AWS Quick Starts

Quick Start for Kubernetes by Heptio on AWS

Flexible container orchestration platform on the AWS Cloud

Deploy on AWS into a new VPC

(or deploy into an existing VPC)

View guide

Quick Start architecture for Heptio Kubernetes on the AWS Cloud
heptio-kubernetes-qs


This Quick Start sets up a flexible, secure AWS environment and launches a Kubernetes cluster automatically into a configuration of your choice.

Kubernetes is an open-source orchestration platform for managing cloud workloads through containers such as Docker. With Kubernetes on the AWS Cloud, you gain the flexibility and security of the AWS infrastructure along with the powerful container deployment, scaling, and management capabilities of Kubernetes.

The Quick Start was created by AWS in partnership with Heptio, to integrate solutions and services from both companies.

See the deployment guide for step-by-step instructions to deploy the Kubernetes Quick Start on AWS and to get the most out of your deployment. For additional Quick Starts, see the complete catalog.

  • What you'll build

    Use this Quick Start to set up the following Kubernetes environment on AWS:

    • A virtual private cloud (VPC) that includes two subnets (public and private)*
    • In the public subnet, a Linux bastion host and Elastic Load Balancing*
    • In the private subnet, a Kubernetes cluster on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. The Quick Start sets up one EC2 instance for the master node and your choice of 1-20 EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group for worker nodes
    • kubeadm for cluster administration, and Docker for the container runtime
    • Your choice of Calico or Weave for networking between pods
    • Security group for SSH access from the bastion host and inter-node connectivity
       

    The template that deploys the Quick Start into an existing VPC skips the tasks marked by asterisks. For details, see the Quick Start deployment guide.

  • Deployment details

    Build your Kubernetes cluster in about 10 minutes, by following a few simple steps:

    1. Sign up for an AWS account at https://aws.amazon.com.
    2. Launch the Quick Start into a new VPC, if you want to build a new AWS infrastructure. (View template)
      -or-
      Launch the Quick Start into an existing VPC, if you already have your AWS environment set up. (View template)
    3. Test your Kubernetes cluster by following the step-by-step instructions in the deployment guide. 


    To customize your deployment, you can choose different instance types for the Kubernetes cluster and the bastion host, choose the number of worker nodes you'd like to set up (1-20 nodes), and choose the networking provider (Calico or Weave).  

    For detailed instructions, see the Quick Start deployment guide.

  • Cost and licenses

    You are responsible for the cost of the AWS services used while running this Quick Start reference deployment. There is no additional cost for using the Quick Start.

    The AWS CloudFormation template for this Quick Start includes configuration parameters that you can customize. Some of these settings, such as instance type, will affect the cost of deployment. For cost estimates, see the pricing pages for each AWS service you will be using.

    Kubernetes is available free of charge through the open-source Apache 2.0 license.