EKS cluster setup

Overview

This section provides instructions for setting up Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service external link (EKS) for use with the CAST Imaging helm charts installation scripts described in Installation on Amazon Web Services via EKS.

Setup AWS CLI

aws configure

You will be prompted for your AWS Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, default region (for example us-east-2) and output format.

Install eksctl

eksctl is the command line tool used to create and manage the EKS cluster.

Create cluster

The script below creates the EKS cluster and configures the components required by CAST Imaging:

  • an IAM OIDC provider associated with the cluster,
  • the Amazon VPC CNI addon,
  • the Amazon EBS CSI driver (block storage) with its dedicated IAM role,
  • the Amazon EFS CSI driver (shared file storage) with its dedicated IAM role.

Set the variables at the top of the script (CLUSTER_NAME, AWS_DEFAULT_REGION, NODE_TYPE, K8S_VERSION) to match your environment before running it. The t2.2xlarge node type provides 8 vCPU / 32 GB RAM; use r5.2xlarge if you need 8 vCPU / 64 GB RAM.

Linux / macOS

#!/bin/bash

# Set environment variables
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-2
export CLUSTER_NAME=castimaging
export NODE_TYPE=t2.2xlarge
# Kubernetes version for the cluster (must be a version supported by EKS)
export K8S_VERSION=1.31

# Create the EKS cluster
eksctl create cluster --name "$CLUSTER_NAME" \
  --version "$K8S_VERSION" \
  --region "$AWS_DEFAULT_REGION" \
  --nodegroup-name "${CLUSTER_NAME}-ng" \
  --nodes-min 2 --nodes-max 4 \
  --node-type "$NODE_TYPE" \
  --nodes 2 \
  --node-volume-size 100 \
  --ssh-access \
  --with-oidc \
  --zones "${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION}a,${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION}b" \
  --node-zones "${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION}b"

# Associate IAM OIDC provider with the cluster
eksctl utils associate-iam-oidc-provider --cluster "$CLUSTER_NAME" --approve

# Update VPC CNI addon
eksctl update addon --name vpc-cni --cluster "$CLUSTER_NAME"

# Create IAM Service Account for EBS CSI Driver
eksctl create iamserviceaccount \
  --name ebs-csi-controller-sa \
  --namespace kube-system \
  --cluster "$CLUSTER_NAME" \
  --attach-policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AmazonEBSCSIDriverPolicy \
  --approve \
  --role-only \
  --role-name "AmazonEKS_EBS_CSI_DriverRole-${CLUSTER_NAME}"

# Create EBS CSI Driver addon
EBS_ROLE_ARN=$(aws iam get-role --role-name "AmazonEKS_EBS_CSI_DriverRole-${CLUSTER_NAME}" --query Role.Arn --output text)
eksctl create addon \
  --name aws-ebs-csi-driver \
  --cluster "$CLUSTER_NAME" \
  --service-account-role-arn "$EBS_ROLE_ARN" \
  --force

# Create IAM Service Account for EFS CSI Driver
eksctl create iamserviceaccount \
  --name efs-csi-controller-sa \
  --namespace kube-system \
  --cluster "$CLUSTER_NAME" \
  --attach-policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AmazonEFSCSIDriverPolicy \
  --approve \
  --role-only \
  --role-name "AmazonEKS_EFS_CSI_DriverRole-${CLUSTER_NAME}"

# Create EFS CSI Driver addon
EFS_ROLE_ARN=$(aws iam get-role --role-name "AmazonEKS_EFS_CSI_DriverRole-${CLUSTER_NAME}" --query Role.Arn --output text)
eksctl create addon \
  --name aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --cluster "$CLUSTER_NAME" \
  --service-account-role-arn "$EFS_ROLE_ARN" \
  --force

Windows

REM Set environment variables
set AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-2
set CLUSTER_NAME=castimaging
set NODE_TYPE=t2.2xlarge
REM 8 cpu 64GB RAM:
REM set NODE_TYPE=r5.2xlarge
REM Kubernetes version for the cluster (must be a version supported by EKS)
set K8S_VERSION=1.31

REM Create the EKS cluster
eksctl create cluster --name %CLUSTER_NAME% --version %K8S_VERSION% --region %AWS_DEFAULT_REGION% --nodegroup-name %CLUSTER_NAME%-ng --nodes-min 2 --nodes-max 4 --node-type %NODE_TYPE% --nodes 2 --node-volume-size 100 --ssh-access --with-oidc --zones %AWS_DEFAULT_REGION%a,%AWS_DEFAULT_REGION%b --node-zones %AWS_DEFAULT_REGION%b

REM Associate IAM OIDC provider with the cluster
eksctl utils associate-iam-oidc-provider --cluster %CLUSTER_NAME% --approve

REM Update VPC CNI addon
eksctl update addon --name vpc-cni --cluster %CLUSTER_NAME%

REM Create IAM Service Account for EBS CSI Driver
eksctl create iamserviceaccount --name ebs-csi-controller-sa --namespace kube-system --cluster %CLUSTER_NAME% --attach-policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AmazonEBSCSIDriverPolicy --approve --role-only --role-name AmazonEKS_EBS_CSI_DriverRole-%CLUSTER_NAME%

REM Create EBS CSI Driver addon
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('aws iam get-role --role-name AmazonEKS_EBS_CSI_DriverRole-%CLUSTER_NAME% --query Role.Arn --output text') do set EBS_ROLE_ARN=%%i
eksctl create addon --name aws-ebs-csi-driver --cluster %CLUSTER_NAME% --service-account-role-arn %EBS_ROLE_ARN% --force

REM Create IAM Service Account for EFS CSI Driver
eksctl create iamserviceaccount --name efs-csi-controller-sa --namespace kube-system --cluster %CLUSTER_NAME% --attach-policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AmazonEFSCSIDriverPolicy --approve --role-only --role-name AmazonEKS_EFS_CSI_DriverRole-%CLUSTER_NAME%

REM Create EFS CSI Driver addon
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('aws iam get-role --role-name AmazonEKS_EFS_CSI_DriverRole-%CLUSTER_NAME% --query Role.Arn --output text') do set EFS_ROLE_ARN=%%i
eksctl create addon --name aws-efs-csi-driver --cluster %CLUSTER_NAME% --service-account-role-arn %EFS_ROLE_ARN% --force

Verify the cluster

# List your clusters
eksctl get cluster --region us-east-2

# Verify the nodes are ready
kubectl get nodes

Delete the cluster

eksctl delete cluster --name <cluster-name> --region us-east-2

If some resources remain after deletion, you can remove the leftover CloudFormation stack manually:

aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name <stack-name> --region us-east-2

Install kubectl - commandline K8s tool

eksctl automatically updates your kubeconfig when the cluster is created. If you need to refresh the credentials later, run:

aws eks update-kubeconfig --name <cluster-name> --region us-east-2

Install Helm