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Cluster Administration Overview

The cluster administration overview is for anyone creating or administering a Kubernetes cluster. It assumes some familiarity with core Kubernetes concepts.

Planning a cluster

See the guides in Setup for examples of how to plan, set up, and configure Kubernetes clusters. The solutions listed in this article are called distros.

Before choosing a guide, here are some considerations:

  • Do you just want to try out Kubernetes on your computer, or do you want to build a high-availability, multi-node cluster? Choose distros best suited for your needs.
  • If you are designing for high-availability, learn about configuring clusters in multiple zones.
  • Will you be using a hosted Kubernetes cluster, such as Google Kubernetes Engine, or hosting your own cluster?
  • Will your cluster be on-premises, or in the cloud (IaaS)? Kubernetes does not directly support hybrid clusters. Instead, you can set up multiple clusters.
  • If you are configuring Kubernetes on-premises, consider which networking model fits best.
  • Will you be running Kubernetes on “bare metal” hardware or on virtual machines (VMs)?
  • Do you just want to run a cluster, or do you expect to do active development of Kubernetes project code? If the latter, choose an actively-developed distro. Some distros only use binary releases, but offer a greater variety of choices.
  • Familiarize yourself with the components needed to run a cluster.

Note: Not all distros are actively maintained. Choose distros which have been tested with a recent version of Kubernetes.

Managing a cluster

  • Managing a cluster describes several topics related to the lifecycle of a cluster: creating a new cluster, upgrading your cluster’s master and worker nodes, performing node maintenance (e.g. kernel upgrades), and upgrading the Kubernetes API version of a running cluster.

  • Learn how to manage nodes.

  • Learn how to set up and manage the resource quota for shared clusters.

Securing a cluster

Securing the kubelet

Optional Cluster Services

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