Air-Gap Install for RKE-2 Kubernetes

To deploy RKE-2 Kubernetes in an air-gap environment, we will have to collect and archive the deployment artifacts from a system where internet is available.

Collect Artifacts for RKE2

Identify latest stable release for RKE2. Navigate to the latest stable release page on github using RKE-2 stable release. At the time of this writing the latest stable release is v1.28.12+rke2r1

Create a local artifacts folder

CODE

mkdir /root/artifacts/rke2 && cd /root/artifacts/rke2

Download RKE2 artifacts

BASH

curl -OLs https://github.com/rancher/rke2/releases/download/v1.28.12%2Brke2r1/rke2-images.linux-amd64.tar.zst
curl -OLs https://github.com/rancher/rke2/releases/download/v1.28.12%2Brke2r1/rke2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
curl -OLs https://github.com/rancher/rke2/releases/download/v1.28.12%2Brke2r1/sha256sum-amd64.txt
curl -sfL https://get.rke2.io --output install.sh

Create a folder for EFCX artifacts

CODE

mkdir /root/artifacts/EFCX && /root/artifacts/EFCX

Downloads and archive other helm charts

Openebs

CODE

helm repo add openebs https://openebs.github.io/openebs
helm repo update
helm pull openebs/openebs

Download images for openebs

BASH

mkdir -p  images/openebs
for OPENEBS_IMG in $(helm  template --debug openebs/openebs|& awk '/image:/ {print $2 }' |sed -e "s/'//g" -e 's/"//g'|sort -u)
do 
  OPENEBS_IMG_IMAGE_REPO=${OPENEBS_IMG%%:*};
  echo "${OPENEBS_IMG_IMAGE_REPO}"
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin/ctr  -n k8s.io i pull   docker.io/${OPENEBS_IMG}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i export images/openebs/${OPENEBS_IMG_IMAGE_REPO//\//}.tar docker.io/${OPENEBS_IMG}
done

Cert-manager

BASH

mkdir images/cert-manager
for CERT_M_IMG in $(helm  template --debug --set installCRDs=true oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts/cert-manager|&  awk '/image:/ {print $2 }' |sed -e "s/'//g" -e 's/"//g'|sort -u)
do 
  CERT_M_IMAGE_REPO=${CERT_M_IMG%%:*};
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin/ctr  -n k8s.io i pull   ${CERT_M_IMG}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i export images/cert-manager/${CERT_M_IMAGE_REPO//\//}.tar ${CERT_M_IMG}
done

Clone the CX repository ( replace the branch-name )

CODE

git clone -b <BRANCH-NAME> https://efcx:RecRpsuH34yqp56YRFUb@gitlab.expertflow.com/cim/cim-solution.git

Download all the CX solution images

BASH

mkdir images/efcx
for CXI in  $(awk '/[ ]+image:/ { print $NF }' cim-solution/kubernetes/cim/Deployments/*.yaml)
do
  CXI_IMAGE_REPO=${CXI%%:*};
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin/ctr  -n k8s.io i pull   -u  efcx:RecRpsuH34yqp56YRFUb ${CXI}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i export images/efcx/${CXI_IMAGE_REPO//\//}.tar ${CXI}
done

Download and archive images for External Components

BASH

mkdir images/efex
IMG_ARRAY=()
for efex in cim-solution/kubernetes/external/bitnami/* 
do
  IMG_ARRAY+=($(helm template --debug  --values ${efex}/values.yaml ${efex}|awk '/image:/ { print $2 }'))
done

#Archive 

for img in "$IMG_ARRAY[@]}"
do
  EFCX_IMAGE_REPO=${img%%:*};
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin/ctr  -n k8s.io i pull ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i export images/efex/${EFCX_IMAGE_REPO//\//}.tar ${img}
done

Rasa-x Images

BASH

mkdir images/rasax
for RASAX_IMAGE in $(helm template --debug  --values cim-solution/kubernetes/external/rasa-x/values-small.yaml cim-solution/kubernetes/external/rasa-x 2> /dev/null |awk '/image:/ {print $2 }'|sed -e "s/'//g" -e 's/"//g'|sort -u )
do
   RASAX_IMAGE_REPO=${RASAX_IMAGE%%:*}
   CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin/ctr  -n k8s.io i pull ${RASAX_IMAGE}
   CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i export images/rasax/${RASAX_IMAGE_REPO//\//}.tar ${RASAX_IMAGE}
done

Superset Images

BASH

mkdir images/superset
for SUPERSET_IMAGE in $(helm template --debug  --values cim-solution/kubernetes/external/superset/values.yaml  cim-solution/kubernetes/external/superset 2> /dev/null |awk '/image:/ {print $2 }'|sed -e "s/'//g" -e 's/"//g'|sort -u )
do
   SUPERSET_IMAGE_REPO=${SUPERSET_IMAGE%%:*}
   CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin/ctr  -n k8s.io i pull ${SUPERSET_IMAGE}
   CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i export images/superset/${SUPERSET_IMAGE_REPO//\//}.tar ${SUPERSET_IMAGE}
done

Download the latest helm binary

Identify the latest release by visiting the link. As of this writing, the latest release is v3.15.4 ( change with the latest release in below given steps. )

CODE

 wget https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.15.4-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Change to the /root/ directory

CODE

cd /root/

Archive all the artifacts

CODE

tar cvf rke2-EFCX-artifacts.tar  /root/artifacts

Transfer all the artifacts to Offline system ( s/ftp, USB or using Jump PC )

On the target system( without internet access)

Once all the files from previous steps are copied/transferred, use below given procedure

Extract the archive

CODE

tar zxvf rke2-EFCX-artifacts.tar

Install RKE2 using air-gap method

CODE

cd artifacts/rke2
INSTALL_RKE2_ARTIFACT_PATH=/root/artifacts/rke2 INSTALL_RKE2_METHOD=tar  sh install.sh

Create necessary files as mentioned in the standard deployment guide for RKE2 config.yaml and other manifests before proceeding with the RKE2 install as mentioned here

It takes a while for RKE2 to completely ready, please wait while all the pods are in running state.

Install helm

Change to the directory where artifacts are extracted

CODE

cd /root/artifacts

Extract the helm archine

CODE

tar zxvf helm-v3.15.4-linux-amd64.tar.gz

and copy the binary

CODE

cp linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/

Once RKE2 is up and running, proceed with the import process of images

Import OpenEBS images

CODE

for img in EFCX/images/openebs/*.tar
do
  echo ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i import ${img}
done

Import cert-manager

CODE

for img in EFCX/images/cert-manager/*.tar
do
  echo ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i import ${img}
done

Import EFCX images

CODE

for img in EFCX/images/efcx/*.tar
do
  echo ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i import ${img}
done

Import external component images

CODE

for img in EFCX/images/efex/*.tar
do
  echo ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i import ${img}
done

Import superset images

CODE

for img in EFCX/images/superset/*.tar
do
  echo ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i import ${img}
done

Import rasa-x images

CODE

for img in EFCX/images/rasax/*.tar
do
  echo ${img}
  CONTAINERD_ADDRESS=/run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ctr -n k8s.io i import ${img}
done

View all the images are imported successfully

CODE

crictl --runtime-endpoint="unix:///run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock"  image list

Next Steps

Proceed with the EF-CX installation using CX Deployment on Kubernetes