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Published on:2021-01-27    The number of views:

Create a Highly Available Kubernetes Cluster Using Keepalived and HAproxy

A highly available Kubernetes cluster ensures your applications run without outages which is required for production. In this connection, there are plenty of ways for you to choose from to achieve high availability. For example, if your cluster is deployed on cloud (e.g. Google Cloud and AWS), you can create load balancers on these platforms directly. At the same time, Keepalived, HAproxy and NGINX are also possible alternatives for you to achieve load balancing.

In this article, I am going to use Keepalived and HAproxy for load balancing and achieve high availability. The steps are listed as below:

  1. Prepare hosts.
  2. Configure Keepalived and HAproxy.
  3. Use KubeKey to set up a Kubernetes cluster.

Cluster Architecture

In my cluster, I will set three master nodes, three worker nodes, two nodes for load balancing and one virtual IP address. The virtual IP address in this example may also be called "a floating IP address". That means in the event of node failures, the IP address can be passed between nodes allowing for failover, thus achieving high availability.

architecture

Notice that in my cluster, I am not going to install Keepalived and HAproxy on any of the master nodes. Admittedly, you can do that and high availability can also be achieved. That said, I would like to try a different way by configuring two specific nodes for load balancing (You can add more nodes of this kind as needed). Only Keepalived and HAproxy will be installed on these two nodes, avoiding any potential conflicts with any Kubernetes components and services.

Host Information

Here is the detailed information of each node in my cluster for your reference:

IP AddressHost NameRoleSystem
172.16.0.2lb1Keepalived & HAproxyCentOS 7.5, 4 Cores, 4 G Memory, 20 G Disk
172.16.0.3lb2Keepalived & HAproxyCentOS 7.5, 4 Cores, 4 G Memory, 20 G Disk
172.16.0.4master1master, etcdCentOS 7.5, 8 Cores, 8 G Memory, 50 G Disk
172.16.0.5master2master, etcdCentOS 7.5, 8 Cores, 8 G Memory, 50 G Disk
172.16.0.6master3master, etcdCentOS 7.5, 8 Cores, 8 G Memory, 50 G Disk
172.16.0.7worker1workerCentOS 7.5, 8 Cores, 8 G Memory, 50 G Disk
172.16.0.8worker2workerCentOS 7.5, 8 Cores, 8 G Memory, 50 G Disk
172.16.0.9worker3workerCentOS 7.5, 8 Cores, 8 G Memory, 50 G Disk
172.16.0.10Virtual IP address

For more information about requirements for nodes, network, and dependencies, see one of my previous posts.

Configure Load Balancing

Keepalived provides a VRPP implementation and allows you to configure Linux machines for load balancing, preventing single points of failure. HAProxy, providing reliable, high performance load balancing, works perfectly with Keepalived.

As I said above, I will install both Keepalived and HAproxy on lb1 and lb2. The logic is very simple: if one of the node goes down, the virtual IP address (i.e. the floating IP address) will be automatically associated with another node so that the cluster is still functioning well, thus achieving high availability. If you want, you can add more nodes all with Keepalived and HAproxy installed for that purpose.

Run the following command to install Keepalived and HAproxy first.

yum install keepalived haproxy psmisc -y

HAproxy

  1. The configuration of HAproxy is exactly the same on the two machines for load balancing. Run the following command to configure HAproxy.

    vi /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
    
  2. Here is my configuration for your reference (Pay attention to the server field. Note that 6443 is the apiserver port):

    global
        log /dev/log  local0 warning
        chroot      /var/lib/haproxy
        pidfile     /var/run/haproxy.pid
        maxconn     4000
        user        haproxy
        group       haproxy
        daemon
    
       stats socket /var/lib/haproxy/stats
    
    defaults
      log global
      option  httplog
      option  dontlognull
            timeout connect 5000
            timeout client 50000
            timeout server 50000
    
    frontend kube-apiserver
      bind *:6443
      mode tcp
      option tcplog
      default_backend kube-apiserver
    
    backend kube-apiserver
        mode tcp
        option tcplog
        option tcp-check
        balance roundrobin
        default-server inter 10s downinter 5s rise 2 fall 2 slowstart 60s maxconn 250 maxqueue 256 weight 100
        server kube-apiserver-1 172.16.0.4:6443 check # Replace the IP address with your own.
        server kube-apiserver-2 172.16.0.5:6443 check # Replace the IP address with your own.
        server kube-apiserver-3 172.16.0.6:6443 check # Replace the IP address with your own.
    
  3. Save the file and run the following command to restart HAproxy.

    systemctl restart haproxy
    
  4. Make it persist through reboots:

    systemctl enable haproxy
    
  5. Make sure you configure HAproxy on the other machine (lb2) as well.

Keepalived

Keepalived must be installed on both machines while the configuration of them is slightly different.

  1. Run the following command to configure Keepalived.

    vi /etc/keepalived/keepalived.conf
    
  2. Here is my configuration (lb1) for your reference:

    global_defs {
      notification_email {
      }
      router_id LVS_DEVEL
      vrrp_skip_check_adv_addr
      vrrp_garp_interval 0
      vrrp_gna_interval 0
    }
    
    vrrp_script chk_haproxy {
      script "killall -0 haproxy"
      interval 2
      weight 2
    }
    
    vrrp_instance haproxy-vip {
      state BACKUP
      priority 100
      interface eth0                       # Network card
      virtual_router_id 60
      advert_int 1
      authentication {
        auth_type PASS
        auth_pass 1111
      }
      unicast_src_ip 172.16.0.2      # The IP address of this machine
      unicast_peer {
        172.16.0.3                         # The IP address of peer machines
      }
    
      virtual_ipaddress {
        172.16.0.10/24                  # The VIP address
      }
    
      track_script {
        chk_haproxy
      }
    }
    

    Note

    • For the interface field, you must provide your own network card information. You can run ifconfig on your machine to get the value.

    • The IP address provided for unicast_src_ip is the IP address of your current machine. For other machines where HAproxy and Keepalived are also installed for load balancing, their IP address must be input for the field unicast_peer.

  3. Save the file and run the following command to restart Keepalived.

    systemctl restart keepalived
    
  4. Make it persist through reboots:

    systemctl enable haproxy
    
  5. Make sure you configure Keepalived on the other machine (lb2) as well.

Verify HA

Before you start to create your Kubernetes cluster, make sure you have tested the high availability.

  1. On the machine lb1, run the following command:

    [root@lb1 ~]# ip a s
    1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
        link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
        inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
        inet6 ::1/128 scope host
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
        link/ether 52:54:9e:27:38:c8 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
        inet 172.16.0.2/24 brd 172.16.0.255 scope global noprefixroute dynamic eth0
           valid_lft 73334sec preferred_lft 73334sec
        inet 172.16.0.10/24 scope global secondary eth0 # The VIP address
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
        inet6 fe80::510e:f96:98b2:af40/64 scope link noprefixroute
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    
  2. As you can see above, the virtual IP address is successfully added. Simulate a failure on this node:

    systemctl stop haproxy
    
  3. Check the floating IP address again and you can see it disappear on lb1.

    [root@lb1 ~]# ip a s
    1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
        link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
        inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
        inet6 ::1/128 scope host
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
        link/ether 52:54:9e:27:38:c8 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
        inet 172.16.0.2/24 brd 172.16.0.255 scope global noprefixroute dynamic eth0
           valid_lft 72802sec preferred_lft 72802sec
        inet6 fe80::510e:f96:98b2:af40/64 scope link noprefixroute
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    
  4. Theoretically, the virtual IP will be failed over to the other machine (lb2) if the configuration is successful. On lb2, run the following command and here is the expected output:

    [root@lb2 ~]# ip a s
    1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
        link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
        inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
        inet6 ::1/128 scope host
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
        link/ether 52:54:9e:3f:51:ba brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
        inet 172.16.0.3/24 brd 172.16.0.255 scope global noprefixroute dynamic eth0
           valid_lft 72690sec preferred_lft 72690sec
        inet 172.16.0.10/24 scope global secondary eth0   # The VIP address
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
        inet6 fe80::f67c:bd4f:d6d5:1d9b/64 scope link noprefixroute
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    
  5. As you can see above, high availability is successfully configured.

Use KubeKey to Create a Kubernetes Cluster

KubeKey is an efficient and convenient tool to create a Kubernetes cluster. If you are not familiar with KubeKey, have a look at my previous articles about using KubeKey to create a three-node cluster and scale your cluster.

  1. Download KubeKey from its GitHub Release Page or use the following command to download KubeKey version 1.0.1. You only need to download KubeKey to one of your machines (e.g. master1) that serves as the taskbox for installation.

    curl -sfL https://get-kk.kubesphere.io | VERSION=v2.0.0 sh -
    
  2. The above command downloads KubeKey and unzips the file. Your folder now contains a file called kk. Make it executable:

    chmod +x kk
    
  3. Create a configuration file to specify cluster information. The Kubernetes version I am going to install is v1.17.9.

    ./kk create config --with-kubernetes v1.20.4
    
  4. A default file config-sample.yaml will be created. Edit the file and here is my configuration for your reference:

    apiVersion: kubekey.kubesphere.io/v1alpha1
    kind: Cluster
    metadata:
      name: sample
    spec:
      hosts:
      - {name: master1, address: 172.16.0.4, internalAddress: 172.16.0.4, user: root, password: Testing123}
      - {name: master2, address: 172.16.0.5, internalAddress: 172.16.0.5, user: root, password: Testing123}
      - {name: master3, address: 172.16.0.6, internalAddress: 172.16.0.6, user: root, password: Testing123}
      - {name: worker1, address: 172.16.0.7, internalAddress: 172.16.0.7, user: root, password: Testing123}
      - {name: worker2, address: 172.16.0.8, internalAddress: 172.16.0.8, user: root, password: Testing123}
      - {name: worker3, address: 172.16.0.9, internalAddress: 172.16.0.9, user: root, password: Testing123}
      roleGroups:
        etcd:
        - master1
        - master2
        - master3
        master:
        - master1
        - master2
        - master3
        worker:
        - worker1
        - worker2
        - worker3
      controlPlaneEndpoint:
        domain: lb.kubesphere.local
        address: 172.16.0.10   # The VIP address
        port: 6443
      kubernetes:
        version: v1.17.9
        imageRepo: kubesphere
        clusterName: cluster.local
      network:
        plugin: calico
        kubePodsCIDR: 10.233.64.0/18
        kubeServiceCIDR: 10.233.0.0/18
      registry:
        registryMirrors: []
        insecureRegistries: []
      addons: []
    

    Note

    • Replace the value of controlPlaneEndpoint.address with your own VIP address.
    • For more information about different parameters in this configuration file, see one of my previous blogs.
  5. Save the file and execute the following command to create your cluster:

    ./kk create cluster -f config-sample.yaml
    
  6. You can see the output as below when the installation finishes.

    Congratulations! Installation is successful.
    
  7. Execute the following command to check the status of namespaces.

    kubectl get pod --all-namespaces
    
    NAMESPACE     NAME                                       READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    kube-system   calico-kube-controllers-59d85c5c84-l7zp5   1/1     Running   0          42s
    kube-system   calico-node-5d6gb                          1/1     Running   0          21s
    kube-system   calico-node-77bcj                          1/1     Running   0          42s
    kube-system   calico-node-bdzfp                          1/1     Running   0          21s
    kube-system   calico-node-ph756                          1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   calico-node-phz7d                          1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   calico-node-v7wnf                          1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   coredns-74d59cc5c6-gdkmz                   1/1     Running   0          53s
    kube-system   coredns-74d59cc5c6-j2lhc                   1/1     Running   0          53s
    kube-system   kube-apiserver-master1                     1/1     Running   0          48s
    kube-system   kube-apiserver-master2                     1/1     Running   0          19s
    kube-system   kube-apiserver-master3                     1/1     Running   0          19s
    kube-system   kube-controller-manager-master1            1/1     Running   0          48s
    kube-system   kube-controller-manager-master2            1/1     Running   0          19s
    kube-system   kube-controller-manager-master3            1/1     Running   0          19s
    kube-system   kube-proxy-29sfc                           1/1     Running   0          21s
    kube-system   kube-proxy-drzsc                           1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   kube-proxy-lgwhd                           1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   kube-proxy-npq6t                           1/1     Running   0          21s
    kube-system   kube-proxy-srlwx                           1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   kube-proxy-vdtbk                           1/1     Running   0          53s
    kube-system   kube-scheduler-master1                     1/1     Running   0          48s
    kube-system   kube-scheduler-master2                     1/1     Running   0          19s
    kube-system   kube-scheduler-master3                     1/1     Running   0          20s
    kube-system   nodelocaldns-2chnt                         1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   nodelocaldns-2wszl                         1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   nodelocaldns-2xqlc                         1/1     Running   0          21s
    kube-system   nodelocaldns-92ksq                         1/1     Running   0          53s
    kube-system   nodelocaldns-cktmd                         1/1     Running   0          22s
    kube-system   nodelocaldns-skmlq                         1/1     Running   0          21s
    

Summary

Creating a highly available Kubernetes cluster is not just about business applications running without downtime. It is also about selecting the correct tools and using them to set up the cluster with high availability in the most graceful and efficient way. Why not try Keepalived, HAproxy and KubeKey? Perhaps they will give you the answer you have been seeking for so long.

Reference

KubeKey: A Lightweight Installer for Kubernetes and Cloud Native Addons

KubeKey GitHub Repository

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