When you use Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) for the first time, you must assign default roles to ACK with your Alibaba Cloud account. Only after you assign these roles to ACK, ACK can use resources in other cloud services to create clusters or save log files. These cloud services include Elastic Compute Service (ECS), Object Storage Service (OSS), Apsara File Storage NAS (NAS), and Server Load Balancer (SLB). This topic describes how to assign default roles to ACK and activate the associated cloud services when you use ACK for the first time.

Step 1: Activate ACK

ACK is available for commercial use. You must activate ACK before you can create an ACK cluster. Perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the Container Service for Kubernetes page.
  2. Read and select Container Service for Kubernetes Terms of Service.
  3. Click Activate Now.
Note If you have not activated ACK before, you are prompted to activate ACK in the Dependency Check section of the cluster creation page when you create an ACK cluster.

Step 2: Assign default roles to ACK

When you use ACK for the first time, you must assign default roles to ACK with your Alibaba Cloud account. To do this, perform the following operations:

Note You can use Alibaba Cloud accounts or Resource Access Management (RAM) users that have administrator permissions to assign default roles to ACK.
  1. Log on to the ACK console.
  2. Click Go to RAM console to go to the Cloud Resource Access Authorization page. Then, click Confirm Authorization Policy.
  3. After you assign the RAM roles to ACK, log on to the ACK console again to get started with ACK.

Step 3: Activate the associated cloud services

Some features provided by ACK are reliant on or associated with other cloud services. Therefore, you must activate the cloud services before you can use these features.
Note You must use your Alibaba Cloud account to activate cloud services. RAM users are not allowed to activate cloud services.
Log on to the Alibaba Cloud official website with your Alibaba Cloud account and activate the following cloud services based on your requirements.
  • Required: the cloud services that you must activate. These services must be activated so that ACK clusters can function as normal.
  • Recommended: the cloud services that we recommend you to activate. You can choose to use these services when you create ACK clusters and manage applications.
  • Optional: the cloud services that you can activate based on your business architecture and O&M requirements.
Cloud service Service link Activation Description
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/vpc Required This service allows you to build networks and create route entries for ACK clusters.
NAT Gateway https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/nat Required This service enables ACK clusters to communicate with the Internet and pull images over the Internet.
Server Load Balancer (SLB) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/server-load-balancer Required This service allows you to create SLB instances for ACK clusters.
Auto Scaling https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/auto-scaling Required This service allows ACK to automatically create worker nodes and enables ACK clusters to automatically scale in or out.
Container Registry https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/container-registry Recommended This service provides secure and full lifecycle management for cloud-native assets.
Elastic Container Instance https://www.alibabacloud.com/products/elastic-container-instance Recommended This service allows you to deploy serverless Kubernetes (ASK) clusters.
Alibaba Cloud Service Mesh (ASM) https://servicemesh.console.aliyun.com/#/instances Recommended This service allows you to manage the network traffic of applications that are deployed across multiple ACK clusters by using service meshes.
Log Service https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/log-service Recommended This service allows you to collect and query the logs of components and applications in ACK clusters.
CloudMonitor https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/cloud-monitor Recommended This service allows you to monitor the status of nodes and applications in ACK clusters.
Prometheus Service https://arms.console.aliyun.com/#/home Recommended This service allows you to monitor ACK clusters and generate alerts when anomalies are detected.
Security Center (SAS) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/security-center Optional This service allows you to monitor the security events of application runtimes in ACK clusters and generate alerts when anomalies are detected.
Apsara File Storage NAS (NAS) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/nas Optional This service allows you to store application data in NAS file systems.
Object Storage Service (OSS) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/oss Optional This service allows you to store application data in OSS buckets.
Key Management Service (KMS) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/kms Optional This service allows you to manage application Secrets and encrypt Secrets for ACK Pro clusters.
Alibaba Cloud DNS PrivateZone https://www.alibabacloud.com/products/private-zone Optional This service is intended for resolving private domain names in VPCs. You can use this service to resolve the domain names of applications in ASK clusters.
Hybrid Backup Recovery (HBR) https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/hybrid-backup-recovery Optional This service provides data backup, disaster recovery, and policy-based archive management.

ACK default roles

Role name Description
AliyunCSDefaultRole ACK assumes this role to access your resources in other cloud services when ACK manages clusters. These cloud services include ECS, VPC, SLB, Auto Scaling, and Resource Orchestration Service (ROS).
AliyunCSManagedKubernetesRole By default, an ACK managed cluster assumes this role to access your resources in other cloud services. These cloud services include ECS, VPC, SLB, and Container Registry.
AliyunCSServerlessKubernetesRole By default, an ASK cluster assumes this role to access your resources in other cloud services. These cloud services include ECS, VPC, SLB, and Alibaba Cloud DNS PrivateZone.
AliyunCSKubernetesAuditRole The auditing feature of ACK managed clusters and ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in Log Service.
AliyunCSManagedNetworkRole The network plug-in of ACK managed clusters and ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in ECS and VPC.
AliyunCSManagedCsiRole The storage plug-in of ACK managed clusters and ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in ECS and NAS.
AliyunCSManagedCmsRole The monitoring component of ACK managed clusters and ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in CloudMonitor and Log Service.
AliyunCSManagedLogRole The Log Service component of ACK managed clusters and ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in Log Service.
AliyunCSManagedVKRole The Virtual Kubelet component of ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in other cloud services. These cloud services include ECS, VPC, and Elastic Container Instance.
AliyunCSManagedArmsRole The application monitoring component of ACK managed clusters and ASK clusters assumes this role to access your resources in Application Real-Time Monitoring Service (ARMS).