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Creating a Kubernetes cluster

Overview

Creating a managed Kubernetes cluster on Civo provides you with options, from a streamlined experience to customisation of various aspects of how your cluster is set up. The documentation below covers the main options available on initial cluster launch.

Creating a cluster on the Dashboard

Begin by selecting the Civo Region you are operating in. You can do so in the lower left of your Dashboard page:

Region selection menu

Then, navigate to the Kubernetes cluster creation page:

Overview of the cluster creation page on Civo

The numbered sections give you options for the specifications of your cluster.

1. Name

This is your cluster's name. May not contain a space.

2. Number of nodes

Kubernetes clusters on Civo can have multiple node pools - this is the number you want to launch in the cluster's initial node pool. This can be scaled up and down once the cluster is running, and does not include the control plane node, which is handled by Civo.

3. Network

If you have created custom networks in this region, you will be able to choose one of them here. Custom networks allow you to define private networking within a region, which allows you to prevent some resources from being routable to the public internet. Civo Kubernetes clusters will always have a public IP address.

4. Firewall

If you have configured existing firewalls in this region, you will be able to select one of them for this cluster, or create a new firewall and specify which port(s) to open. Firewall rules can be customised after creation.

5. Node size

The specifications for the machines in the initial node pool. These are priced per node, per hour. The "Hourly/Monthly" slider allows you to estimate the cost per month or per hour of the cluster running. For more information, see the Billing section.

Sizes or configurations may not be available due to quota on your account or the number of nodes you have chosen in section 2 above.

Depending on the applications you want to run on your cluster, you may need to select larger nodes.

Advanced options and marketplace

6. Advanced options

This section allows you to optionally configure advanced options.

Container Networking Interface (CNI)

The default CNI on Civo is Flannel. However, you can choose Cilium as an alternative Container Networking Interface (CNI) for your cluster.

Please note that the Cilium CNI is not compatible with Talos clusters. If you choose Cilium as your CNI and set Talos as your cluster type, the system will default to using Flannel.

Cluster type

The Cluster type selector allows you to choose between K3s or Talos Linux. The underlying operating system on K3s clusters is an Alpine Linux image. Talos Linux is an immutable Kubernetes-oriented Linux operating system.

As noted above, please note that the Cilium CNI is not compatible with Talos clusters and Flannel will be used instead.

7. Marketplace

You can remove applications to prevent them from being installed by default, or add applications to start alongside your cluster. For more information, see the Marketplace documentation.

Creating your cluster

When you are satisfied with your initial cluster configuration, you can click "Create cluster" and be directed to the cluster's dashboard page. It will take a moment to become active, and you will be shown the status throughout.

Cluster building

Once running, you can use kubectl and the downloaded kubeconfig file from the cluster's page to interact with your cluster. You will find the kubeconfig file for download in the "Cluster information" section:

Cluster information showing Kubeconfig download