Firekube

Firekube is a Kubernetes cluster working on top of ignite and firecracker. Firekube clusters are operated with GitOps.

ignite and firecracker only work on Linux as they need KVM. Fortunately we will also work on macOS using footloose: the Kubernetes nodes are then running inside containers.

Creating a Firekube cluster

Prerequisites: docker, git, kubectl 1.14+.

1. Fork this repository.

2. Clone your fork and cd into it. Use the SSH git URL as the script will push an initial commit to your fork:

   export user="" # Your GitHub handle or org
   
   git clone [email protected]:$user/wks-quickstart-firekube.git
   cd wks-quickstart-firekube

3. Start the cluster:

   ./setup.sh

   This step will take several minutes.

   Please note that the setup.sh script will detect which OS you're on. If it's macOS, the script will automatically set backend: docker inside config.yaml. This config is to start the cluster in containers as there is no KVM on macOS. However, Firekube on Linux will run either with backend: ignite (ignite VMs) or backend: docker (containers). So the setup.sh script won't touch the backend value inside config.yaml if you're on Linux. In case you started Firekube (in containers) on macOS then switched to try it on Linux, please make sure that the backend value is set to backend: ignite so that you can start the cluster on ignite / firecracker VMs.

4. Export the KUBECONFIG environment variable as indicated at the end of the installation:

   export KUBECONFIG=/home/damien/.wks/weavek8sops/example/kubeconfig

Enjoy your Kubernetes cluster!

$ kubectl get nodes
NAME               STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION
67bb6c4812b19ce4   Ready    master   3m42s   v1.14.1
a5cf619fa058882d   Ready    <none>   75s     v1.14.1

Watch GitOps in action

Now that we have a cluster installed, we can commit Kubernetes objects to the git repository and have them appear in the cluster. Let's add podinfo, an example Go microservice, to the cluster.

kubectl apply --dry-run -k github.com/stefanprodan/podinfo//kustomize -o yaml > podinfo.yaml
git add podinfo.yaml
git commit -a -m 'Add podinfo Deployment'
git push

A few seconds later, you should witness the apparition of a podinfo pod in the cluster:

$ kubectl get pods
NAME                       READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
podinfo-677768c755-z76xk   1/1     Running   0          30s

To view podinfo web UI:

1. Expose podinfo locally:

   kubectl port-forward deploy/podinfo 9898:9898
   

2. Point your browser to http://127.0.0.1:9898:

   

Deleting a Firekube cluster

Run:

./cleanup.sh

Using a private git repository with firekube

To use a private git repository instead of a fork of wks-quickstart-firekube:

1. Create a private repository and push the wks-quickstart-firekube master branch there. Use the SSH git URL when cloning the private repository:

   git clone [email protected]:$user/$repository.git
   cd $repository
   git remote add quickstart [email protected]:weaveworks/wks-quickstart-firekube.git
   git fetch quickstart
   git merge quickstart/master
   git push
   

2. Create an SSH key pair:

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]" -f deploy-firekube  -N ""

3. Upload the deploy key to your private repository (with read/write access):

   

4. Start the cluster:

   ./setup.sh --git-deploy-key  ./deploy-firekube

Getting Help

If you have any questions about, feedback for or problems with wks-quickstart-firekube:

• Invite yourself to the Weave Users Slack.
• Ask a question on the #general slack channel.
• File an issue.
• Join the discussion
  • Invite yourself to the Weave community Slack
  • Ask a question on the #firekube Slack channel

Your feedback is always welcome!

License

Apache 2.0