Preface

Welcome! This is a handy book on using Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to effortlessly deploy and manage your Kubernetes clusters on AWS. With EKS, running Kubernetes on AWS becomes a breeze as you no longer have to worry about the complexity of managing the underlying infrastructure. Kubernetes (K8s) is one the fastest-growing open source projects in the world and is rapidly becoming the de facto container orchestration platform for cloud-native applications.

But for those not familiar with AWS, you might be wondering, “Why is running Kubernetes on AWS challenging?” There are a few factors that can make it difficult. One of the primary issues is configuring and managing the foundational AWS infrastructure, including virtual networks and security groups. Additionally, managing the resources required for a Kubernetes cluster can pose its own set of challenges. Integrating with other AWS services, such as load balancers and storage, can also introduce complexities. However, EKS has enabled many features to make these things easier, so rest assured that with time and effort, you can become proficient in managing a Kubernetes cluster on AWS – and the rewards will be well worth it.

This book looks at the AWS managed EKS service in detail, from its basic architecture and configuration through to advanced use cases such as GitOps or Service Mesh. The book aims to take the reader from a basic understanding of K8s and the AWS platform to being able to create EKS clusters and build and deploy production workloads on them.

Throughout the book, we will dive into various techniques that enable you to optimize your EKS clusters. The coverage spans a wide range of topics, including networking, security, storage, scaling, observability, service mesh, and cluster upgrade strategies. We have structured this book to provide you with a step-by-step guide to mastering EKS on AWS. Each chapter covers a specific topic and includes practical examples, tips, and best practices to help you understand and apply the concepts in real-world scenarios.

Our intention is not only to equip you with the technical skills required for success, but also to foster a deeper understanding of the underlying concepts so that you can apply them to your own unique situations.

Who this book is for

This book is aimed at engineers and developers with minimal experience of the AWS platform and K8s, who want to understand how to use EKS to run containerized workloads in their environments and integrate them with other AWS services. It’s a practical guide with plenty of code examples, so familiarization with Linux, Python, Terraform, and YAML is recommended.

Overall, there are three main roles as the target audience who will gain practical insights from this book:

• Developers and DevOps engineers: They will understand the Kubernetes environment on AWS, know how to configure the cluster to run cloud-native applications by using EKS, and learn CI/CD practices.
• Cloud architects: They will gain a comprehensive understanding of how to design well-architected cloud infrastructure when running Kubernetes on AWS.
• Kubernetes administrators: Cluster administrators will learn the practical operation methods for managing Kubernetes workloads on AWS. Additionally, they will gain a complete understanding of EKS features to enhance cluster scalability, availability, and observability.

Whether you are just getting started with cloud computing or are looking to expand your knowledge and skills, this book has something for everyone who owns an AWS account and wants to start their EKS journey.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, The Fundamentals of Kubernetes and Containers, covers an introduction to Kubernetes and container technology. It will also deep dive into the elements that constitute a container, the concept of the container orchestrator, and the Kubernetes architecture.

Chapter 2, Introducing Amazon EKS, provides a comprehensive guide to explain what Amazon EKS is, its architecture behind the scenes, its pricing model, and the common mistakes that users may have. This chapter also gives you a brief overview to compare the options for running workloads on AWS: using EKS or a self-managed Kubernetes cluster.

Chapter 3, Building Your First EKS Cluster, explores different options to create your first EKS cluster step by step and gives an overview of the automation process when building your workflow, including the AWS console, AWS CLI, eksctl, AWS CDK, and Terraform.

Chapter 4, Running Your First Application on EKS, covers the different ways you can deploy and operate a simple application on EKS, including how to implement and expose your application to make it accessible externally. It also touches on tools to visualize your workload.

Chapter 5, Using Helm to Manage a Kubernetes Application, focuses on how to install and use Helm to simplify your Kubernetes deployment experience. This chapter also covers the details of Helm charts, their architecture, and common scenarios for their use.

Chapter 6, Securing and Accessing Clusters on EKS, dives into the essential aspects of authentication and authorization in Kubernetes and how they apply to EKS. The chapter explains the significance of configuring client tools and accessing your EKS cluster securely.

Chapter 7, Networking in EKS, explains Kubernetes networking and demonstrates how EKS can be seamlessly integrated with AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Chapter 8, Managing Worker Nodes on EKS, explores the configuration and effective management of EKS worker nodes. It highlights the benefits of using EKS-optimized images (AMIs) and managed node groups, offering insights into their advantages over self-managed alternatives.

Chapter 9, Advanced Networking with EKS, delves into advanced networking scenarios in EKS. It covers topics such as managing Pod IP addresses with IPv6, implementing network policies for traffic control, and utilizing complex network-based information systems such as Multus CNI.

Chapter 10, Upgrading EKS Clusters, focuses on the strategies for upgrading EKS clusters to leverage new features and ensure continued support. It provides guidance on key areas to consider, including in-place and blue/green upgrades of the control plane, critical components, node groups, and migrating workloads to new clusters.

Chapter 11, Building Applications and Pushing Them to Amazon ECR, examines the process of building and storing container images on Amazon ECR for EKS deployments. It covers topics such as repository authentication, pushing container images, utilizing advanced ECR features, and integrating ECR into EKS clusters.

Chapter 12, Deploying Pods with Amazon Storage, explains Kubernetes volumes, Container Storage Interface (CSI), and the need for persistent storage in Kubernetes Pods, and demonstrates the usage of EBS and EFS on EKS. It also covers the details for installing and configuring AWS CSI drivers for utilizing EBS and EFS volumes with your application.

Chapter 13, Using IAM for Granting Access to Applications, discusses Pod security with a scenario on integrating IAM with your containerized applications. It includes defining IAM permissions for Pods, utilizing IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA), and troubleshooting IAM issues specific to EKS deployments.

Chapter 14, Setting Load Balancing for Applications on EKS, explores the concept of load balancing for EKS applications. It also expands the discussion of scalability and resilience and provides insights into the Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) options available in AWS.

Chapter 15, Working with AWS Fargate, introduces AWS Fargate as an alternative serverless option for hosting Pods in EKS. It examines the benefits of using Fargate, provides guidance on creating Fargate profiles, deploying Pods to Fargate environments seamlessly, and troubleshooting common issues that may arise.

Chapter 16, Working with a Service Mesh, explores the use of service mesh technology to enhance control, visibility, and security in microservices-based ecosystems on EKS. The chapter covers the installation of the AWS App Mesh Controller, integration with Pods, leveraging AWS Cloud Map, and troubleshooting the Envoy proxy.

Chapter 17, EKS Observability, describes the importance of observability in EKS deployments and provides insights into...