🚀 AutoKube

Automated Multi-Node Kubernetes Cluster Orchestration with Ansible

AutoKube is a fully automated Kubernetes cluster orchestration project built using Ansible. It provisions and configures a production-ready multi-node Kubernetes cluster using role-based architecture and idempotent automation.

The entire cluster lifecycle is orchestrated through a single master playbook (server.yaml), ensuring safe variable sharing (such as the dynamic kubeadm join token) across plays.

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🏗 Architecture Overview

                +---------------------------+
                |   Local Machine           |
                |   (Ansible Control Node)  |
                +-------------+-------------+
                              |
                              | SSH
                              v
        +---------------------------------------------+
        |                 AWS EC2                     |
        |---------------------------------------------|
        |  Control Plane Node (master)                |
        |    - kubeadm init                           |
        |    - API Server                             |
        |    - Controller Manager                     |
        |    - Scheduler                              |
        |    - Calico CNI                             |
        |                                             |
        |  Worker Node 1                              |
        |    - kubeadm join                           |
        |                                             |
        |  Worker Node 2                              |
        |    - kubeadm join                           |
        |                                             |
        |  (Add as many workers as needed)            |
        +---------------------------------------------+

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⚙️ Tech Stack

• Ansible - Infrastructure Automation
• Kubernetes (kubeadm) - Cluster Bootstrap
• containerd - Container Runtime
• Calico - Kubernetes Networking (CNI)
• Ubuntu EC2 Instances - Infrastructure Layer

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📁 Project Structure

ansible/
├── ansible.cfg
├── inventory/
│   └── hosts.ini
├── group_vars/
│   ├── all.yaml
│   └── masters.yaml
├── playbooks/
│   ├── common.yaml
│   ├── master.yaml
│   ├── worker.yaml
│   └── server.yaml        # 🔥 Main orchestration playbook
└── roles/
    ├── common/            # OS preparation
    ├── containerd/        # Container runtime setup
    ├── kubeadm/           # Kubernetes binaries installation
    ├── master/            # kubeadm init + CNI
    └── worker/            # Automated worker join

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🔥 Important: Run server.yaml

To orchestrate the entire cluster lifecycle, you must run:

ansible-playbook playbooks/server.yaml

This ensures:

• Safe execution order
• Variable sharing between plays
• Fully automated cluster provisioning

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🔧 What AutoKube Automates

1️⃣ Node Preparation (All Nodes)

• Disables swap (runtime + persistent)
• Configures kernel modules
• Applies Kubernetes-required sysctl parameters
• Installs base packages

2️⃣ Container Runtime Setup

• Installs containerd
• Configures systemd cgroups
• Installs CNI plugins

3️⃣ Kubernetes Installation

• Installs kubelet, kubeadm, kubectl
• Pins versions
• Configures crictl
• Enables kubelet

4️⃣ Control Plane Initialization

• Executes kubeadm init
• Configures kubeconfig
• Installs Calico networking

5️⃣ Automated Worker Join

• Dynamically generates join command
• Shares token across plays
• Joins workers idempotently
• Safe to re-run

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➕ Add Any Number of Workers

To scale horizontally:

1. Add additional EC2 instances.
2. Update inventory/hosts.ini:

[workers]
worker1 ansible_host=<IP1>
worker2 ansible_host=<IP2>
worker3 ansible_host=<IP3>
worker4 ansible_host=<IP4>

3. Run:

ansible-playbook playbooks/server.yaml

New nodes will automatically join the cluster.

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▶️ Usage

1️⃣ Configure Inventory

[masters]
master ansible_host=<MASTER_IP>

[workers]
worker1 ansible_host=<WORKER1_IP>
worker2 ansible_host=<WORKER2_IP>

[all:vars]
ansible_user=ubuntu
ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/path/to/key

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2️⃣ Run the Full Orchestration

ansible-playbook playbooks/server.yaml

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🔍 Verify Cluster

On master:

kubectl get nodes

Expected:

master     Ready   control-plane
worker1    Ready
worker2    Ready

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🛡 Design Principles

• Fully idempotent
• Role-based modular structure
• Version pinned Kubernetes components
• Safe re-runs
• Clean orchestration flow
• Production-style Ansible architecture

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