Getting started

Available in VPC

Once the cloud environment is ready, you can subscribe to Ncloud Kubernetes Service in the console and create clusters. This section explains how to install the kubectl CLI required to access the created clusters and how to use the Kubernetes Dashboard, which provides a graphical interface for more intuitive cluster management.

The following summarizes what you can learn from this guide:

Subscribe to the service

To subscribe to Ncloud Kubernetes Service:

Access the NAVER Cloud Platform console.
At the top-right corner of the console interface, click Regions & Platform.
Select the Region and VPC platform you are using, then click [Apply].
At the top-left corner of the console interface, click Menu.
Navigate to Services > Containers > Ncloud Kubernetes Service.
Click [Subscribe].
Read the terms of service, check the agreement box, and click [OK].

Create cluster

You must create a cluster to use various features offered by Kubernetes. You can create clusters after completing the subscription request.

To create a cluster:

In the VPC environment of the NAVER Cloud Platform console, navigate to Menu > Services > Containers > Ncloud Kubernetes Service.
Click [Create] and proceed with the following steps in order:

1. Set up a cluster

Enter a cluster name and select a hypervisor, Kubernetes version, and CNI Plugin.
Select the cluster availability type.

Single Zone: The cluster runs in a single Availability Zone.
Multi Zone: Improves availability by placing nodes across multiple Availability Zones.
Multi Zone is supported only in the Korea Region, and you must select a Kubernetes version that supports Multi Zone.
After creating a cluster, you cannot change the availability type.

Select the VPC where you want to create the cluster, then select the network type (Private/Public).

If you select Single Zone, select an Availability Zone, then select a subnet and a load balancer subnet in the VPC.
If you select Multi Zone, the Availability Zone field does not appear, and subnets in all zones of the VPC are displayed. Select at least 1 general (VM) subnet for each Zone. For a Zone with a Bare Metal subnet, you must also select a VM subnet.
If you have not created a VPC, subnet, or load balancer subnet, click [Create VPC], [Create Subnet], or [Create LB Subnet] to go to the creation page of each service.
You can select up to 5 subnets.
- If you create a cluster with fewer than 5 subnets, you can add subnets in details.

Select whether to configure Maximum number of nodes, Audit Log and Return protection.

The Maximum number of nodes option appears only when the hypervisor is XEN and cannot be changed after creation.
Audit Log is a control plane audit logging feature that records activities within the cluster. You can enable or disable Audit Log after cluster creation.
Return protection prevents accidental deletion of clusters and can be modified after cluster creation.

Select Cluster admin access and Custer authentication mode settings.

Cluster admin access appears only when the cluster authentication mode is API and cannot be changed after creation.
Cluster authentication mode determines where certified IAM security principals are managed when accessing the cluster.
- API: The cluster sources certified IAM security principals only from the NKS access entry API.
- ConfigMap: The cluster sources certified IAM security principals only from the nks-auth ConfigMap.

Select whether to enable Secret encryption.

Secret encryption uses a key managed by Key Management Service (KMS) to additionally encrypt secrets stored in etcd. Secret data is already encrypted at the storage layer by default. This setting can be enabled after cluster creation, but once enabled, it cannot be disabled.

Click [Next].

2. Set up nodes

Enter a name for the node pool to be created within the cluster.
For a Multi Zone cluster, select the Availability Zone where you want to create the node pool.

After selecting a Zone, the page displays the server types and subnets available in that Zone.
You can specify different Zones for node pools to distribute workloads across multiple Zones.

Select a server image and server type.
Set the number of nodes in the node pool.
Set Kubernetes labels for the node pool.

You can set up to 50.
For more information about Kubernetes labels, see here.

Set taints for the node pool.

You can set up to 50.
For more information about the node taints, see here.

Select the subnet to assign, then click [Add] to add the node pool.

For a Multi Zone cluster, subnets are not assigned automatically, so select them manually.

If all servers in the node pool require a Sub Account role, select Node IAM Role.

For more information about Sub Account roles, see here.
Node IAM Role can only be selected at creation and cannot be modified afterward.

Once the node pool is added, click [Next].

3. Set up a login key

Set a login key to use for accessing worker nodes.

Use an existing login key: Select from the login keys you currently have.
Create a new login key: Enter a name for the login key, then click [Create and save authentication key].

Click [Next].

4. Final confirmation

After reviewing the cluster settings, click [Create].

Install kubectl

kubectl is a CLI used to control clusters and is required to run the kubectl and helm commands described in the guide. Refer to the following links and install kubectl using the method appropriate for your operating system:

Kubernetes Dashboard

The Kubernetes Dashboard lets you control clusters through a GUI instead of a CLI and can be accessed via a browser.

Kubernetes Dashboard