Kubernetes on Azure (AKS)

Installing and maintaining Kubernetes clusters correctly and securely is hard. Thankfully, all the major cloud providers such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (of course, considering Kubernetes was founded in Google), AWS, and Azure facilitate installing and maintaining clusters. You will learn how to navigate through Azure Portal and launch your own cluster and a sample application. And all of the above from your browser.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Navigating Azure Portal
• Launching your cluster
• Starting your first application

Technical requirements

You will need a modern web browser such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

If you do not have an Azure account, you can create a free account here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/?WT.mc_id=A261C142F.

If you do not want to run the sample application in Docker locally, then skip to the Entering the Azure portal section where we will show you how to do the same in Azure without installing anything locally.

In this section, we will show you how to run the Azure Voting application on your local machine. This requires the following:

• Follow the instructions and install Git (https://git-scm.com/downloads) on your local machine.
• Install Docker (https://www.docker.com/get-started); follow the instructions in the get-started document to install the Docker engine.
• We will use the Azure Voting application (https://github.com/Azure-Samples/azure-voting-app...

Entering the Azure portal

Till we get to an all command-line method of operation (aka the DevOps way), we will be utilizing Azure Portal for most of our use cases. Even when we are using command-line functions for most of our operations, Azure Portal is where you can quickly check the status of your infrastructure. Familiarity with Azure Portal is essential for running your AKS.

Creating an Azure portal account

If you already have an account with Azure and/or are familiar with Azure Portal, you can skip this section.

Here we will show you how to get started with a free account.

In order to keep your trial account separate, you probably want to start the browser in Incognito or Private Browsing mode.

1. Go to https://azure.microsoft...

Navigating the Azure portal

We are going to jump straight in by creating our Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). By doing so, we are also going to familiarize ourselves with the Azure portal. Please note that we are going to ask you to blindly click here and there. We will explain the different concepts later in the appropriate context or as side notes. For now, trust us, we are engineers (at least we used to be).

Creating your first AKS

On the top center where the search icon is, type this:

aks

You will see Kubernetes services under SERVICES. Click on it:

You have to add a new Resource Group. Type handsonaks and myfirstakscluster for the cluster name:

Use the previous names for Resource Group and Cluster Name. We will be using...

Summary

By the end of this chapter, we are now able to access and navigate the Azure portal to perform all the functions required to launch AKS and also to use the free trial on Azure to your advantage while learning the ins and outs of AKS and other Azure services. We launched our own AKS cluster with the ability to customize configurations if required using Azure Portal. We also learned to use Azure Cloud Shell without installing anything on your computer. This is important for all the upcoming sections, where you will be doing a lot more than launching simple applications. Finally, we launched a publicly accessible service that works! The skeleton of this application is the same for the complex applications that you will be launching in the next sections.