Photon OS is a free and open-source operating system that is designed and suitable for use in containerized environments. Developed by VMware, it is optimized to run on cloud platforms like vSphere, providing a small, secure, and stable foundation for running containerized applications.
Photon OS is stripped down to only the essential components necessary to run containerized workloads. This helps to minimize the attack surface and eliminate unnecessary packages or libraries that could increase the size of the image or create security vulnerabilities. One of the key advantages of Photon OS is its security features, including SELinux and AppArmor, which help to protect against malicious activities and ensure the safety of the system. Additionally, Photon OS has fast boot times and low resource usage, making it well-suited for running in a containerized environment.
Photon OS supports both traditional package management systems like YUM and newer container-focused package managers like tdnf, giving users the flexibility to choose the tool that works best for their needs. With its focus on lightweight design and security, Photon OS is a popular choice for cloud-native applications and DevOps teams.
Kubernetes is an open-source platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications, and it is widely used for cloud-native applications. Photon OS’s small footprint and minimal resource usage make it an ideal platform for running Kubernetes, as it can help to reduce the overhead of managing a Kubernetes cluster. Futhermore, Photon OS includes essential tools and libraries needed for running Kubernetes workloads, such as the Docker runtime and the Kubernetes CLI, making it easy to set up and manage Kubernetes clusters. Photon OS also ships minimalistic design and security features, such as SELinux and AppArmor, which help to protect the containerized applications and the host system against malicious activities.
Deploy Kubernetes Cluster using Photon OS
This guide will demonstrate how to deploy Kubernetes Cluster using Photon OS. You need two or more machines with Photon OS installed. For this tutorial, will have 3 servers configured as shown below:
| TASK | HOSTNAME | IP ADDRESS |
| Master node(with 2 cores and above) | master.computingforgeeks.com | 192.168.200.61 |
| Worker node 1(with 2 cores and above) | worker1.computingforgeeks.com | 192.168.200.62 |
| Worker node 2(with 2 cores and above) | worker2.computingforgeeks.com | 192.168.200.63 |
The photon master, runs the kube-apiserver, kube-controller-manager, and kube-scheduler. It can also run etcd if not configured to run on a different server. The photon worker nodes are responsible for running the kubelet, proxy, and docker.
With the environment set up, proceed as shown below.
1. Prepare the Photon OS Nodes
The Photon OS full version comes with all the required packages to run a Kubernetes cluster. But for the minimal installations, you have to manually install the required packages on both the master and worker nodes.
Begin by installing docker and all the required packages on all the nodes:
sudo -i
tdnf install -y vim docker kubernetes-kubeadm apparmor-parserProceed and install iptables:
tdnf install iptablesIf you get iptables command not found, try:
echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/usr/sbin" | sudo tee -a /etc/profile
source /etc/profileOpen ports for ping, etcd, kubernetes and calico on the photon master in the firewall:
##Photon Master
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 2379:2380 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 6443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 10250:10252 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 179 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 4789 -j ACCEPTSave the rules:
iptables-save > /etc/systemd/scripts/ip4saveOn the photon worker node, open ports:
##Photon Worker
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 10250:10252 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 30000:32767 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 179 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 4789 -j ACCEPTSave the changes:
iptables-save > /etc/systemd/scripts/ip4saveConfigure your /etc/hosts on all the nodes to make sure that communication is happening: