Setting up an EKS Cluster with Terraform and Connecting via kubectl

This repository will walk you through the process of creating an Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cluster from scratch using Terraform and configuring kubectl on your local machine to manage it.

🗂 Repository Structure

• main.tf: Main Terraform configuration file defining resources.
• variables.tf: Definitions of input variables, making the configuration flexible and reusable.
• .gitignore: Specifies files and directories to ignore in the repository, including sensitive information like terraform.tfvars.
• LICENSE: MIT License file.

---

🔑 Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following tools installed:

1. Terraform: Download and install Terraform from the official website.

2. AWS CLI: Install the AWS CLI and configure it using aws configure.

3. kubectl: Install kubectl following the instructions.

You should also have an AWS account with sufficient permissions to create an EKS cluster and associated resources.

🚀 Usage

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/melisacar/terraform-k8s.git
cd terraform-k8s

Steps to Apply Terraform

• main.tf is the Terraform configuration file to create an EKS cluster.

1. Initialize Terraform:

terraform init

2. Validate Configuration:

terraform validate

3. Apply Terraform Plan:

terraform apply

4. Destroy Resources (When Needed)

terraform destroy

🌐 Connecting to the EKS Cluster

Once the cluster is created, configure your local kubectl to access it.

1. Generate kubeconfig

Run the following command to generate the kubeconfig file for the cluster:

aws eks update-kubeconfig --region eu-north-1 --name eks-1-<random_suffix>

Replace <random_suffix> with the random string appended to your cluster name (e.g., eks-1-abc12345).

2. Test the Connection

Verify that kubectl is configured correctly by running:

kubectl get nodes

You should see a list of nodes from the cluster.

---

Verifying IAM Identity: aws sts get-caller-identity

The command aws sts get-caller-identity is used to verify the IAM entity (user or role) making requests to AWS. This is helpful in ensuring that your AWS CLI is configured correctly and the identity has the required permissions.

• You can run:

aws sts get-caller-identity

• The output will look like this:

{
    "UserId": "AIDASAMPLE123456",
    "Account": "123456789012",
    "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/your-user-name"
}

---

Troubleshooting Notes

Resolving Errors After terraform destroy

• Issue

Error: deleting **EC2 Subnet** (subnet-03e...): operation error EC2: DeleteSubnet, https response error StatusCode: 400, RequestID: 429c6..., api error DependencyViolation: The subnet 'subnet-03e...' has dependencies and cannot be deleted.

Error: deleting **EC2 Internet Gateway** (igw-04a...): detaching EC2 Internet Gateway (igw-04a...) from VPC (vpc-04f...): operation error EC2: DetachInternetGateway, https response error StatusCode: 400, RequestID: 66e97..., api error DependencyViolation: Network vpc-04f198515baf8ac52 has some mapped public address(es). Please unmap those public address(es) before detaching the gateway.

Resolution Steps

• Run terraform plan with -destroy flag This will help you plan the destruction of resources.

terraform plan -destroy

• Create a plan file for destruction This stores the plan output into a file named tfplan.

terraform plan -destroy -out=tfplan

• Apply the destruction plan After confirming the destruction plan is correct, apply it.

terraform apply “tfplan” 

Still Facing Errors?

If the issue persists with the same errors regarding EC2 Subnet and Internet Gateway, follow these additional steps:

• Inspect the resources in Terraform state This helps you check the resources that Terraform is managing.

terraform state list

Expected Output Example:

- module.vpc.aws_internet_gateway.this[0]
- module.vpc.aws_subnet.public[0]
- module.vpc.aws_vpc.this[0]

• Manually remove problematic resources from Terraform state

Sometimes, resources need to be manually removed from the state to ensure Terraform does not try to manage them anymore.

Example command to remove an Internet Gateway from the state:

terraform state rm module.vpc.aws_internet_gateway.this[0]

You can remove any other resources that are causing issues in a similar manner. Ensure that no other resources depend on the ones you're removing.

References

• Terraform state rm documentation for more details on removing resources from Terraform state:

• Terraform State Remove