Creating an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Cluster

This guide will walk you through the steps to create a new Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. We'll cover using the Azure CLI for a programmatic approach, which is recommended for automation and reproducibility.

Step 1: Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

  • An Azure account with an active subscription. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free trial.
  • The Azure CLI installed and configured. You can find installation instructions here.
  • Logged in to your Azure account using the Azure CLI:
    az login
  • Set your default subscription if you have multiple:
    az account set --subscription ""

Step 2: Create a Resource Group

AKS clusters, like other Azure resources, need to reside in a resource group. If you don't have one already, create it now.

Replace <myResourceGroup> with a unique name for your resource group and <region-name> with the Azure region where you want to deploy the cluster (e.g., eastus, westeurope).

az group create --name --location

Step 3: Create the AKS Cluster

Now, let's create the AKS cluster. This command deploys a basic AKS cluster with recommended settings. You can customize various aspects like the number of nodes, Kubernetes version, and networking.

Replace the placeholders with your desired values:

  • <myResourceGroup>: The name of the resource group you created in the previous step.
  • <myAKSCluster>: A unique name for your AKS cluster.
  • <region-name>: The same Azure region used for the resource group.
  • --node-count <number>: The initial number of agent nodes in the node pool (e.g., 3).
  • --generate-ssh-keys: This flag generates SSH public and private key files for accessing the cluster nodes if needed.
az aks create \ --resource-group \ --name \ --location \ --node-count 1 \ --enable-addons monitoring \ --generate-ssh-keys

This command can take a few minutes to complete.

Tip: For production environments, consider enabling advanced features like Azure Policy for Kubernetes, network policies, and private clusters. Refer to the official Azure documentation for detailed configuration options.

Step 4: Connect to the Cluster

Once the cluster is created, you need to configure the Azure CLI to connect to your cluster. This involves downloading the Kubernetes configuration file (kubeconfig).

Replace <myResourceGroup> and <myAKSCluster> with your cluster's details.

az aks get-credentials --resource-group --name

This command merges the cluster's credentials into your local ~/.kube/config file. You can verify the connection by listing the nodes:

kubectl get nodes

You should see output listing the nodes in your AKS cluster.

Step 5: Further Configuration (Optional)

You've successfully created an AKS cluster! From here, you can:

Note: Remember to clean up your Azure resources when they are no longer needed to avoid incurring unexpected costs. You can delete the resource group, which will remove all resources within it.
az group delete --name --yes --no-wait