Creating Kubernetes Clusters Using Console Workflows

Find out about the two ways to create a Kubernetes cluster using Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE).

You can use Container Engine for Kubernetes to create new Kubernetes clusters. To create a cluster, you must either belong to the tenancy's Administrators group, or belong to a group to which a policy grants the CLUSTER_MANAGE permission. See Policy Configuration for Cluster Creation and Deployment.

Using the Console, you first specify basic details for the new cluster (the cluster name, and the Kubernetes version to install on control plane nodes). You can then create the cluster in one of two ways:

• Using default settings in the 'Quick Create' workflow to create a cluster with new network resources as required. This approach is the fastest way to create a new cluster. If you accept all the default values, you can create a new cluster in just a few clicks. New network resources for the cluster are created automatically, including regional subnets for the Kubernetes API endpoint, for worker nodes, and for load balancers. The regional subnet for load balancers is public, but you specify whether the regional subnets for the Kubernetes API endpoint and for worker nodes are public or private. To create a cluster in the 'Quick Create' workflow, you must belong to a group to which a policy grants the necessary permissions to create the new network resources (see Create One or More Additional Policies for Groups).

• Using custom settings in the 'Custom Create' workflow. This approach gives you the most control over the new cluster. You can explicitly define the new cluster's properties, including encryption settings. And you can explicitly specify which existing network resources to use, including the existing public or private subnets in which to create the Kubernetes API endpoint, worker nodes, and load balancers.

  Note that although you will usually define node pools immediately when defining a new cluster in the 'Custom Create' workflow, you don't have to. You can create a cluster with no node pools, and add node pools later. One reason to create a cluster that initially has no node pools is if you intend to install and configure a network policy provider like Calico to support Kubernetes NetworkPolicy resources. If you install Calico on a cluster that has existing node pools in which pods are already running, you'll have to recreate the pods when the Calico installation is complete. For example, by running the kubectl rollout restart command. If you install Calico on a cluster before creating any node pools in the cluster (recommended), you can be sure that there will be no pods to recreate. See Example: Installing Calico and Setting Up Network Policies.

In addition to using the 'Quick Create' and 'Custom Create' workflows in the Console, you can also create clusters using the CLI and the API. For more information, see Creating a Cluster.