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Build secure and cheap Amazon EKS with Pod Identities

Build "cheap and secure" Amazon EKS with Pod Identities, network policies, cluster encryption and logging

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By Petr Ruzicka
views 31 min read

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

Amazon EKS 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
  • Karpenter - enables automatic node scaling to match the specific resource requirements of pods

Amazon EKS should meet the following security requirements:

Build Amazon EKS cluster

Requirements

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="${AWS_REGION:-us-east-1}"
# Hostname / FQDN definitions
export CLUSTER_FQDN="${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}"

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"

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, KMS key and Karpenter infrastructure

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

The cloudformation template below also include the Karpenter CloudFormation.

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-karpenter.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 "${BaseDomain}."
      Name: !Ref ClusterFQDN
      Type: NS
      TTL: 60
      ResourceRecords: !GetAtt HostedZone.NameServers
  # https://karpenter.sh/docs/reference/cloudformation/
  # https://github.com/aws/karpenter-provider-aws/blob/main/website/content/en/v0.36/getting-started/getting-started-with-karpenter/cloudformation.yaml
  KarpenterNodeInstanceProfile:
    Type: "AWS::IAM::InstanceProfile"
    Properties:
      InstanceProfileName: !Sub "eksctl-${ClusterName}-karpenter-node-instance-profile"
      Path: "/"
      Roles:
        - Ref: "KarpenterNodeRole"
  KarpenterNodeRole:
    Type: AWS::IAM::Role
    Properties:
      RoleName: !Sub "eksctl-${ClusterName}-karpenter-node-role"
      Path: /
      AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
        Version: "2012-10-17"
        Statement:
          - Effect: Allow
            Principal:
              Service:
                !Sub "ec2.${AWS::URLSuffix}"
            Action:
              - "sts:AssumeRole"
      ManagedPolicyArns:
        - !Sub "arn:${AWS::Partition}:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEKS_CNI_Policy"
        - !Sub "arn:${AWS::Partition}:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEKSWorkerNodePolicy"
        - !Sub "arn:${AWS::Partition}:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEC2ContainerRegistryReadOnly"
        - !Sub "arn:${AWS::Partition}:iam::aws:policy/AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore"
  KarpenterControllerPolicy:
    Type: AWS::IAM::ManagedPolicy
    Properties:
      ManagedPolicyName: !Sub "eksctl-${ClusterName}-karpenter-controller-policy"
      PolicyDocument: !Sub |
        {
          "Version": "2012-10-17",
          "Statement": [
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedEC2InstanceAccessActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": [
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}::image/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}::snapshot/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:security-group/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:subnet/*"
              ],
              "Action": [
                "ec2:RunInstances",
                "ec2:CreateFleet"
              ]
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedEC2LaunchTemplateAccessActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:launch-template/*",
              "Action": [
                "ec2:RunInstances",
                "ec2:CreateFleet"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/karpenter.sh/nodepool": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedEC2InstanceActionsWithTags",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": [
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:fleet/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:instance/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:volume/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:network-interface/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:launch-template/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:spot-instances-request/*"
              ],
              "Action": [
                "ec2:RunInstances",
                "ec2:CreateFleet",
                "ec2:CreateLaunchTemplate"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:RequestTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:RequestTag/karpenter.sh/nodepool": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedResourceCreationTagging",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": [
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:fleet/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:instance/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:volume/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:network-interface/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:launch-template/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:spot-instances-request/*"
              ],
              "Action": "ec2:CreateTags",
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:RequestTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned",
                  "ec2:CreateAction": [
                    "RunInstances",
                    "CreateFleet",
                    "CreateLaunchTemplate"
                  ]
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:RequestTag/karpenter.sh/nodepool": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedResourceTagging",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:instance/*",
              "Action": "ec2:CreateTags",
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/karpenter.sh/nodepool": "*"
                },
                "ForAllValues:StringEquals": {
                  "aws:TagKeys": [
                    "karpenter.sh/nodeclaim",
                    "Name"
                  ]
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedDeletion",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": [
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:instance/*",
                "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ec2:${AWS::Region}:*:launch-template/*"
              ],
              "Action": [
                "ec2:TerminateInstances",
                "ec2:DeleteLaunchTemplate"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/karpenter.sh/nodepool": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowRegionalReadActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "*",
              "Action": [
                "ec2:DescribeAvailabilityZones",
                "ec2:DescribeImages",
                "ec2:DescribeInstances",
                "ec2:DescribeInstanceTypeOfferings",
                "ec2:DescribeInstanceTypes",
                "ec2:DescribeLaunchTemplates",
                "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",
                "ec2:DescribeSpotPriceHistory",
                "ec2:DescribeSubnets"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:RequestedRegion": "${AWS::Region}"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowSSMReadActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "arn:${AWS::Partition}:ssm:${AWS::Region}::parameter/aws/service/*",
              "Action": "ssm:GetParameter"
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowPricingReadActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "*",
              "Action": "pricing:GetProducts"
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowInterruptionQueueActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "${KarpenterInterruptionQueue.Arn}",
              "Action": [
                "sqs:DeleteMessage",
                "sqs:GetQueueUrl",
                "sqs:ReceiveMessage"
              ]
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowPassingInstanceRole",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "${KarpenterNodeRole.Arn}",
              "Action": "iam:PassRole",
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "iam:PassedToService": "ec2.amazonaws.com"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedInstanceProfileCreationActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "*",
              "Action": [
                "iam:CreateInstanceProfile"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:RequestTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned",
                  "aws:RequestTag/topology.kubernetes.io/region": "${AWS::Region}"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:RequestTag/karpenter.k8s.aws/ec2nodeclass": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedInstanceProfileTagActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "*",
              "Action": [
                "iam:TagInstanceProfile"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned",
                  "aws:ResourceTag/topology.kubernetes.io/region": "${AWS::Region}",
                  "aws:RequestTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned",
                  "aws:RequestTag/topology.kubernetes.io/region": "${AWS::Region}"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/karpenter.k8s.aws/ec2nodeclass": "*",
                  "aws:RequestTag/karpenter.k8s.aws/ec2nodeclass": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowScopedInstanceProfileActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "*",
              "Action": [
                "iam:AddRoleToInstanceProfile",
                "iam:RemoveRoleFromInstanceProfile",
                "iam:DeleteInstanceProfile"
              ],
              "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/kubernetes.io/cluster/${ClusterName}": "owned",
                  "aws:ResourceTag/topology.kubernetes.io/region": "${AWS::Region}"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                  "aws:ResourceTag/karpenter.k8s.aws/ec2nodeclass": "*"
                }
              }
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowInstanceProfileReadActions",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "*",
              "Action": "iam:GetInstanceProfile"
            },
            {
              "Sid": "AllowAPIServerEndpointDiscovery",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Resource": "arn:${AWS::Partition}:eks:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:cluster/${ClusterName}",
              "Action": "eks:DescribeCluster"
            }
          ]
        }
  KarpenterInterruptionQueue:
    Type: AWS::SQS::Queue
    Properties:
      QueueName: !Sub "${ClusterName}"
      MessageRetentionPeriod: 300
      SqsManagedSseEnabled: true
  KarpenterInterruptionQueuePolicy:
    Type: AWS::SQS::QueuePolicy
    Properties:
      Queues:
        - !Ref KarpenterInterruptionQueue
      PolicyDocument:
        Id: EC2InterruptionPolicy
        Statement:
          - Effect: Allow
            Principal:
              Service:
                - events.amazonaws.com
                - sqs.amazonaws.com
            Action: sqs:SendMessage
            Resource: !GetAtt KarpenterInterruptionQueue.Arn
  ScheduledChangeRule:
    Type: AWS::Events::Rule
    Properties:
      EventPattern:
        source:
          - aws.health
        detail-type:
          - AWS Health Event
      Targets:
        - Id: KarpenterInterruptionQueueTarget
          Arn: !GetAtt KarpenterInterruptionQueue.Arn
  SpotInterruptionRule:
    Type: AWS::Events::Rule
    Properties:
      EventPattern:
        source:
          - aws.ec2
        detail-type:
          - EC2 Spot Instance Interruption Warning
      Targets:
        - Id: KarpenterInterruptionQueueTarget
          Arn: !GetAtt KarpenterInterruptionQueue.Arn
  RebalanceRule:
    Type: AWS::Events::Rule
    Properties:
      EventPattern:
        source:
          - aws.ec2
        detail-type:
          - EC2 Instance Rebalance Recommendation
      Targets:
        - Id: KarpenterInterruptionQueueTarget
          Arn: !GetAtt KarpenterInterruptionQueue.Arn
  InstanceStateChangeRule:
    Type: AWS::Events::Rule
    Properties:
      EventPattern:
        source:
          - aws.ec2
        detail-type:
          - EC2 Instance State-change Notification
      Targets:
        - Id: KarpenterInterruptionQueueTarget
          Arn: !GetAtt KarpenterInterruptionQueue.Arn
  KMSAlias:
    Type: AWS::KMS::Alias
    Properties:
      AliasName: !Sub "alias/eks-${ClusterName}"
      TargetKeyId: !Ref KMSKey
  # https://karpenter.sh/v0.36/troubleshooting/#node-terminates-before-ready-on-failed-encrypted-ebs-volume
  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"
  KarpenterNodeRoleArn:
    Description: The ARN of the role used by Karpenter to launch EC2 instances
    Value: !GetAtt KarpenterNodeRole.Arn
    Export:
      Name:
        Fn::Sub: "${AWS::StackName}-KarpenterNodeRoleArn"
  KarpenterNodeInstanceProfileName:
    Description: The Name of the Instance Profile used by Karpenter
    Value: !Ref KarpenterNodeInstanceProfile
    Export:
      Name:
        Fn::Sub: "${AWS::StackName}-KarpenterNodeInstanceProfileName"
  KarpenterControllerPolicyArn:
    Description: The ARN of the policy used by Karpenter to launch EC2 instances
    Value: !Ref KarpenterControllerPolicy
    Export:
      Name:
        Fn::Sub: "${AWS::StackName}-KarpenterControllerPolicyArn"
EOF

if [[ $(aws cloudformation list-stacks --stack-status-filter CREATE_COMPLETE --query "StackSummaries[?starts_with(StackName, \`${CLUSTER_NAME}-route53-kms-karpenter\`) == \`true\`].StackName" --output text) == "" ]]; then
  # 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-karpenter" --template-file "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/aws-cf-route53-kms-karpenter.yml" --tags "${TAGS//,/ }"
fi

# shellcheck disable=SC2016
AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS=$(aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name "${CLUSTER_NAME}-route53-kms-karpenter" --query 'Stacks[0].Outputs[? OutputKey==`KMSKeyArn` || OutputKey==`KMSKeyId` ||  OutputKey==`KarpenterNodeRoleArn` || OutputKey==`KarpenterNodeInstanceProfileName` || OutputKey==`KarpenterControllerPolicyArn`].{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")
AWS_KARPENTER_NODE_ROLE_ARN=$(echo "${AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS}" | jq -r ".[] | select(.OutputKey==\"KarpenterNodeRoleArn\") .OutputValue")
AWS_KARPENTER_NODE_INSTANCE_PROFILE_NAME=$(echo "${AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS}" | jq -r ".[] | select(.OutputKey==\"KarpenterNodeInstanceProfileName\") .OutputValue")
AWS_KARPENTER_CONTROLLER_POLICY_ARN=$(echo "${AWS_CLOUDFORMATION_DETAILS}" | jq -r ".[] | select(.OutputKey==\"KarpenterControllerPolicyArn\") .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

I’m going to use eksctl to create the Amazon EKS 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:
    karpenter.sh/discovery: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
    $(echo "${TAGS}" | sed "s/,/\\n    /g; s/=/: /g")
availabilityZones:
  - ${AWS_REGION}a
  - ${AWS_REGION}b
accessConfig:
  authenticationMode: API_AND_CONFIG_MAP
  accessEntries:
    - principalARN: ${AWS_KARPENTER_NODE_ROLE_ARN}
      type: EC2_LINUX
    - principalARN: arn:${AWS_PARTITION}:iam::${AWS_ACCOUNT_ID}:role/admin
      accessPolicies:
        - policyARN: arn:${AWS_PARTITION}:eks::aws:cluster-access-policy/AmazonEKSClusterAdminPolicy
          accessScope:
            type: cluster
    - principalARN: arn:${AWS_PARTITION}:iam::${AWS_ACCOUNT_ID}:user/aws-cli
      accessPolicies:
        - policyARN: arn:${AWS_PARTITION}:eks::aws:cluster-access-policy/AmazonEKSClusterAdminPolicy
          accessScope:
            type: cluster
iam:
  withOIDC: true
  podIdentityAssociations:
    - namespace: aws-ebs-csi-driver
      serviceAccountName: ebs-csi-controller-sa
      roleName: eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}-pia-aws-ebs-csi-driver
      wellKnownPolicies:
        ebsCSIController: true
    - 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
    - namespace: karpenter
      serviceAccountName: karpenter
      # roleName: eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}-pia-karpenter
      roleName: ${CLUSTER_NAME}-karpenter
      permissionPolicyARNs:
        - ${AWS_KARPENTER_CONTROLLER_POLICY_ARN}
addons:
  - name: coredns
  - name: eks-pod-identity-agent
  - name: kube-proxy
  - name: snapshot-controller
  - name: vpc-cni
    version: latest
    configurationValues: |-
      enableNetworkPolicy: "true"
      env:
        ENABLE_PREFIX_DELEGATION: "true"
managedNodeGroups:
  - name: mng01-ng
    amiFamily: Bottlerocket
    # Minimal instance type for running add-ons + karpenter - ARM t4g.medium: 4.0 GiB, 2 vCPUs - 0.0336 hourly
    # Minimal instance type for running add-ons + karpenter - X86 t3a.medium: 4.0 GiB, 2 vCPUs - 0.0336 hourly
    instanceType: t4g.medium
    # Due to karpenter we need 2 instances
    desiredCapacity: 2
    availabilityZones:
      - ${AWS_REGION}a
    minSize: 2
    maxSize: 5
    volumeSize: 20
    disablePodIMDS: true
    volumeEncrypted: true
    volumeKmsKeyID: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ID}
    privateNetworking: true
    bottlerocket:
      settings:
        kubernetes:
          seccomp-default: true
secretsEncryption:
  keyARN: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN}
cloudWatch:
  clusterLogging:
    logRetentionInDays: 1
    enableTypes:
      - all
EOF

Get the kubeconfig to access the cluster:

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if [[ ! -s "${KUBECONFIG}" ]]; then
  if ! eksctl get clusters --name="${CLUSTER_NAME}" &> /dev/null; then
    eksctl create cluster --config-file "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/eksctl-${CLUSTER_NAME}.yaml" --kubeconfig "${KUBECONFIG}"
  else
    eksctl utils write-kubeconfig --cluster="${CLUSTER_NAME}" --kubeconfig "${KUBECONFIG}"
  fi
fi

aws eks update-kubeconfig --name="${CLUSTER_NAME}"

Enhance the security stance of the EKS cluster by addressing the following concerns:

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AWS_VPC_ID=$(aws ec2 describe-vpcs --filters "Name=tag:alpha.eksctl.io/cluster-name,Values=${CLUSTER_NAME}" --query 'Vpcs[*].VpcId' --output text)
AWS_SECURITY_GROUP_ID=$(aws ec2 describe-security-groups --filters "Name=vpc-id,Values=${AWS_VPC_ID}" "Name=group-name,Values=default" --query 'SecurityGroups[*].GroupId' --output text)
AWS_NACL_ID=$(aws ec2 describe-network-acls --filters "Name=vpc-id,Values=${AWS_VPC_ID}" --query 'NetworkAcls[*].NetworkAclId' --output text)

  • Default security group should have no rules configured:

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    aws ec2 revoke-security-group-egress --group-id "${AWS_SECURITY_GROUP_ID}" --protocol all --port all --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 | jq || true
aws ec2 revoke-security-group-ingress --group-id "${AWS_SECURITY_GROUP_ID}" --protocol all --port all --source-group "${AWS_SECURITY_GROUP_ID}" | jq || true

  • VPC NACL allows unrestricted SSH access + VPC NACL allows unrestricted RDP access:

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    aws ec2 create-network-acl-entry --network-acl-id "${AWS_NACL_ID}" --ingress --rule-number 1 --protocol tcp --port-range "From=22,To=22" --cidr-block 0.0.0.0/0 --rule-action Deny
aws ec2 create-network-acl-entry --network-acl-id "${AWS_NACL_ID}" --ingress --rule-number 2 --protocol tcp --port-range "From=3389,To=3389" --cidr-block 0.0.0.0/0 --rule-action Deny

  • Namespace does not have PSS level assigned:

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    kubectl label namespace default pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

  • Label namespaces to warn when going against the Pod Security Standards:

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    kubectl label namespace --all pod-security.kubernetes.io/warn=baseline

    Details can be found in: Enforce Pod Security Standards with Namespace Labels

EKS Pod Identities

Here is a screenshot from the AWS Console showing the EKS Pod Identity Association:

EKS Pod Identity associations EKS Pod Identity associations

Snapshot Controller

Install Volume Snapshot Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs):

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kubectl apply --kustomize https://github.com/kubernetes-csi/external-snapshotter.git/client/config/crd/

CSI

Install volume snapshot controller snapshot-controller helm chart and modify the default values:

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=snapshot-controller registryUrl=https://piraeus.io/helm-charts/
SNAPSHOT_CONTROLLER_HELM_CHART_VERSION="2.2.2"

helm repo add piraeus-charts https://piraeus.io/helm-charts/
helm upgrade --wait --install --version "${SNAPSHOT_CONTROLLER_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace snapshot-controller --create-namespace snapshot-controller piraeus-charts/snapshot-controller
kubectl label namespace snapshot-controller pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

Amazon EBS CSI driver

The Amazon Elastic Block Store Container Storage Interface (CSI) Driver provides a CSI interface used by Container Orchestrators to manage the lifecycle of Amazon EBS volumes.

Install Amazon EBS CSI Driver aws-ebs-csi-driver helm chart and modify the default values. (The ServiceAccount ebs-csi-controller-sa was created by eksctl)

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=aws-ebs-csi-driver registryUrl=https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/aws-ebs-csi-driver
AWS_EBS_CSI_DRIVER_HELM_CHART_VERSION="2.31.0"

helm repo add aws-ebs-csi-driver https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/aws-ebs-csi-driver
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-aws-ebs-csi-driver.yml" << EOF
controller:
  enableMetrics: false
  serviceMonitor:
    forceEnable: true
  k8sTagClusterId: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
  extraVolumeTags:
    "eks:cluster-name": ${CLUSTER_NAME}
    $(echo "${TAGS}" | sed "s/,/\\n    /g; s/=/: /g")
  serviceAccount:
    name: ebs-csi-controller-sa
  region: ${AWS_REGION}
node:
  securityContext:
    # The node pod must be run as root to bind to the registration/driver sockets
    runAsNonRoot: false
storageClasses:
  - name: gp3
    annotations:
      storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
    parameters:
      encrypted: "true"
      kmskeyid: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN}
volumeSnapshotClasses:
  - name: ebs-vsc
    annotations:
      snapshot.storage.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
    deletionPolicy: Delete
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${AWS_EBS_CSI_DRIVER_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace aws-ebs-csi-driver --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-aws-ebs-csi-driver.yml" aws-ebs-csi-driver aws-ebs-csi-driver/aws-ebs-csi-driver

Delete gp2 StorageClass, because the gp3 will be used instead:

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kubectl delete storageclass gp2 || true

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="0.17.4"

helm repo add jouve https://jouve.github.io/charts/
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-mailpit.yml" << EOF
ingress:
  enabled: true
  annotations:
    forecastle.stakater.com/expose: "true"
    forecastle.stakater.com/icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axllent/mailpit/61241f11ac94eb33bd84e399129992250eff56ce/server/ui/favicon.svg
    forecastle.stakater.com/appName: Mailpit
    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
  ingressClassName: nginx
  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
kubectl label namespace mailpit pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

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="59.1.0"

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:
      forecastle.stakater.com/expose: "true"
      forecastle.stakater.com/icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stakater/ForecastleIcons/master/alert-manager.png
      forecastle.stakater.com/appName: Alert Manager
      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
  serviceMonitor:
    enabled: true
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: nginx
    annotations:
      forecastle.stakater.com/expose: "true"
      forecastle.stakater.com/icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stakater/ForecastleIcons/master/grafana.png
      forecastle.stakater.com/appName: Grafana
      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}
  datasources:
    datasource.yaml:
      apiVersion: 1
      datasources:
        - name: Prometheus
          type: prometheus
          url: http://kube-prometheus-stack-prometheus.kube-prometheus-stack:9090/
          access: proxy
          isDefault: true
  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
      9852-stians-disk-graphs:
        # renovate: depName="node-exporter disk graphs"
        gnetId: 9852
        revision: 1
        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: 28
        datasource: Prometheus
      15757-kubernetes-views-global:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Global"
        gnetId: 15757
        revision: 37
        datasource: Prometheus
      15758-kubernetes-views-namespaces:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Namespaces"
        gnetId: 15758
        revision: 34
        datasource: Prometheus
      15759-kubernetes-views-nodes:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / Views / Nodes"
        gnetId: 15759
        revision: 29
        datasource: Prometheus
      15761-kubernetes-system-api-server:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / System / API Server"
        gnetId: 15761
        revision: 16
        datasource: Prometheus
      15762-kubernetes-system-coredns:
        # renovate: depName="Kubernetes / System / CoreDNS"
        gnetId: 15762
        revision: 18
        datasource: Prometheus
      19105-prometheus:
        # renovate: depName="Prometheus"
        gnetId: 19105
        revision: 3
        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/v0.36/getting-started/getting-started-with-karpenter/karpenter-capacity-dashboard.json
      karpenter-performance-dashboard:
        url: https://karpenter.sh/v0.36/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}
  networkPolicy:
    enabled: true
kubeControllerManager:
  enabled: false
kubeEtcd:
  enabled: false
kubeScheduler:
  enabled: false
kubeProxy:
  enabled: false
kube-state-metrics:
  networkPolicy:
    enabled: true
  selfMonitor:
    enabled: true
prometheus-node-exporter:
  networkPolicy:
    enabled: true
prometheusOperator:
  networkPolicy:
    enabled: true
prometheus:
  networkPolicy:
    enabled: false
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: nginx
    annotations:
      forecastle.stakater.com/expose: "true"
      forecastle.stakater.com/icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cncf/artwork/master/projects/prometheus/icon/color/prometheus-icon-color.svg
      forecastle.stakater.com/appName: Prometheus
      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
    retentionSize: 1GB
    walCompression: true
    storageSpec:
      volumeClaimTemplate:
        spec:
          storageClassName: gp3
          accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
          resources:
            requests:
              storage: 2Gi
    # https://github.com/aws/karpenter-provider-aws/blob/main/website/content/en/v0.36/getting-started/getting-started-with-karpenter/prometheus-values.yaml
    additionalScrapeConfigs:
      - job_name: karpenter
        kubernetes_sd_configs:
          - role: endpoints
            namespaces:
              names:
                - karpenter
        relabel_configs:
          - source_labels:
            - __meta_kubernetes_endpoints_name
            - __meta_kubernetes_endpoint_port_name
            action: keep
            regex: karpenter;http-metrics
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

Karpenter

Karpenter is a Kubernetes Node Autoscaler built for flexibility, performance, and simplicity. It automatically launches just the right compute resources to handle your cluster’s applications.

Karpenter

Install Karpenter helm chart and modify the default values.

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# renovate: datasource=github-tags depName=aws/karpenter-provider-aws
KARPENTER_HELM_CHART_VERSION="0.37.0"

tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-karpenter.yml" << EOF
serviceAccount:
  name: karpenter
serviceMonitor:
  enabled: true
logLevel: debug
settings:
  clusterName: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
  interruptionQueue: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${KARPENTER_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace karpenter --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-karpenter.yml" karpenter oci://public.ecr.aws/karpenter/karpenter
kubectl label namespace karpenter pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

Configure Karpenter:

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tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/k8s-karpenter-nodepool-ec2nodeclass.yml" << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: karpenter.sh/v1beta1
kind: NodePool
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        managedBy: karpenter
    spec:
      nodeClassRef:
        apiVersion: karpenter.k8s.aws/v1beta1
        kind: EC2NodeClass
        name: default
      requirements:
        - key: karpenter.sh/capacity-type
          operator: In
          values: ["spot", "on-demand"]
        - key: kubernetes.io/arch
          operator: In
          values: ["amd64", "arm64"]
        - key: "topology.kubernetes.io/zone"
          operator: In
          values: ["${AWS_REGION}a"]
        - key: karpenter.k8s.aws/instance-family
          operator: In
          values: ["t3a", "t4g"]
  # Resource limits constrain the total size of the cluster.
  # Limits prevent Karpenter from creating new instances once the limit is exceeded.
  limits:
    cpu: 8
    memory: 32Gi
  disruption:
    consolidationPolicy: WhenUnderutilized
    expireAfter: 720h # 30 * 24h = 720h
---
apiVersion: karpenter.k8s.aws/v1beta1
kind: EC2NodeClass
metadata:
  name: default
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/description: "EC2NodeClass for running Bottlerocket nodes"
spec:
  amiFamily: Bottlerocket
  subnetSelectorTerms:
    - tags:
        karpenter.sh/discovery: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
        Name: "*Private*"
  securityGroupSelectorTerms:
    - tags:
        karpenter.sh/discovery: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
  instanceProfile: ${AWS_KARPENTER_NODE_INSTANCE_PROFILE_NAME}
  blockDeviceMappings:
    - deviceName: /dev/xvda
      ebs:
        volumeSize: 2Gi
        volumeType: gp3
        encrypted: true
        kmsKeyID: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN}
    - deviceName: /dev/xvdb
      ebs:
        volumeSize: 20Gi
        volumeType: gp3
        encrypted: true
        kmsKeyID: ${AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN}
  tags:
    Name: "${CLUSTER_NAME}-karpenter"
    $(echo "${TAGS}" | sed "s/,/\\n    /g; s/=/: /g")
EOF

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="1.15.0"

helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-cert-manager.yml" << EOF
installCRDs: true
serviceAccount:
  name: cert-manager
extraArgs:
  - --cluster-resource-namespace=cert-manager
  - --enable-certificate-owner-ref=true
securityContext:
  fsGroup: 1001
prometheus:
  servicemonitor:
    enabled: true
webhook:
  networkPolicy:
    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
kubectl label namespace cert-manager pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

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

Metrics Server

Metrics Server is a scalable, efficient source of container resource metrics for Kubernetes built-in autoscaling pipelines.

Install metrics-server helm chart and modify the default values:

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=metrics-server registryUrl=https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/metrics-server/
METRICS_SERVER_HELM_CHART_VERSION="3.12.1"

helm repo add metrics-server https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/metrics-server/
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-metrics-server.yml" << EOF
metrics:
  enabled: true
serviceMonitor:
  enabled: true
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${METRICS_SERVER_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace kube-system --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-metrics-server.yml" metrics-server metrics-server/metrics-server

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="1.14.4"

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

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="4.10.1"

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
  admissionWebhooks:
    networkPolicyEnabled: true
  extraArgs:
    default-ssl-certificate: "cert-manager/ingress-cert-staging"
  service:
    annotations:
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-type: nlb
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-additional-resource-tags: ${TAGS//\'/}
  metrics:
    enabled: true
    serviceMonitor:
      enabled: true
    prometheusRule:
      enabled: true
      rules:
        - alert: NGINXConfigFailed
          expr: count(nginx_ingress_controller_config_last_reload_successful == 0) > 0
          for: 1s
          labels:
            severity: critical
          annotations:
            description: bad ingress config - nginx config test failed
            summary: uninstall the latest ingress changes to allow config reloads to resume
        - alert: NGINXCertificateExpiry
          expr: (avg(nginx_ingress_controller_ssl_expire_time_seconds) by (host) - time()) < 604800
          for: 1s
          labels:
            severity: critical
          annotations:
            description: ssl certificate(s) will expire in less then a week
            summary: renew expiring certificates to avoid downtime
        - alert: NGINXTooMany500s
          expr: 100 * ( sum( nginx_ingress_controller_requests{status=~"5.+"} ) / sum(nginx_ingress_controller_requests) ) > 5
          for: 1m
          labels:
            severity: warning
          annotations:
            description: Too many 5XXs
            summary: More than 5% of all requests returned 5XX, this requires your attention
        - alert: NGINXTooMany400s
          expr: 100 * ( sum( nginx_ingress_controller_requests{status=~"4.+"} ) / sum(nginx_ingress_controller_requests) ) > 5
          for: 1m
          labels:
            severity: warning
          annotations:
            description: Too many 4XXs
            summary: More than 5% of all requests returned 4XX, this requires your attention
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${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
kubectl label namespace ingress-nginx pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

Forecastle

Forecastle is a control panel which dynamically discovers and provides a launchpad to access applications deployed on Kubernetes.

Forecastle

Install forecastle helm chart and modify the default values.

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# renovate: datasource=helm depName=forecastle registryUrl=https://stakater.github.io/stakater-charts
FORECASTLE_HELM_CHART_VERSION="1.0.139"

helm repo add stakater https://stakater.github.io/stakater-charts
tee "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-forecastle.yml" << EOF
forecastle:
  config:
    namespaceSelector:
      any: true
    title: Launch Pad
  networkPolicy:
    enabled: true
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    annotations:
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-signin: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/start?rd=\$scheme://\$host\$request_uri
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-url: https://oauth2-proxy.${CLUSTER_FQDN}/oauth2/auth
    className: nginx
    hosts:
      - host: ${CLUSTER_FQDN}
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
    tls:
      - hosts:
          - ${CLUSTER_FQDN}
EOF
helm upgrade --install --version "${FORECASTLE_HELM_CHART_VERSION}" --namespace forecastle --create-namespace --values "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}/helm_values-forecastle.yml" forecastle stakater/forecastle
kubectl label namespace forecastle pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

Screenshot:

Forecastle

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="7.7.1"

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: |-
    ${MY_EMAIL}
ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: nginx
  hosts:
    - oauth2-proxy.${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
kubectl label namespace oauth2-proxy pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline

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

Delete launch templates created by Karpenter:

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aws ec2 describe-launch-templates --filters "Name=tag:karpenter.k8s.aws/cluster,Values=${CLUSTER_NAME}" |
  jq -r ".LaunchTemplates[].LaunchTemplateName" |
  xargs -I{} aws ec2 delete-launch-template --launch-template-name {}

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 orphan EC2s created by Karpenter:

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for EC2 in $(aws ec2 describe-instances --filters "Name=tag:kubernetes.io/cluster/${CLUSTER_NAME},Values=owned" Name=instance-state-name,Values=running --query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" --output text) ; do
  echo "Removing EC2: ${EC2}"
  aws ec2 terminate-instances --instance-ids "${EC2}"
done

Remove CloudFormation stack:

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

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

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[[ -d "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}" ]] && rm -rvf "${TMP_DIR}/${CLUSTER_FQDN}" && [[ -d "${TMP_DIR}" ]] && rmdir -v "${TMP_DIR}" || true

Enjoy … 😉

Kubernetes, Amazon EKS, Security, EKS Pod Identities
amazon eks k8s kubernetes security eksctl cert-manager external-dns podinfo prometheus sso oauth2-proxy metrics-server eks pod identities
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.