k8s-launch-pad

This is a Terraform template for launching a Kubernetes cluster on AWS at low cost.
It is derived from a tool I use daily for personal and testing environment.

If you want to use K8s at a low price, please use.

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Environment

Tool	Version
Terraform	v1.10.4
Platform	WSL2 (linux_amd64)
OS	Amazon Linux 2023
Kubernetes Version	v1.31
AWS Region	ap-northeast-1 (default)

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What this template does

• Creates a VPC, subnet, internet gateway, and route table
• Configures security groups for SSH and Kubernetes API access
• Launches a single EC2 instance as the Kubernetes master node
• Runs install-k8s.yml (Ansible Playbook) via Terraform provisioner
• Installs:
  • containerd (v2.0.2)
  • runc (v1.2.4)
  • CNI plugins (v1.6.2)
  • Kubernetes components (kubeadm, kubelet, kubectl)
• Initializes the Kubernetes cluster using kubeadm
• Applies the Flannel CNI for networking

Step	Description
Containerd Installation	Downloads and extracts containerd
runc Installation	Downloads and installs runc
CNI Plugins Installation	Downloads and extracts CNI plugins to /opt/cni/bin
System Configuration	Loads kernel modules (overlay, br_netfilter) and sets sysctl parameters
Package Installation	Installs kubeadm, kubelet, kubectl from the Kubernetes repo
Cluster Initialization	Runs kubeadm init with Flannel pod network CIDR
kubeconfig Setup	Copies admin kubeconfig to both root and ec2-user's home directory
Network Plugin Setup	Applies Flannel manifest

Usage

1. Clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/7csc/k8s-launch-pad.git
cd k8s-launch-pad

2. Prepare your SSH key and environment variables

• Place your public key (e.g., ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub) in the location defined in terraform.tfvars
• Update terraform.tfvars with your:
  • AWS region
  • Key pair name
  • Allowed IP for SSH (ssh_allowed_ip)

3. Initialize Terraform ~ Apply the configuration

terraform init

terraform plan -var-file=terraform.tfvars

terraform apply -var-file=terraform.tfvars

Clean up

terraform destroy -var-file=terraform.tfvars