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Kubernetes cluster

Keptn is meant to be installed into an existing Kubernetes cluster that runs your deployment software. See Requirements for information about supported releases and advice about resources required.

Create local Kubernetes cluster

You can also create a local cluster using packages such as KinD, k3d, k3s, and Minikube to set up a local, lightweight Kubernetes cluster where you can install Keptn for personal study, demonstrations, and testing. For more information, see the Kubernetes Install Tools documentation.

The Keptn: Installation and KeptnTask Creation in Minutes video demonstrates how to create a KinD cluster. on which you can install Keptn. The basic steps are:

  1. Download, install, and run Docker
  2. Download KinD

  3. Create the local KinD cluster with the following command:

    kind create cluster

See the KinD Quick Start Guide for more information

  1. When the cluster has been created, run the following to verify that the cluster is working and that it is running a supported version of Kubernetes with the following command:

    kubectl version --short

Prepare your cluster for Keptn

Keptn installs into an existing Kubernetes cluster. When setting up a local Kubernetes cluster to study or demonstrate Keptn, you need to provide these components.

Your cluster should include the following:

  • A supported version of Kubernetes. See Supported Kubernetes versions for details.

  • The kubectl CLI that is used to interact with Kubernetes clusters.

  • The Helm CLI that is used to install and configure Keptn.

  • Deployment tools of your choice, such as Argo CD or Flux. Alternatively, Keptn also works with just kubectl apply for deployment.

  • At least one observability data provider such as Prometheus, Thanos, Cortex, Dynatrace, or Datadog; you can use multiple instances of different data providers. These provide:

  • If you want to use the standardized observability feature, you must have an OpenTelemetry collector as well as a Prometheus operator installed on your cluster. For more information, see Requirements for OpenTelemetry.

  • If you want a dashboard for reviewing metrics and traces, install the dashboard tools of your choice; we primarily use Grafana. For more information, see Requirements for Open Telemetry.

  • Keptn includes a lightweight cert-manager that, by default, is installed as part of the Keptn software. If you are using another certificate manager in the cluster, you can configure Keptn to instead use your cert-manager. See Use Keptn with cert-manager.io for detailed instructions.

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