Create Node Pool

In this section you will add a node pool to your GKE cluster. This will host all Arrikto EKF related workloads.

Note

When creating the GKE cluster, a default node pool is created as well. If you want to use the default node pool, you may proceed to the What’s Next section.

What You’ll Need

Procedure

  1. Specify the name of the node pool:

    root@rok-tools:~# export NEW_NODE_POOL_NAME=workers
  2. Specify the Kubernetes version of the node pool. Choose one of the following options, based on the Kubernetes version of your cluster:

    root@rok-tools:~# export NODE_VERSION=1.23.11-gke.300
    root@rok-tools:~# export NODE_VERSION=1.22.15-gke.100
    root@rok-tools:~# export NODE_VERSION=1.21.14-gke.7100
  3. Specify the machine type:

    root@rok-tools:~# export MACHINE_TYPE=n1-standard-8
  4. Specify the number of nodes to create:

    root@rok-tools:~# export NUM_NODES=3
  5. Specify the number of local NVMe SSDs to add:

    root@rok-tools:~# export NUM_SSD=3

    Note

    Each local NVMe SSD is 375 GB in size. You can attach a maximum of 24 local SSD partitions for 9 TB per instance.

  6. Create the node pool:

    root@rok-tools:~# gcloud alpha container node-pools create ${NEW_NODE_POOL_NAME?} \ > --account ${CLUSTER_ADMIN_ACCOUNT?} \ > --cluster ${GKE_CLUSTER?} \ > --node-version ${NODE_VERSION?} \ > --machine-type ${MACHINE_TYPE?} \ > --image-type UBUNTU \ > --disk-type pd-ssd \ > --disk-size 200 \ > --local-ssd-volumes count=${NUM_SSD?},type=nvme,format=block \ > --metadata disable-legacy-endpoints=true \ > --workload-metadata=GKE_METADATA \ > --scopes gke-default \ > --num-nodes ${NUM_NODES?} \ > --max-surge-upgrade 1 \ > --max-unavailable-upgrade 0 \ > --enable-autoupgrade \ > --enable-autorepair

Verify

  1. Verify that the node pool exists and its status is RUNNING:

    root@rok-tools:~# gcloud container node-pools describe ${NEW_NODE_POOL_NAME?} \ > --cluster=${GKE_CLUSTER?} \ > --format="value(status)" RUNNING
  2. Verify that the nodes show up in the Kubernetes cluster:

    root@rok-tools:~# kubectl get nodes NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION ... gke-arrikto-cluster-workers-1108b534-3rgs Ready <none> 26m v1.23.11-gke.300 gke-arrikto-cluster-workers-1108b534-jztj Ready <none> 26m v1.23.11-gke.300 gke-arrikto-cluster-workers-1108b534-wm2j Ready <none> 26m v1.23.11-gke.300
  3. Verify that all instances of your node pool have the necessary storage attached:

    1. Find the instance group that corresponds to the workers node pool:

      root@rok-tools:~# export INSTANCE_GROUP=$(gcloud container node-pools describe ${NEW_NODE_POOL_NAME?} \ > --cluster=${GKE_CLUSTER?} \ > --format="value(instanceGroupUrls)")
    2. Find the template of the instance group:

      root@rok-tools:~# export TEMPLATE=$(gcloud compute instance-groups managed describe ${INSTANCE_GROUP?} \ > --format="value(instanceTemplate)")
    3. Inspect the template and ensure that kube-env metadata key has the expected NODE_LOCAL_SSDS_EXT:

      root@rok-tools:~# gcloud compute instance-templates describe ${TEMPLATE?} --format json | \ > jq -r '.properties.metadata.items[] | select(.key == "kube-env") | .value' | \ > grep NODE_LOCAL_SSDS NODE_LOCAL_SSDS_EXT: 3,nvme,block
    4. Inspect the template and ensure that it has NVMe local SSDs attached. List all disks of type SCRATCH and show their interface. It should be NVME:

      root@rok-tools:~# gcloud compute instance-templates describe ${TEMPLATE?} --format json | \ > jq -r '.properties.disks[] | select(.type == "SCRATCH") | .index, .deviceName, .interface' | paste - - - 1 local-ssd-0 NVME 2 local-ssd-1 NVME 3 local-ssd-2 NVME
    5. Ensure that all instances inside the instance group run with the desired template:

      root@rok-tools:~# gcloud compute instance-groups managed describe ${INSTANCE_GROUP?} \ > --format="value(status.versionTarget.isReached)" True

Summary

You have successfully created a node pool.

What’s Next

Check out the rest of the maintenance operations that you can perform on your cluster.