral0.1
      filesystem: ext4
      label: ephemeral0
      replaceFS: ntfs
    partitions:
    - device: /dev/disk/azure/scsi1/lun0
      layout: true
      overwrite: false
      tableType: gpt
  

• KubeadmConfig.Mounts specifies a list of mount points to be setup.

  mounts:
  - - LABEL=etcd_disk
    - /var/lib/etcddisk
  

• KubeadmConfig.Verbosity specifies the kubeadm log level verbosity

  verbosity: 10
  

For more information on cloud-init options, see cloud config examples.