Reach for the Cloud

In this chapter, we are going to learn how to build a Kubernetes cluster that runs on Amazon Web Services from first principles. In order to learn how Kubernetes works, we are going to manually launch the EC2 instances that will form this first cluster and manually install and configure the Kubernetes components.

The cluster that we will build is suitable for you to use when learning about managing Kubernetes and for developing applications that can run on Kubernetes. With these instructions, we are aiming to build the simplest possible cluster that we can deploy to AWS. Of course, this does mean that there are some things that you will want to do differently when building a cluster of mission-critical applications. But don't worry—there are three chapters in Part 3 - Ready for Production where we cover everything you need to know to get your cluster ready for even the most demanding applications.

This chapter is designed to be a learning experience, so read through and type out the commands as you read them. If you have the e-book version of this book, then resist the urge to copy and paste, as you will learn more if you type out the commands and take some time to understand what you are doing. There are tools that will do everything this chapter covers and more just by running one command, but hopefully building your first cluster manually, step by step, will give you some valuable insight into what is required to make a Kubernetes cluster tick.