AKS

Azure Friday: Exploring Automated Deployments for AKS with Steve Buchanan and Scott Hanselman

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Hey everyone, today I’m super excited to tell you about a recent episode of Azure Friday that I was lucky enough to be a guest on.

Azure Friday is a weekly video series hosted by the legendary Scott Hanselman, where he interviews experts and developers on various Azure-related topics. In this episode, we talked about Automated Deployments for AKS, a new feature that makes it super easy to deploy your apps to Azure Kubernetes Service.

If you’re not familiar with AKS, it’s a managed Kubernetes service that lets you run containerized applications on Azure without having to worry about the complexity of managing the cluster. It’s a great way to scale your apps and take advantage of the benefits of Kubernetes, such as high availability, load balancing, and service discovery.

But what if you’re not familiar with containers or Kubernetes? What if you just have some code in a GitHub repo and you want to run it on AKS? That’s where Automated Deployments for AKS come in. It’s a feature that simplifies the Kubernetes development process by taking care of the tedious work of containerization for you. It uses a tool called Draft, which automatically detects the language and framework of your app, creates a Dockerfile and a Helm chart for you, builds and pushes the image to Azure Container Registry, and deploys the app to AKS. All with just a few clicks in the Azure Portal.

Sounds amazing, right? Well, that’s what I wanted to show Scott in this episode. I had an app hosted in a GitHub repo that I wanted to run on AKS. The app was a simple web app that displayed some data from a database. I had already created a few resources in Azure, such as a resource group, an Azure Container Registry, and an AKS cluster. All I needed to do was use Automated Deployments for AKS to get this app from code to running on a cluster.

So how did it go? Well, you’ll have to watch the episode to find out. But spoiler alert: it was super easy and fast. In just a few commands, I went from code to an app running on AKS. Scott was impressed and so was I. We had a great time chatting about how Automated Deployments for AKS works under the hood, some of the benefits and limitations of using it, and how it can help developers get started with containers and Kubernetes.

Check out the episode here:

https://aka.ms/azfr/749

With Automated Deployments, Microsoft is opening up new avenues for developers to embrace the power of containers and AKS, enabling them to effortlessly build scalable and robust applications.

If you’re interested in learning more about Automated Deployments for AKS, you can check out the documentation here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/automated-deployments. It’s available today in public preview, so you can try it out for yourself and see how easy it is to run your apps on AKS.

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoy this episode of Azure Friday as much as I did. It was an honor and a pleasure to be a guest on Scott’s show and talk about one of my favorite topics: Azure Kubernetes Service. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter at @Buchatech. Thanks for reading and happy coding!

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Guest on StreamingClouds – Navigating AKS: Scenarios and strategies, GitOps, Fleet Management, Platform Engineering and more

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I recently was a guest on StreamingClouds. StreamingClouds is a multicloud live stream by Microsoft CSA Kevin Evans and Microsoft MVP Robin Smorenburg. With topics ranging from cloud native to hybrid, security, architecture, strategy, careers, personal development, and more.

StreamingClouds is more than just a live stream podcast its also a diverse community where the members can all learn from each other.

To highlight what we covered in the episode, we discussed how to effectively use Microsoft’s AKS documentation, reference architectures, scripts, and tools for your AKS project. We also touched on GitOps, Fleet Management, Platform Engineering and more.

Here is a full description of what we covered on the episode:
Starting an AKS project soon or in the middle of one and lost? Have you tried to use the Microsoft AKS documentation, reference architectures, scripts, and tools but feel stuck on what to use and when to use it? Let’s talk about it and get you the guidance you need. There is a formula and framework to using these AKS artifacts from Microsoft.

In 2022 I wrote a couple of blog posts that give guidance on how to utilize the Microsoft AKS artifacts and tools. In these blog posts I baked in experience from my days delivering AKS projects to Fortune 500 enterprises. We thought it would be a good idea to dive into the content from these live on the podcast talking through these topics to help listeners who are embarking on an AKS journey. Here aforementioned blog posts for reference:

A Guide to Navigating the AKS Enterprise Documentation & Scripts
Simplify your AKS IaC Deployments using the AKS Construction Helper tool

We dove into:

Architecture Design:
Baseline architecture for an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster
AKS Secure Baseline with Private Cluster
AKS baseline for multi-region clusters
AKS regulated cluster for PCI
Advanced Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) microservices architecture

Deployment:
AKS landing zone accelerator
AKS Construction Helper
AKS Baseline Automation
Azure Draft for AKS

Operation:
Operations management considerations for Azure Kubernetes Service
Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) day-2 operations guide

You can watch a recording of the stream here:

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Kubernetes Panel Event

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In February Come Cloud With Us is hosting a Kubernetes panel with some of the industry’s BEST Kubernetes experts. I am honored and humbled to be one of the panelists. This panel consists of K8s experts from Dell, Google, Microsoft, Intercept, United Wholesale Mortgage, and Admincontrol. This is a global panel with panelists and hosts from the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, and Canada. Several of the panelists are also authors, Microsoft MVP’s and CNCF Ambassadors.

Here is a breakdown of the hosts and the panelists:

The hosts:

Abdul Kazi – Cloud Expert

Chris Gill – Cloud Expert and Microsoft MVP

The K8s Panelists:
Kristina Devochko – Microsoft Azure MVP
Kaslin Fields – Developer Advocate at Google
Kat Cosgrove – Lead Developer Advocate at Dell
Steve Buchanan – Principal Program Manager at Microsoft
Nills Franssens – Director of Digital and Application Innovation at Microsoft
Richard Hooper – Microsoft Azure MVP
Glen Belton – Kubernetes Platform Engineer

The panel will discuss Kubernetes and answer attendee questions. This will be a virtual event. This will be an event that you DON’T want to miss! Mark your calendars for the event on Thursday, February 16, 2023 4:00PM-5:30PM CST!

Register for the event here:

https://www.meetup.com/comecloudwithus/events/290494259

***Update

If you missed the live panel here is the recording for it:

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Guest on AzureTalks Podcast – Containerize apps to AKS with Azure Draft, and Hybrid with Azure Arc

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I am kicking off the new year as a guest on the “AzureTalks” podcast by Rolf Schutten. Rolf is a Microsoft MVP based out of the Netherlands. The AzureTalks podcast is a free-form conversation with experts and advocates around the industry discussing various topics on Azure, its services, and integration points with Azure. Some of the topics also get into strategy career, personal development, and more. You can listen to podcast episodes on Google Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can find the website for this podcast here: www.azuretalks.com

The episode I am a guest on is #004 titled “Containerize apps to AKS with Azure Draft, and Hybrid with Azure Arc“.

In this episode, we discuss how developers can utilize Azure Draft to streamline taking their non-containerized app from code to running on AKS. Azure Draft takes you through the entire process from creating the container, the files needed to run on Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, or Kustomize, pushing up to an Azure Container Registry, and deploying to AKS.

We also dive into GitHub, GitOps, the differences between push and pull methods with continuous deployment, and even we even touched on hybrid cloud strategies and what role Azure Arc plays in this space. Listen to the audio version of the podcast episode here:

or check out the video version here.

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Guest on Kubernetes Unpacked Podcast EP014 – “Using GitOps and AKS to Build and Deploy Apps

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I recently was a guest on Michael Levan‘s Kubernetes Unpacked Podcast on the Packet Pushers network.

This is Kubernetes Unpacked episode #014 it is titled: “Using GitOps And AKS To Build And Deploy Applications“

Michael and I talked about using GitOps and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to automate the building and deployment of applications. We also chat about an entire architecture incorporating AKS, GitHub Actions, Azure Container Registry, GitHub, and ArgoCD along with how it all comes together to make a useful stack. Check out the podcast below.

Link to the podcast:

https://packetpushers.net/podcast/kubernetes-unpacked-014-using-gitops-and-aks-to-build-and-deploy-applications/

Listen here:

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Presenting on AKS at Tech Summit Nigeria 2022

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I will be speaking at Tech Summit Nigeria 2022. This event is to be held in Lagos, Nigeria at the Microsoft ADC center. It is an event for Cloud & Mixed- Reality professionals & enthusiasts. The website for the is https://www.techsummitnigeria.com.

My session title is: “K8s is complex! Simplify its Deployment & Configuration“.

The abstract is: Understanding Kubernetes is complex. Designing its architecture is complex. Deploying it is complex. And Configuring it is complex. K8s in general are complex. Spend less time on getting your Kubernetes up and running and more time running your containerized apps!

In this session, Steve Buchanan will take you on a journey utilizing a tool named the AKS Construction Helper that can simplify your AKS Deployment & Configurations.

***Update***

It was a fun session with an engaged audience! Here are some pictures from the session.

If you missed my session you can watch the replay here:

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IP exhaustion in AKS got you down? Try Azure CNI Overlay.

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One of the top concerns I see from companies when architecting AKS is running out of IP addresses. This is commonly known as IP exhaustion. This concern would come up when selecting the network model for AKS specifically with Azure CNI.

Companies would lean towards Azure CNI at first but quickly opt for Kubenet. Azure CNI provides benefits on Azure. It has deeper integration between Kubernetes and Azure networking. With Azure CNI you don’t have to manually configure routing for traffic to flow from pods to other resources on Azure VNets. Pods get full network connectivity and can be reached via their private IP address. Supports Virtual Nodes (Azure Container Instances), it supports either Azure or Calico Network Policies and Windows containers. Azure CNI does however require more IP address space. The traditional Azure CNI assigns an IP address to every Pod from a subnet reserved for pods or pre-reserved set of IPs on every node. This method can lead to exhausting available IPs.

The alternative to Azure CNI with AKS is Kubenet. A lot of companies opt for Kubenet to avoid IP Exhaustion as it conserves IP address space. Kubenet assigns private IP addresses to pods. It does not have routing to Azure networking. In order to route from pods to Azure VNets you need to manually configure and manage user-defined routes (UDRs). With Kubenet a simple /24 IP CIDR range is able to support up to 251 nodes in an AKS cluster. This would give you support IPs for up to 27,610 pods (at 110 pods per node).

With Azure CNI the same /24 IP CIDR range would be able to support up to 8 nodes in the cluster supporting up to 240 pods (default max of 30 pods per node w/Azure CNI. Allocation of 31 IP address; 1 for the node + 30 for Pods.).

Here is a side by side breakdown of Kubenet and Azure CNI:

AreaKubenetAzure CNI
Capacity using ‘/24’ address range251 nodes / 27,610 pods (110 pods / node)8 nodes / 240 pods (30 pods / node)
Max nodes per cluster400 (UDR max)1,000 (or more)
Network policyCalicoCalico, Azure
Pod IPsNAT’ed / UDR /Subnet-assigned
LatencySlightly greater (NAT hop)Best
Virtual nodesNoYes
Windows containersNoYes
SupportCalico community supportSupported by Azure support and the Engineering team
Out of the Box Logging/var/log/calico inside the containerRules added/deleted in IPTables are logged on every host under /var/log/azure-npm.log
ConclusionBest w/limited IP space Most pod comms within cluster UDR management is acceptableAvailable IP space Most pod coms outside cluster No need to manage UDR Need advanced features

As you can see you can get a lot more pods on Kubenet and you will burn through a lot more IP’s with Azure CNI. One would think when using Azure CNI to just assign a large CIDR for the subnets like /16 instead of /24. This would work however most IT teams in the enterprise that are connecting AKS to existing networks don’t have that option based on the existing IP design and are stuck working with smaller IP address ranges they can use.

Microsoft has built a solution to the IP exhaustion problem. The solution is Azure CNI Overlay. Azure CNI Overlay for AKS has been around for a while but was recently released into public preview on 9/4/22. Azure CNI Overlay for AKS helps us avoid IP exhaustion with our AKS clusters. It does this by assigning using a private /24 IP CIDR range and assigning IPs from this for pods on every node.

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Simplify your AKS IaC Deployments using the AKS Construction Helper tool

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After designing and architecting AKS the next step is to deploy your cluster/s. It is ideal to build your AKS deployments out as code.

This means taking your Azure infrastructure & AKS cluster/s design and scripting them as IaC (Infrastructure as Code). Scripting the AKS deployment vs manually deploying gives you documentation as code, standardization, & a templatized deployment for repeatability. You can deploy this code as is, place it in a pipeline for ease of deployment, in inner-source, or in a service catalog for access by multiple teams.

Microsoft has built a tool named the AKS Construction helper to accelerate building out your IaC for AKS. This tool is not as well-known as it should be. I wanted to blog about this tool to share this great resource that will save you tons of time. The AKS Construction helper was originally launched by Keith Howling of Microsoft. The core contributors to this tool have been Gordon Byers and Keith Howling with contributions from others as well.

The AKS Construction helper unifies guidance provided by the AKS Secure Baseline, Well Architected Framework, Cloud Adoption Framework, and Enterprise-Scale. It also is part of the official AKS Landing Zone Accelerator (Enterprise Scale). The AKS Construction helper lets you configure your AKS deployment using wizard/form style selections. After you complete your selections the tool gives you IaC code that you can copy to perform the AKS Deployment/s. You can get code for Az CLI, a Github Actions workflow, Terraform, or a Parameters file that can be used with an ARM Template.

Let’s go ahead and take a tour of the tool.

The tool lets you select Operations Principles or Enterprise-Scale path for configuring the options.

This helps narrow down the overall design requirements of your AKS deployment.

The next section of the AKS Construction helper is to fine-tune your AKS deployment. This gives you the chance to tweak things like the cluster name, K8s version, resource group, region, to be created, IP and Cider, initial RBAC, SLA, autoscaling, upgrade configuration, cluster networking, add ons such as an ingress controller (App Gateway, NGINX, etc), monitoring such as Azure Monitor, Azure policy, service mesh, secret storage, Keda, GitOps with Flux, and even has a few options to deploy some sample apps. This is done across 5 tabs in the Fine tine and Deploy section.

After you have set all of the configurations for your cluster there is code available for you to copy on the Deploy tab. Again you have options for Az CLI, a Github Actions workflow, Terraform scripts or an ARM Template Parameters file. Running the deployment code will deploy your AKS cluster exactly how you have it configured in the AKS Construction helper tool. 

What if you are not ready to deploy your AKS Clusters now but you do not want to lose your configuration? The tool has you covered. At the end of the Deploy Cluster code you can click the link as shown in the screenshot to get a URL for your configuration.

The URL will look similar to this:

https://azure.github.io/AKS-Construction/?deploy.deployItemKey=deployArmCli&ops=oss&preset=defaultOps&deploy.location=EastUS2&addons.ingress=nginx&addons.monitor=aci&addons.openServiceMeshAddon=true&addons.fluxGitOpsAddon=true

You can access this URL at any time to pick up where you left off with your AKS deployment configuration.

That brings us to the end of this blog post. Stop wasting time, head over to the tool, and start using this for all of your AKS Deployments. Here are the links for the tool:

The wizard-driven tool can be found here:

https://azure.github.io/AKS-Construction

The GitHub Repository for the tool can be found here:

https://github.com/Azure/AKS-Construction

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Co-hosting 2 sessions in the Azure Hybrid Cloud Study Hall Series

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I am very excited to be a part of a new Microsoft Azure Hybrid Cloud Study Hall series. This is a free fourteen-part weekly series that starts in April running through June.

In this study hall, you will learn how you can manage your on-premises, edge, and multi-cloud resources, and how you can deploy Azure services anywhere with Azure Arc and Azure Stack.

In this series, each session covers working with hybrid cloud resources using Azure services and hybrid cloud technologies. In these sessions we will:

  • Answer your questions live
  • Walk-through how to configure hybrid cloud resources
  • Walk-through how to deploy hybrid cloud resources
  • Walk-through how to manage hybrid cloud resources

In these sessions, together with you, we will work through Microsoft Learn modules focused on Azure Arc and Azure Stack HCI.

We have a solid lineup of speakers from Microsoft and the community! And I will be co-delivering two sessions myself.

Some of the speakers and moderators

Check out this video Microsoft marketing made where I talk about the sessions:

My sessions are:

Introduction to Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes

on May 5, 2022 10:00AM – 11:30AM (Pacific) co-hosting with Pierre Roman. 

Add to Calendar:
https://aka.ms/learnlive-azure-hybrid-cloud-study-hall-Ep7

The Learn Module:
https://aka.ms/learnlive-20220505A

Implement Azure App Service on Kubernetes with Arc

on June 9, 2022 10:00AM – 11:30AM (Pacific) co-hosting with Lior Kamrat.

Add to Calendar:
https://aka.ms/learnlive-azure-hybrid-cloud-study-hall-Ep11

The Learn Module:
https://aka.ms/learnlive-20220609A

Check out all of the Learn Live – Azure Hybrid Cloud Study Hall sessions here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/events/learntv/learnlive-azure-hybrid-cloud-study-hall

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Tech Talk with Kazeem – Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes for Beginners

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I was a guest on Tech Talk with Kazeem again! The topic of discussion was Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes for Beginners.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is TechTalk-w-Kazeem-2022-ArcK8s-2.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is TechTalk-w-Kazeem-2022-ArcK8s-1.png
@KazeemCanTeach & @buchatech@buchatech Azure Arc K8s book with O’Reilly

In the discussion with me and Microsoft MVP Kazeem Adegboyega, we talked about Azure Stack, AKS, Azure Arc: K8s, and GitOps! We talked about each technology and when to use them for what purpose and more.

You can check it out here:

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