# Get started with AKO in the cloud This tutorial describes how to create an Aerospike Database Enterprise Edition deployment using the Aerospike Kubernetes Operator (AKO) on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). Most steps on this page are performed in the same way on GKE or EKS. Where there is a difference, choose the tab that applies to your deployment. ## Prerequisites - A running GKE or EKS Kubernetes cluster - The `gcloud` or `aws` terminal utilities - Helm - Git - Kubectl - An Aerospike Enterprise Edition feature-key file - Download a free Enterprise Edition feature-key file good for 60 days at this link: [Get Started with Aerospike](https://aerospike.com/get-started-aerospike-database/) This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of Kubernetes and that your terminal is set up to communicate with your cloud Kubernetes instance. ## Pre-install Your cloud Kubernetes instance should be set up to the point that you can run commands with your local terminal to create Secrets and install Helm charts. You can test this with the following commands. Copy and paste the commands into your terminal. If all commands complete without errors, your environment is ready to install AKO. - [Google GKE](#tab-panel-3059) - [Amazon EKS](#tab-panel-3060) Terminal window ```bash # Point kubectl at the correct GKE cluster gcloud container clusters get-credentials CLUSTER_NAME --region REGION # Check connectivity and versions kubectl cluster-info # API-server reachable? kubectl get nodes -o wide # Nodes visible? helm version --short # Helm installed? git --version # Git installed? ``` Terminal window ```bash # Point kubectl at the correct EKS cluster aws eks update-kubeconfig --region REGION --name CLUSTER_NAME # Check connectivity and versions kubectl cluster-info # API-server reachable? kubectl get nodes -o wide # Nodes visible? helm version --short # Helm installed? git --version # Git installed? ``` ## Install AKO In this section, you use Helm to install AKO on your Kubernetes cluster and configure the Kubernetes namespace to watch for your Aerospike Database deployment. 1. Add the JetStack Helm repository so you can install `cert-manager`, a utility that AKO relies on to manage certificates. Terminal window ```shell helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io --force-update ``` 2. Install the `cert-manager` Helm chart. Terminal window ```shell helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager --namespace cert-manager --create-namespace --version v1.17.0 --set crds.enabled=true ``` 3. Add the AKO Helm repository. Terminal window ```shell helm repo add aerospike https://aerospike.github.io/aerospike-kubernetes-enterprise ``` 4. Install AKO to your cluster. The `watchNamespaces` parameter tells AKO which Kubernetes namespace to monitor for AerospikeCluster custom resources. Terminal window ```bash helm install aerospike-kubernetes-operator aerospike/aerospike-kubernetes-operator --version=4.3.0 --set watchNamespaces="aerospike" ``` AKO is now running on your cluster and is ready to create a new Aerospike Database deployment. ## Deploy an Aerospike database In this section, you use `kubectl` to deploy Aerospike Database. This tutorial uses a pre-built sample configuration for Aerospike database deployment. 1. Create a dedicated Kubernetes namespace for your Aerospike Database deployment. This must match the `watchNamespaces` value you set when installing AKO. Terminal window ```shell kubectl create namespace aerospike ``` 2. Download the Aerospike Kubernetes Operator repository from GitHub to your local machine. This repository contains sample configuration files for an Aerospike Database deployment. You can modify these files on your local machine before using `kubectl` to apply the changes to the cluster. Terminal window ```shell git clone https://github.com/aerospike/aerospike-kubernetes-operator.git ``` The only directory you need to interact with during this tutorial is `config/samples/` as shown in the following diagram: - Directoryaerospike-kubernetes-operator - Directoryapi/ - … - Directorycmd/ - … - Directory**config/** - Directory**samples/** - … - … **(sample configuration files)** - … (other directories) 3. Navigate to the repository and check out the release tag that matches your AKO version. Terminal window ```bash cd aerospike-kubernetes-operator git checkout v4.3.0 ``` Your working directory should remain `aerospike-kubernetes-operator/` for the rest of this tutorial. All `config/samples/...` paths are relative to this directory. 4. Copy your feature-key file, typically named `features.conf`, into the existing `config/samples/secrets/` directory. Aerospike Enterprise Edition requires this file to start. 5. Create the Kubernetes Secrets that the Aerospike cluster needs at runtime. The first secret loads everything in the secrets directory, including your feature-key file. The second sets a placeholder initial password for the Aerospike `admin` user. Terminal window ```shell kubectl -n aerospike create secret generic aerospike-secret --from-file=config/samples/secrets kubectl -n aerospike create secret generic auth-secret --from-literal=password='admin123' ``` 6. Create a ServiceAccount for AKO in the `aerospike` Kubernetes namespace. AKO uses this identity when it manages pods, services, and other resources for your database. Terminal window ```shell kubectl -n aerospike create serviceaccount aerospike-operator-controller-manager ``` 7. Bind the `aerospike-cluster` ClusterRole to the ServiceAccount you just created. This grants AKO the permissions it needs to manage Aerospike cluster resources. Terminal window ```shell kubectl create clusterrolebinding aerospike-cluster --clusterrole=aerospike-cluster --serviceaccount=aerospike:aerospike-operator-controller-manager ``` 8. Prepare the cluster to use SSD storage with a sample storage class file from the GitHub repository. - [Google GKE](#tab-panel-3061) - [Amazon EKS](#tab-panel-3062) Terminal window ```shell kubectl apply -f config/samples/storage/gce_ssd_storage_class.yaml ``` Terminal window ```shell kubectl apply -f config/samples/storage/eks_ssd_storage_class.yaml ``` 9. Create the Aerospike cluster by applying a sample Custom Resource (CR). AKO watches for this resource and automatically provisions the Aerospike Database pods. This sample uses SSD-backed storage, which is the recommended configuration for cloud deployments. Terminal window ```shell kubectl apply -f config/samples/ssd_storage_cluster_cr.yaml ``` After you apply the CR, the cluster starts initializing or updating. 10. Watch the cluster status. The `-w` flag streams updates so you can see the phase change in real time. Terminal window ```shell kubectl get aerospikeclusters aerocluster -n aerospike -w ``` Wait until the **PHASE** column shows `Completed`, then press Ctrl+C to stop watching. This can take a few minutes, depending on your cluster size and the resources available. Terminal window ```shell NAME SIZE IMAGE MULTIPODPERHOST HOSTNETWORK AGE PHASE aerocluster 2 aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise:8.1.1.0 true 2s InProgress aerocluster 2 aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise:8.1.1.0 true 21s InProgress aerocluster 2 aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise:8.1.1.0 true 21s InProgress aerocluster 2 aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise:8.1.1.0 true 27s InProgress aerocluster 2 aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise:8.1.1.0 true 28s Completed ``` 11. Find the access endpoints for your cluster. These are the `host:port` pairs that client applications use to connect to your Aerospike database. Terminal window ```shell kubectl -n aerospike describe aerospikeclusters aerocluster | grep -E 'Access Endpoints|Alternate Access Endpoints' -A1 ``` You can use any of the Aerospike client libraries to write tests for reading and writing to this database backend. You now have a running Aerospike Database deployment on the cloud using AKO! ## Cleanup When you have finished this tutorial, remove the AKO and Aerospike resources you created before deleting cloud infrastructure. This cleanup order helps avoid leaving persistent volumes and cloud disks behind. Terminal window ```bash kubectl delete -f config/samples/ssd_storage_cluster_cr.yaml helm uninstall aerospike-kubernetes-operator helm uninstall cert-manager -n cert-manager kubectl delete clusterrolebinding aerospike-cluster kubectl delete ns aerospike ``` For complete cleanup guidance, including uninstalling CRDs and related resources, see [Uninstall Aerospike Kubernetes Operator](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.3.x/manage/uninstall). ## Next steps The biggest difference between the cluster created in this tutorial and a production cluster is in the storage class and CR file configurations. See the [AKO Configuration](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.3.x/manage/configure/overview) section to learn how to configure your deployment for your own application needs. Become familiar with the [Aerospike Backup Service (ABS)](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.3.x/tools/backup/overview) and the [monitoring stack](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.3.x/observe/operator-monitoring). They are separate services that run alongside the database in your cluster. ABS listens for REST requests to perform backups and restores of the database, while the monitoring stack lets you visualize cluster statistics on Grafana dashboards.