Direct Connection

Prerequisites

You have already installed at least two KubeSphere clusters. Please refer to Installing on Linux or Installing on Kubernetes if they are not ready yet.

Note

Multi-cluster management requires Kubesphere to be installed on the target clusters. If you have an existing cluster, you can deploy KubeSphere on it with a minimal installation so that it can be imported. See Minimal KubeSphere on Kubernetes for details.

Direct Connection

If the kube-apiserver address of Member Cluster (hereafter referred to as M Cluster) is accessible on any node of the Host Cluster (hereafter referred to as H Cluster), you can adopt Direction Connection. This method is applicable when the kube-apiserver address of M Cluster can be exposed or H Cluster and M Cluster are in the same private network or subnet.

Prepare a Host Cluster

If you already have a standalone KubeSphere installed, you can set the value of clusterRole to host by editing the cluster configuration. You need to wait for a while so that the change can take effect.

  • Option A - Use Web Console:

Use admin account to log in the console and go to CRDs on the Cluster Management page. Enter the keyword ClusterConfiguration and go to its detail page. Edit the YAML of ks-installer, which is similar to Enable Pluggable Components.

  • Option B - Use Kubectl:
  1. kubectl edit cc ks-installer -n kubesphere-system

Scroll down and set the value of clusterRole to host, then click Update (if you use the web console) to make it effective:

  1. multicluster:
  2.   clusterRole: host

There is no big difference if you define a host cluster before installation. Please note that the clusterRole in config-sample.yaml or cluster-configuration.yaml has to be set as follows:

  1. multicluster:
  2.   clusterRole: host

You can use kubectl to retrieve the installation logs to verify the status by running the following command. Wait for a while, and you will be able to see the successful log return if the host cluster is ready.

  1. kubectl logs -n kubesphere-system $(kubectl get pod -n kubesphere-system -l app=ks-install -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -f

Prepare a Member Cluster

In order to manage the member cluster within the host cluster, you need to make jwtSecret the same between them. Therefore, you need to get it first from the host cluster by the following command.

  1. kubectl -n kubesphere-system get cm kubesphere-config -o yaml | grep -v "apiVersion" | grep jwtSecret

The output may look like this:

  1. jwtSecret: "gfIwilcc0WjNGKJ5DLeksf2JKfcLgTZU"

If you already have a standalone KubeSphere installed, you can set the value of clusterRole to member by editing the cluster configuration. You need to wait for a while so that the change can take effect.

  • Option A - Use Web Console:

Use admin account to log in the console and go to CRDs on the Cluster Management page. Enter the keyword ClusterConfiguration and go to its detail page. Edit the YAML of ks-installer, which is similar to Enable Pluggable Components.

  • Option B - Use Kubectl:
  1. kubectl edit cc ks-installer -n kubesphere-system

Input the corresponding jwtSecret shown above:

  1. authentication:
  2.   jwtSecret: gfIwilcc0WjNGKJ5DLeksf2JKfcLgTZU

Scroll down and set the value of clusterRole to member, then click Update (if you use the web console) to make it effective:

  1. multicluster:
  2.   clusterRole: member

There is no big difference if you define a member cluster before installation. Please note that the clusterRole in config-sample.yaml or cluster-configuration.yaml has to be set as follows:

  1. authentication:
  2.   jwtSecret: gfIwilcc0WjNGKJ5DLeksf2JKfcLgTZU

Scroll down and set the value of clusterRole to member:

  1. multicluster:
  2.   clusterRole: member

You can use kubectl to retrieve the installation logs to verify the status by running the following command. Wait for a while, and you will be able to see the successful log return if the member cluster is ready.

  1. kubectl logs -n kubesphere-system $(kubectl get pod -n kubesphere-system -l app=ks-install -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -f

Import Cluster

  1. Open the H Cluster dashboard and click Add Cluster.

Add Cluster

  1. Enter the basic information of the cluster to be imported and click Next.

Import Cluster

  1. In Connection Method, select Direct Connection to Kubernetes cluster.

  2. Retrieve the KubeConfig, copy the KubeConfig of the Member Cluster and paste it into the box.

Tip

Please make sure the server address in KubeConfig is accessible on any node of the H Cluster. For KubeSphere API Server address, you can fill in the KubeSphere APIServer address or leave it blank.

import a cluster - direct connection

  1. Click Import and wait for cluster initialization to finish.

Azure AKS