Kubernetes on DigitalOcean

IMO, the easiest Kubernetes cloud provider to experiment with is DigitalOcean (this is a referral link). I've included instructions below to start a basic cluster.

Ingredients

DigitalOcean account, either linked to a credit card or (my preference for a trial) topped up with $5 credit from PayPal. (yes, this is a referral link, making me some 💰 to buy 🍷)
Geek-Fu required : 🐱 (easy - even has screenshots!)

Preparation

Create DigitalOcean Account

Create a project, and then from your project page, click Manage -> Kubernetes (LTD) in the left-hand panel:

Until DigitalOcean considers their Kubernetes offering to be "production ready", you'll need the additional step of clicking on Enable Limited Access:

The Enable Limited Access button changes to read Create a Kubernetes Cluster . Cleeeek it:

When prompted, choose some defaults for your first node pool (your pool of "compute" resources for your cluster), and give it a name. In more complex deployments, you can use this concept of "node pools" to run certain applications (like an inconsequential nightly batch job) on a particular class of compute instance (such as cheap, preemptible instances)

That's it! Have a sip of your 🍷, a bite of your 🧀, and wait for your cluster to build. While you wait, follow the instructions to setup kubectl (if you don't already have it)

DigitalOcean will provide you with a "kubeconfig" file to use to access your cluster. It's at the bottom of the page (illustrated below), and easy to miss (in my experience).

Release the kubectl!

Save your kubeconfig file somewhere, and test it our by running kubectl --kubeconfig=<PATH TO KUBECONFIG> get nodes

Example output:

[davidy:~/Downloads] 130 % kubectl --kubeconfig=penguins-are-the-sexiest-geeks-kubeconfig.yaml get nodes
NAME                  STATUS    ROLES     AGE       VERSION
festive-merkle-8n9e   Ready     <none>    20s       v1.13.1
[davidy:~/Downloads] %

In the example above, my nodes were being deployed. Repeat the command to see your nodes spring into existence:

[davidy:~/Downloads] % kubectl --kubeconfig=penguins-are-the-sexiest-geeks-kubeconfig.yaml get nodes
NAME                  STATUS    ROLES     AGE       VERSION
festive-merkle-8n96   Ready     <none>    6s        v1.13.1
festive-merkle-8n9e   Ready     <none>    34s       v1.13.1
[davidy:~/Downloads] %

[davidy:~/Downloads] % kubectl --kubeconfig=penguins-are-the-sexiest-geeks-kubeconfig.yaml get nodes
NAME                  STATUS    ROLES     AGE       VERSION
festive-merkle-8n96   Ready     <none>    30s       v1.13.1
festive-merkle-8n9a   Ready     <none>    17s       v1.13.1
festive-merkle-8n9e   Ready     <none>    58s       v1.13.1
[davidy:~/Downloads] %

That's it. You have a beautiful new kubernetes cluster ready for some action!

Move on..

Still with me? Good. Move on to creating your own external load balancer..

Start - Why Kubernetes?
Design - How does it fit together?
Cluster (this page) - Setup a basic cluster
Load Balancer - Setup inbound access
Snapshots - Automatically backup your persistent data
Helm - Uber-recipes from fellow geeks
Traefik - Traefik Ingress via Helm

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