Bash Script : How to Create a k8s Cluster on AWS EKS using eksctl.

This article is a simple shell script tutorial about automating your kubernetes cluster setup on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).

AWS EKS: Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a managed service and certified Kubernetes conformant to run Kubernetes on AWS and on-premises.

Eksctl: is a simple CLI tool for creating and managing clusters on EKS - Amazon's managed Kubernetes service for EC2.

Prerequisite

• Kubectl is installed
• eksctl is installed
• AWS CLI version 2 is installed
• AWS account
• IAM role with EKS permission.
• Have a Key Pair on AWS

Create an access key for your IAM user

• Login into your AWS account
• Go to IAM dashboard
• Select Users and click on your IAM user name
• Click on Security Credential Tab
• Scroll down to Access keys and Click on Create access key
• Select Command Line Interface (CLI), agree with recommendation click Next and follow the prompts.

Configure AWS CLI

# In your CLI, configure AWS cli with your access keys
aws configure

Create a file with permission

# Create file
vi scriptfile.sh

# Make execute permission
chmod +x scriptfile.sh

Copy and paste the code snippet below. Change the variables to your preferred names and values. Also change the values under the Creation of EKS cluster to preferred cluster requirements.

# Variables
CLUSTER_NAME=my-cluster
REGION=us-east-1
NODE_NAME=Linux-nodes
KEY_NAME=instance

# Set AWS credentials before script execution

aws sts get-caller-identity >> /dev/null
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
  echo "Credentials tested, proceeding with the cluster creation."

  # Creation of EKS cluster
  eksctl create cluster \
  --name $CLUSTER_NAME \
  --version 1.22 \
  --region $REGION \
  --nodegroup-name $NODE_NAME \
  --nodes 2 \
  --nodes-min 1 \
  --nodes-max 4 \
  --node-type t3.micro \
  --node-volume-size 8 \
  --ssh-access \
  --ssh-public-key $KEY_NAME \
  --managed

  if [ $? -eq 0 ]
  then
    echo "Cluster Setup Completed with eksctl command."
  else
    echo "Cluster Setup Failed while running eksctl command."
  fi
else
  echo "Please run aws configure & set right credentials."
  echo "Cluster setup failed."
fi

Make sure the key pair is in the same directory with the script or you specify.

aws sts get-caller-identity - checks if the AWS identity is created correctly. if [ $? -eq 0 ] - check if the last command, in this case aws sts get-caller-identity succeeded without no error. If it equals 0, it should go ahead and create the cluster. After the cluster is created, print a created message else inform us the AWS credential was not configured correctly.

Cluster Nodes on EC2 dashboard

Clean Up

  # Delete EKS Cluster
  eksctl delete cluster my-cluster

As always, I look forward to getting your thoughts on this article. Please feel free to leave a comment!