How to use Kubernetes with vMesh

This guide details the process of deploying Kubernetes (K8s) clusters on vMesh private networks, providing low latencies, improved security and network isolation for your containerized applications.

Prerequisites

• Multiple Linux VPS Cloud instances with at least Ubuntu 22.04 installed
• Administrative (root) access to each VPS
• vMesh Private network connectivity between VPS instances. You may refer to this guide.

We will replicate the following network topology as an illustrative example:

Network Configuration

Configure Private Network Interfaces

Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file on each VPS:

VPS Cloud 1:

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 10.10.0.2
netmask 255.255.255.0


VPS Cloud 2:

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 10.10.0.3
netmask 255.255.255.0


VPS Cloud 3:

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 10.10.0.4
netmask 255.255.255.0


Apply Network Configuration

Restart the networking service on each node:
sudo systemctl restart networking.service

Verify Connectivity

Test connectivity between all nodes:

ping 10.10.0.3
ping 10.10.0.4


Kubernetes Installation

Install Required Packages

Update package lists and install prerequisites:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common


Add Kubernetes apt repository:

curl -s https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://apt.kubernetes.io/ kubernetes-xenial main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list


Update package lists again and install Kubernetes components:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubelet kubeadm kubectl
sudo apt-mark hold kubelet kubeadm kubectl


Configure Container Runtime

Install and configure containerd:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y containerd


Create default configuration:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/containerd
containerd config default | sudo tee /etc/containerd/config.toml


Update configuration to use systemd cgroup driver:

sudo sed -i 's/SystemdCgroup = false/SystemdCgroup = true/g' /etc/containerd/config.toml


Restart containerd:

sudo systemctl restart containerd
sudo systemctl enable containerd


Initialize Kubernetes Cluster

On the control plane node (VPS Cloud 1):

sudo swapoff -a
sudo sed -i '/ swap / s/^\(.*\)$/#\1/g' /etc/fstab


Initialize the cluster with private network CIDR:

sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.10.0.0/24 --apiserver-advertise-address=10.10.0.2


Set up kubectl for the current user:

mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config


Install and Configure Calico CNI

Download and apply the Calico manifest:

curl https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/calico.yaml -O
kubectl apply -f calico.yaml


Configure Calico to use the private network CIDR:

kubectl set env daemonset/calico-node -n kube-system IP_AUTODETECTION_METHOD=cidr=10.10.0.0/24


Troubleshooting

Network Issues

• Verify interface configuration with ip addr show
• Check routing tables with ip route
• Test connectivity with ping and traceroute

Kubernetes Issues

• Check pod status: kubectl get pods -A
• View logs: kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace>
• Check node status: kubectl describe node <node-name>