Create an ACK managed cluster

Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) automatically creates and manages master nodes for ACK managed clusters. This allows you to focus on business development. This topic describes how to create an ACK managed cluster in the ACK console.

1. Log on to the ACK console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane of the ACK console, click Clusters.
3. In the upper-right corner of the Clusters page, click Create Kubernetes Cluster.
4. On the Managed Kubernetes tab, configure the cluster.
   1. Configure basic settings of the cluster.

      Parameter	Description
      Cluster Name	Enter a name for the cluster. Note The name must be 1 to 63 characters in length, and can contain digits, letters, and hyphens (-).
      Cluster Specification	Select a cluster type. You can select Standard edition or Professional. Select Standard edition to create an ACK standard cluster.
      Region	Select a region to deploy the cluster.
      Billing Method	The pay-as-you-go and subscription billing methods are supported. If you select the subscription billing method, you must set the following parameters: Note If you set Billing Method to Subscription, only Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances and Server Load Balancer (SLB) instances are billed on a subscription basis. Other cloud resources are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. For more information about the billing rules of Alibaba Cloud resources, see Billing of cloud services. Duration: You can select 1, 2, 3, or 6 months. If you require a longer duration, you can select 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years. Auto Renewal: Specify whether to enable auto-renewal.
      All Resources	Move the pointer over All Resources at the top of the page and select the resource group that you want to use. After you select a resource group, virtual private clouds (VPCs) and vSwitches are filtered based on the selected resource group. When you create a cluster, only the VPCs and vSwitches that belong to the selected resource group are displayed in the console.
      Kubernetes Version	The Kubernetes versions supported by ACK are displayed.
      Container Runtime	The containerd, Docker, and Sandboxed-Container runtimes are supported. For more information, see Comparison of Docker, containerd, and Sandboxed-Container.
      IPv6 Dual-stack	If you enable IPv4/IPv6 dual stack, a dual-stack cluster is created. This feature is in public preview. To use this feature, Submit a ticket. Notice This feature supports only 1.20.4-aliyun.1 and later. IPv4 addresses are used for communication between worker nodes and the control plane. You must select Terway as the network plug-in. You must use a VPC and ECS instances that support IPv4/IPv6 dual stack.
      VPC	Select a VPC to deploy the cluster. Standard VPCs and shared VPCs are supported. Shared VPC: The owner of a VPC (resource owner) can share the vSwitches in the VPC with other accounts in the same organization. Standard VPC: The owner of a VPC (resource owner) cannot share the vSwitches in the VPC with other accounts. Note ACK clusters support only VPCs. You can select a VPC from the drop-down list. If no VPC is available, click Create VPC to create one. For more information, see Create and manage a VPC.
      vSwitch	Select vSwitches. You can select up to three vSwitches that are deployed in different zones. If no vSwitch is available, click Create vSwitch to create one. For more information, see Work with vSwitches.
      Network Plug-in	Select a network plug-in. Flannel and Terway are supported. For more information, see Terway and Flannel. Flannel: a simple and stable Container Network Interface (CNI) plug-in that is developed by open source Kubernetes. Flannel provides a few simple features. However, it does not support standard Kubernetes network policies. Terway: a network plug-in that is developed by ACK. Terway allows you to assign elastic network interfaces (ENIs) of Alibaba Cloud to containers. It also allows you to customize Kubernetes network policies to regulate how containers communicate with each other and implement bandwidth throttling on individual containers. Note The number of pods that can be deployed on a node depends on the number of ENIs that are attached to the node and the maximum number of secondary IP addresses that are provided by these ENIs. If you select a shared VPC for a cluster, you must select Terway as the network plug-in. If you select Terway, an ENI is shared among multiple pods. A secondary IP address of the ENI is assigned to each pod.
      Terway Mode	If you set Network Plug-in to Terway, you must set Terway Mode. Select or clear Assign One ENI to Each Pod. If you select the check box, an ENI is assigned to each pod. If you clear the check box, an ENI is shared among multiple pods. A secondary IP address that is provided by the ENI is assigned to each pod. Note To select the Assign One ENI to Each Pod check box, you must submit a ticket to apply to be added to the whitelist. Select or clear IPVLAN. This option is available only when you clear Assign One ENI to Each Pod. If you select IPVLAN, IPVLAN and extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) are used for network virtualization when an ENI is shared among multiple pods. This improves network performance. Only the Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 operating system is supported. If you clear IPVLAN, policy-based routes are used for network virtualization when an ENI is shared among multiple pods. The CentOS 7 and Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 operating systems are supported. This is the default setting. For more information about the IPVLAN feature in Terway mode, see Terway IPvlan. Select or clear Support for NetworkPolicy. The NetworkPolicy feature is available only when you clear Assign One ENI to Each Pod. By default, Assign One ENI to Each Pod is unselected. If you select Support for NetworkPolicy, you can use Kubernetes network policies to control the communication among pods. If you clear Support for NetworkPolicy, you cannot use Kubernetes network policies to control the communication among pods. This prevents Kubernetes network policies from overloading the Kubernetes API server.
      Pod vSwitch	If you select Terway as the network plug-in, you must allocate vSwitches to pods. For each vSwitch that allocates IP addresses to worker nodes, you must select a vSwitch in the same zone to allocate IP addresses to pods.
      IP Addresses per Node	If you select Flannel as the network plug-in, you must set IP Addresses per Node. Note IP Addresses per Node specifies the maximum number of IP addresses that can be assigned to each node. We recommend that you use the default value. After you select the VPC and specify the number of IP addresses per node, recommended values are automatically generated for Pod CIDR Block and Service CIDR. The system also provides the maximum number of nodes that can be deployed in the cluster and the maximum number of pods that can be deployed on each node. You can modify the values based on your business requirements.
      Pod CIDR Block	If you select Flannel as the network plug-in, you must set Pod CIDR Block. The CIDR block specified by Pod CIDR Block cannot overlap with that of the VPC or those of the existing clusters in the VPC. The CIDR block cannot be modified after the cluster is created. The Service CIDR block cannot overlap with the pod CIDR block. For more information about how to plan CIDR blocks for an ACK cluster, see Plan CIDR blocks for an ACK cluster.
      Service CIDR	Set Service CIDR. The CIDR block specified by Service CIDR cannot overlap with that of the VPC or those of the existing clusters in the VPC. The CIDR block cannot be modified after the cluster is created. The Service CIDR block cannot overlap with the pod CIDR block. For more information about how to plan CIDR blocks for an ACK cluster, see Plan CIDR blocks for an ACK cluster.
      Service IPv6 CIDR	If you enable IPv4/IPv6 dual stack, you must specify an IPv6 CIDR block for Services. When you set this parameter, take note of the following items: You must specify a unique local address (ULA) space within the address range fc00::/7. The prefix must be 112 bits to 120 bits in length. We recommend that you specify an IPv6 CIDR block that has the same number of IP addresses as the Service CIDR block. For more information about how to plan CIDR blocks for an ACK cluster, see Plan CIDR blocks for an ACK cluster.
      Configure SNAT	By default, an ACK cluster cannot access the Internet. If the VPC that you select for the cluster cannot access the Internet, you can select Configure SNAT for VPC. This way, ACK will create a NAT gateway and configure SNAT rules to enable Internet access for the VPC.
      Access to API Server	By default, an internal-facing SLB instance is created for the Kubernetes API server of the cluster. You can modify the specification of the SLB instance. For more information, see Instance types and specifications. Notice If you delete the SLB instance, you cannot access the Kubernetes API server of the cluster. Select or clear Expose API Server with EIP. The ACK API server provides multiple HTTP-based RESTful APIs, which can be used to create, delete, modify, query, and monitor resources, such as pods and Services. If you select this check box, an elastic IP address (EIP) is created and associated with an SLB instance. Port 6443 used by the API server is opened on master nodes. You can connect to and manage the cluster by using kubeconfig files over the Internet. If you clear this check box, no EIP is created. You can connect to and manage the cluster by using kubeconfig files only from within the VPC.
      RDS Whitelist	Configure the whitelist of the ApsaraDB RDS instance. Add the IP addresses of nodes in the cluster to a whitelist of the ApsaraDB RDS instance. Note To enable an ApsaraDB RDS instance to access the cluster, you must make sure that the instance is deployed in the VPC where the cluster is deployed.
      Security Groups	You can select Create Basic Security Group, Create Advanced Security Group, or Select Existing Security Group. For more information about security groups, see Overview. Note To select Select Existing Security Group, Submit a ticket. If you select an existing security group, the system does not automatically configure security group rules. This may cause errors when you access the nodes in the cluster. You must manually configure security group rules. For more information, see Configure security group rules to enforce access control on ACK clusters.
      Deletion Protection	Specify whether to enable deletion protection for the cluster. Deletion protection prevents the cluster from being deleted in the console or by calling the API. This prevents user errors.
      Resource Group	The resource group that owns the cluster to be created. Each resource can belong only to one resource group. You can regard a resource group as a project, an application, or an organization based on your business scenarios. For more information, see Resource groups.

   2. Configure advanced settings of the cluster.

      Parameter	Description
      Time Zone	Select a time zone for the cluster. By default, the time zone of your browser is selected.
      Kube-proxy Mode	iptables and IPVS are supported. iptables is a mature and stable kube-proxy mode. It uses iptables rules to conduct service discovery and load balancing. The performance of this mode is restricted by the size of the Kubernetes cluster. This mode is suitable for Kubernetes clusters that manage a small number of Services. IPVS is a high-performance kube-proxy mode. It uses Linux Virtual Server (LVS) to conduct service discovery and load balancing. This mode is suitable for clusters that manage a large number of Services. We recommend that you use this mode in scenarios where high-performance load balancing is required.
      Labels	Add labels to cluster nodes. Enter a key and a value, and then click Add. Note Key is required. Value is optional. Keys are not case-sensitive. A key must be 1 to 64 characters in length and cannot start with aliyun, http://, or https://. Values are not case-sensitive. A value cannot exceed 128 characters in length and cannot contain http:// or https://. A value can be empty. The keys of labels that are added to the same resource must be unique. If you add a label with a used key, the label overwrites the label that uses the same key. If you add more than 20 labels to a resource, all labels become invalid. You must remove excess labels for the remaining labels to take effect.
      Cluster Domain	Set the domain name of the cluster. Note The default domain name is cluster.local. You can enter a custom domain name. A domain name consists of two parts. Each part must be 1 to 63 characters in length and can contain only letters and digits. You cannot leave these parts empty.
      Custom Certificate SANs	You can enter custom subject alternative names (SANs) for the API server certificate of the cluster to accept requests from specified IP addresses or domain names. For more information, see Customize the SAN of the API server certificate when you create an ACK cluster.
      Service Account Token Volume Projection	Service account token volume projection reduces security risks when pods use service accounts to access the API server. This feature enables kubelet to request and store the token on behalf of the pod. This feature also allows you to configure token properties, such as the audience and validity duration. For more information, see Enable service account token volume projection.

5. Click Next:Node Pool Configurations to configure a node pool.
   1. Set worker instances.
      • If you select Create Instance, you must set the parameters as described in the following table.

        Parameter	Description
        Node Pool Name	The name of the node pool. Note The name must be 1 to 63 characters in length, and can contain digits, letters, and hyphens (-).
        Instance Type	You can select multiple instance types. For more information, see Instance family.
        Selected Types	The selected instance types are displayed.
        Quantity	Specify the number of worker nodes (ECS instances) to be created. Note We recommend that you configure at least two worker nodes. After the cluster is created, you can adjust the number of worker nodes to meet your business requirements. If the cluster has only one worker node or contains low-specification worker nodes, cluster components may not run as normal.
        System Disk	Enhanced SSDs, standard SSDs, and ultra disks are supported. Note You can select Enable Backup to back up disk data. If you select enhanced SSD as the system disk type, you can set a custom performance level for the system disk. You can select higher performance levels for enhanced SSDs with larger storage capacities. For example, you can select performance level 2 for an enhanced SSD with a storage capacity of more than 460 GiB. You can select performance level 3 for an enhanced SSD with a storage capacity of more than 1,260 GiB. For more information, see Capacity and PLs.
        Mount Data Disk	Enhanced SSDs, standard SSDs, and ultra disks are supported. You can enable disk encryption and disk backup when you mount a data disk. If you enable disk encryption, only the default customer master key (CMK) can be used.
        Operating System	ACK supports the following node operating systems: Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.x. This is the default operating system. If you select Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.x, you can configure security reinforcement for the operating system: Disable: disables security reinforcement for Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.x. CIS Reinforcement: enables security reinforcement for Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.x. For more information about Center for Internet Security (CIS) reinforcement, see CIS reinforcement. CentOS 7.x Note CentOS 8.x or later are not supported.
        Logon Type	Key pair logon. Key Pair: Select an SSH key pair from the drop-down list. create a key pair: Create an SSH key pair if none is available. For more information about how to create an SSH key pair, see Create an SSH key pair. After the key pair is created, set it as the credential that is used to log on to the cluster. Password logon. Password: Enter the password that is used to log on to the nodes. Confirm Password: Enter the password again. Note The password must be 8 to 30 characters in length, and must contain at least three of the following character types: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, and special characters. The password cannot contain underscores (_).

      • If you select Add Existing Instance, make sure that you have created Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances in the region where the cluster is deployed. Then, set Operating System, Logon Type, and Key Pair based on the preceding description.
   2. Configure advanced settings.

      Parameter	Description
      Node Protection	Specify whether to enable node protection. Note By default, this check box is selected. Node protection prevents nodes from being accidentally deleted in the console or by calling the API. This prevents user errors.
      User Data	For more information, see Overview of ECS instance user data.
      Custom Image	You can select a custom ECS image. After you select a custom image, all nodes in the cluster are deployed by using this image. For more information about how to create a custom image, see Create a Kubernetes cluster by using a custom image. You can select a shared ECS image. After you select a shared image, all nodes in the cluster are deployed by using this image. For more information about shared images, see Share a custom image. Note Only custom images based on CentOS 7.x and Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.x are supported. To use this feature, submit a ticket to apply to be added to a whitelist.
      Custom Node Name	Specify whether to use a custom node name. A custom node name consists of a prefix, an IP substring, and a suffix. The prefix and suffix can contain multiple parts that are separated by periods (.). Each part can contain lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens (-), and must start and end with a lowercase letter or digit. The IP substring length specifies the number of digits to be truncated from the end of the node IP address. The IP substring length ranges from 5 to 12. For example, if the node IP address is 192.1xx.x.xx, the prefix is aliyun.com, the IP substring length is 5, and the suffix is test, the node name will be aliyun.com00055test.
      CPU Policy	Set the CPU policy. none: This policy indicates that the default CPU affinity is used. This is the default policy. static: This policy allows pods with specific resource characteristics on the node to be granted with enhanced CPU affinity and exclusivity.
      Taints	Add taints to all worker nodes in the cluster.

6. Click Next:Component Configurations to configure components.

   Parameter	Description
   Ingress	Specify whether to install an Ingress controller. By default, Nginx Ingress is selected. If you select Nginx Ingress, Install NGINX Ingress Controller is automatically selected. For more information about the NGINX Ingress controller, see Advanced NGINX Ingress configurations. If you select ALB Ingress, the Application Load Balancer (ALB) Ingress controller is automatically installed. For more information about how to access Services in a cluster by using ALB Ingresses, see Access Services by using an ALB Ingress.
   Service Discovery	Specify whether to install NodeLocal DNSCache. By default, NodeLocal DNSCache is installed. NodeLocal DNSCache runs a Domain Name System (DNS) caching agent to improve the performance and stability of DNS resolution. For more information about NodeLocal DNSCache, see Configure NodeLocal DNSCache.
   Volume Plug-in	Select a volume plug-in. FlexVolume and CSI are supported. ACK clusters can be automatically bound to Alibaba Cloud disks, Apsara File Storage NAS (NAS) file systems, and Object Storage Service (OSS) buckets that are mounted to pods in the clusters. For more information, see Storage management-FlexVolume and Storage management-CSI.
   Monitoring Agents	Specify whether to install the CloudMonitor agent. By default, Install CloudMonitor Agent on ECS Instance and Enable Prometheus Monitoring are selected. After the CloudMonitor agent is installed on ECS nodes, you can view monitoring data about the nodes in the CloudMonitor console.
   Alerts	Select Use Default Alert Rule Template to enable the alerting feature and use the default alert rules. For more information, see Alert management.
   Log Service	Specify whether to enable Log Service. You can select an existing Log Service project or create one. By default, Enable Log Service is selected. When you create an application, you can enable Log Service with a few steps. For more information, see Collect log data from containers by using Log Service. By default, Create Ingress Dashboard is selected. You can specify whether to create Ingress dashboards in the Log Service console. For more information, see Analyze and monitor the access log of nginx-ingress. By default, Install node-problem-detector and Create Event Center is selected. You can specify whether to enable the Kubernetes event center in the Log Service console. For more information, see Create and use an event center.
   Log Collection for Control Plane Components	If you select Enable, the logs of control plane components are collected to the specified Log Service project that belongs to the current account. For more information, see Collect the logs of control plane components in a managed Kubernetes cluster.
   Workflow Engine	Specify whether to enable Alibaba Cloud Genomics Service (AGS). Note To use this feature, submit a ticket. If you select this check box, the system automatically installs the AGS workflow plug-in when the system creates the cluster. If you clear this check box, you must manually install the AGS workflow plug-in. For more information, see Introduction to AGS CLI.
   Cluster Inspection	Specify whether to enable the cluster inspection feature for intelligent O&M. You can enable this feature to periodically check the resource quotas, resource usage, and component versions of a cluster and identify potential risks in the cluster. For more information, see Use the cluster inspection feature to identify potential risks.

7. Click Next:Confirm Order.
8. Select Terms of Service and click Create Cluster.
   Note It requires about 10 minutes to create an ACK cluster with multiple nodes.