This article introduces a new feature of TKE-Edge - Kins, with the main functions described as follows: This capability can turn a standard NodeUnit edge node pool into an independent K3s cluster with a single click. This edge node pool can then be disconnected from the cloud control plane and used for long-term offline operation. During the offline process, the edge node pool can be independently operated and maintained as a standard K3s cluster. If there is a need for maintenance or upgrades in the future, this node pool can be reconnected to the cloud, enabling remote maintenance operations such as cloud-based synchronization upgrades. This feature comprehensively improves the previous capability deficiency of NodeUnit, which could not operate autonomously after disconnecting from the network.
Architecture
The basic architecture of Kins is as follow:
For example, the three edge nodes can be divided into a NodeUnit. Through edge node pool-related operations, the K3s master and agent components can be deployed on these three nodes to form an independent single-master or 3-master K3s cluster. This edge K3s cluster can be accessed from the cloud via a tunnel, and it can also be accessed directly on the edge-side nodes.
Operation Steps
Caution：
The Kins capability is currently only supported for Kubernetes version 1.22, and the runtime must be containerd.
2. On the cluster management page, click the cluster ID to enter the cluster details page.
3. Add nodes into the cluster.
4. Click "Node management" > "Edge node pool", and create standard NodeUnit called "demo".
5. Select "demo" and click "Promote to Standalone NodeUnit(K3s cluster)" to promote K3s cluster, as follow:
6. At the "Node pool elevation and allocation" page, you can select "Cluster type" and Click "Done"
If there are only 1-2 nodes in the NodeUnit, you can only use a "single Master cluster" by default. If the NodeUnit contains 3 or more nodes, you can choose to use a "single Master cluster" or a "3 Master highly available cluster". You can make a choice based on your own needs.
7. After a moment, you'll see the type of "demo" NodeUnit will change to "Standalone":
Access the edge K3s cluster
1. At the NodeUnit page list, click "Access NodeUnit(K3s)", and you will be redirected to the console UI of the edge K3s cluster, as shown in the following figure:
2. In the basic information of the edge K3s cluster, click "Internet access" to enable the external network access capability of the edge K3s cluster. Once enabled, you can use the `kubectl` command on any client in the public cloud, access the edge K3s cluster through TKE-Edge's external network proxy capability, as shown in the following figure:
At the "Open Internet Access" page, please enter the password required for proxy access, as shown in the following figure:
Caution：
When enabling Internet network access, the system will provide http/https proxy access through the cloud CLB capability. Therefore, users are required to set a proxy password for authentication to ensure the security of the proxy.
3. You can log in to the edge K3s cluster using either the cloud kubeconfig or the edge-side kubeconfig. Click to view the cluster credentials, as shown in the following figure:
And you can choose the Internet Access or Private Network Access:
If you want to access the edge K3s cluster from the public cloud side, you can download/copy the kubeconfig through "Via internet".
If you want to directly access the local K3s cluster from the edge-side node, you can download/copy the kubeconfig for "Private network access".
4. You can also directly use the console Web UI to perform some basic operations on the edge K3s cluster, as shown in the following figure:
Add node to edge K3s cluster
Caution：
In the current product form, users are temporarily only supported to add new nodes to the edge K3s cluster through the Cloud console side, and independent node addition is not supported when the K3s cluster is offline. Users can directly add nodes to the NodeUnit through the cloud, and the new nodes will be automatically joined to the edge K3s cluster.
1. On the NodeUnit list page, select the desired NodeUnit and click Update Configuration, as shown in the following figure:
2. At "Update NodeUnit" page, add the new node "gz-4", as follow:
3. Click "Done" and you'll see "gz-4" has already been in the NodeUnit "demo".
4. After waiting for a while, click "Access NodeUnit" button and enter edge K3s console page. Observe the cluster node information, and you will find that the added node has joined the edge K3s cluster, as shown in the following figure:
5. Through interactive operation with NodeUnit on the cloud, you can now freely add computing nodes to the edge K3s cluster.
Delete node from edge K3s cluster
At present, this product only temporarily supports users to delete edge nodes in the K3s cluster via the cloud. There are two ways for users to remove nodes from the edge K3s cluster.
Method 1
If users only want to clear the corresponding node from NodeUnit while not needing to remove it from the TKE-Edge cluster, they just need to modify the NodeUnit's node configuration. As shown below, simply deselect the corresponding node:
1. On the NodeUnit list page, select the specified NodeUnit and click on "Update configuration".
2. On "Update NodeUnit" page, deselect the specified node as shown in the image below:
3. Click on "Done", and you can observe the edge K3s cluster node status. The corresponding node will be cleared, as shown in the following image:
Method 2
If a user wants to delete a node on TKE-Edge and no longer use it, they can directly remove the corresponding node from the TKE-Edge node page. The corresponding node in the edge K3s cluster will also be cleaned up accordingly.
Degrade edge K3s cluster
If a user no longer needs the edge K3s standalone cluster and wishes to revert to using the standard TKE-Edge edge NodeUnit, follow these steps:
1. On the NodeUnit list page, select the NodeUnit that needs to be downgraded, and click on "Degrade to normal NodeUnit". As shown in the image below:
2. After being degraded to a standard node pool, its default behavior will be consistent with that of a standard NodeUnit.
Delete edge K3s cluster
Caution：
By default, the TKE-Edge product only allows users to delete standard NodeUnit from the interface. The delete button for independent node pools is disabled by default, so users are not permitted to directly delete "Standalone" NodeUnit.
If you wish to delete an independent node pool, you must first perform the edge K3s cluster degrade operation to downgrade the standalone NodeUnit to a standard NodeUnit. After that, you can delete it from the NodeUnit page.
Yes
No
Was this page helpful?