Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)¶

This tutorial demonstrates how to deploy the Open AMT Cloud Toolkit on a Kubernetes cluster using AKS. Alternatively, you can also perform a simpler, test deployment using a single-node cluster locally. See Kubernetes (K8s).

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

Prerequisites¶

Get the Toolkit¶

Clone the Open AMT Cloud Toolkit.

git clone https://github.com/open-amt-cloud-toolkit/open-amt-cloud-toolkit --branch v2.26.0

Create SSH Key¶

This key is required by Azure to create VMs that use SSH keys for authentication. For more details, see Detailed steps: Create and manage SSH keys.

Create a new ssh key.
```
ssh-keygen -m PEM -t rsa -b 4096
```
Take note of the location it was saved at. You will need the public key (.pub file) in a following step.

Deploy AKS¶

Login to Azure.
```
az login
```

Provide a name and region to create a new resource group.

az group create --name <your-resource-group-name> --location <region>

Provide the name of your new resource group from the last step and start a deployment at that resource group based on aks.json in the ./open-amt-cloud-toolkit directory.
```
az deployment group create --resource-group <your-resource-group-name> --template-file aks.json
```
After running the previous command, you will be prompted for 5 different strings. After the final prompt, it will take about 5-10 minutes for Azure to finish creating resources.
- A name for the AKS Cluster.
- A name (e.g. your name) for the linux user admin name.
- The string of the ssh key from the .pub file generated in Create SSH Key.
- A username for the new Postgres Database.
- A password for the new Postgres Database.

Take note of the fqdnSuffix in the outputs section of the JSON response (e.g. eastus.cloudapp.azure.com)

"outputs": {
  "controlPlaneFQDN": {
    "type": "String",
    "value": "bwcluster-9c68035a.hcp.westus.azmk8s.io"
  },
  "fqdnSuffix": {
    "type": "String",
    "value": "eastus.cloudapp.azure.com"
  }
},

Connect to AKS Instance¶

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

Provide your resource group name and cluster name, respectively.

az aks get-credentials --resource-group <your-resource-group-name> --name <your-cluster-name>

Create Kubernetes Secrets¶

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

Note - Additional Information about Secrets Created

Secret Name	Usage
mpsweb	Provides credentials used for requesting a JWT. These credentials are also used for logging into the Sample Web UI.
rps	RPS database connection string.
mps	MPS database connection string.
mpsrouter	MPS database connection string.
open-amt-admin-jwt	Provides secret used for generating and verifying JWTs for authentication.
open-amt-admin-acl	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.
vault	Vault root token for MPS and RPS access to Vault secret store.

Replace the following placeholders.

Placeholder	Lines	Required	Usage
<WEBUI-USERNAME>	7	Username of your choice	For logging into the Sample Web UI.
<WEBUI-PASSWORD>	8	Strong password of your choice	For logging into the Sample Web UI.
<DATABASE-USERNAME>	16, 24, 32	Database username chosen in Deploy AKS Step 4	Credentials for the services to connect to the database.
<DATABASE-PASSWORD>	16, 24, 32	Database password chosen in Deploy AKS Step 4	Credentials for the services to connect to the database.
<DATABASE-SERVER-URL>	16, 24, 32	Server URL Format: `<your-cluster-name>-sql.postgres.database.azure.com`	Credentials for the services to connect to the database.
<SSL-MODE>	16, 24, 32	Set to `require`	Credentials for the services to connect to the database.
<YOUR-SECRET>	45	A strong secret of your choice (Example: A unique, random 256-bit string).	Used when generating a JSON Web Token (JWT) for authentication. This example implementation uses a symmetrical key and HS256 to create the signature. Learn more about JWT.

Important - Using Strong Passwords

The <WEBUI-PASSWORD> must meet standard, strong password requirements:

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

Save the file.

Apply the configuration file to create the secrets.

kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes/charts/secrets.yaml

Update Configuration¶

Edit values.yaml¶

Open the values.yaml file in ./open-amt-cloud-toolkit/kubernetes/charts/.
Update the service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-dns-label-name key in the kong section with a desired subdomain name for the URL that you would like for your cluster (i.e. myopenamtk8s).
```
kong:
  proxy:
    annotations:
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-dns-label-name: "<your-subdomain-name>"
```
Update the commonName key to your FQDN in the mps section. For AKS, the default format is <your-subdomain-name>.<location>.cloudapp.azure.com. This is the fqdnSuffix provided in the outputs section when you Deploy AKS.
```
mps:
    commonName: "<your-subdomain-name>.<location>.cloudapp.azure.com"
    replicaCount: 1
    logLevel: "silly"
    jwtExpiration: 1440
```
Save and close the file.

Create Databases and Schema¶

Enable Access to Database¶

Navigate to Home > Resource Groups > Resource Group Name using Microsoft Azure via online.
Select the Postgres DB. It will have a Type of Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server.
Under Settings in the left-hand menu, select Networking.
Under Firewall rules, select Add current client IP address.
Click Save.

Note

For security, remember to delete this firewall rule when finished.

Create Databases¶

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

Where:
- <SERVERURL> is the location of the Postgres database (Ex: <your-cluster-name>-sql.postgres.database.azure.com).
- <USERNAME> is the admin username for the Postgres database (Chosen in Deploy AKS Step 4).

Create the MPS and RPS database and tables. Provide the database password when prompted.

psql -h <SERVERURL> -p 5432 -d postgres -U <USERNAME> -W -f ./data/init.sql -f ./data/initMPS.sql

Deploy Open AMT Cloud Toolkit using Helm¶

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

View the pods. You might notice mps, rps, and openamtstack-vault-0 are not ready. This will change after we initialize and unseal Vault. All others should be Ready and Running.

kubectl get pods

Success

NAME                                                 READY   STATUS                       RESTARTS   AGE
mps-69786bfb47-92mpc                                 0/1     CreateContainerConfigError   0          2m6s
mpsrouter-9b9bc499b-2tkb2                            1/1     Running                      0          2m6s
openamtstack-kong-68d6c84bcc-fp8dl                   2/2     Running                      0          2m6s
openamtstack-vault-0                                 0/1     Running                      0          2m6s
openamtstack-vault-agent-injector-6b564845db-zss78   1/1     Running                      0          2m6s
rps-79877bf5c5-dsg5p                                 0/1     CreateContainerConfigError   0          2m6s
webui-6cc48f4d68-6r8b5                               1/1     Running                      0          2m6s

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

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.
After initializing and unsealing the vault, you need to enable the Key Value engine.
On the left-hand side menu, select Secrets engines.
Click Enable New Engine +.
Choose KV.
Click Enable Engine.

Vault Token Secret¶

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

Open the secrets.yaml file again in the open-amt-cloud-toolkit/kubernetes/charts/ directory.
Replace <VAULT-ROOT-TOKEN> in the vaultKey: field (line 66) with the actual Vault root token.
Save the file.

Update the Kubernetes vault secret.

kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes/charts/secrets.yaml -l app=vault

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

Next Steps¶

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