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Build secure and cheap Amazon EKS Auto Mode

Build "cheap and secure" Amazon EKS Auto Mode with network policies, cluster encryption and logging

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By Petr Ruzicka
views 21 min read
Build secure and cheap Amazon EKS Auto Mode

I will outline the steps for setting up an Amazon EKS Auto Mode environment that is cost-effective while prioritizing security, and include standard applications in the configuration.

Amazon EKS Auto Mode should align with these cost-effective criteria:

  • Two AZ, use one zone if possible (less payments for cross AZ traffic)
  • Spot instances
  • Less expensive region - us-east-1
  • Most price efficient EC2 instance type t4g.medium (2 x CPU, 4GB RAM) using AWS Graviton based on ARM
  • Use Bottlerocket OS - minimal operation system / CPU / Memory footprint
  • Use Network Load Balancer (NLB) as a most cost efficient + cost optimized load balancer

Amazon EKS Auto Mode should meet the following security requirements:

Build Amazon EKS Auto Mode

Requirements

You will need to configure AWS CLI and other secrets/variables.

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# AWS Credentials
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN="xxxxxxxx"
export AWS_ROLE_TO_ASSUME="arn:aws:iam::7xxxxxxxxxx7:role/Gixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxle"
export GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID="10xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxud.apps.googleusercontent.com"
export GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET="GOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtw"

If you would like to follow this documents and it’s task you will need to set up few environment variables like:

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# AWS Region
export AWS_REGION="${AWS_REGION:-us-east-1}"
# Hostname / FQDN definitions
export CLUSTER_FQDN="k01.k8s.mylabs.dev"
# Base Domain: k8s.mylabs.dev
export BASE_DOMAIN="${CLUSTER_FQDN#*.}"
# Cluster Name: k01
export CLUSTER_NAME="${CLUSTER_FQDN%%.*}"
export MY_EMAIL="petr.ruzicka@gmail.com"
export TMP_DIR="${TMP_DIR:-${PWD}}"
export KUBECONFIG="${KUBECONFIG:-${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/kubeconfig-${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf}"
# Tags used to tag the AWS resources
export TAGS="${TAGS:-Owner=${MY_EMAIL},Environment=dev,Cluster=${CLUSTER_FQDN}}"
export AWS_PARTITION="aws"
AWS_ACCOUNT_ID=$(aws sts get-caller-identity --query "Account" --output text) && export AWS_ACCOUNT_ID
mkdir -pv "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}"

Confirm whether all essential variables have been properly configured:

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: "${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID?}"
: "${AWS_REGION?}"
: "${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY?}"
: "${AWS_ROLE_TO_ASSUME?}"
: "${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID?}"
: "${GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET?}"

echo -e "${MY_EMAIL} | ${CLUSTER_NAME} | ${BASE_DOMAIN} | ${CLUSTER_FQDN}\n${TAGS}"

Deploy the required tools:

You may bypass these procedures if you already have all the essential software installed.

Configure AWS Route 53 Domain delegation

DNS delegation tasks should be executed as a one-time operation

Create DNS zone for EKS clusters:

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export CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL="petr.ruzicka@gmail.com"
export CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY="1xxxxxxxxx0"

aws route53 create-hosted-zone --output json \
  --name "${BASE_DOMAIN}" \
  --caller-reference "$(date)" \
  --hosted-zone-config="{\"Comment\": \"Created by petr.ruzicka@gmail.com\", \"PrivateZone\": false}" | jq

Route53 k8s.mylabs.dev zone Route53 k8s.mylabs.dev zone

Utilize your domain registrar to update the nameservers for your zone, such as mylabs.dev to point to the Amazon Route 53 nameservers. Here’s the process to discover the Route 53 nameservers.

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NEW_ZONE_ID=$(aws route53 list-hosted-zones --query "HostedZones[?Name==\`${BASE_DOMAIN}.\`].Id" --output text)
NEW_ZONE_NS=$(aws route53 get-hosted-zone --output json --id "${NEW_ZONE_ID}" --query "DelegationSet.NameServers")
NEW_ZONE_NS1=$(echo "${NEW_ZONE_NS}" | jq -r ".[0]")
NEW_ZONE_NS2=$(echo "${NEW_ZONE_NS}" | jq -r ".[1]")

Establish the NS record in k8s.mylabs.dev (BASE_DOMAIN) for proper zone delegation. This operation’s specifics may vary based on your domain registrar. In my case, I’m utilizing CloudFlare and employing Ansible for automation purposes:

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ansible -m cloudflare_dns -c local -i "localhost," localhost -a "zone=mylabs.dev record=${BASE_DOMAIN} type=NS value=${NEW_ZONE_NS1} solo=true proxied=no account_email=${CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL} account_api_token=${CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY}"
ansible -m cloudflare_dns -c local -i "localhost," localhost -a "zone=mylabs.dev record=${BASE_DOMAIN} type=NS value=${NEW_ZONE_NS2} solo=false proxied=no account_email=${CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL} account_api_token=${CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY}"

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localhost | CHANGED => {
    "ansible_facts": {
        "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python"
    },
    "changed": true,
    "result": {
        "record": {
            "content": "ns-885.awsdns-46.net",
            "created_on": "2020-11-13T06:25:32.18642Z",
            "id": "dxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb",
            "locked": false,
            "meta": {
                "auto_added": false,
                "managed_by_apps": false,
                "managed_by_argo_tunnel": false,
                "source": "primary"
            },
            "modified_on": "2020-11-13T06:25:32.18642Z",
            "name": "k8s.mylabs.dev",
            "proxiable": false,
            "proxied": false,
            "ttl": 1,
            "type": "NS",
            "zone_id": "2xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe",
            "zone_name": "mylabs.dev"
        }
    }
}
localhost | CHANGED => {
    "ansible_facts": {
        "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python"
    },
    "changed": true,
    "result": {
        "record": {
            "content": "ns-1692.awsdns-19.co.uk",
            "created_on": "2020-11-13T06:25:37.605605Z",
            "id": "9xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb",
            "locked": false,
            "meta": {
                "auto_added": false,
                "managed_by_apps": false,
                "managed_by_argo_tunnel": false,
                "source": "primary"
            },
            "modified_on": "2020-11-13T06:25:37.605605Z",
            "name": "k8s.mylabs.dev",
            "proxiable": false,
            "proxied": false,
            "ttl": 1,
            "type": "NS",
            "zone_id": "2xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe",
            "zone_name": "mylabs.dev"
        }
    }
}

CloudFlare mylabs.dev zone CloudFlare mylabs.dev zone

Create the service-linked role

Creating service-linked role for Spot Instance is a one-time operation

Create AWSServiceRoleForEC2Spot to use spot instances in the Amazon EKS cluster:

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aws iam create-service-linked-role --aws-service-name spot.amazonaws.com

Details: Work with Spot Instances

Create Route53 zone and KMS key infrastructure

Generate a CloudFormation template that encompasses an Amazon Route 53 zone and a AWS Key Management Service (KMS) key.

Add the new domain CLUSTER_FQDN to Route 53 and set up DNS delegation from the BASE_DOMAIN.

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/aws-cf-route53-kms.yml" << \EOF
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: 2010-09-09
Description: Route53 entries and KMS key

Parameters:
  BaseDomain:
    Description: "Base domain where cluster domains + their subdomains will live - Ex: k8s.mylabs.dev"
    Type: String
  ClusterFQDN:
    Description: "Cluster FQDN (domain for all applications) - Ex: k01.k8s.mylabs.dev"
    Type: String
  ClusterName:
    Description: "Cluster Name - Ex: k01"
    Type: String
Resources:
  HostedZone:
    Type: AWS::Route53::HostedZone
    Properties:
      Name: !Ref ClusterFQDN
  RecordSet:
    Type: AWS::Route53::RecordSet
    Properties:
      HostedZoneName: !Sub "${BaseDomain}."
      Name: !Ref ClusterFQDN
      Type: NS
      TTL: 60
      ResourceRecords: !GetAtt HostedZone.NameServers
  KMSAlias:
    Type: AWS::KMS::Alias
    Properties:
      AliasName: !Sub "alias/eks-${ClusterName}"
      TargetKeyId: !Ref KMSKey
  KMSKey:
    Type: AWS::KMS::Key
    Properties:
      Description: !Sub "KMS key for ${ClusterName} Amazon EKS"
      EnableKeyRotation: true
      PendingWindowInDays: 7
      KeyPolicy:
        Version: "2012-10-17"
        Id: !Sub "eks-key-policy-${ClusterName}"
        Statement:
          - Sid: Allow direct access to key metadata to the account
            Effect: Allow
            Principal:
              AWS:
                - !Sub "arn:${AWS::Partition}:iam::${AWS::AccountId}:root"
            Action:
              - kms:*
            Resource: "*"
          - Sid: Allow access through EBS for all principals in the account that are authorized to use EBS
            Effect: Allow
            Principal:
              AWS: "*"
            Action:
              - kms:Encrypt
              - kms:Decrypt
              - kms:ReEncrypt*
              - kms:GenerateDataKey*
              - kms:CreateGrant
              - kms:DescribeKey
            Resource: "*"
            Condition:
              StringEquals:
                kms:ViaService: !Sub "ec2.${AWS::Region}.amazonaws.com"
                kms:CallerAccount: !Sub "${AWS::AccountId}"
Outputs:
  KMSKeyArn:
    Description: The ARN of the created KMS Key to encrypt EKS related services
    Value: !GetAtt KMSKey.Arn
    Export:
      Name:
        Fn::Sub: "${AWS::StackName}-KMSKeyArn"
  KMSKeyId:
    Description: The ID of the created KMS Key to encrypt EKS related services
    Value: !Ref KMSKey
    Export:
      Name:
        Fn::Sub: "${AWS::StackName}-KMSKeyId"
EOF

# shellcheck disable=SC2001
eval aws cloudformation deploy --capabilities CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM \
  --parameter-overrides "BaseDomain=${BASE_DOMAIN} ClusterFQDN=${CLUSTER_FQDN} ClusterName=${CLUSTER_NAME}" \
  --stack-name "${CLUSTER_NAME}-route53-kms" --template-file "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/aws-cf-route53-kms.yml" --tags "${TAGS//,/ }"

# shellcheck disable=SC2016
AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS=$(aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name "${CLUSTER_NAME}-route53-kms" --query 'Stacks[0].Outputs[? OutputKey==`KMSKeyArn` || OutputKey==`KMSKeyId`].{OutputKey:OutputKey,OutputValue:OutputValue}')
AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN=$(echo "${AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS}" | jq -r ".[] | select(.OutputKey==\"KMSKeyArn\") .OutputValue")
AWS_KMS_KEY_ID=$(echo "${AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS}" | jq -r ".[] | select(.OutputKey==\"KMSKeyId\") .OutputValue")

After running the CF stack you should see the following Route53 zones:

Route53 k01.k8s.mylabs.dev zone Route53 k01.k8s.mylabs.dev zone

Route53 k8s.mylabs.dev zone Route53 k8s.mylabs.dev zone

You should see the following KMS key:

KMS key KMS key

Create Amazon EKS Auto Mode

I’m going to use eksctl to create the Amazon EKS Auto Mode cluster.

eksctl

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}.yaml" << EOF
apiVersion: eksctl.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
  region: ${AWS_REGION}
  tags:
    $(echo "${TAGS}" | sed "s/,/\\n    /g; s/=/: /g")
availabilityZones:
  - ${AWS_REGION}a
  - ${AWS_REGION}b
accessConfig:
  accessEntries:
    - principalARN: arn:${AWS_PARTITION}:iam::${AWS_ACCOUNT_ID}:role/admin
      accessPolicies:
        - policyARN: arn:${AWS_PARTITION}:eks::aws:cluster-access-policy/AmazonEKSClusterAdminPolicy
          accessScope:
            type: cluster
iam:
  podIdentityAssociations:
    - namespace: cert-manager
      serviceAccountName: cert-manager
      roleName: eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}-pia-cert-manager
      wellKnownPolicies:
        certManager: true
    - namespace: external-dns
      serviceAccountName: external-dns
      roleName: eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}-pia-external-dns
      wellKnownPolicies:
        externalDNS: true
autoModeConfig:
  enabled: true
  nodePools: ["system"]
secretsEncryption:
  keyARN: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN}
cloudWatch:
  clusterLogging:
    logRetentionInDays: 1
    enableTypes:
      - all
EOF
eksctl create cluster --config-file "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}.yaml" --kubeconfig "${KUBECONFIG}" || eksctl utils write-kubeconfig --cluster="${CLUSTER_NAME}" --kubeconfig "${KUBECONFIG}"

I was not able to make the NetworkPolicy working with kube-prometheus-stack properly in the EKS Auto Mode. Prometheus is getting the dial tcp 10.100.0.1:443: i/o timeout error and is not able to get the metric data - therefore I will keep the NetworkPolicy turned off.

Create a Node Class for Amazon EKS which defines infrastructure-level settings that apply to groups of nodes in your EKS cluster, including network configuration, storage settings, and resource tagging:

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/k8s-eks-nodeclass.yml" << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: eks.amazonaws.com/v1
kind: NodeClass
metadata:
  name: my-default
spec:
$(kubectl get nodeclasses default -o yaml | yq '.spec | pick(["role", "securityGroupSelectorTerms", "subnetSelectorTerms"])' | sed 's/\(.*\)/  \1/')
  ephemeralStorage:
    size: 20Gi
  # Tags are not working due to bug: https://github.com/aws/containers-roadmap/issues/2487
  # tags:
  #   Name: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
EOF

Create a Node Pool for EKS Auto Mode to define specific requirements for your compute resources, including instance types, availability zones, architectures, and capacity types:

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/k8s-karpenter-nodepool.yml" << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: karpenter.sh/v1
kind: NodePool
metadata:
  name: my-default
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      nodeClassRef:
        group: eks.amazonaws.com
        kind: NodeClass
        name: my-default
      requirements:
        - key: eks.amazonaws.com/instance-category
          operator: In
          values: ["t"]
        - key: karpenter.sh/capacity-type
          operator: In
          values: ["spot"]
        - key: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
          operator: In
          values: ["${AWS_REGION}a"]
        - key: kubernetes.io/arch
          operator: In
          values: ["arm64"]
        - key: kubernetes.io/os
          operator: In
          values: ["linux"]
  limits:
    cpu: 8
    memory: 32Gi
EOF

Create a new StorageClass based upon EBS CSI driver:

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/k8s-storage-storageclass.yml" << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  annotations:
    storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
  name: gp3
provisioner: ebs.csi.eks.amazonaws.com
# https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/aws-ebs-csi-driver/blob/master/docs/parameters.md
parameters:
  kmsKeyId: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ID}
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
allowVolumeExpansion: true
EOF

Mailpit

Mailpit will be used to receive email alerts from the Prometheus.

mailpit

Install mailpit helm chart and modify the default values.

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=mailpit registryUrl=https://jouve.github.io/charts/
MAILPIT_HELM_CHART_VERSION="0.21.0"

helm repo add jouve https://jouve.github.io/charts/
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-mailpit.yml" << EOF
ingress:
  enabled: true
  ingressClassName: nginx
  annotations:
    gethomepage.dev/enabled: "true"
    gethomepage.dev/description: An email and SMTP testing tool with API for developers
    gethomepage.dev/group: Media
    gethomepage.dev/icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axllent/mailpit/61241f11ac94eb33bd84e399129992250eff56ce/server/ui/favicon.svg
    gethomepage.dev/name: Mailpit
    gethomepage.dev/widget.type: mailpit
    gethomepage.dev/widget.url: https://mailpit.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-url: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/auth
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-signin: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/start?rd=\$scheme://\$host\$request_uri
  hostname: mailpit.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${MAILPIT_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace mailpit --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-mailpit.yml" mailpit jouve/mailpit

Screenshot:

Mailpit

kube-prometheus-stack

Prometheus should be the initial application installed on the Kubernetes cluster because numerous K8s services and applications have the capability to export metrics to it.

kube-prometheus stack is a collection of Kubernetes manifests, Grafana dashboards, and Prometheus rules combined with documentation and scripts to provide easy to operate end-to-end Kubernetes cluster monitoring with Prometheus using the Prometheus Operator.

Prometheus

Install kube-prometheus-stack helm chart and modify the default values:

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=kube-prometheus-stack registryUrl=https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
KUBE_PROMETHEUS_STACK_HELM_CHART_VERSION="67.4.0"

helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-kube-prometheus-stack.yml" << EOF
defaultRules:
  rules:
    etcd: false
    kubernetesSystem: false
    kubeScheduler: false
# https://github.com/prometheus-community/helm-charts/blob/main/charts/alertmanager/values.yaml
alertmanager:
  config:
    global:
      smtp_smarthost: "mailpit-smtp.mailpit.svc.cluster.local:25"
      smtp_from: "alertmanager@${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
    route:
      group_by: ["alertname", "job"]
      receiver: email
      routes:
        - receiver: email
          matchers:
            - severity =~ "warning|critical"
    receivers:
      - name: email
        email_configs:
          - to: "notification@${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
            require_tls: false
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: nginx
    annotations:
      gethomepage.dev/enabled: "true"
      gethomepage.dev/description: The Alertmanager handles alerts sent by client applications such as the Prometheus server
      gethomepage.dev/group: Media
      gethomepage.dev/icon: alertmanager.svg
      gethomepage.dev/name: Alert Manager
      gethomepage.dev/widget.type: alertmanager
      gethomepage.dev/widget.url: https://alertmanager.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-url: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/auth
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-signin: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/start?rd=\$scheme://\$host\$request_uri
    hosts:
      - alertmanager.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    paths: ["/"]
    pathType: ImplementationSpecific
    tls:
      - hosts:
          - alertmanager.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
# https://github.com/grafana/helm-charts/blob/main/charts/grafana/values.yaml
grafana:
  defaultDashboardsEnabled: false
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: nginx
    annotations:
      gethomepage.dev/enabled: "true"
      gethomepage.dev/description: The open and composable observability and data visualization platform
      gethomepage.dev/group: Media
      gethomepage.dev/icon: grafana.svg
      gethomepage.dev/name: Grafana
      gethomepage.dev/widget.type: grafana
      gethomepage.dev/widget.url: https://grafana.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-url: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/auth
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-signin: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/start?rd=\$scheme://\$host\$request_uri
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/configuration-snippet: |
        auth_request_set \$email \$upstream_http_x_auth_request_email;
        proxy_set_header X-Email \$email;
    hosts:
      - grafana.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    paths: ["/"]
    pathType: ImplementationSpecific
    tls:
      - hosts:
          - grafana.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
  sidecar:
    datasources:
      url: http://kube-prometheus-stack-prometheus.kube-prometheus-stack:9090
  dashboardProviders:
    dashboardproviders.yaml:
      apiVersion: 1
      providers:
        - name: "default"
          orgId: 1
          folder: ""
          type: file
          disableDeletion: false
          editable: true
          options:
            path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards/default
  dashboards:
    default:
      1860-node-exporter-full:
        # renovate: depName="Node Exporter Full"
        gnetId: 1860
        revision: 37
        datasource: Prometheus
      3662-prometheus-2-0-overview:
        # renovate: depName="Prometheus 2.0 Overview"
        gnetId: 3662
        revision: 2
        datasource: Prometheus
      12006-kubernetes-apiserver:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes apiserver"
        gnetId: 12006
        revision: 1
        datasource: Prometheus
      9614-nginx-ingress-controller:
        # renovate: depName="NGINX Ingress controller"
        gnetId: 9614
        revision: 1
        datasource: Prometheus
      15038-external-dns:
        # renovate: depName="External-dns"
        gnetId: 15038
        revision: 3
        datasource: Prometheus
      # https://github.com/DevOps-Nirvana/Grafana-Dashboards
      14314-kubernetes-nginx-ingress-controller-nextgen-devops-nirvana:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes Nginx Ingress Prometheus NextGen"
        gnetId: 14314
        revision: 2
        datasource: Prometheus
      # https://grafana.com/orgs/imrtfm/dashboards - https://github.com/dotdc/grafana-dashboards-kubernetes
      15760-kubernetes-views-pods:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Pods"
        gnetId: 15760
        revision: 34
        datasource: Prometheus
      15757-kubernetes-views-global:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Global"
        gnetId: 15757
        revision: 42
        datasource: Prometheus
      15758-kubernetes-views-namespaces:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Namespaces"
        gnetId: 15758
        revision: 41
        datasource: Prometheus
      15759-kubernetes-views-nodes:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Nodes"
        gnetId: 15759
        revision: 32
        datasource: Prometheus
      15761-kubernetes-system-api-server:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / System / API Server"
        gnetId: 15761
        revision: 18
        datasource: Prometheus
      15762-kubernetes-system-coredns:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / System / CoreDNS"
        gnetId: 15762
        revision: 19
        datasource: Prometheus
      19105-prometheus:
        # renovate: depName="Prometheus"
        gnetId: 19105
        revision: 6
        datasource: Prometheus
      16237-cluster-capacity:
        # renovate: depName="Cluster Capacity (Karpenter)"
        gnetId: 16237
        revision: 1
        datasource: Prometheus
      16236-pod-statistic:
        # renovate: depName="Pod Statistic (Karpenter)"
        gnetId: 16236
        revision: 1
        datasource: Prometheus
      19268-prometheus:
        # renovate: depName="Prometheus All Metrics"
        gnetId: 19268
        revision: 1
        datasource: Prometheus
      karpenter-capacity-dashboard:
        url: https://karpenter.sh/v0.37/getting-started/getting-started-with-karpenter/karpenter-capacity-dashboard.json
      karpenter-performance-dashboard:
        url: https://karpenter.sh/v0.37/getting-started/getting-started-with-karpenter/karpenter-performance-dashboard.json
  grafana.ini:
    analytics:
      check_for_updates: false
    # server:
    #   root_url: https://grafana.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    # Use oauth2-proxy instead of default Grafana Oauth
    auth.basic:
      enabled: false
    auth.proxy:
      enabled: true
      header_name: X-Email
      header_property: email
    users:
      auto_assign_org_role: Admin
  smtp:
    enabled: true
    host: mailpit-smtp.mailpit.svc.cluster.local:25
    from_address: grafana@${CLUSTER_FQDN}
# EKS this is not available https://github.com/aws/containers-roadmap/issues/1298
kubeControllerManager:
  enabled: false
kubeEtcd:
  enabled: false
# EKS this is not available https://github.com/aws/containers-roadmap/issues/1298
kubeScheduler:
  enabled: false
# in EKS the kube-proxy metrics are not available https://github.com/aws/containers-roadmap/issues/657
kubeProxy:
  enabled: false
kube-state-metrics:
  selfMonitor:
    enabled: true
# https://github.com/prometheus-community/helm-charts/issues/3613
prometheus-node-exporter:
  prometheus:
    monitor:
      attachMetadata:
        node: true
      relabelings:
      - sourceLabels:
        - __meta_kubernetes_endpoint_node_name
        targetLabel: node
        action: replace
        regex: (.+)
        replacement: \${1}
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: nginx
    annotations:
      gethomepage.dev/enabled: "true"
      gethomepage.dev/description: Prometheus is a systems and service monitoring system
      gethomepage.dev/group: Media
      gethomepage.dev/icon: prometheus.svg
      gethomepage.dev/name: Prometheus
      gethomepage.dev/widget.type: prometheus
      gethomepage.dev/widget.url: https://prometheus.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-url: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/auth
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-signin: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/start?rd=\$scheme://\$host\$request_uri
    paths: ["/"]
    pathType: ImplementationSpecific
    hosts:
      - prometheus.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    tls:
      - hosts:
          - prometheus.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
  prometheusSpec:
    externalLabels:
      cluster: ${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    externalUrl: https://prometheus.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
    ruleSelectorNilUsesHelmValues: false
    serviceMonitorSelectorNilUsesHelmValues: false
    podMonitorSelectorNilUsesHelmValues: false
    probeSelectorNilUsesHelmValues: false
    retentionSize: 1GB
    storageSpec:
      volumeClaimTemplate:
        spec:
          storageClassName: gp3
          accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
          resources:
            requests:
              storage: 2Gi
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${KUBE_PROMETHEUS_STACK_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace kube-prometheus-stack --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-kube-prometheus-stack.yml" kube-prometheus-stack prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack

cert-manager

cert-manager adds certificates and certificate issuers as resource types in Kubernetes clusters, and simplifies the process of obtaining, renewing and using those certificates.

cert-manager

Install cert-manager helm chart and modify the default values. Service account cert-manager was created by eksctl.

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=cert-manager registryUrl=https://charts.jetstack.io
CERT_MANAGER_HELM_CHART_VERSION="1.16.2"

helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-cert-manager.yml" << EOF
crds:
  enabled: true
serviceAccount:
  name: cert-manager
enableCertificateOwnerRef: true
prometheus:
  servicemonitor:
    enabled: true
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${CERT_MANAGER_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace cert-manager --create-namespace --wait --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-cert-manager.yml" cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager

Add ClusterIssuers for Let’s Encrypt staging:

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/k8s-cert-manager-clusterissuer-staging.yml" << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-staging-dns
  namespace: cert-manager
  labels:
    letsencrypt: staging
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: ${MY_EMAIL}
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-staging-dns
    solvers:
      - selector:
          dnsZones:
            - ${CLUSTER_FQDN}
        dns01:
          route53:
            region: ${AWS_REGION}
EOF
kubectl wait --namespace cert-manager --timeout=15m --for=condition=Ready clusterissuer --all

Create certificate:

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/k8s-cert-manager-certificate-staging.yml" << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: ingress-cert-staging
  namespace: cert-manager
  labels:
    letsencrypt: staging
spec:
  secretName: ingress-cert-staging
  secretTemplate:
    labels:
      letsencrypt: staging
  issuerRef:
    name: letsencrypt-staging-dns
    kind: ClusterIssuer
  commonName: "*.${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
  dnsNames:
    - "*.${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
    - "${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
EOF

Prometheus Adapter

Prometheus Adapter is an implementation of the custom.metrics.k8s.io API using Prometheus. I’m using it as metrics-server replacement as descibed here.

Install prometheus-adapter helm chart and modify the default values:

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=prometheus-adapter registryUrl=https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
PROMETHEUS_ADAPTER_HELM_CHART_VERSION="4.11.0"

helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-prometheus-adapter.yml" << \EOF
prometheus:
  url: http://kube-prometheus-stack-prometheus.kube-prometheus-stack.svc.cluster.local
rules:
  resource:
    cpu:
      containerQuery: |
        sum by (<<.GroupBy>>) (
          rate(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{container!="",<<.LabelMatchers>>}[3m])
        )
      nodeQuery: |
        sum  by (<<.GroupBy>>) (
          rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode!="idle",mode!="iowait",mode!="steal",<<.LabelMatchers>>}[3m])
        )
      resources:
        overrides:
          node:
            resource: node
          namespace:
            resource: namespace
          pod:
            resource: pod
      containerLabel: container
    memory:
      containerQuery: |
        sum by (<<.GroupBy>>) (
          avg_over_time(container_memory_working_set_bytes{container!="",<<.LabelMatchers>>}[3m])
        )
      nodeQuery: |
        sum by (<<.GroupBy>>) (
          avg_over_time(node_memory_MemTotal_bytes{<<.LabelMatchers>>}[3m])
          -
          avg_over_time(node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes{<<.LabelMatchers>>}[3m])
        )
      resources:
        overrides:
          node:
            resource: node
          namespace:
            resource: namespace
          pod:
            resource: pod
      containerLabel: container
    window: 3m
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${PROMETHEUS_ADAPTER_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace prometheus-adapter --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-prometheus-adapter.yml" prometheus-adapter prometheus-community/prometheus-adapter

ExternalDNS

ExternalDNS synchronizes exposed Kubernetes Services and Ingresses with DNS providers.

ExternalDNS

Install external-dns helm chart and modify the default values. external-dns will take care about DNS records. Service account external-dns was created by eksctl.

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=external-dns registryUrl=https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/external-dns/
EXTERNAL_DNS_HELM_CHART_VERSION="1.15.0"

helm repo add external-dns https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/external-dns/
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-external-dns.yml" << EOF
serviceAccount:
  name: external-dns
serviceMonitor:
  enabled: true
interval: 20s
policy: sync
domainFilters:
  - ${CLUSTER_FQDN}
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${EXTERNAL_DNS_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace external-dns --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-external-dns.yml" external-dns external-dns/external-dns

Ingress NGINX Controller

ingress-nginx is an Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX as a reverse proxy and load balancer.

Install ingress-nginx helm chart and modify the default values.

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=ingress-nginx registryUrl=https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
INGRESS_NGINX_HELM_CHART_VERSION="4.11.3"

kubectl wait --namespace cert-manager --for=condition=Ready --timeout=10m certificate ingress-cert-staging

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-ingress-nginx.yml" << EOF
controller:
  allowSnippetAnnotations: true
  ingressClassResource:
    default: true
  extraArgs:
    default-ssl-certificate: "cert-manager/ingress-cert-staging"
  service:
    annotations:
      # https://www.qovery.com/blog/our-migration-from-kubernetes-built-in-nlb-to-alb-controller/
      # https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwiRjimKW9c
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-additional-resource-tags: ${TAGS//\'/}
      # service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-alpn-policy: HTTP2Preferred
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-name: eks-${CLUSTER_NAME}
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-nlb-target-type: ip
      # service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-proxy-protocol: "*"
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-scheme: internet-facing
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-type: external
  metrics:
    enabled: true
    serviceMonitor:
      enabled: true
    prometheusRule:
      enabled: true
      rules:
        - alert: NGINXConfigFailed
          expr: count(nginx_ingress_controller_config_last_reload_successful == 0) > 0
          for: 1s
          labels:
            severity: critical
          annotations:
            description: bad ingress config - nginx config test failed
            summary: uninstall the latest ingress changes to allow config reloads to resume
        - alert: NGINXCertificateExpiry
          expr: (avg(nginx_ingress_controller_ssl_expire_time_seconds{host!="_"}) by (host) - time()) < 604800
          for: 1s
          labels:
            severity: critical
          annotations:
            description: ssl certificate(s) will expire in less then a week
            summary: renew expiring certificates to avoid downtime
        - alert: NGINXTooMany500s
          expr: 100 * ( sum( nginx_ingress_controller_requests{status=~"5.+"} ) / sum(nginx_ingress_controller_requests) ) > 5
          for: 1m
          labels:
            severity: warning
          annotations:
            description: Too many 5XXs
            summary: More than 5% of all requests returned 5XX, this requires your attention
        - alert: NGINXTooMany400s
          expr: 100 * ( sum( nginx_ingress_controller_requests{status=~"4.+"} ) / sum(nginx_ingress_controller_requests) ) > 5
          for: 1m
          labels:
            severity: warning
          annotations:
            description: Too many 4XXs
            summary: More than 5% of all requests returned 4XX, this requires your attention
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${INGRESS_NGINX_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace ingress-nginx --create-namespace --wait --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-ingress-nginx.yml" ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx

OAuth2 Proxy

Use oauth2-proxy to protect the endpoints by Google Authentication.

OAuth2 Proxy

Install oauth2-proxy helm chart and modify the default values.

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=oauth2-proxy registryUrl=https://oauth2-proxy.github.io/manifests
OAUTH2_PROXY_HELM_CHART_VERSION="7.8.2"

helm repo add oauth2-proxy https://oauth2-proxy.github.io/manifests
cat > "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-oauth2-proxy.yml" << EOF
config:
  clientID: ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID}
  clientSecret: ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET}
  cookieSecret: "$(openssl rand -base64 32 | head -c 32 | base64)"
  configFile: |-
    cookie_domains = ".${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
    set_authorization_header = "true"
    set_xauthrequest = "true"
    upstreams = [ "file:///dev/null" ]
    whitelist_domains = ".${CLUSTER_FQDN}"
authenticatedEmailsFile:
  enabled: true
  restricted_access: |-
    ${MY_EMAIL}
ingress:
  enabled: true
  ingressClassName: nginx
  hosts:
    - oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}
metrics:
  servicemonitor:
    enabled: true
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${OAUTH2_PROXY_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace oauth2-proxy --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-oauth2-proxy.yml" oauth2-proxy oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy

Clean-up

Clean-up

Remove EKS cluster and created components:

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if eksctl get cluster --name="${CLUSTER_NAME}"; then
  eksctl delete cluster --name="${CLUSTER_NAME}" --force
fi

Remove Route 53 DNS records from DNS Zone:

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CLUSTER_FQDN_ZONE_ID=$(aws route53 list-hosted-zones --query "HostedZones[?Name==\`${CLUSTER_FQDN}.\`].Id" --output text)
if [[ -n "${CLUSTER_FQDN_ZONE_ID}" ]]; then
  aws route53 list-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id "${CLUSTER_FQDN_ZONE_ID}" | jq -c '.ResourceRecordSets[] | select (.Type != "SOA" and .Type != "NS")' |
    while read -r RESOURCERECORDSET; do
      aws route53 change-resource-record-sets \
        --hosted-zone-id "${CLUSTER_FQDN_ZONE_ID}" \
        --change-batch '{"Changes":[{"Action":"DELETE","ResourceRecordSet": '"${RESOURCERECORDSET}"' }]}' \
        --output text --query 'ChangeInfo.Id'
    done
fi

Remove CloudFormation stack:

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aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name "${CLUSTER_NAME}-route53-kms"
aws cloudformation wait stack-delete-complete --stack-name "${CLUSTER_NAME}-route53-kms"
aws cloudformation wait stack-delete-complete --stack-name "eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}-cluster"

Remove Volumes and Snapshots related to the cluster (just in case):

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for VOLUME in $(aws ec2 describe-volumes --filter "Name=tag:KubernetesCluster,Values=${CLUSTER_NAME}" "Name=tag:kubernetes.io/cluster/${CLUSTER_NAME},Values=owned" --query 'Volumes[].VolumeId' --output text) ; do
  echo "*** Removing Volume: ${VOLUME}"
  aws ec2 delete-volume --volume-id "${VOLUME}"
done

Remove CloudWatch log group:

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aws logs delete-log-group --log-group-name "/aws/eks/${CLUSTER_NAME}/cluster"

Remove ${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN} directory:

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[[ -d "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}" ]] && rm -rvf "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}"

Enjoy … 😉

Kubernetes, Amazon EKS Auto Mode, Security
amazon eks amaozn eks auto mode k8s kubernetes security eksctl cert-manager external-dns podinfo prometheus sso oauth2-proxy metrics-server
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.