Create a Raspberry Pi 4 cluster

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you use a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B computer and a sufficiently large SD card of at least 32 GB. We will be using Ubuntu Linux for this guide, although k0s should run quite fine on other 64-bit Linux distributions for the Raspberry Pi as well. Please file a Bug if you encounter any obstacles.

Set up the system

Prepare SD card and boot up the Raspberry Pi

Install Ubuntu Server 22.04.1 LTS 64-bit for Raspberry Pi. Ubuntu provides a step by step guide for the installation process. They use Raspberry Pi Imager, a specialized imaging utility that you can use to write the Ubuntu image, amongst others, to your SD cards. Follow that guide to get a working installation. (You can skip part 5 of the guide, since we won’t need a Desktop Environment to run k0s.)

Alternatively, you can also opt to download the Ubuntu server image for Raspberry Pi manually and write it to an SD card using a tool like dd:

  1. wget https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/22.04.1/release/ubuntu-22.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz
  2. unxz ubuntu-22.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz
  3. dd if=ubuntu-22.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M status=progress

Note: The manual process is more prone to accidental data loss than the guided one via Raspberry Pi Imager. Be sure to choose the correct device names. The previous content of the SD card will be wiped. Moreover, the partition written to the SD card needs to be resized to make the full capacity of the card available to Ubuntu. This can be achieved, for example, in this way:

  1. growpart /dev/mmcblk0 2
  2. resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2

Ubuntu uses cloud-init to allow for automated customizations of the system configuration. The cloud-init configuration files are located on the boot partition of the SD card. You can mount that partition and modify those, e.g. to provision network configuration, users, authorized SSH keys, additional packages and also an automatic installation of k0s.

After you have prepared the SD card, plug it into the Raspberry Pi and boot it up. Once cloud-init finished bootstrapping the system, the default login credentials are set to user ubuntu with password ubuntu (which you will be prompted to change on first login).

Review network configurations

Note: For network configuration purposes, this documentation assumes that all of your computers are connected on the same subnet.

Review k0s’s required ports and protocols to ensure that your network and firewall configurations allow necessary traffic for the cluster.

Review the Ubuntu Server Networking Configuration documentation to ensure that all systems have a static IP address on the network, or that the network is providing a static DHCP lease for the nodes. If the network should be managed via cloud-init, please refer to their documentation.

(Optional) Provision SSH keys

Ubuntu Server deploys and enables OpenSSH via cloud-init by default. Confirm, though, that for whichever user you will deploy the cluster with on the build system, their SSH Key is copied to each node’s root user. Before you start, the configuration should be such that the current user can run:

  1. ssh root@${HOST}

Where ${HOST} is any node and the login can succeed with no further prompts.

(Optional) Create a swap file

While having a swap file is technically optional, it can help to ease memory pressure when running memory intensive workloads or on Raspberry Pis with less than 8 GB of RAM.

  1. To create a swap file:

    1. fallocate -l 2G /swapfile && \
    2. chmod 0600 /swapfile && \
    3. mkswap /swapfile && \
    4. swapon -a

  2. Ensure that the usage of swap is not too aggressive by setting the sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10 (the default is generally higher) and configuring it to be persistent in /etc/sysctl.d/*.

  3. Ensure that your swap is mounted after reboots by confirming that the following line exists in your /etc/fstab configuration:

    1. /swapfile         none           swap sw       0 0

Download k0s

Download a k0s release. For example:

  1. wget -O /tmp/k0s https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/download/v1.30.1+k0s.0/k0s-v1.30.1+k0s.0-arm64 # replace version number!
  2. sudo install /tmp/k0s /usr/local/bin/k0s

― or ―

Use the k0s download script (as one command) to download the latest stable k0s and make it executable in /usr/bin/k0s.

  1. curl -sSLf https://get.k0s.sh | sudo sh

At this point you can run k0s:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ k0s version
  2. v1.30.1+k0s.0

To check if k0s’s system requirements and external runtime dependencies are fulfilled by your current setup, you can invoke k0s sysinfo:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ k0s sysinfo
  2. Total memory: 3.7 GiB (pass)
  3. Disk space available for /var/lib/k0s: 24.3 GiB (pass)
  4. Operating system: Linux (pass)
  5.   Linux kernel release: 5.15.0-1013-raspi (pass)
  6.   Max. file descriptors per process: current: 1024 / max: 1048576 (warning: < 65536)
  7.   AppArmor: unavailable (pass)
  8.   Executable in PATH: modprobe: /usr/sbin/modprobe (pass)
  9.   Executable in PATH: mount: /usr/bin/mount (pass)
  10.   Executable in PATH: umount: /usr/bin/umount (pass)
  11.   /proc file system: mounted (0x9fa0) (pass)
  12.   Control Groups: version 2 (pass)
  13.     cgroup controller "cpu": available (pass)
  14.     cgroup controller "cpuacct": available (via cpu in version 2) (pass)
  15.     cgroup controller "cpuset": available (pass)
  16.     cgroup controller "memory": available (pass)
  17.     cgroup controller "devices": unknown (warning: insufficient permissions, try with elevated permissions)
  18.     cgroup controller "freezer": available (cgroup.freeze exists) (pass)
  19.     cgroup controller "pids": available (pass)
  20.     cgroup controller "hugetlb": available (pass)
  21.     cgroup controller "blkio": available (via io in version 2) (pass)
  22.   CONFIG_CGROUPS: Control Group support: built-in (pass)
  23.     CONFIG_CGROUP_FREEZER: Freezer cgroup subsystem: built-in (pass)
  24.     CONFIG_CGROUP_PIDS: PIDs cgroup subsystem: built-in (pass)
  25.     CONFIG_CGROUP_DEVICE: Device controller for cgroups: built-in (pass)
  26.     CONFIG_CPUSETS: Cpuset support: built-in (pass)
  27.     CONFIG_CGROUP_CPUACCT: Simple CPU accounting cgroup subsystem: built-in (pass)
  28.     CONFIG_MEMCG: Memory Resource Controller for Control Groups: built-in (pass)
  29.     CONFIG_CGROUP_HUGETLB: HugeTLB Resource Controller for Control Groups: built-in (pass)
  30.     CONFIG_CGROUP_SCHED: Group CPU scheduler: built-in (pass)
  31.       CONFIG_FAIR_GROUP_SCHED: Group scheduling for SCHED_OTHER: built-in (pass)
  32.         CONFIG_CFS_BANDWIDTH: CPU bandwidth provisioning for FAIR_GROUP_SCHED: built-in (pass)
  33.     CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP: Block IO controller: built-in (pass)
  34.   CONFIG_NAMESPACES: Namespaces support: built-in (pass)
  35.     CONFIG_UTS_NS: UTS namespace: built-in (pass)
  36.     CONFIG_IPC_NS: IPC namespace: built-in (pass)
  37.     CONFIG_PID_NS: PID namespace: built-in (pass)
  38.     CONFIG_NET_NS: Network namespace: built-in (pass)
  39.   CONFIG_NET: Networking support: built-in (pass)
  40.     CONFIG_INET: TCP/IP networking: built-in (pass)
  41.       CONFIG_IPV6: The IPv6 protocol: built-in (pass)
  42.     CONFIG_NETFILTER: Network packet filtering framework (Netfilter): built-in (pass)
  43.       CONFIG_NETFILTER_ADVANCED: Advanced netfilter configuration: built-in (pass)
  44.       CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK: Netfilter connection tracking support: module (pass)
  45.       CONFIG_NETFILTER_XTABLES: Netfilter Xtables support: module (pass)
  46.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_REDIRECT: REDIRECT target support: module (pass)
  47.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_COMMENT: "comment" match support: module (pass)
  48.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MARK: nfmark target and match support: module (pass)
  49.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_SET: set target and match support: module (pass)
  50.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_MASQUERADE: MASQUERADE target support: module (pass)
  51.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_NAT: "SNAT and DNAT" targets support: module (pass)
  52.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_ADDRTYPE: "addrtype" address type match support: module (pass)
  53.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNTRACK: "conntrack" connection tracking match support: module (pass)
  54.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_MULTIPORT: "multiport" Multiple port match support: module (pass)
  55.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_RECENT: "recent" match support: module (pass)
  56.         CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_STATISTIC: "statistic" match support: module (pass)
  57.       CONFIG_NETFILTER_NETLINK: module (pass)
  58.       CONFIG_NF_NAT: module (pass)
  59.       CONFIG_IP_SET: IP set support: module (pass)
  60.         CONFIG_IP_SET_HASH_IP: hash:ip set support: module (pass)
  61.         CONFIG_IP_SET_HASH_NET: hash:net set support: module (pass)
  62.       CONFIG_IP_VS: IP virtual server support: module (pass)
  63.         CONFIG_IP_VS_NFCT: Netfilter connection tracking: built-in (pass)
  64.         CONFIG_IP_VS_SH: Source hashing scheduling: module (pass)
  65.         CONFIG_IP_VS_RR: Round-robin scheduling: module (pass)
  66.         CONFIG_IP_VS_WRR: Weighted round-robin scheduling: module (pass)
  67.       CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_IPV4: IPv4 connetion tracking support (required for NAT): unknown (warning)
  68.       CONFIG_NF_REJECT_IPV4: IPv4 packet rejection: module (pass)
  69.       CONFIG_NF_NAT_IPV4: IPv4 NAT: unknown (warning)
  70.       CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES: IP tables support: module (pass)
  71.         CONFIG_IP_NF_FILTER: Packet filtering: module (pass)
  72.           CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REJECT: REJECT target support: module (pass)
  73.         CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT: iptables NAT support: module (pass)
  74.         CONFIG_IP_NF_MANGLE: Packet mangling: module (pass)
  75.       CONFIG_NF_DEFRAG_IPV4: module (pass)
  76.       CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_IPV6: IPv6 connetion tracking support (required for NAT): unknown (warning)
  77.       CONFIG_NF_NAT_IPV6: IPv6 NAT: unknown (warning)
  78.       CONFIG_IP6_NF_IPTABLES: IP6 tables support: module (pass)
  79.         CONFIG_IP6_NF_FILTER: Packet filtering: module (pass)
  80.         CONFIG_IP6_NF_MANGLE: Packet mangling: module (pass)
  81.         CONFIG_IP6_NF_NAT: ip6tables NAT support: module (pass)
  82.       CONFIG_NF_DEFRAG_IPV6: module (pass)
  83.     CONFIG_BRIDGE: 802.1d Ethernet Bridging: module (pass)
  84.       CONFIG_LLC: module (pass)
  85.       CONFIG_STP: module (pass)
  86.   CONFIG_EXT4_FS: The Extended 4 (ext4) filesystem: built-in (pass)
  87.   CONFIG_PROC_FS: /proc file system support: built-in (pass)

Deploy a node

Each node can now serve as a control plane node or worker node or both.

As single node

This is a self-contained single node setup which runs both control plane components and worker components. If you don’t plan join any more nodes into the cluster, this is for you.

Install the k0scontroller service:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s install controller --single
  2. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo systemctl status k0scontroller.service
  3. ○ k0scontroller.service - k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes
  4.      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/k0scontroller.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  5.      Active: inactive (dead)
  6.        Docs: https://docs.k0sproject.io

Start it:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo systemctl start k0scontroller.service
  2. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ systemctl status k0scontroller.service
  3. ● k0scontroller.service - k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes
  4.      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/k0scontroller.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  5.      Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-08-18 09:56:02 UTC; 2s ago
  6.        Docs: https://docs.k0sproject.io
  7.    Main PID: 2720 (k0s)
  8.       Tasks: 10
  9.      Memory: 24.7M
  10.         CPU: 4.654s
  11.      CGroup: /system.slice/k0scontroller.service
  12.              └─2720 /usr/local/bin/k0s controller --single=true
  14. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] received CSR
  15. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] generating key: rsa-2048
  16. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] received CSR
  17. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] generating key: rsa-2048
  18. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] received CSR
  19. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] generating key: rsa-2048
  20. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] encoded CSR
  21. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] signed certificate with serial number 6275509116227039894094374442676315636193163621
  22. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] encoded CSR
  23. Aug 18 09:56:04 ubuntu k0s[2720]: 2022/08/18 09:56:04 [INFO] signed certificate with serial number 336800507542010809697469355930007636411790073226

When the cluster is up, try to have a look:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s kc get nodes -owide
  2. NAME     STATUS   ROLES           AGE     VERSION       INTERNAL-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   OS-IMAGE             KERNEL-VERSION      CONTAINER-RUNTIME
  3. ubuntu   Ready    control-plane   4m41s   v1.30.1+k0s   10.152.56.54   <none>        Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS   5.15.0-1013-raspi   containerd://1.7.17
  4. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s kc get pod -owide -A
  5. NAMESPACE     NAME                              READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP             NODE     NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
  6. kube-system   kube-proxy-kkv2l                  1/1     Running   0          4m44s   10.152.56.54   ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  7. kube-system   kube-router-vf2pv                 1/1     Running   0          4m44s   10.152.56.54   ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  8. kube-system   coredns-88b745646-wd4mp           1/1     Running   0          5m10s   10.244.0.2     ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  9. kube-system   metrics-server-7d7c4887f4-ssk49   1/1     Running   0          5m6s    10.244.0.3     ubuntu   <none>           <none>

Overall, the single k0s node uses less than 1 GiB of RAM:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ free -h
  2.                total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
  3. Mem:           3.7Gi       715Mi       1.3Gi       3.0Mi       1.7Gi       2.8Gi
  4. Swap:             0B          0B          0B

As a controller node

This will install k0s as a single non-HA controller. It won’t be able to run any workloads, so you need to connect more workers to it.

Install the k0scontroller service. Note that we’re not specifying any flags:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s install controller
  2. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ systemctl status k0scontroller.service
  3. ○ k0scontroller.service - k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes
  4.      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/k0scontroller.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  5.      Active: inactive (dead)
  6.        Docs: https://docs.k0sproject.io

Start it:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo systemctl start k0scontroller.service
  2. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ systemctl status k0scontroller.service
  3. ● k0scontroller.service - k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes
  4.      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/k0scontroller.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  5.      Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-08-18 10:31:07 UTC; 3s ago
  6.        Docs: https://docs.k0sproject.io
  7.    Main PID: 1176 (k0s)
  8.       Tasks: 10
  9.      Memory: 30.2M
  10.         CPU: 8.936s
  11.      CGroup: /system.slice/k0scontroller.service
  12.              └─1176 /usr/local/bin/k0s controller
  14. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] signed certificate with serial number 723202396395786987172578079268287418983457689579
  15. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] encoded CSR
  16. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] signed certificate with serial number 36297085497443583023060005045470362249819432477
  17. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] encoded CSR
  18. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] encoded CSR
  19. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] signed certificate with serial number 728910847354665355109188021924183608444435075827
  20. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] generate received request
  21. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] received CSR
  22. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] generating key: rsa-2048
  23. Aug 18 10:31:09 ubuntu k0s[1176]: 2022/08/18 10:31:09 [INFO] signed certificate with serial number 718948898553094584370065610752227487244528071083

As soon as the controller is up, we can try to inspect the API as we did for the single node:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s kc get nodes -owide
  2. No resources found
  3. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s kc get pod -owide -A
  4. NAMESPACE     NAME                              READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE   IP       NODE     NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
  5. kube-system   coredns-88b745646-6tpwm           0/1     Pending   0          29s   <none>   <none>   <none>           <none>
  6. kube-system   metrics-server-7d7c4887f4-9k5k5   0/1     Pending   0          24s   <none>   <none>   <none>           <none>

As we see, there are no nodes and two pending pods. A control plane without workers. The memory consumption is below the single node controller, but not much:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ free -h
  2.                total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
  3. Mem:           3.7Gi       678Mi       2.3Gi       3.0Mi       758Mi       2.9Gi
  4. Swap:             0B          0B          0B

This controller runs a full-fledged control plane, backed by etcd, as opposed to the lightweight kine based one from the single node example. For the latter, k0s doesn’t support joining new nodes.

More nodes can be added by creating join tokens. To add a worker node, create a token for it:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s token create --role worker
  2. 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

Save the join token for subsequent steps.

As a worker node

To join an existing k0s cluster, create the join token file for the worker (where $TOKEN_CONTENT is one of the join tokens created in the control plane setup):

  1. sudo sh -c 'mkdir -p /var/lib/k0s/ && umask 077 && echo "$TOKEN_CONTENT" > /var/lib/k0s/join-token'

After that, install the k0sworker service:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s install worker --token-file /var/lib/k0s/join-token
  2. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ systemctl status k0sworker.service
  3. ○ k0sworker.service - k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes
  4.      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/k0sworker.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  5.      Active: inactive (dead)
  6.        Docs: https://docs.k0sproject.io

Start the service:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo systemctl start k0sworker.service
  2. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ systemctl status k0sworker.service
  3. ● k0sworker.service - k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes
  4.      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/k0sworker.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  5.      Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-08-18 13:48:58 UTC; 2s ago
  6.        Docs: https://docs.k0sproject.io
  7.    Main PID: 1631 (k0s)
  8.       Tasks: 22
  9.      Memory: 181.7M
  10.         CPU: 4.010s
  11.      CGroup: /system.slice/k0sworker.service
  12.              ├─1631 /usr/local/bin/k0s worker --token-file=/var/lib/k0s/join-token
  13.              └─1643 /var/lib/k0s/bin/containerd --root=/var/lib/k0s/containerd --state=/run/k0s/containerd --address=/run/k0s/containerd.sock --log-level=info --config=/etc/k0s/containerd.toml
  15. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="Starting to supervise" component=containerd
  16. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="Started successfully, go nuts pid 1643" component=containerd
  17. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="starting OCIBundleReconciler"
  18. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="starting Kubelet"
  19. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="Starting kubelet"
  20. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="detected 127.0.0.53 nameserver, assuming systemd-resolved, so using resolv.conf: /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf"
  21. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="Starting to supervise" component=kubelet
  22. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="Started successfully, go nuts pid 1648" component=kubelet
  23. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="starting Status"
  24. Aug 18 13:49:00 ubuntu k0s[1631]: time="2022-08-18 13:49:00" level=info msg="starting Autopilot"

As this is a worker node, we cannot access the Kubernetes API via the builtin k0s kc subcommand, but we can check the k0s API instead:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s status
  2. Version: v1.30.1+k0s.0
  3. Process ID: 1631
  4. Role: worker
  5. Workloads: true
  6. SingleNode: false

The memory requirements are also pretty low:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ free -h
  2.                total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
  3. Mem:           3.7Gi       336Mi       2.1Gi       3.0Mi       1.2Gi       3.2Gi
  4. Swap:             0B          0B          0B

Connect to the cluster

On a controller node, generate a new raspi-cluster-master user with admin rights and get a kubeconfig for it:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s kc create clusterrolebinding raspi-cluster-master-admin --clusterrole=admin --user=raspi-cluster-master
  2. clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/raspi-cluster-master-admin created
  3. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo k0s kubeconfig create --groups system:masters raspi-cluster-master
  5. apiVersion: v1
  6. clusters:
  7. - cluster:
  8.     server: https://10.152.56.54:6443
  9.     certificate-authority-data: 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
  10.   name: k0s
  11. contexts:
  12. - context:
  13.     cluster: k0s
  14.     user: raspi-cluster-master
  15.   name: k0s
  16. current-context: k0s
  17. kind: Config
  18. preferences: {}
  19. users:
  20. - name: raspi-cluster-master
  21.   user:
  22.     client-certificate-data: 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
  23.     client-key-data: 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

Using the above kubeconfig, you can now access and use the cluster:

  1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ KUBECONFIG=/path/to/kubeconfig kubectl get nodes,deployments,pods -owide -A
  2. NAME          STATUS   ROLES    AGE    VERSION       INTERNAL-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   OS-IMAGE             KERNEL-VERSION      CONTAINER-RUNTIME
  3. node/ubuntu   Ready    <none>   5m1s   v1.30.1+k0s   10.152.56.54   <none>        Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS   5.15.0-1013-raspi   containerd://1.7.17
  5. NAMESPACE     NAME                             READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE   CONTAINERS       IMAGES                                                 SELECTOR
  6. kube-system   deployment.apps/coredns          1/1     1            1           33m   coredns          registry.k8s.io/coredns/coredns:v1.7.0                 k8s-app=kube-dns
  7. kube-system   deployment.apps/metrics-server   1/1     1            1           33m   metrics-server   registry.k8s.io/metrics-server/metrics-server:v0.7.1   k8s-app=metrics-server
  9. NAMESPACE     NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE    IP             NODE     NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
  10. kube-system   pod/coredns-88b745646-pkk5w           1/1     Running   0          33m    10.244.0.5     ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  11. kube-system   pod/konnectivity-agent-h4nfj          1/1     Running   0          5m1s   10.244.0.6     ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  12. kube-system   pod/kube-proxy-qcgzs                  1/1     Running   0          5m1s   10.152.56.54   ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  13. kube-system   pod/kube-router-6lrht                 1/1     Running   0          5m1s   10.152.56.54   ubuntu   <none>           <none>
  14. kube-system   pod/metrics-server-7d7c4887f4-wwbkk   1/1     Running   0          33m    10.244.0.4     ubuntu   <none>           <none>