Serverless is great way to run your on-demand workload, especially if you don’t want to manage Kubernetes workers. In this article, we will explore 2 ways of installing the Alibaba Serverless Kubernetes cluster (ASK). We will deploy an application to the Kubernetes virtual node and expose it with a server load balancer and ingress.

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### Prerequisite: Alibaba Cloud Account

To make ASK work you need to activate the associated cloud services:

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* **Elastic Container Instance** After activating this service, you can deploy Serverless Kubernetes (ASK) clusters.
* **Server Load Balancer (SLB)** With this service you can create SLB instances for Kubernetes clusters.
* **NAT Gateway** - This service enables your cluster communication with the Internet
* **Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)** - Network service
* **Log Service** with Log service you can collect and query log data of managed Kubernetes components and applications. This service is optional.
* **CloudMonitor** Service for monitoring nodes and applications in Alibaba Kubernetes clusters. This service is optional.
* **Object Storage Service (OSS)** will allow you to store application data in OSS buckets. This service is optional.
* **Apsara File Storage NAS (NAS)**, Capability to store application data in NAS file systems. This service is optional.
* **Elastic Compute Service (ECS)** service to run Virtual Machines for ACK clusters. (This service is optional for ASK Serverless Kubernetes)

# Method 1: install with Alibaba Cloud CLI

For that method, I would suggest using Alibaba Cloud Shell. There we have Alibaba Cloud CLI already installed and configured.

## Step 1: create console user

To deploy Alibaba Serverless Kubernetes with Aliyun CLI, we need to create a user with API access. Navigate to Resource Access Management to create that user.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-2df2inw.jpeg)

Click on `Create User` and provide `Logon name` and `Display name` to the cli user and check `Open API Access` as shown in the screenshot below. Save the access key and the secret of the newly created user.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-iug2ika.jpeg)

To provide permissions to the console user navigate to the Users, click on Add permissions.

In the appeared menu, select `AdministratorAccess` and click `OK`.

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:::warning
NOTE: In real life use the principle of the least privileged and grant fine-tuned permissions to the user. Without full admin permissions, you will avoid unnecessary security risks.

:::

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-szo2ib7.jpeg)

## Step 2: configure aliyun cli

To open Cloud Shell you need to click the button in the top right corner of the Alicloud console.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-2292iyl.jpeg)

In Cloud Shell, we will start by configuring `aliyun cli`. Provide credentials from alibaba-cli-user you created in the previous step.

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```javascript
aliyun configure
```

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Expected output:

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-8lp2iei.jpeg)

## Step 3: provision ASK cluster

In Cloud Shell, we need to create an ask.json file with the parameters of the ASK cluster. It should look like this:

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```bash
{
    "cluster_type":"Ask",
    "name":"mycli-ask-cluster",
    "region_id":"us-west-1",
    "endpoint_public_access":true,
    "private_zone":false,
    "nat_gateway":true,
    "deletion_protection":false,
    "zone_id":"us-west-1a"
}                                           
```

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The following command will create an ASK cluster:

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```bash
aliyun cs  POST /clusters --header "Content-Type=application/json" --body "$(cat ask.json)"
```

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It takes about 3 minutes to create a Kubernetes cluster.

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Expected command output:

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/-cwh2itq.png)

Once Kubernetes cluster up and running, run the `aliyun cs GET <cluster_id>` command to query information about the newly created cluster.

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```bash
aliyun cs GET /clusters/cb2431df0d7334eeeb2e582b18cff8539
```

## Step 4: get kubectl access

To get cluster config run the following command:

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```bash
mkdir .kube/
KUBECONFIG=$HOME/.kube/config
aliyun cs GET /k8s/cb2431df0d7334eeeb2e582b18cff8539/user_config | jq -r '.config' > $KUBECONFIG
```

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In the ".kube" folder you can check the kubectl config:

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```bash
cat .kube/config
```

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/-mun2iho.png)

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Check virtual nodes available in the cluster with the `get nodes` command:

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```bash
kubectl get nodes
```

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/-umi2i9p.png)

## Step 5: deploy application

Let’s provision a simple Nginx deployment to the cluster:

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```bash
kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/controllers/nginx-deployment.yaml
```

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Check that the pods are running with the get pod command:

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```bash
kubectl get pod
```

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/-4uk2i1x.png)

### Expose with Server Load Balancer

Now that we confirmed that the pods are running, let’s expose Nginx with Server Load Balancer. Create a svc.yml file with the following content:

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```bash
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/alibaba-cloud-loadbalancer-spec: slb.s1.small
  name: nginx-service
  namespace: default
spec:
  externalTrafficPolicy: Cluster
  ports:
    - name: nginx-port
      port: 80
      protocol: TCP
      targetPort: 80
  selector:
    app: nginx
  sessionAffinity: None
  type: LoadBalancer
```

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Apply svc.yml file with the kubectl

```bash
kubectl apply -f svc.yaml
```

Get the EXTERNAL-IP value from `kubectl get svc `command

 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/-k8l2iw7.png)

and paste it into a new browser tab

 ![Nginx deployed on Serverless Kubernetes and exposed with Server Load Balancer](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/-6zm2ild.png)

# Method 2: deploy ASK with console UI

Let’s provision ASK cluster using just User Interface.

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Search for the `Serverless Container Service` in Alibaba Cloud console:

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-58f2i8k.jpeg)

## Step 1: configure ASK cluster

Then, on the left panel select `Clusters` and click on `Create Kubernetes Cluster` button

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-nfd2i7o.jpeg)

On the `Cluster configuration` page select `Serverless Kubernetes`and provide the name of the cluster. Click `Create VPC` if you didn’t provision one beforehand. Check `Expose API Server with EIP`  so you can get kubectl access to your cluster with cloud shell right out of the box

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-38c2ibr.jpeg)

## Step 2: configure Nginx Ingress

If you want to expose your serverless Kubernetes apps with Ingress, you need to select the `Nginx Ingress` button in the Component Configuration menu.

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Monitoring and Logging services configurations are available in the same section as well. Additionally, you can enable the knative plugin to get the support of the open-source Kubernetes-based serverless framework.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-24g2i52.jpeg)

In the Confirm Order menu, you just need to review the resources that you selected, check `Terms of Service for Serverless Kubernetes` , and click `Create Cluster` in the bottom right corner:

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-8vh2iu8.jpeg)

Cluster provisioning might take a few mins. Once ready it should look like this:

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-9ti2ip1.jpeg)

If you click on the name of the cluster you’ll see a nice dashboard with the status of the Kubernetes cluster.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-foj2i1w.jpeg)

## Step 3: get kubectl access using UI

There are 2 ways you can get access to your cluster with kubectl.

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Navigate to the `Cluster Information` and select `Connection Information`. You can copy public kubeconfig and paste it in your local Kubernetes config or alternatively you can  click `Open Cloud Shell` which will open Cloud Shell with access to my-ask-ui cluster pre-configured already.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-uvk2i5l.jpeg)

## Deploy form the console

Since we are doing a web console run, let us create Kubernetes deployment in UI. On the left panel, navigate to the `Workloads\Deployments`, and on the right-hand side, click `Create from YAML` button.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-86l2i46.jpeg)

On the appeared page, you can provide deployment configuration. Once ready - go ahead and click on `Create` button.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-3cm2iuu.jpeg)

If you click on the Pods section of the left menu, you will see the Nginx pod up and running.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-c092isd.jpeg)

## Step 4: expose an app in UI with Ingress

Let’s expose Nginx with Ingress using Web UI. For that, we need to create a Cluster IP service first. Go to the `Services` and create a new one. Add port mappings to the container for ports 443 and 80.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-sha2ikm.jpeg)

Proceed to the Ingress and create a new one. Provide an Ingress name, pick ports to expose, and specify Domain. In this example, I’m going to use a custom domain provided by Alibaba Cloud with `serverlessnginx` in front of it.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-d7b2ipz.jpeg)

Open the URL domain that you provided in a new tab to see the  standard Nginx page.

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 ![Nginx deployed on Serverless Kubernetes and exposed with Ingress](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-hyc2idb.jpeg)

# Summary: Deploy Kubernetes in Alibaba Cloud

There are a few ways we can deploy managed Serverless Kubernetes clusters in Alibaba Cloud. Using UI might be helpful to explore available customization options for the first time. However, this article demonstrates that CLI provides a repeatable faster way for provisioning ASK and deploying applications on it.

## Clean-up

To clean up Serverless Kubernetes and dependency resources created in this lab using Alibaba CLI tool, run `kubectl delete`  and `aliyun cs DELETE`commands.

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```bash
kubecetl delete -f svc.yml
kubectl delete -f https://k8s.io/examples/controllers/nginx-deployment.yaml

aliyun cs DELETE /clusters/cb2431df0d7334eeeb2e582b18cff8539
```

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To clean up using UI, you need to navigate to the Clusters menu. On the right side, select `More` and click `Delete`.

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-q2d2ij8.jpeg)

On the pop-up screen, you can select resources that you want to retain

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 ![](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/yH95UmMywDTjM9jsB6ZVZEkOKY02-fve2iir.jpeg)


:::info
To delete the ASK cluster, you need to delete the Elastic Container Instances workload first since it will complain that dependencies are blocking from deleting the cluster. That includes deleting Nginx Ingress Controller deployment and completed pods.

:::

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