Provision Kubernetes Cluster with Auto SSL

Step 1: Create a Kubernetes Cluster

First, we'll create a Kubernetes cluster. This example uses Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), but the SSL setup will work with any Kubernetes cluster.

# Create a GKE cluster with 3 nodes
gcloud container clusters create my-cluster \
  --num-nodes=3 \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --enable-autoscaling \
  --min-nodes=1 \
  --max-nodes=5 \
  --machine-type=e2-medium

# Get cluster credentials
gcloud container clusters get-credentials my-cluster --zone=us-central1-a

For AWS EKS or Azure AKS, use their respective CLI tools to create a cluster.

Step 2: Install NGINX Ingress Controller

Install the NGINX Ingress Controller to handle incoming traffic and SSL termination.

# Add the ingress-nginx Helm repository
helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update

# Install NGINX Ingress Controller
helm install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \
  --namespace ingress-nginx \
  --create-namespace \
  --set controller.service.type=LoadBalancer

# Wait for the external IP
kubectl get service -n ingress-nginx ingress-nginx-controller --watch

Step 3: Install cert-manager

cert-manager will automatically request and manage SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt.

# Add the Jetstack Helm repository
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
helm repo update

# Install cert-manager
helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \
  --namespace cert-manager \
  --create-namespace \
  --version v1.13.0 \
  --set installCRDs=true

# Verify installation
kubectl get pods -n cert-manager

Step 4: Create a ClusterIssuer

Create a ClusterIssuer that will use Let's Encrypt to issue certificates for your domains.

# Create letsencrypt-issuer.yaml
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: your-email@example.com
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-prod
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx

# Apply the ClusterIssuer
kubectl apply -f letsencrypt-issuer.yaml

# Verify the ClusterIssuer
kubectl get clusterissuer

Step 5: Deploy Sample Application with SSL

Deploy a sample application and configure it to use automatic SSL certificates.

# Create sample-app.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: sample-app
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: sample-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: sample-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: sample-app
        image: nginx:latest
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: sample-app-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: sample-app
  ports:
  - protocol: TCP
    port: 80
    targetPort: 80

---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: sample-app-ingress
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect: "true"
spec:
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - your-domain.com
    secretName: sample-app-tls
  rules:
  - host: your-domain.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: sample-app-service
            port:
              number: 80

# Deploy the application
kubectl apply -f sample-app.yaml

# Check certificate status
kubectl get certificate
kubectl describe certificate sample-app-tls

Step 6: Verify SSL Configuration

Verify that your SSL certificate is working correctly and automatically renewing.

# Check certificate details
kubectl get certificate -o wide

# Check certificate events
kubectl describe certificate sample-app-tls

# Test SSL certificate
curl -I https://your-domain.com

# Check certificate expiration
echo | openssl s_client -connect your-domain.com:443 2>/dev/null | \
  openssl x509 -noout -dates

Provision Kubernetes Cluster with Auto SSL Enabled