Setting up Traefik v2 and cert-manager on Kapsule

Reviewed on 31 July 2024 • Published on 01 July 2020

k8s
Kapsule
Traefik
cert-manager
Load-Balancer

Traefik (pronounced traffic) is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and Load Balancer designed to make the deployment of microservices easy. Traefik integrates with any HTTP and TCP-based applications and every major cluster technology.

Our goal in this tutorial is to:

Expose Traefik 2 using a Scaleway Load Balancer
Deploy a test application on our cluster
Expose this test application through an ingress object, using Traefik 2 (deployed by Kapsule)
Expose this application securely (with https and Let’s Encrypt, using cert-manager)

Before you start

To complete the actions presented below, you must have:

A Scaleway account logged into the console
Owner status or IAM permissions allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization
A Kubernetes Kapsule cluster with an ingress controller (Traefik 2)
Downloaded the corresponding kubeconfig file and ensured the kubectl is configured and working

Deploying Traefik 2 using the Easy Deploy feature

Log into the Scaleway console and navigate to the Kubernetes section under Containers.
Click on your cluster name to view the cluster overview.
Go to the Easy Deploy tab.
Click Deploy an Application.
Search for Traefik in the Application Library, and select Traefik 2 Ingress.
Name the application traefik and set the namespace to kube-system.
Click Deploy an application to deploy Traefik 2.

Creating a wildcard DNS record

In this step, we will create a wildcard DNS record to point to the external IP address of our Traefik load balancer. This DNS record will allow us to route traffic to our Kubernetes services using custom domain names.

Retrieve the external IP of your LoadBalancer:

kubectl get svc traefik -n kube-system

The external IP will be listed under the EXTERNAL-IP column.

Use a DNS provider to create a wildcard DNS record pointing to your LoadBalancer’s IP address.
Create a wildcard DNS entry (*.mytest.com) pointing to this IP address.
- Using Scaleway’s Domains and DNS product:
  1. Navigate to the Domains and DNS product.
  2. Create a new DNS zone if you haven’t already.
  3. Add a new DNS record with the following details:
    - Type: A
    - Name: *
    - Value: your_loadbalancer_ip
- Using another DNS provider
  1. Log in to your DNS account and select your domain.
  2. Go to the DNS tab.
  3. Add a new DNS record with the following details:
    - Type: A
    - Name: *
    - Value: your_loadbalancer_ip
  4. Save the record.

Installing cert-manager

Install cert-manager:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.0.0/cert-manager.yaml

Verify the installation:

kubectl get pods --namespace cert-manager

Creating a Let’s Encrypt issuer

Open a text editor and create a new file for the ClusterIssuer:

nano cluster-issuer.yaml

Add the following content to the cluster-issuer.yaml file:

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  acme:
    email: mymail@test.com
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: issuer-account-key
    solvers:
      - http01:
          ingress:
            class: traefik

Apply the issuer configuration:

kubectl apply -f cluster-issuer.yaml

Creating and using a Let’s Encrypt certificate

Open a text editor and create a new file for the certificate:

nano mycert.yaml

Add the following content to the mycert.yaml file:

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: teacoffee-cert
  namespace: default
spec:
  commonName: teacoffee.mytest.com
  secretName: teacoffee-cert
  dnsNames:
    - teacoffee.mytest.com
  issuerRef:
    name: letsencrypt-prod
    kind: ClusterIssuer

Apply the certificate configuration:

kubectl apply -f mycert.yaml

Verify the certificate creation:

kubectl describe certificate teacoffee-cert

Creating an HTTPS ingress

Deploy the “tea coffee” test application:

kubectl create -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nginxinc/kubernetes-ingress/main/examples/ingress-resources/complete-example/cafe.yaml

Open a text editor and create a new file for the HTTPS ingress object:

nano mysite.yaml

Add the following content to the mysite.yaml file:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: testcoffee
  namespace: default
  annotations:
    traefik.ingress.kubernetes.io/router.entrypoints: websecure
spec:
  tls:
    - secretName: teacoffee-cert
  rules:
    - host: teacoffee.mytest.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /tea
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: tea-svc
                port:
                  number: 80
          - path: /coffee
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: coffee-svc
                port:
                  number: 80

Apply the HTTPS ingress configuration:

kubectl apply -f mysite.yaml

Test the HTTPS endpoint:

curl -v https://teacoffee.mytest.com/tea

Accessing the Traefik dashboard

Retrieve the name of the Traefik pod:

kubectl get pods -n kube-system --selector "app.kubernetes.io/name=traefik" --output=name

An output similar to the following should display: pod/traefik-xxxxxxxxx-yyyyy.

Use the exact pod name from the previous command to port-forward:

kubectl port-forward -n kube-system <traefik-pod-name> 9000:9000

For example:

kubectl port-forward -n kube-system pod/traefik-xxxxxxxxx-yyyyy 9000:9000

Access the Traefik dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:9000/dashboard/.

This corrected approach ensures you are specifying both the resource name and the ports correctly for the kubectl port-forward command.

Conclusion

You have successfully set up Traefik v2 and cert-manager on Scaleway Kubernetes Kapsule, exposed a test application using Traefik, and secured it with a Let’s Encrypt certificate. For further information, you may refer to the official documentation for Let’s Encrypt, Traefik 2, and cert-manager.

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