Static Pods on Support Tools

RKE2 the Hard Way: Part 4 – Setting up etcd Cluster as Static Pods

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Part 4 – Setting up etcd Cluster as Static Pods

In this part of the “RKE2 the Hard Way” training series, we will set up etcd as a clustered key-value store using static pods managed by kubelet. etcd is a consistent and highly-available key-value store used by Kubernetes to store all cluster data, including the state of the cluster, configuration data, and metadata.

In RKE2, etcd is deployed as a static pod managed by kubelet, instead of running directly as a systemd service. This makes it easier to manage, as kubelet handles lifecycle operations, restarts, and monitoring.

RKE2 the Hard Way: Part 5 – Setting up kube-apiserver as Static Pods

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Part 5 – Setting up kube-apiserver as Static Pods

In this part of the “RKE2 the Hard Way” training series, we will set up the Kubernetes API Server (kube-apiserver) as static pods managed by kubelet on each of our nodes. The API server is the central component of the Kubernetes control plane that exposes the Kubernetes API.

Using static pods for the API server is a key design principle in RKE2. This approach simplifies deployment and management, as kubelet will automatically start the API server and ensure it stays running. If an API server instance fails, kubelet will automatically restart it.

RKE2 the Hard Way: Part 6 – Setting up kube-controller-manager and kube-scheduler as Static Pods

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Part 6 – Setting up kube-controller-manager and kube-scheduler as Static Pods

In this part of the “RKE2 the Hard Way” training series, we will set up the Kubernetes Controller Manager (kube-controller-manager) and Scheduler (kube-scheduler) as static pods managed by kubelet on each of our nodes.

The Controller Manager runs controller processes that regulate the state of the cluster (such as replication controllers, node controllers, and service account controllers)
The Scheduler is responsible for watching for newly created pods and assigning them to nodes

Using static pods for these components is a key design principle in RKE2, just like we did for etcd and kube-apiserver. This approach ensures high availability and automatic recovery in case of failures.