Deployment Overview of MicroK8s on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

Operating System: Ubuntu Linux.
Privileges: Root access is required to perform the installation and manage system services.
Package Manager: apt for system updates and snapd for MicroK8s installation.
Network: The server must have outbound internet access to download packages and certificates.

FQDN of the Final Panel¶

Based on the provided configuration, no specific FQDN in the format <prefix><Server ID>.hostkey.in:<port> is defined for a user-facing web panel. The MicroK8s Dashboard is exposed locally via port forwarding.

File and Directory Structure¶

The deployment utilizes the following paths for data and configuration storage:

Path	Description
`/snap/bin`	Location of `microk8s` and `kubectl` binaries.
`/data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env`	Environment file for Nginx and Certbot configuration.
`/data/nginx/user_conf.d`	Directory for custom Nginx user configurations.
`/etc/letsencrypt`	Mount point for SSL certificate storage (via named volume).

Application Installation Process¶

The MicroK8s cluster is installed as a Snap package using the 1.31/stable channel. The installation process involves the following steps:

Update the apt package index.
Install the snapd package if not already present.

Install MicroK8s via Snap:

snap install microk8s --channel 1.31/stable --classic

Add the current user to the microk8s group to enable command execution without sudo for cluster management.
Enable essential addons for DNS, storage, and the dashboard:
```
microk8s enable dns hostpath-storage dashboard
```
Wait for the cluster to become ready:
```
microk8s status --wait-ready
```
Create a shell alias for kubectl:
```
snap alias microk8s.kubectl kubectl
```

Docker Containers and Their Deployment¶

A containerized Nginx service is deployed using Docker Compose. The configuration includes:

Image: jonasal/nginx-certbot:latest
Restart Policy: unless-stopped
Network Mode: host
Environment Variables:
- CERTBOT_EMAIL: Set to [email protected]
- Additional settings loaded from /data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env
Volumes:
- nginx_secrets: An external volume mounted at /etc/letsencrypt for SSL certificates.
- /data/nginx/user_conf.d: Mounted at /etc/nginx/user_conf.d for custom Nginx configurations.

The deployment utilizes the docker-compose tool to manage the Nginx container lifecycle based on the provided YAML definition.

Proxy Servers¶

The Nginx container acts as a reverse proxy and handles SSL certificate management using Certbot.

Configuration File: /data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env
Custom Configs: Placed in /data/nginx/user_conf.d
SSL Storage: Managed via the nginx_secrets volume at /etc/letsencrypt.

Access Rights and Security¶

User Group: The root user is added to the microk8s group to manage the cluster.
Firewall: No specific firewall rules or port restrictions are defined in the provided configuration files.
Access Control: Access to the Kubernetes dashboard is granted via a token generated by kubectl.

Starting, Stopping, and Updating¶

Dashboard Access Token: To access the MicroK8s dashboard, generate a token using:
```
microk8s kubectl create token default
```
Port Forwarding: To access the dashboard, port 10443 on the host is forwarded to port 443 of the dashboard service:
```
microk8s kubectl port-forward -n kube-system service/kubernetes-dashboard 10443:443 &
```
Container Management: Docker containers managed by Compose can be started, stopped, or updated using standard docker compose commands corresponding to the project directory containing compose.yml.

Available Ports for Connection¶

10443: Local port for accessing the MicroK8s Dashboard (requires active port-forwarding process).
80/443: Standard HTTP/HTTPS ports handled by the Nginx container in host network mode.