Kubernetes in AWS with k3s deployed via terraform. Save costs (compared to EKS) without compromising scalability or features.

• aws account
• awscli v2
• ssm plugin
• terraform v1+

cd terraform/

# customize settings.auto.tfvars

# init and apply
terraform init
terraform apply

• offline or online
  • cluster functions without direct internet access
    • enable egress w/ var.nat_gateways = true
    • lambda+ssm bootstrap k3s' airgap installation
  • container image mirror via ecr with:
    • pull-through-cache for images @
      • public-ecr
      • quay.io
    • any other public image using codebuild (var.container_images)
      • supports multi-arch
      • see terraform/settings.auto.tfvars => container_images[]
• multiple scaling configurations
  • create any number of node groups
  • define the following components per node group, including the control-plane
    • node count (min/max)
    • instance type
    • arch/accelerated (arm64, x86_64, gpu)
    • local storage
  • availability zones
• IRSA (IAM roles for Service Accounts) support
  • OIDC endpoint enrollment via s3 bucket static page
  • lambda manages aws identity provider
  • example: ./terraform/manifests/irsa.yaml after apply
• interact with cluster API via SSM PortForwardSession
  • post-apply: ./terraform/connect.sh, see example image
  • works with kubectl, helm, k9s, lens, etc.
• strongly enforced encryption + access management
  • at-rest:
    • 8 independent kms keys (codebuild, cloudwatch, ec2, ecr, lambda, s3, sns, ssm)
    • tailored kms key, bucket, iam, and trust policies
  • in-transit:
    • IPSec via Cilium
    • Cilium network policies
• included charts:
  • aws-cloud-controller
  • aws-efs-csi-controller
  • cilium cni w/ ipsec and base network policies
  • nvidia-device-plugin for GPU-accelerated instances
  • external-dns (req. var.nat_gateways = true)

• aws-efs-csi-driver
  • bug: official helm chart does not support passing mounts + envvars
    • mounts + envvars are required for non-eks IRSA, e.g: see ./terraform/templates/irsa.yaml.tftpl
    • fix: granted control-plane nodes' iam instance profile the permissions required for efs
• aws-load-balancer-controller
  • bug: nodes (ec2 instances) are not attached to associated nlb target group(s)
    • likely related to cni being non-native (cilium instead of eni)
    • fix: used aws ccm's native lb controller
• external-dns
  • bug: use of route53 requires internet egress
    • route53 has no regional endpoints (therefore no vpc endpoint support)
    • fix: added option to enable a nat gateway
  • bug: kubernetes-sigs/external-dns' helm chart does not support serviceaccount automountServiceAccountToken
    • the token must be mounted for non-eks IRSA, e.g: see ./terraform/templates/irsa.yaml.tftpl
    • fix: used bitnami/charts's external-dns w/ .Values.serviceAccount.automountServiceAccountToken: true
      • this introduces another bug
  • bug: bitnami/external-dns container image only supports x86_64
    • node architecture may be arm64
    • fix: used ghcr.io/zcube/bitnami-compat/external-dns which supports multi-arch

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