How to Install Kubernetes on RHEL 9 with kubeadm

Prerequisites

Before installing Kubernetes on RHEL 9 with kubeadm:

• Administrative/root access
• Minimum 2 CPU cores and 2GB RAM per node
• Internet connectivity
• Container runtime (containerd recommended)

Installation Steps

Step 1: Prepare the System

# Disable swap (required for kubelet)
sudo swapoff -a

# Load required kernel modules
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/k8s.conf
overlay
br_netfilter
EOF
sudo modprobe overlay && sudo modprobe br_netfilter

# Set sysctl params
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/k8s.conf
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables  = 1
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables = 1
net.ipv4.ip_forward                 = 1
EOF
sudo sysctl --system

Step 2: Install Container Runtime

# Install containerd
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y containerd
sudo mkdir -p /etc/containerd
containerd config default | sudo tee /etc/containerd/config.toml
sudo systemctl restart containerd

Step 3: Install Kubernetes Components

# Add Kubernetes repo and install
# kubeadm, kubelet, kubectl

Step 4: Initialize the Cluster

# Initialize control plane
sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16

# Configure kubectl
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config

Step 5: Install Network Plugin

# Install Calico CNI
kubectl apply -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/calico.yaml

# Verify nodes are Ready
kubectl get nodes

Verify Installation

# Check cluster status
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes -o wide
kubectl get pods -A

# Deploy test application
kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=NodePort

Next Steps

1. Join worker nodes to the cluster
2. Install an Ingress controller (nginx or traefik)
3. Set up monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana
4. Configure storage with a CSI driver
5. Deploy your applications with Helm or Kustomize

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