Create Kubernetes clusters across multiple regions with RingLink
Kubernetes clusters typically have all nodes within the same region or data center to ensure low latency and high bandwidth network connections.
However, you may want to deploy Kubernetes clusters across multiple regions or data centers, such as in HomeLab environments.
Solution Design
- Use RingLink to organize all nodes into a Layer 2 (L2) virtual LAN.
- All nodes will have a virtual LAN IP address.
- RingLink will automatically handle cross-region network connections, ensuring all nodes can communicate with each other.
- Deploy the Kubernetes cluster within this virtual LAN.
Deployment Steps
Next, we'll demonstrate how to use RingLink to create a Kubernetes cluster spanning multiple regions.
For demonstration purposes, we'll use the kubeadm tool to simplify operations when deploying the Kubernetes cluster.
You can also use other tools like k3s or microk8s.
Configure RingLink Client
First, you need to install the RingLink client on all hosts you want to use as Kubernetes nodes.
For convenient batch installation and deployment, we'll use the Config Key to deploy the RingLink client。
Open RingLink Dashboard
Navigate to the network wants to deploy in the left sidebar。
Click the Add Linux Server button on the right side
Enable allowing scripts for multiple devices
Click generate script and copy the generated content
Execute the one-click installation script on all hosts that will serve as Kubernetes nodes。 This will install the RingLink client and connect to the specified network。
Check Installation Success
Execute the following command on all hosts to check if the RingLink client is successfully installed and connected to the network：
ringlink-cli statusIf the installation is successful, you should see output similar to the following：
Running f8e6898c63
Super Layer: off
Connected to:
53cd98d2 172.29.0.1/24Deploy Kubernetes Cluster
After install the RingLink client on all hosts and connecting them to the same network, you can begin deploying the Kubernetes cluster。
Assume we want to deploy a three-node Kubernetes cluster, with one node serving as the Master node and the other two nodes as Worker nodes。
| node | role | RingLink IP |
|---|---|---|
| node1 | Master | 172.29.0.1 |
| node2 | Worker | 172.29.0.2 |
| node3 | Worker | 172.29.0.3 |
Deploy Master Node
Execute the following commands on the Master node to initialize the Kubernetes cluster：
Initialize the Kubernetes cluster on the Master node：
sudo kubeadm init --apiserver-advertise-address=172.29.0.1After initialization completes, obtain the kubeconfig
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/configGet the token and command to join the cluster
kubeadm token create --print-join-commandNote the output command for use on Worker nodes later。
Deploy Worker Nodes
Execute the command obtained from the previous step on each Worker node to join the cluster, for example：
kubeadm join 172.29.0.1:6443 --token 1p806r.a43b0d156o5519fg --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:0564da81298778267Verify Cluster Status
Execute the following command on the Master node to view the cluster status：
kubectl get nodes -o wideCommon Issues
If you encounter problems during deployment, refer to the following common issues and solutions：