Are you running Kubernetes in your homelab or in the enterprise? Do you want an easy way to manage and create Kubernetes clusters? Join me as we walk through installing Rancher on an existing high availability k3s cluster in this step-by-step tutorial.
We install Rancher, configure a load balancer, install and configure helm, install cert-manager, configure Rancher, walk through the GUI, scale up our cluster, and set up a health check and liveness check! Join me, it’s easy in this straightforward guide.
install
Note: It’s advised you consult the Rancher Support Matrix to get the recommended version for all Rancher dependencies.
kubectl
install helm
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curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
add helm repo, stable
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helm repo add rancher-stable https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/stable
create rancher namespace
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kubectl create namespace cattle-system
ssl configuration
user rancher generated (default)
install cert-manager
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kubectl apply --validate=false -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.7.1/cert-manager.crds.yaml
create name-space for cert-manager
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kubectl create namespace cert-manager
Add the Jetstack Helm repository
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helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
update helm repo
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helm repo update
install cert-manager helm chart
*Note: If you receive an “Error: Kubernetes cluster unreachable” message when installing cert-manager, try copying
the contents of “/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml” to “~/.kube/config” to resolve the issue.*
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helm install \
cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \
--namespace cert-manager \
--version v1.7.1
check rollout of cert-manager
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kubectl get pods --namespace cert-manager
Be sure each pod is fully running before proceeding
Install Rancher with Helm
Note: If you have “.local” for your private TLD then Rancher will NOT finish the setup within the webUI
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helm install rancher rancher-stable/rancher \
--namespace cattle-system \
--set hostname=rancher.example.com
check rollout
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kubectl -n cattle-system rollout status deploy/rancher
you should see
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Waiting for deployment "rancher" rollout to finish: 0 of 3 updated replicas are available...
Waiting for deployment "rancher" rollout to finish: 1 of 3 updated replicas are available...
Waiting for deployment "rancher" rollout to finish: 2 of 3 updated replicas are available...
deployment "rancher" successfully rolled out
check status
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kubectl -n cattle-system rollout status deploy/rancher
you should see
deployment "rancher" successfully rolled out
load balancer
If you are using k3s you can use the traefik ingress controller that ships with k3s
run
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kubectl get svc --all-namespaces -o wide
look for
kube-system traefik LoadBalancer 10.43.202.72 192.168.100.10 80:32003/TCP,443:32532/TCP 5d23h app=traefik,release=traefik
then create a DNS entry for rancher.example.com 192.168.100.10
This can be a host entry on your machine, or a DNS entry in your local DNS system (router, pi hole, etc…)
otherwise you can use nginx
nginx lb
other considerations
Separating Rancher Cluster from your User Cluster
Links
⚙️ See all the hardware I recommend at https://l.technotim.live/gear
🚀 Don’t forget to check out the 🚀Launchpad repo with all of the quick start source files