Skip to main content

Create and Manage Nutanix Cluster

Palette supports creating and managing Kubernetes clusters deployed to a Nutanix infrastructure environment. This section guides you in creating a Kubernetes cluster in a Nutanix cloud managed by Palette.

Prerequisites​

  • A Nutanix Private Cloud Gateway (PCG) deployed. For guidance, review Install Private Cloud Gateway.

  • An infrastructure cluster profile created for the Nutanix cloud. For guidance on creating a profile, refer to Create an Infrastructure Profile. At the Cloud Type step of profile creation, select Nutanix listed under the Tech Preview. Select the custom packs provided at the OS and Kubernetes layers. Palette provides out-of-the-box packs for the network and storage profile layers, including the Nutanix CSI storage pack.

  • A Nutanix Prism Central account with Prism Admin role.

  • A Nutanix Prism Element cluster created.

  • A Nutanix subnet created in Nutanix Prism Central that will be assigned to the virtual machines (VMs) that will make up the Kubernetes cluster.

  • A Nutanix Cluster API (CAPI) OS image. For guidance on creating the image, refer to Building CAPI Images for Nutanix Cloud Platform.

Deploy a Nutanix Cluster​

Use the following steps to deploy a Kubernetes cluster in Nutanix.

  1. Log in to Palette.

  2. From the left Main Menu select Clusters.

  3. Click on Add New Cluster and select Deploy New Cluster on the next page that Palette displays.

  4. Select Nutanix and click the Start Nutanix Configuration button.

  5. Fill out the following basic information, and click Next to continue.

    FieldDescription
    Cluster NameA custom name for the cluster. Use this cluster name for the ${CLUSTER_NAME} variable in the YAML configuration files.
    DescriptionUse the description to provide context about the cluster.
    TagsAssign any desired cluster tags.
    Cloud AccountSelect your Nutanix account from the drop-down Menu.

  6. Select the Nutanix cluster profile you created and click Next. Palette displays the profile layers.

  7. Review profile layers, leaving the OS and Kubernetes packs empty, and customize parameters as desired in the YAML files that display when you select the network and storage layers. Click Next when you are done.

  8. In the Cluster configuration YAML file that Palette displays, edit the file to replace variables within curly braces listed in the table below with values that apply to your Nutanix cloud environment, and make any adjustments to configure your cluster. Click Next when you are done.

    VariableDescription
    ${CLUSTER_NAME}The name of the Nutanix workload cluster. Use the same cluster name you specified in step 5.
    ${CONTROL_PLANE_ENDPOINT_IP}The Kubernetes API IP endpoint for the cluster you are creating.
    ${NUTANIX_ENDPOINT}The Nutanix Prism Central IP address.
    warning

    The following applies when replacing variables within curly braces in the YAML configuration files.

    • All the variables must be resolved or have a default value.

    • Verify default values such as the port.

    • Names you provide must match. Any names in the YAML files that do not match your Nutanix cluster configuration will result in unsuccessful cluster deployment.

    • Values that are passed as a string, such as names and keys, must be enclosed in quotes, for example " ".

    • When replacing values, remove the dollar sign and curly braces.

  9. In the Node pool configuration YAML files for the control plane and worker pools, edit the files to replace each occurrence of the variables within curly braces listed in the tables below with values that apply to your Nutanix cloud environment. You can configure scaling in the Palette UI by specifying the number of nodes in the pool. This corresponds to replicas in the YAML file.

    Control Plane Pool​

    VariableDescription
    ${CLUSTER_NAME}The name of the Nutanix workload cluster. Use the same cluster name you specified in step 5.
    ${CONTROL_PLANE_ENDPOINT_IP}The Kubernetes API IP endpoint for the cluster you are creating.
    ${NUTANIX_SSH_AUTHORIZED_KEY}Provide your public SSH key.
    ${KUBERNETES_VERSION}Specify the Kubernetes version for your cluster, and precede the version number with v. For example v1.26.3
    ${NUTANIX_PRISM_ELEMENT_CLUSTER_NAME}The name of your Nutanix AHV cluster as defined in Prism.
    ${NUTANIX_MACHINE_TEMPLATE_IMAGE_NAME}The name of your OS image as defined in Prism Central. To locate images, navigate in the Nutanix Prism dashboard to Compute & Storage and select Images.
    ${NUTANIX_SUBNET_NAME}The name of the subnet as defined in Prism Central that will be assigned to the virtual machines (VMs) deployed in this cluster.

    Worker-Pool​

    VariableDescription
    ${NUTANIX_SSH_AUTHORIZED_KEY}Provide your public SSH key.
    ${KUBERNETES_VERSION}Specify the Kubernetes version for your cluster, and precede the version number with v. For example v1.26.3
    ${NUTANIX_PRISM_ELEMENT_CLUSTER_NAME}The name of your Nutanix AHV cluster as defined in Prism.
    ${NUTANIX_MACHINE_TEMPLATE_IMAGE_NAME}The name of your OS image as defined in Prism Central. To locate images, navigate in the Nutanix Prism dashboard to Compute & Storage and select Images.
    ${NUTANIX_SUBNET_NAME}The name of the subnet as defined in Prism Central that will be assigned to the VMs deployed in this cluster.

  10. Click Next when you are done.

  11. Review the options for OS patching schedule, scanning, backups, and RBAC.

  12. Click Validate and review the cluster configuration and settings summary.

  13. Click Finish Configuration to deploy the cluster. The cluster details page contains the status and details of the deployment. Use this page to track deployment progress. Provisioning clusters can take several minutes to complete.

  14. To edit node pool configurations, navigate to the cluster details page, click the Nodes tab, and select the node pool you want to edit. Click the Edit button and edit the YAML file that Palette displays.

  15. To edit cluster settings, from the cluster details page, click the Settings button and select Cluster Configuration. Edit the YAML file that Palette displays.

Validate​

  1. Log in to Palette.

  2. Navigate to the left Main Menu and select Clusters. The Clusters page displays a list of all available clusters that Palette manages.

  3. Click on the Nutanix cluster you created to view its details page.

  4. Ensure the Cluster Status field displays Running.