Deploy the WEKA client on Amazon EKS

Deploy the WEKA client on an existing Amazon EKS cluster to enable Kubernetes workloads to access the WEKA filesystem.

The WEKA client enables Kubernetes workloads on Amazon EKS to connect to and access a WEKA cluster deployed in AWS. Client pods are managed using Kubernetes custom resources and require coordination with the WEKA Operator for installation and lifecycle management.

Prerequisites

1. Verify network access to the WEKA driver distribution service: Ensure that the deployment environment has network access to https://drivers.weka.io. The WEKA client pods automatically download the required driver components from this public distribution service to interface with the WEKA filesystem. For more information, see Drivers distribution service.

2. Verify security groups and configuration: The WEKA client requires the ports specified in the following topics:

   • Required ports (in the WEKA Prerequisites and compatibility topic).

   • Kubernetes port requirements (in the WEKA Operator deployment topic).

3. Obtain setup information: Contact the WEKA Customer Success Team to obtain the necessary setup information.

Component	Parameter	Example
Container repository (quay.io)	QUAY_USERNAME QUAY_PASSWORD	example_user example_password
WEKA Operator Version	VERSION	v1.6.0
WEKA Image	WEKA_IMAGE_VERSION_TAG	4.4.5.118-k8s.4

By gathering this information in advance, you have all the required values to complete the deployment workflow efficiently. Replace the placeholders with the actual values in the setup files.

1. A deployed WEKA cluster is required: Use the same subnets and security groups from the WEKA cluster when configuring the EKS environment for client deployment. For guidance on deploying the WEKA cluster with Terraform, see WEKA installation on AWS using Terraform.

2. EKS deployment prerequisites: Configure the EKS cluster with the following global settings:

   • IAM Role and policy configuration: Configure the appropriate IAM roles and policies for both the EKS cluster and its worker nodes:

   • Cluster IAM role

     Attach the IAM role associated with the EKS cluster:

     • AmazonEKSBlockStoragePolicy

     • AmazonEKSClusterPolicy

     • AmazonEKSComputePolicy

     • AmazonEKSLoadBalancingPolicy

     • AmazonEKSNetworkingPolicy

     (These policies are included when using the recommended IAM role: EKS - Auto Cluster.)

   • Node group IAM role Attach the IAM role for the managed node groups, which host the worker nodes running the WEKA operator:

     • AmazonEC2ContainerRegistryPullOnly

     • AmazonEKSWorkerNodeMinimalPolicy

     Additionally, to ensure proper networking functionality, attach the following policy:

     • AmazonEKS_CNI_Policy

     (These policies are included in the recommended IAM role: EKS - Auto Node.)

   • CPU allocation

     • Enable the Static CPU allocation.

     • Reserve Core 0.

   • Hugepages allocation

     • Reserve 1.5 GiB for the client core.

Example: How to set up CPU allocation and hugepages

Add to the worker nodes launch template the following sections:

#Set up core alloaction
CONFIG_PATH="/etc/kubernetes/kubelet/kubelet-config.json"
cat <<< $(jq '.systemReserved.cpu = "1"' "$CONFIG_PATH") > "$CONFIG_PATH"
cat <<< $(jq '.cpuManagerPolicy = "static"' "$CONFIG_PATH") > "$CONFIG_PATH"

#Set up hupepages
if [ $(cat /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages) == "` + hugepagesStr + `" ]; then
 echo hugepages already set
else
cat <<EOF > /etc/systemd/system/hugepages.service

[Unit]
Description=Hugepages

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'echo "` + hugepagesStr + `" > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages;'
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable hugepages
systemctl restart hugepages
fi

Procedure

1. Label the EKS nodes: Label EKS worker nodes intended for WEKA client deployment. Apply the label to each node designated to host WEKA client pods.

kubectl label nodes <node-name> weka.io/supports-clients=true

1. Create namespaces and configure Quay authentication: Set up the required Kubernetes namespaces (weka-operator-system and default), and create a Docker registry secret to authenticate access to WEKA container images hosted on Quay:

kubectl create namespace weka-operator-system

kubectl create secret docker-registry quay-io-robot-secret \
   --docker-server=quay.io \
   --docker-username=$QUAY_USERNAME \
   --docker-password=$QUAY_PASSWORD \
   --docker-email=$QUAY_USERNAME \
   --namespace=weka-operator-system
   
kubectl create secret docker-registry quay-io-robot-secret \
   --docker-server=quay.io \
   --docker-username=$QUAY_USERNAME \
   --docker-password=$QUAY_PASSWORD \
   --docker-email=$QUAY_USERNAME \
   --namespace=default

1. Install the WEKA Operator: Install the WEKA Operator using the official Helm chart:

helm upgrade \
  --install weka-operator oci://quay.io/weka.io/helm/weka-operator \
  --namespace weka-operator-system \
  --version v1.6.0 \
  --set imagePullSecret=quay-io-robot-secret

1. Configure NICs: Create the ensure-nics.yaml manifest to enable multi-NIC support on selected nodes:

ensure-nics.yaml

apiVersion: weka.weka.io/v1alpha1
kind: WekaManualOperation
metadata:
  name: ensure-nics-manual-op
  namespace: default
spec:
  action: "ensure-nics"
  image: quay.io/weka.io/weka-in-container:4.4.5.118-k8s.4
  imagePullSecret: "quay-io-robot-secret"
  payload:
    ensureNICsPayload:
      type: aws
      nodeSelector:
        weka.io/supports-clients: "true"
      dataNICsNumber: 4

Apply the manifest:

kubectl apply -f ensure-nics.yaml

1. Deploy the WEKA client resource: Define the WEKA client custom resource. Replace the joinIpPorts value with a valid IP or ALB DNS of the deployed WEKA cluster:

weka-client.yaml

apiVersion: weka.weka.io/v1alpha1
kind: WekaClient
metadata:
  name: cluster-dev-clients
  namespace: default
spec:
  image: quay.io/weka.io/weka-in-container:4.4.5.118-k8s.4
  imagePullSecret: "quay-io-robot-secret"
  driversDistService: "https://drivers.weka.io"
  portRange:
    basePort: 46000
  nodeSelector:
    weka.io/supports-clients: "true"
  joinIpPorts: ["10.0.76.143:14000"]
  coresNum: 4

Apply the manifest:

kubectl apply -f weka-client.yaml

1. Install a CSI plugin: Follow the procedures in WEKA CSI Plugin.