vSphere: Create a Managed Cluster Using the DKP CLI

These pages refer to DKP Enterprise and DKP Gov Advanced products.

Creating a vSphere Managed cluster with the DKP CLI assumes that you already fulfilled all of the prerequisites and successfully created a vSphere Management cluster. Use this procedure to create a Managed vSphere cluster.

When creating Managed clusters, you do not need to create and move CAPI objects, or install the Kommander component. Those tasks are only done on Management clusters!

Make New Cluster Part of a Workspace

If you have an existing Workspace name, run this command to find the name:
⚠️ NOTE: If you need to create a new Workspace, follow the instructions to Create a New Workspace.
CODE
```
kubectl get workspace -A
```
When you have the Workspace name, set the WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE environment variable:
CODE
```
export WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE=<workspace_namespace>
```

Name your Cluster

Give your cluster a unique name suitable for your environment.
Set the CLUSTER_NAME environment variable with the command:

CODE

export CLUSTER_NAME=<my-managed-vsphere-cluster>

Create a New vSphere Kubernetes Cluster

DKP uses the vsphere CSI driver as the default storage provider. Use a Kubernetes CSI compatible storage that is suitable for production.

The below instructions tell you how to create a cluster and have it automatically attach to the workspace you set above.
If you do not set a workspace, it will be created in the default workspace, and you need to take additional steps to attach to a workspace later. For instructions on how to do this, see Attach a Kubernetes Cluster.

Follow these steps to create the cluster:

Use the following command to set the environment variables for vSphere:

CODE

export VSPHERE_SERVER=example.vsphere.url
export VSPHERE_USERNAME=user@example.vsphere.url
export VSPHERE_PASSWORD=example_password

Generate the Kubernetes cluster objects by copying and editing this command to include the correct values, including the VM template name you assigned in the previous procedure:

To increase Dockerhub's rate limit use your Dockerhub credentials when creating the cluster, by setting the following flag --registry-mirror-url=https://registry-1.docker.io --registry-mirror-username= --registry-mirror-password= on the dkp create cluster command.
The following example shows a common configuration. See dkp create cluster reference for the full list of cluster creation options:

CODE

dkp create cluster vsphere \
  --cluster-name ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME} \
  --additional-tags=owner=$(whoami) \
  --namespace ${WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE} \
  --network <NETWORK_NAME> \
  --control-plane-endpoint-host <xxx.yyy.zzz.000> \
  --data-center <DATACENTER_NAME> \
  --data-store <DATASTORE_NAME> \
  --folder <FOLDER_NAME> \
  --server <VCENTER_API_SERVER_URL> \
  --ssh-public-key-file <SSH_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE> \
  --resource-pool <RESOURCE_POOL_NAME> \
  --virtual-ip-interface <ip_interface_name> \
  --vm-template <TEMPLATE_NAME> \
  --kubeconfig=<management-cluster-kubeconfig-path> \

If your environment uses HTTP/HTTPS proxies, you must include the flags --http-proxy, --https-proxy, and --no-proxy and their related values in this command for it to be successful. More information is available in Configuring an HTTP/HTTPS Proxy.

Retrieve the kubeconfig and Explore New vSphere Cluster

Follow these steps:

Fetch the kubeconfig file with the command:

CODE

dkp get kubeconfig --cluster-name ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME} --kubeconfig <management-cluster-kubeconfig-path> -n ${WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE} > ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}.conf

List the nodes with the following command:

CODE

kubectl --kubeconfig=${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get nodes

List the pods with the following command:

NOTE: Wait for the Status to move to Ready while calico-node pods are being deployed.

CODE

kubectl --kubeconfig=${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get pods -A

Manually Attach a DKP CLI Cluster to the Management Cluster

These steps are only applicable if you do not set a WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE when creating a cluster. If you already set a WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE, then you do not need to perform these steps since the cluster is already attached to the workspace.

Starting with DKP 2.6, when you create a Managed Cluster with the DKP CLI, it attaches automatically to the Management Cluster after a few moments.

However, if you do not set a workspace, the attached cluster will be created in the default workspace. To ensure that the attached cluster is created in your desired workspace namespace, follow these instructions:

Confirm you have your MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME variable set with the following command:
CODE
```
echo ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}
```
Retrieve your kubeconfig from the cluster you have created without setting a workspace:
CODE
```
dkp get kubeconfig --cluster-name ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME} > ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}.conf
```
You can now either [attach it in the UI](link to attaching it to workspace via UI that was earlier), or attach your cluster to the workspace you want in the CLI.
NOTE: This is only necessary if you never set the workspace of your cluster upon creation.
Retrieve the workspace where you want to attach the cluster:
CODE
```
kubectl get workspaces -A
```
Set the WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE environment variable:
CODE
```
export WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE=<workspace-namespace>
```
You need to create a secret in the desired workspace before attaching the cluster to that workspace. Retrieve the kubeconfig secret value of your cluster:
CODE
```
kubectl -n default get secret ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}-kubeconfig -o go-template='{{.data.value}}{{ "\n"}}'
```

This will return a lengthy value. Copy this entire string for a secret using the template below as a reference. Create a new attached-cluster-kubeconfig.yaml file:

CODE

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: <your-managed-cluster-name>-kubeconfig
  labels:
    cluster.x-k8s.io/cluster-name: <your-managed-cluster-name>
type: cluster.x-k8s.io/secret
data:
  value: <value-you-copied-from-secret-above>

Create this secret in the desired workspace:

CODE

kubectl apply -f attached-cluster-kubeconfig.yaml --namespace ${WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE}

Create this kommandercluster object to attach the cluster to the workspace:

CODE

cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: kommander.mesosphere.io/v1beta1
kind: KommanderCluster
metadata:
  name: ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}
  namespace: ${WORKSPACE_NAMESPACE}
spec:
  kubeconfigRef:
    name: ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}-kubeconfig
  clusterRef:
    capiCluster:
      name: ${MANAGED_CLUSTER_NAME}
EOF

You can now view this cluster in your Workspace in the UI and you can confirm its status by running the below command. It may take a few minutes to reach "Joined" status:
CODE
```
kubectl get kommanderclusters -A
```

If you have several Essential Clusters and want to turn one of them to a Managed Cluster to be centrally administrated by a Management Cluster, refer to Platform Expansion: Convert a DKP Essential Cluster to a DKP Enterprise Managed Cluster.

If you have existing clusters or want to create other new clusters to attach, there are many ways to attach a cluster with various requirements and restrictions. To see all the options, visit the section in documentation Day 2 - Attach an Existing Kubernetes Cluster.

At this point, you can create more clusters, perform other configuration tasks, or proceed to Day 2 Operations.