New embedded cluster deployment

1

Question regarding new embedded cluster installation options.
Is there possibility to run installation command with flags like it was with kots? I want pass license file. In kots it was like
kubectl kots install coginiti-premium/stable --license-file license.yaml
Maybe new installation script has other configurable options? Would be great to know about them.

2

Thanks for asking here!

During this Alpha phase for embedded cluster, we’ve made a lot of recent changes that relate to this, so I’ll give a brief update.

We recently added the --license flag to the install command. In fact, in an upcoming release of embedded cluster, we are going to start requiring that the license be passed during the installation with this flag, so you’ll never upload it in the admin console.

We also made some changes to how the embedded cluster binaries are built and distributed. In short, be sure that you’re using an embedded cluster config in your release. That tells the vendor portal that you’re using embedded cluster for a particular release. When you download the embedded cluster binary, you’ll dodwnload a tarball that includes both the binary and the customer’s license.

You can still download the embedded cluster binary from the download portal, but we’ve also added some API endpoints you can use. I am going to update our documentation with these updates once they’re fully released shortly. I’ll post back here when that’s done. But if you’re not already using the documentation, please check it out for more information.

I’d love to touch base sometime soon to talk about embedded cluster with you too. I believe you’re not in Slack anymore, so maybe I could send you an email instead.

3

Thank you, Alex
I’ve sent you PM with my email

Am I understand correctly that in future for every customers download embedded cluster will bundled with customers license?

4

There will be a few ways to download the embedded cluster binary, but in general, the download will be a tarball that includes 1) the embedded cluster binary, and 2) the customer’s license. Then someone can extract those things from the tarball and run ./appslug install --license ./license.yaml

5

Our documentation has been updated with these details.

  1. A new section on downloading the embedded cluster binary and license is available here. You can now go to the customer page and copy instructions to download the binary and license and install the application.
  2. The --license field is now required as of version 1.29.1+ec.4. The instructions mentioned above download a tarball that includes the binary and the license, so when you unpack that tarball, you can easily run sudo ./binary install --license ./license.yaml. The installation documentation is also updated with this info.
6

Awesome, thank you.
One more question. Do you have any particular date prediction, when this new embedded cluster will be in GA? We are working on distribution of our app via AWS Marketplace and want to use this new deployment method since it is faster, so it would be great to know when it will be ready.

7

The GA date is TBD right now, but we plan to announce a single-node Beta on Monday. We’re really looking for feedback at that point to make sure it’s in good shape before we GA. So sometime in the next few months. I’m emailing you now, as I’d like to hear more about your use case.

8

One more question. Is it possible to pass Admin console password along with license file during installation? We want automate deployment.

9

@Vitaliy yeah, the kots CLI has a --shared-password flag you can use to pre-set the Admin Console password:

kubectl kots install fancy-tool \
  --shared-password foo!bar^baz \
  --license-file ./license.yaml \
  --config-values ./config.yaml \
  --no-port-forward

Check out the examples in our automated install documentation: Installing with Automation | Replicated Docs

10

Thanks, Ada. I think Vitaliy’s question was about the new embedded cluster, which installs KOTS automatically.

If that’s the case, there isn’t yet a direct way to set the password during installation. However, you can download the kots CLI and run reset-password to change it.

I think you’re automating this as part of your attempt to install via a cloud marketplace. I’m actually about to respond to your email and point you to @crdant who is actively working on that here at Replicated and can give you a lot of advice.

1 Like
11

Yes, my question was related to the new embedded cluster deployment.