# Kubernetes clusters > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/35954) in GitLab 10.1 for projects. > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/34758) in > GitLab 11.6 for [groups](../../group/clusters/index.md). > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/39840) in > GitLab 11.11 for [instances](../../instance/clusters/index.md). GitLab provides many features with a Kubernetes integration. Kubernetes can be integrated with projects, but also: - [Groups](../../group/clusters/index.md). - [Instances](../../instance/clusters/index.md). NOTE: **Scalable app deployment with GitLab and Google Cloud Platform** [Watch the webcast](https://about.gitlab.com/webcast/scalable-app-deploy/) and learn how to spin up a Kubernetes cluster managed by Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in a few clicks. ## Overview Using the GitLab project Kubernetes integration, you can: - Use [Review Apps](../../../ci/review_apps/index.md). - Run [pipelines](../../../ci/pipelines.md). - [Deploy](#deploying-to-a-kubernetes-cluster) your applications. - Detect and [monitor Kubernetes](#kubernetes-monitoring). - Use it with [Auto DevOps](#auto-devops). - Use [Web terminals](#web-terminals). - Use [Deploy Boards](#deploy-boards-premium). **(PREMIUM)** - Use [Canary Deployments](#canary-deployments-premium). **(PREMIUM)** - View [Pod logs](#pod-logs-ultimate). **(ULTIMATE)** You can also: - Connect and deploy to an [Amazon EKS cluster](eks_and_gitlab/index.html). - Run serverless workloads on [Kubernetes with Knative](serverless/index.md). ### Deploy Boards **(PREMIUM)** GitLab's Deploy Boards offer a consolidated view of the current health and status of each CI [environment](../../../ci/environments.md) running on Kubernetes, displaying the status of the pods in the deployment. Developers and other teammates can view the progress and status of a rollout, pod by pod, in the workflow they already use without any need to access Kubernetes. [Read more about Deploy Boards](../deploy_boards.md) ### Canary Deployments **(PREMIUM)** Leverage [Kubernetes' Canary deployments](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/cluster-administration/manage-deployment/#canary-deployments) and visualize your canary deployments right inside the Deploy Board, without the need to leave GitLab. [Read more about Canary Deployments](../canary_deployments.md) ### Pod logs **(ULTIMATE)** GitLab makes it easy to view the logs of running pods in connected Kubernetes clusters. By displaying the logs directly in GitLab, developers can avoid having to manage console tools or jump to a different interface. [Read more about Kubernetes pod logs](kubernetes_pod_logs.md) ### Kubernetes monitoring Automatically detect and monitor Kubernetes metrics. Automatic monitoring of [NGINX ingress](../integrations/prometheus_library/nginx.md) is also supported. [Read more about Kubernetes monitoring](../integrations/prometheus_library/kubernetes.md) ### Auto DevOps Auto DevOps automatically detects, builds, tests, deploys, and monitors your applications. To make full use of Auto DevOps(Auto Deploy, Auto Review Apps, and Auto Monitoring) you will need the Kubernetes project integration enabled. [Read more about Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md) NOTE: **Note** Kubernetes clusters can be used without Auto DevOps. ### Web terminals NOTE: **Note:** Introduced in GitLab 8.15. You must be the project owner or have `maintainer` permissions to use terminals. Support is limited to the first container in the first pod of your environment. When enabled, the Kubernetes service adds [web terminal](../../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals) support to your [environments](../../../ci/environments.md). This is based on the `exec` functionality found in Docker and Kubernetes, so you get a new shell session within your existing containers. To use this integration, you should deploy to Kubernetes using the deployment variables above, ensuring any deployments, replica sets, and pods are annotated with: - `app.gitlab.com/env: $CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` - `app.gitlab.com/app: $CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG` `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` and `$CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG` are the values of the CI variables. ## Adding and removing clusters There are two options when adding a new cluster to your project: - Associate your account with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) to [create new clusters](#add-new-gke-cluster) from within GitLab. - Provide credentials to an [existing Kubernetes cluster](#add-existing-kubernetes-cluster). ### Add new GKE cluster TIP: **Tip:** Every new Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account receives [$300 in credit upon sign up](https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial), and in partnership with Google, GitLab is able to offer an additional $200 for new GCP accounts to get started with GitLab's Google Kubernetes Engine Integration. All you have to do is [follow this link](https://goo.gl/AaJzRW) and apply for credit. NOTE: **Note:** The [Google authentication integration](../../../integration/google.md) must be enabled in GitLab at the instance level. If that's not the case, ask your GitLab administrator to enable it. On GitLab.com, this is enabled. #### Requirements Before creating your first cluster on Google Kubernetes Engine with GitLab's integration, make sure the following requirements are met: - A [billing account](https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/manage-billing-account) is set up and you have permissions to access it. - The Kubernetes Engine API and related service are enabled. It should work immediately but may take up to 10 minutes after you create a project. For more information see the ["Before you begin" section of the Kubernetes Engine docs](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/quickstart#before-you-begin). #### Creating the cluster If all of the above requirements are met, you can proceed to create and add a new Kubernetes cluster to your project: 1. Navigate to your project's **Operations > Kubernetes** page. NOTE: **Note:** You need Maintainer [permissions](../../permissions.md) and above to access the Kubernetes page. 1. Click **Add Kubernetes cluster**. 1. Click **Create with Google Kubernetes Engine**. 1. Connect your Google account if you haven't done already by clicking the **Sign in with Google** button. 1. From there on, choose your cluster's settings: - **Kubernetes cluster name** - The name you wish to give the cluster. - **Environment scope** - The [associated environment](#setting-the-environment-scope-premium) to this cluster. - **Google Cloud Platform project** - Choose the project you created in your GCP console that will host the Kubernetes cluster. Learn more about [Google Cloud Platform projects](https://cloud.google.com/resource-manager/docs/creating-managing-projects). - **Zone** - Choose the [region zone](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/regions-zones/) under which the cluster will be created. - **Number of nodes** - Enter the number of nodes you wish the cluster to have. - **Machine type** - The [machine type](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/machine-types) of the Virtual Machine instance that the cluster will be based on. - **GitLab-managed cluster** - Leave this checked if you want GitLab to manage namespaces and service accounts for this cluster. See the [Managed clusters section](#gitlab-managed-clusters) for more information. 1. Finally, click the **Create Kubernetes cluster** button. After a couple of minutes, your cluster will be ready to go. You can now proceed to install some [pre-defined applications](#installing-applications). NOTE: **Note:** GitLab requires basic authentication enabled and a client certificate issued for the cluster in order to setup an [initial service account](#access-controls). Starting from [GitLab 11.10](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/58208), the cluster creation process will explicitly request that basic authentication and client certificate is enabled. NOTE: **Note:** Starting from [GitLab 12.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/55902), all GKE clusters created by GitLab are RBAC enabled. Take a look at the [RBAC section](#rbac-cluster-resources) for more information. ### Add existing Kubernetes cluster NOTE: **Note:** Kubernetes integration is not supported for arm64 clusters. See the issue [Helm Tiller fails to install on arm64 cluster](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/64044) for details. To add an existing Kubernetes cluster to your project: 1. Navigate to your project's **Operations > Kubernetes** page. NOTE: **Note:** You need Maintainer [permissions](../../permissions.md) and above to access the Kubernetes page. 1. Click **Add Kubernetes cluster**. 1. Click **Add an existing Kubernetes cluster** and fill in the details: - **Kubernetes cluster name** (required) - The name you wish to give the cluster. - **Environment scope** (required) - The [associated environment](#setting-the-environment-scope-premium) to this cluster. - **API URL** (required) - It's the URL that GitLab uses to access the Kubernetes API. Kubernetes exposes several APIs, we want the "base" URL that is common to all of them, e.g., `https://kubernetes.example.com` rather than `https://kubernetes.example.com/api/v1`. Get the API URL by running this command: ```sh kubectl cluster-info | grep 'Kubernetes master' | awk '/http/ {print $NF}' ``` - **CA certificate** (required) - A valid Kubernetes certificate is needed to authenticate to the EKS cluster. We will use the certificate created by default. - List the secrets with `kubectl get secrets`, and one should named similar to `default-token-xxxxx`. Copy that token name for use below. - Get the certificate by running this command: ```sh kubectl get secret -o jsonpath="{['data']['ca\.crt']}" | base64 --decode ``` - **Token** - GitLab authenticates against Kubernetes using service tokens, which are scoped to a particular `namespace`. **The token used should belong to a service account with [`cluster-admin`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/#user-facing-roles) privileges.** To create this service account: 1. Create a file called `gitlab-admin-service-account.yaml` with contents: ```yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: ServiceAccount metadata: name: gitlab-admin namespace: kube-system --- apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ClusterRoleBinding metadata: name: gitlab-admin roleRef: apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io kind: ClusterRole name: cluster-admin subjects: - kind: ServiceAccount name: gitlab-admin namespace: kube-system ``` 1. Apply the service account and cluster role binding to your cluster: ```bash kubectl apply -f gitlab-admin-service-account.yaml ``` Output: ```bash serviceaccount "gitlab-admin" created clusterrolebinding "gitlab-admin" created ``` 1. Retrieve the token for the `gitlab-admin` service account: ```bash kubectl -n kube-system describe secret $(kubectl -n kube-system get secret | grep gitlab-admin | awk '{print $1}') ``` Copy the `` value from the output: ```yaml Name: gitlab-admin-token-b5zv4 Namespace: kube-system Labels: Annotations: kubernetes.io/service-account.name=gitlab-admin kubernetes.io/service-account.uid=bcfe66ac-39be-11e8-97e8-026dce96b6e8 Type: kubernetes.io/service-account-token Data ==== ca.crt: 1025 bytes namespace: 11 bytes token: ``` NOTE: **Note:** For GKE clusters, you will need the `container.clusterRoleBindings.create` permission to create a cluster role binding. You can follow the [Google Cloud documentation](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/granting-changing-revoking-access) to grant access. - **GitLab-managed cluster** - Leave this checked if you want GitLab to manage namespaces and service accounts for this cluster. See the [Managed clusters section](#gitlab-managed-clusters) for more information. - **Project namespace** (optional) - You don't have to fill it in; by leaving it blank, GitLab will create one for you. Also: - Each project should have a unique namespace. - The project namespace is not necessarily the namespace of the secret, if you're using a secret with broader permissions, like the secret from `default`. - You should **not** use `default` as the project namespace. - If you or someone created a secret specifically for the project, usually with limited permissions, the secret's namespace and project namespace may be the same. 1. Finally, click the **Create Kubernetes cluster** button. After a couple of minutes, your cluster will be ready to go. You can now proceed to install some [pre-defined applications](#installing-applications). ### Enabling or disabling integration After you have successfully added your cluster information, you can enable the Kubernetes cluster integration: 1. Click the **Enabled/Disabled** switch 1. Hit **Save** for the changes to take effect To disable the Kubernetes cluster integration, follow the same procedure. ### Removing integration NOTE: **Note:** You need Maintainer [permissions](../../permissions.md) and above to remove a Kubernetes cluster integration. NOTE: **Note:** When you remove a cluster, you only remove its relation to GitLab, not the cluster itself. To remove the cluster, you can do so by visiting the GKE dashboard or using `kubectl`. To remove the Kubernetes cluster integration from your project, simply click the **Remove integration** button. You will then be able to follow the procedure and add a Kubernetes cluster again. ## Cluster configuration This section covers important considerations for configuring Kubernetes clusters with GitLab. ### Security implications CAUTION: **Important:** The whole cluster security is based on a model where [developers](../../permissions.md) are trusted, so **only trusted users should be allowed to control your clusters**. The default cluster configuration grants access to a wide set of functionalities needed to successfully build and deploy a containerized application. Bear in mind that the same credentials are used for all the applications running on the cluster. ### GitLab-managed clusters > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/22011) in GitLab 11.5. > Became [optional](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/26565) in GitLab 11.11. You can choose to allow GitLab to manage your cluster for you. If your cluster is managed by GitLab, resources for your projects will be automatically created. See the [Access controls](#access-controls) section for details on which resources will be created. If you choose to manage your own cluster, project-specific resources will not be created automatically. If you are using [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md), you will need to explicitly provide the `KUBE_NAMESPACE` [deployment variable](#deployment-variables) that will be used by your deployment jobs, otherwise a namespace will be created for you. NOTE: **Note:** If you [install applications](#installing-applications) on your cluster, GitLab will create the resources required to run these even if you have chosen to manage your own cluster. ### Base domain > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/24580) in GitLab 11.8. NOTE: **Note:** You do not need to specify a base domain on cluster settings when using GitLab Serverless. The domain in that case will be specified as part of the Knative installation. See [Installing Applications](#installing-applications). Specifying a base domain will automatically set `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` as an environment variable. If you are using [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md), this domain will be used for the different stages. For example, Auto Review Apps and Auto Deploy. The domain should have a wildcard DNS configured to the Ingress IP address. After ingress has been installed (see [Installing Applications](#installing-applications)), you can either: - Create an `A` record that points to the Ingress IP address with your domain provider. - Enter a wildcard DNS address using a service such as nip.io or xip.io. For example, `192.168.1.1.xip.io`. ### Access controls When creating a cluster in GitLab, you will be asked if you would like to create either: - An [Attribute-based access control (ABAC)](https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/authorization/abac/) cluster. - A [Role-based access control (RBAC)](https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/authorization/rbac/) cluster. NOTE: **Note:** [RBAC](#rbac-cluster-resources) is recommended and the GitLab default. GitLab creates the necessary service accounts and privileges to install and run [GitLab managed applications](#installing-applications). When GitLab creates the cluster, a `gitlab` service account with `cluster-admin` privileges is created in the `default` namespace to manage the newly created cluster. NOTE: **Note:** Restricted service account for deployment was [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/51716) in GitLab 11.5. When you install Helm into your cluster, the `tiller` service account is created with `cluster-admin` privileges in the `gitlab-managed-apps` namespace. This service account will be added to the installed Helm Tiller and will be used by Helm to install and run [GitLab managed applications](#installing-applications). Helm will also create additional service accounts and other resources for each installed application. Consult the documentation of the Helm charts for each application for details. If you are [adding an existing Kubernetes cluster](#add-existing-kubernetes-cluster), ensure the token of the account has administrator privileges for the cluster. The resources created by GitLab differ depending on the type of cluster. #### ABAC cluster resources GitLab creates the following resources for ABAC clusters. | Name | Type | Details | Created when | |:----------------------|:---------------------|:-------------------------------------|:---------------------------| | `gitlab` | `ServiceAccount` | `default` namespace | Creating a new GKE Cluster | | `gitlab-token` | `Secret` | Token for `gitlab` ServiceAccount | Creating a new GKE Cluster | | `tiller` | `ServiceAccount` | `gitlab-managed-apps` namespace | Installing Helm Tiller | | `tiller-admin` | `ClusterRoleBinding` | `cluster-admin` roleRef | Installing Helm Tiller | | Environment namespace | `Namespace` | Contains all environment-specific resources | Deploying to a cluster | | Environment namespace | `ServiceAccount` | Uses namespace of environment | Deploying to a cluster | | Environment namespace | `Secret` | Token for environment ServiceAccount | Deploying to a cluster | #### RBAC cluster resources GitLab creates the following resources for RBAC clusters. | Name | Type | Details | Created when | |:----------------------|:---------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:---------------------------| | `gitlab` | `ServiceAccount` | `default` namespace | Creating a new GKE Cluster | | `gitlab-admin` | `ClusterRoleBinding` | [`cluster-admin`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/#user-facing-roles) roleRef | Creating a new GKE Cluster | | `gitlab-token` | `Secret` | Token for `gitlab` ServiceAccount | Creating a new GKE Cluster | | `tiller` | `ServiceAccount` | `gitlab-managed-apps` namespace | Installing Helm Tiller | | `tiller-admin` | `ClusterRoleBinding` | `cluster-admin` roleRef | Installing Helm Tiller | | Environment namespace | `Namespace` | Contains all environment-specific resources | Deploying to a cluster | | Environment namespace | `ServiceAccount` | Uses namespace of environment | Deploying to a cluster | | Environment namespace | `Secret` | Token for environment ServiceAccount | Deploying to a cluster | | Environment namespace | `RoleBinding` | [`edit`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/#user-facing-roles) roleRef | Deploying to a cluster | NOTE: **Note:** Environment-specific resources are only created if your cluster is [managed by GitLab](#gitlab-managed-clusters). NOTE: **Note:** If your cluster was created before GitLab 12.2, it will use a single namespace for all project environments. #### Security of GitLab Runners GitLab Runners have the [privileged mode](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#the-privileged-mode) enabled by default, which allows them to execute special commands and running Docker in Docker. This functionality is needed to run some of the [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md) jobs. This implies the containers are running in privileged mode and you should, therefore, be aware of some important details. The privileged flag gives all capabilities to the running container, which in turn can do almost everything that the host can do. Be aware of the inherent security risk associated with performing `docker run` operations on arbitrary images as they effectively have root access. If you don't want to use GitLab Runner in privileged mode, either: - Use shared Runners on GitLab.com. They don't have this security issue. - Set up your own Runners using configuration described at [Shared Runners](../../gitlab_com/index.md#shared-runners). This involves: 1. Making sure that you don't have it installed via [the applications](#installing-applications). 1. Installing a Runner [using `docker+machine`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker_machine.html). ### Setting the environment scope **(PREMIUM)** When adding more than one Kubernetes cluster to your project, you need to differentiate them with an environment scope. The environment scope associates clusters with [environments](../../../ci/environments.md) similar to how the [environment-specific variables](../../../ci/variables/README.md#limiting-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables) work. The default environment scope is `*`, which means all jobs, regardless of their environment, will use that cluster. Each scope can only be used by a single cluster in a project, and a validation error will occur if otherwise. Also, jobs that don't have an environment keyword set will not be able to access any cluster. For example, let's say the following Kubernetes clusters exist in a project: | Cluster | Environment scope | | ----------- | ----------------- | | Development | `*` | | Production | `production` | And the following environments are set in [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](../../../ci/yaml/README.md): ```yaml stages: - test - deploy test: stage: test script: sh test deploy to staging: stage: deploy script: make deploy environment: name: staging url: https://staging.example.com/ deploy to production: stage: deploy script: make deploy environment: name: production url: https://example.com/ ``` The result will then be: - The Development cluster details will be available in the `deploy to staging` job. - The production cluster details will be available in the `deploy to production` job. - No cluster details will be available in the `test` job because it doesn't define any environment. ### Multiple Kubernetes clusters **(PREMIUM)** > Introduced in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 10.3. With GitLab Premium, you can associate more than one Kubernetes cluster to your project. That way you can have different clusters for different environments, like dev, staging, production, etc. Simply add another cluster, like you did the first time, and make sure to [set an environment scope](#setting-the-environment-scope-premium) that will differentiate the new cluster with the rest. ## Installing applications GitLab can install and manage some applications in your project-level cluster. For more information on installing, upgrading, uninstalling, and troubleshooting applications for your project cluster, see [Gitlab Managed Apps](../../clusters/applications.md). ### Getting the external endpoint NOTE: **Note:** With the following procedure, a load balancer must be installed in your cluster to obtain the endpoint. You can use either [Ingress](#installing-applications), or Knative's own load balancer ([Istio](https://istio.io)) if using [Knative](#installing-applications). In order to publish your web application, you first need to find the endpoint which will be either an IP address or a hostname associated with your load balancer. #### Automatically determining the external endpoint > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/17052) in GitLab 10.6. After you install [Ingress or Knative](#installing-applications), Gitlab attempts to determine the external endpoint and it should be available within a few minutes. If the endpoint doesn't appear and your cluster runs on Google Kubernetes Engine: 1. Check your [Kubernetes cluster on Google Kubernetes Engine](https://console.cloud.google.com/kubernetes) to ensure there are no errors on its nodes. 1. Ensure you have enough [Quotas](https://console.cloud.google.com/iam-admin/quotas) on Google Kubernetes Engine. For more information, see [Resource Quotas](https://cloud.google.com/compute/quotas). 1. Check [Google Cloud's Status](https://status.cloud.google.com/) to ensure they are not having any disruptions. If GitLab is still unable to determine the endpoint of your Ingress or Knative application, you can manually determine it by following the steps below. #### Manually determining the external endpoint If the cluster is on GKE, click the **Google Kubernetes Engine** link in the **Advanced settings**, or go directly to the [Google Kubernetes Engine dashboard](https://console.cloud.google.com/kubernetes/) and select the proper project and cluster. Then click **Connect** and execute the `gcloud` command in a local terminal or using the **Cloud Shell**. If the cluster is not on GKE, follow the specific instructions for your Kubernetes provider to configure `kubectl` with the right credentials. The output of the following examples will show the external endpoint of your cluster. This information can then be used to set up DNS entries and forwarding rules that allow external access to your deployed applications. If you installed the Ingress [via the **Applications**](#installing-applications), run the following command: ```bash kubectl get service --namespace=gitlab-managed-apps ingress-nginx-ingress-controller -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}' ``` Some Kubernetes clusters return a hostname instead, like [Amazon EKS](https://aws.amazon.com/eks/). For these platforms, run: ```bash kubectl get service --namespace=gitlab-managed-apps ingress-nginx-ingress-controller -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}' ``` For Istio/Knative, the command will be different: ```bash kubectl get svc --namespace=istio-system knative-ingressgateway -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip} ' ``` Otherwise, you can list the IP addresses of all load balancers: ```bash kubectl get svc --all-namespaces -o jsonpath='{range.items[?(@.status.loadBalancer.ingress)]}{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[*].ip} ' ``` #### Using a static IP By default, an ephemeral external IP address is associated to the cluster's load balancer. If you associate the ephemeral IP with your DNS and the IP changes, your apps will not be able to be reached, and you'd have to change the DNS record again. In order to avoid that, you should change it into a static reserved IP. Read how to [promote an ephemeral external IP address in GKE](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/ip-addresses/reserve-static-external-ip-address#promote_ephemeral_ip). #### Pointing your DNS at the external endpoint Once you've set up the external endpoint, you should associate it with a [wildcard DNS record](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_DNS_record) such as `*.example.com.` in order to be able to reach your apps. If your external endpoint is an IP address, use an A record. If your external endpoint is a hostname, use a CNAME record. ## Deploying to a Kubernetes cluster A Kubernetes cluster can be the destination for a deployment job. If - The cluster is integrated with GitLab, special [deployment variables](#deployment-variables) are made available to your job and configuration is not required. You can immediately begin interacting with the cluster from your jobs using tools such as `kubectl` or `helm`. - You don't use GitLab's cluster integration you can still deploy to your cluster. However, you will need configure Kubernetes tools yourself using [environment variables](../../../ci/variables/README.md#creating-a-custom-environment-variable) before you can interact with the cluster from your jobs. ### Deployment variables The Kubernetes cluster integration exposes the following [deployment variables](../../../ci/variables/README.md#deployment-environment-variables) in the GitLab CI/CD build environment. | Variable | Description | | -------- | ----------- | | `KUBE_URL` | Equal to the API URL. | | `KUBE_TOKEN` | The Kubernetes token of the [environment service account](#access-controls). | | `KUBE_NAMESPACE` | The Kubernetes namespace is auto-generated if not specified. The default value is `--`. You can overwrite it to use different one if needed, otherwise the `KUBE_NAMESPACE` variable will receive the default value. | | `KUBE_CA_PEM_FILE` | Path to a file containing PEM data. Only present if a custom CA bundle was specified. | | `KUBE_CA_PEM` | (**deprecated**) Raw PEM data. Only if a custom CA bundle was specified. | | `KUBECONFIG` | Path to a file containing `kubeconfig` for this deployment. CA bundle would be embedded if specified. This config also embeds the same token defined in `KUBE_TOKEN` so you likely will only need this variable. This variable name is also automatically picked up by `kubectl` so you won't actually need to reference it explicitly if using `kubectl`. | | `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` | From GitLab 11.8, this variable can be used to set a domain per cluster. See [cluster domains](#base-domain) for more information. | NOTE: **NOTE:** Prior to GitLab 11.5, `KUBE_TOKEN` was the Kubernetes token of the main service account of the cluster integration. NOTE: **Note:** If your cluster was created before GitLab 12.2, default `KUBE_NAMESPACE` will be set to `-`. ### Troubleshooting Before the deployment jobs starts, GitLab creates the following specifically for the deployment job: - A namespace. - A service account. However, sometimes GitLab can not create them. In such instances, your job will fail with the message: ```text This job failed because the necessary resources were not successfully created. ``` To find the cause of this error when creating a namespace and service account, check the [logs](../../../administration/logs.md#kuberneteslog). Reasons for failure include: - The token you gave GitLab does not have [`cluster-admin`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/#user-facing-roles) privileges required by GitLab. - Missing `KUBECONFIG` or `KUBE_TOKEN` variables. To be passed to your job, they must have a matching [`environment:name`](../../../ci/environments.md#defining-environments). If your job has no `environment:name` set, it will not be passed the Kubernetes credentials. NOTE: **NOTE:** Project-level clusters upgraded from GitLab 12.0 or older may be configured in a way that causes this error. Ensure you deselect the [GitLab-managed cluster](#gitlab-managed-clusters) option if you want to manage namespaces and service accounts yourself. ## Monitoring your Kubernetes cluster **(ULTIMATE)** > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/4701) in [GitLab Ultimate](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 10.6. When [Prometheus is deployed](#installing-applications), GitLab will automatically monitor the cluster's health. At the top of the cluster settings page, CPU and Memory utilization is displayed, along with the total amount available. Keeping an eye on cluster resources can be important, if the cluster runs out of memory pods may be shutdown or fail to start. ![Cluster Monitoring](img/k8s_cluster_monitoring.png)