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Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)

This tutorial demonstrates how to deploy the Open AMT Cloud Toolkit on a Kubernetes cluster using EKS. To perform a simpler test deployment, use a single-mode cluster locally. See Kubernetes (K8s).

Amazon EKS offers serverless Kubernetes, an integrated continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) experience, and enterprise-grade security and governance. Learn more about EKS here.

Prerequisites

Get the Toolkit

  1. Clone the Open AMT Cloud Toolkit.

    git clone https://github.com/open-amt-cloud-toolkit/open-amt-cloud-toolkit --branch v2.1.0

Create a New EKS Cluster

  1. Follow steps for aws configure to finish configuration of AWS CLI.

  2. Follow steps to Create a key pair using Amazon EC2 to create a SSH key for accessing the cluster.

  3. Create a new EKS cluster and supporting components.

    eksctl create cluster --name <cluster-name> --region <region> --with-oidc --ssh-access --ssh-public-key <ssh-keypair-name> --managed

    Where:

    • <cluster-name> is the name of the new EKS cluster.
    • <region> is the AWS region to deploy the stack (Ex: us-west-2).
    • <ssh-keypair-name> is the name of the SSH key from the previous step.

Create Postgres DB in RDS

  1. Create a Postgres DB by following the steps for Creating an Amazon RDS DB instance.

    Make sure to set the following configuration settings:

    Field Set to
    Virtual private cloud (VPC) Choose the VPC created from your cluster. It should follow the format: 'eksctl-<cluster-name>-cluster/VPC'
    Public access Yes. In the next steps, we will create Security rules to limit access.
    VPC security group Choose existing
    Existing VPC security groups default

Configure Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) for access

  1. Go to RDS home.
  2. Select 'Databases' from the left-hand side menu.
  3. Select your created database (Ex: database-1).
  4. Under Security in Connectivity & security, click on the VPC under VPC security groups (Ex: default (sg-01b4767ggdcb52825)).
  5. Select Inbound rules.

  6. Select Edit inbound rules.

    Add Two New Rules

    Rule One:

    1. Select Add rule.
    2. Under 'Type' select PostgresSQL.
    3. Under 'Source' select My IP.

    Rule Two:

    1. Select Add rule.
    2. Under 'Type' select PostgresSQL.
    3. Under 'Source' select Custom.
    4. In the search box, select the security group starting with the label 'eks-cluster-sg'.

  7. Select Save rules.

Create Databases and Schema

  1. Use the database schema files to initialize the hosted Postgres DB in the following steps.

    Note

    The following commands will prompt for the database password you chose here.

    Where:

    • <SERVERURL> is the location of the Postgres database (Ex: database-1.jotd7t2abapq.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com).
    • <USERNAME> is the username for the Postgres database.

  2. Create the RPS database.

    psql -h <SERVERURL> -p 5432 -d postgres -U <USERNAME> -W -c "CREATE DATABASE rpsdb"

  3. Create tables for the new 'rpsdb'.

    psql -h <SERVERURL> -p 5432 -d rpsdb -U <USERNAME> -W -f ./open-amt-cloud-toolkit/data/init.sql

  4. Create the MPS database.

    psql -h <SERVERURL> -p 5432 -d postgres -U <USERNAME> -W -f ./open-amt-cloud-toolkit/data/initMPS.sql

Connect to EKS Instance

Ensure your kubectl is connected to the EKS cluster you wish to deploy/manage.

  1. Provide your region and cluster name.

    aws eks update-kubeconfig --region <region> --name <cluster-name>

    Where:

    • <cluster-name> is the name of your EKS cluster.
    • <region> is the AWS region where the cluster is (Ex: us-west-2).

Create Secrets

1. Private Docker Registry Credentials

If you are using a private docker registry, you'll need to provide your credentials to K8S. 

kubectl create secret docker-registry registrycredentials --docker-server=<your-registry-server> --docker-username=<your-username> --docker-password=<your-password>

Where:

  • <your-registry-server> is your Private Docker Registry FQDN.
  • <your-username> is your Docker username.
  • <your-password> is your Docker password.

2. MPS/KONG JWT

This is the secret used for generating and verifying JWTs.

kubectl create secret generic open-amt-admin-jwt --from-literal=kongCredType=jwt --from-literal=key="admin-issuer" --from-literal=algorithm=HS256 --from-literal=secret="<your-secret>"

Where:

  • <your-secret> is your chosen strong secret.

3. KONG ACL for JWT

This configures KONG with an Access Control List (ACL) to allow an admin user open-amt-admin to access endpoints using the JWT retrieved when logging in.

kubectl create secret generic open-amt-admin-acl --from-literal=kongCredType=acl --from-literal=group=open-amt-admin

4. MPS Web Username and Password

This is the username and password that is used for requesting a JWT. These credentials are also used for logging into the Sample Web UI.

kubectl create secret generic mpsweb --from-literal=user=<your-username> --from-literal=password=<your-password>

Where:

  • <your-username> is a username of your choice.

  • <your-password> is a strong password of your choice.

    Important - Using Strong Passwords

    The password must meet standard, strong password requirements:

    • 8 to 32 characters
    • One uppercase, one lowercase, one numerical digit, one special character

5. Database connection strings

Warning - Using SSL/TLS with AWS RDS

This tutorial uses the connection string setting of 'no-verify' for ease of setup. AWS requires additional work and provides intermediate and root certs for using SSL/TLS with a RDS DB instance. For production, it is recommended to use a SSL connection.

Find more information at Using SSL with a PostgreSQL DB instance and also at Updating applications to connect to PostgreSQL DB instances using new SSL/TLS certificates.

  1. Configure the database connection strings used by MPS, RPS, and MPS Router.

    Where:

    • <USERNAME> is the username for the Postgres database.
    • <PASSWORD> is the password for the Postgres database.
    • <SERVERURL> is the url for the AWS-hosted Postgres database (Ex: database-1.jotd7t2abapq.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com).

  2. Create RPS connection string secret.

    kubectl create secret generic rps --from-literal=connectionString=postgresql://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<SERVERURL>:5432/rpsdb?sslmode=no-verify

  3. Create MPS Router connection string secret.

    kubectl create secret generic mpsrouter --from-literal=connectionString=postgresql://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<SERVERURL>:5432/mpsdb?sslmode=disable

  4. Create MPS connection string secret. 

    kubectl create secret generic mps --from-literal=connectionString=postgresql://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<SERVERURL>:5432/mpsdb?sslmode=no-verify

Update Configuration

Edit values.yaml

  1. Open the values.yaml file in the ./open-amt-cloud-toolkit/kubernetes/charts/ directory.

  2. Remove the annotations section and service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-dns-label-name key in the kong: section. These are Azure-specific implementations.

    kong:
  proxy:
    annotations: # Delete this line
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-dns-label-name: "<your-domain-name>" # Delete this line

  3. Update the mps, rps, webui, and mpsrouter keys to point to your own container registries.

    images:
    mps: "vprodemo.azurecr.io/mps:latest"
    rps: "vprodemo.azurecr.io/rps:latest"
    webui: "vprodemo.azurecr.io/webui:latest"
    mpsrouter: "vprodemo.azurecr.io/mpsrouter:latest"

  4. Save and close the file.

Deploy Open AMT Cloud Toolkit using Helm

  1. Deploy using Helm.

    helm install openamtstack ./kubernetes/charts

    Success

    NAME: openamtstack
LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jul 15 11:17:38 2021
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None

Initialize and Unseal Vault

Danger - Download and Save Vault Keys

Make sure to download your Vault credentials and save them in a secure location when unsealing Vault. If the keys are lost, a new Vault will need to be started and any stored data will be lost.

Tip - Finding the Vault UI External IP Address

The external IP of your Vault UI service can be found by running:

kubectl get services openamtstack-vault-ui

  1. Please refer to HashiCorp documentation on how to Initialize and unseal Vault. Stop and return here after signing in to Vault with the root_token.

  2. After initializing and unsealing the vault, you need to enable the Key Value engine.

  3. Click Enable New Engine +.

  4. Choose KV.

  5. Click Next.

  6. Leave the default path and choose version 2 from the drop down.

  7. Click Enable Engine.

Vault Token Secret

  1. Add the root token as a secret to the EKS cluster so that the services can access Vault.

    kubectl create secret generic vault --from-literal=vaultKey=<your-root-token>

    Where:

    • <your-root-token> is your root_token generated by Vault.

Update commonName in values.yml

  1. Get the External-IP for accessing the UI. Note and save the value under 'EXTERNAL-IP'.

    kubectl get service openamtstack-kong-proxy

  2. Update the value for commonName in the mps section in the values.yml file with the External-IP from above. Recall that values.yml is located in ./kubernetes/charts/.

    mps:
    commonName: "" # update with External-IP from `kubectl get services`
    replicaCount: 1
    logLevel: "silly"
    jwtExpiration: 1440

  3. Update the stack using helm.

    helm upgrade openamtstack ./kubernetes/charts

Verify running pods

  1. View the pods. All pods should now be Ready and Running.

    kubectl get pods

    Success

    NAME                                                 READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
mps-69786bfb47-92mpc                                 1/1     Running     0          4m5s
mpsrouter-9b9bc499b-2tkb2                            1/1     Running     0          4m5s
openamtstack-kong-68d6c84bcc-fp8dl                   2/2     Running     0          4m5s
openamtstack-vault-0                                 1/1     Running     0          4m5s
openamtstack-vault-agent-injector-6b564845db-zss78   1/1     Running     0          4m5s
rps-79877bf5c5-dsg5p                                 1/1     Running     0          4m5s
webui-6cc48f4d68-6r8b5                               1/1     Running     0          4m5s

  2. Check that the MPS Certificate is correct in your browser. Go to your FQDN at port 4433.

    https://<Your-AWS-FQDN>:4433

  3. Verify the MPS Certificate in your browser has the correct Issuer information and is Issued to your FQDN.

    Troubleshoot - Issued to field showing NaN or blank

    If your certificate is incorrect, the AMT device will not connect to the MPS server. See Figure 1.

    Follow the steps below to correct the problem.

    Example - Incorrect MPS Certificate

    Figure 1: Incorrect Certificate
    Figure 1: Incorrect Certificate

    1. Open and Login to Vault UI.

    2. Go to kv/data/MPSCerts/ directory.

    3. Delete the existing MPS Certificate.

    4. In a terminal, run the following command.

      kubectl rollout restart deployment mps

    5. A new, correct MPS Cert should be generated.

    6. Go back to the webserver in your browser.

      https://<Your-AWS-FQDN>:4433

    7. Verify the Issued to: field is no longer NaN/blank and now shows the correct FQDN.

    8. Continue to Next Steps section.

Next Steps

Visit the Sample Web UI using the FQDN name and Continue from the Get Started steps.

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