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Version: 2.9

DigitalOcean UI Install

Summary​

After reviewing and confirming you have all of the prerequisites required for this installation process this page walks through all of the steps for Kubefirst installation with DigitalOcean and the Kubefirst UI.

Kubefirst Install - New Cluster​

tip

Refer to these initial steps if you do not have an existing cluster to start.

Step 1a - Install the Platform Installer Tools​

Run the following command to launch the Kubefirst installer. This enables us to create your new management cluster using your preferred git provider.

kubefirst launch up

Step 2a - Connect to Kubefirst provisioning tool​

When kubefirst launch up completes, it launches a browser displaying the Kubefirst installer at - http://console.kubefirst.dev

Continue to Step 3.

Kubefirst Install - Exiting Clusters​

tip

Refer to these initial steps if you have an existing cluster to start.

Step 1b - Install the Platform Installer Tools​

Run the following commands to add the Kubefirst installer tools to your existing cluster. This enables us to create your new management cluster in Google Cloud using your preferred git provider.

helm repo add konstruct https://charts.konstruct.io
helm repo update

helm install kubefirst --namespace kubefirst --create-namespace  konstruct/kubefirst

kubectl -n kubefirst port-forward svc/kubefirst-console 8080:8080

Step 2b - Connect to Kubefirst installer​

Open a browser to launch the Kubefirst installer with the URL - http://localhost:8080

Continue to Step 3.

Kubefirst Install - Create your management cluster and launch​

Step 3 - Create your management cluster​

  1. From the path in the previous step select your preferred Git provider. (We’re using GitHub for this example.)

  2. Provide the required details for your Git provider.

    • Personal Access Token/GitHub username
    • Organization name (Group for GitLab)
    • DigitalOcean connection details

  3. Select Next for Cluster details. Note: the recommendations below are the minimum requirements to run a management cluster.

    • Alerts email - receives notifications for encryption certificate expiration. This email will not be used by Konstruct for anything outside of these notifications
    • Cloud region
    • Cloud zone
    • Instance size - e2-medium (recommended)
    • Number of nodes - 3 (recommended)
    • DNS provider - For Cloudflare provide the Cloudflare token, cluster domain name, subdomain name (optional), and cluster name
    • Hosted zone name - For GitHub this is your domain
    • Cluster name - management (or something similar)

  4. In Advanced Options

    • Before you create your cluster, in the advanced settings drop down and you must specify the gitops template branch as main

  5. For all other Advanced Options these are optional and allow you to:

    • Override the gitops-template repository
    • Use HTTPs instead of SSH
    • Prevent the installation of the Kubefirst Pro UI component

  6. Select Create Cluster once you’re satisfied with the details you’ve provided to start provisioning! This process is typically about 15-20 minutes.

  7. When your cluster has successfully provisioned select Next.

  8. After successful provisioning the cluster details with the new Vault password are provided in the next screen.

tip

This part of the provisioning process creates your management cluster, bootstraps your new platform onto that cluster, and then adds the Kubefirst UI to that platform. Kubefirst Pro includes a management cluster for free. You can upgrade your license to manage additional clusters.

Step 4 - Launch the Kubefirst UI​

From the success screen you can now launch the Kubefirst Pro UI

Cluster is ready

  1. Select Open kubefirst console to see your cluster details.
    • The default username for your new platform bot administrator account is kbot
    • Save this password somewhere safe to retain access to your management cluster.

Congratulations you have a brand new management cluster. 🎉

What's Next?​

After completing the installation we recommend that you deprovision the install cluster.

Remove the Kubefirst installer​

After you’ve completed your Kubefirst installation you can run the following commands to remove the installer from your cluster.


kubefirst launch down

Explore Kubefirst​

By default your new management cluster has been created in the Free tier of the Kubefirst Platform. This tier includes access to the Kubefirst Pro UI.

Now that you have a functional install you may want to: