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Cluster Controller

The Cluster Controller is currently in beta. Please read the documentation carefully.

Kubecost's Cluster Controller allows you to access additional Savings features through automated processes. To function, the Cluster Controller requires write permission to certain resources on your cluster, and for this reason, the Cluster Controller is disabled by default.

The Cluster Controller enables features like:

Feature functionality

The Cluster Controller can be enabled on any cluster type, but certain functionality will only be enabled based on the cloud service provider (CSP) of the cluster and its type:

  • The Cluster Controller can only be enabled on your primary cluster.

  • The Controller itself and container RRS are available for all cluster types and configurations.

  • Cluster turndown, cluster right-sizing, and Kubecost Actions are only available for GKE, EKS, and Kops-on-AWS clusters, after setting up a provider service key.

Therefore, the 'Provider service key setup' section below is optional depending on your cluster environment, but will limit functionality if you choose to skip it. Read the caution banner in the below section for more details.

Provider service key setup

If you are enabling the Cluster Controller for a GKE/EKS/Kops AWS cluster, follow the specialized instructions for your CSP(s) below. If you aren't using a GKE/EKS Kops AWS cluster, skip ahead to the Deploying section below.

GKE setup

The following command performs the steps required to set up a service account. More info.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://github.com/kubecost/cluster-turndown/releases/latest/download/gke-create-service-key.sh)" -- <Project ID> <Service Account Name> <Namespace> cluster-controller-service-key

To use this setup script, provide the following required parameters:

  • Project ID: The GCP project identifier. Can be found via: gcloud config get-value project

  • Namespace: The namespace which Kubecost will be installed, e.g kubecost

  • Service Account Name: The name of the service account to be created. Should be between 6 and 20 characters, e.g. kubecost-controller

  • Secret Name: The Kubecost will automatically look for a secret called cluster-controller-service-key. This can be changed by setting .Values.clusterController.secretName.

EKS setup

For EKS cluster provisioning, if using eksctl, make sure that you use the --managed option when creating the cluster. Unmanaged node groups should be upgraded to managed. More info.

Create a new User with AutoScalingFullAccess permissions, plus the following EKS-specific permissions:

{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "eks:ListClusters",
        "eks:DescribeCluster",
        "eks:DescribeNodegroup",
        "eks:ListNodegroups",
        "eks:CreateNodegroup",
        "eks:UpdateClusterConfig",
        "eks:UpdateNodegroupConfig",
        "eks:DeleteNodegroup",
        "eks:ListTagsForResource",
        "eks:TagResource",
        "eks:UntagResource"
    ],
    "Resource": "*"
},
{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "iam:GetRole",
        "iam:ListAttachedRolePolicies",
        "iam:PassRole"
    ],
    "Resource": "*"
}

Create a new file, service-key.json, and use the access key ID and secret access key to fill out the following template:

{
    "aws_access_key_id": "<ACCESS_KEY_ID>",
    "aws_secret_access_key": "<SECRET_ACCESS_KEY>"
}

Then, run the following to create the secret:

$ kubectl create secret generic cluster-controller-service-key -n <NAMESPACE> --from-file=service-key.json

Here is a full example of this process using the AWS CLI and a simple IAM user (requires jq):

NEW_IAM_USER
aws iam create-user \
    --user-name $NEW_IAM_USER

aws iam attach-user-policy \
    --user-name $NEW_IAM_USER \
    --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AutoScalingFullAccess

read -r -d '' EKSPOLICY << EOM
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
    {
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": [
            "eks:ListClusters",
            "eks:DescribeCluster",
            "eks:DescribeNodegroup",
            "eks:ListNodegroups",
            "eks:CreateNodegroup",
            "eks:UpdateClusterConfig",
            "eks:UpdateNodegroupConfig",
            "eks:DeleteNodegroup",
            "eks:ListTagsForResource",
            "eks:TagResource",
            "eks:UntagResource"
        ],
        "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": [
            "iam:GetRole",
            "iam:ListAttachedRolePolicies",
            "iam:PassRole"
        ],
        "Resource": "*"
    }
    ]
}
EOM

aws iam put-user-policy \
    --user-name $NEW_IAM_USER \
    --policy-name "eks-permissions" \
    --policy-document "${EKSPOLICY}"

aws iam create-access-key \
    --user-name $NEW_IAM_USER --output json \
    > /tmp/aws-key.json

AAKI="$(jq -r '.AccessKey.AccessKeyId' /tmp/aws-key.json)"
ASAK="$(jq -r '.AccessKey.SecretAccessKey' /tmp/aws-key.json)"
kubectl create secret generic \
    cluster-controller-service-key \
    -n kubecost \
    --from-literal="service-key.json={\"aws_access_key_id\": \"${AAKI}\", \"aws_secret_access_key\": \"${ASAK}\"}"
Kops-on-AWS setup

Create a new user or IAM role with AutoScalingFullAccess permissions. JSON definition of those permissions:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "autoscaling:*",
            "Resource": "*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "cloudwatch:PutMetricAlarm",
            "Resource": "*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes",
                "ec2:DescribeAvailabilityZones",
                "ec2:DescribeImages",
                "ec2:DescribeInstanceAttribute",
                "ec2:DescribeInstances",
                "ec2:DescribeKeyPairs",
                "ec2:DescribeLaunchTemplateVersions",
                "ec2:DescribePlacementGroups",
                "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",
                "ec2:DescribeSpotInstanceRequests",
                "ec2:DescribeSubnets",
                "ec2:DescribeVpcClassicLink"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "elasticloadbalancing:DescribeLoadBalancers",
                "elasticloadbalancing:DescribeTargetGroups"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "iam:CreateServiceLinkedRole",
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "iam:AWSServiceName": "autoscaling.amazonaws.com"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Create a new file, service-key.json, and use the access key ID and secret access key to fill out the following template:

{
    "aws_access_key_id": "<ACCESS_KEY_ID>",
    "aws_secret_access_key": "<SECRET_ACCESS_KEY>"
}

Then run the following to create the secret:

$ kubectl create secret generic cluster-controller-service-key -n <NAMESPACE> --from-file=service-key.json

Deploying

You can now enable the Cluster Controller in the Helm chart by finding the clusterController Helm flag and setting enabled: true

clusterController:
  enabled: true

You may also enable via --set when running Helm install:

helm install kubecost cost-analyzer \
--repo https://kubecost.github.io/cost-analyzer/ \
--namespace kubecost --create-namespace \
--set clusterController.enabled=true

Verify the Cluster Controller is running

You can verify that the Cluster Controller is running by issuing the following:

kubectl get pods -n kubecost -l app=kubecost-cluster-controller

Once the Cluster Controller has been enabled successfully, you should automatically have access to the listed Savings features.

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