Configure Kubernetes#

The ICE ClusterWare ™ software works with a variety of Kubernetes distributions, including RKE2, Harvester, and an upstream version of Kubernetes primarily maintained by Google. The distribution you use determines how the ClusterWare manages and monitors worker nodes.

For a mutable operating system (OS), such as the version of Kubernetes packaged with the ClusterWare software or RKE2 installed on top of the node OS, you can install the clusterware-node package directly on the node OS. The clusterware-node package enables in-depth monitoring of node activity, including file system storage, visibility into all processes running on the node, and so on. The version of Kubernetes packaged with the ClusterWare software is recommended for those getting started with Kubernetes or for smaller clusters without enterprise-level Kubernetes support. RKE2 is recommended for clusters already running with Slurm or for clusters with enterprise support. Kubernetes installed on top of the OS requires the CRI-O runtime.

For an immutable OS, such as Harvester or RKE2 on SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro, you can use the pre-installed container registry on your head node to run a ClusterWare node container on all worker nodes. The node container can report most metrics to the ClusterWare software, but cannot report information about the file systems mounted (such as running out of disk space errors) and has limited process visibility. Harvester or RKE2 on immutable OS are recommended when installing from scratch or for those interested in hyper-converged infrastructure. Harvester and RKE2 require the containerd runtime.

Note

Harvester HCI 1.5.1 is required for multi-tenant clusters. Use the steps in Install Multi-Tenant Cluster to set up Harvester for multi-tenancy.

If you want to use a different container runtime or a Kubernetes distribution other than those discussed here, contact Penguin Computing.

After determining which Kubernetes distribution fits your needs, install and configure your Kubernetes instance to work with the ClusterWare software.

  1. Install Kubernetes.

  2. Configure Kubernetes: