Prerequisites

  • An AWS account
  • Docker credentials (you will receive a Personal Access Token (PAT) from the Cobalt team)
  • Redis (managed or self-hosted)
  • MongoDB (managed or self-hosted, recommended: MongoDB Atlas)

1. Setting Up AWS CLI on Your Local Machine

To interact with AWS services and your EKS cluster, you need to set up the AWS CLI on your local machine.

Step 1: Install AWS CLI

  1. Download and install the AWS CLI by following the instructions provided in the official AWS documentation:
  • Install the AWS CLI.
  1. Verify the installation by running:
aws --version

Step 2: Configure AWS CLI

After installation, configure your AWS CLI with your AWS credentials:

  1. Run the configuration command:

    aws configure
    
  2. Enter the following details:

    • AWS Access Key ID: Your AWS Access Key ID.
    • AWS Secret Access Key: Your AWS Secret Access Key.
    • Default region name: The AWS region where you’ll be deploying the Kubernetes cluster (e.g., us-west-2).
    • Default output format: Set to json.

2. Redis Setup

You can either use a managed Redis instance (via AWS ElastiCache) or host Redis yourself.

Option 1: Managed Redis (AWS ElastiCache)

  1. Navigate to the AWS ElastiCache Console.

  2. Click Create to set up a new Redis instance.

  3. Choose Redis and configure the following settings:

    • Cluster name: Choose a unique name for your Redis cluster.
    • Engine version: Select the required Redis version.
    • Node type: Choose the node type based on your needs (e.g., cache.t3.micro for development or cache.t3.medium for production).
    • Parameter Group: Set the eviction policy to noeviction to ensure Redis works properly with BullMQ.
  4. After creating the instance, you’ll receive the primary endpoint. Use this endpoint to configure Redis in your Kubernetes deployment.

  5. Ensure your Kubernetes cluster has network access to the Redis instance:

    • Configure VPC and security groups to allow access to the Redis instance.

Option 2: Self-Hosted Redis Installation

  1. Install Redis using Helm on your Kubernetes cluster:
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm install redis bitnami/redis --set redis.configuration="maxmemory-policy noeviction"
  1. Verify Redis installation:
kubectl exec -it $(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=redis -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") -- redis-cli ping

3. MongoDB Setup

You can either use a managed MongoDB instance with MongoDB Atlas or host MongoDB yourself.

Option 1: Managed MongoDB (MongoDB Atlas)

  1. Go to MongoDB Atlas and create an account or log in.
  2. Create a new cluster:
    • Choose the appropriate region based on your workload and proximity to your Kubernetes cluster.
    • Select the cluster tier (e.g., M10, M20, etc.) depending on your usage needs.
  3. Once the cluster is created, set up access:
    • Add your Kubernetes cluster’s IP address (or CIDR) to the IP Whitelist to allow access.
    • Create a database user with proper permissions (e.g., readWrite).
  4. Get the connection string:
    • Navigate to your cluster, click Connect, and copy the connection string. Use this connection string in your configuration files to connect your services to MongoDB.

Option 2: Self-Hosted MongoDB Installation

  1. Install MongoDB using Helm:
    helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
    helm install mongodb bitnami/mongodb --set auth.rootPassword=<password>,auth.username=<user>,auth.password=<password>,auth.database=<db_name>
    
  2. Verify MongoDB installation:
    kubectl exec -it $(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=mongodb -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") -- mongo --eval "db.stats()"
    

4. Setting Up Kubernetes Cluster on AWS (EKS)

Step 1: Creating an EKS Cluster

To set up a Kubernetes cluster on AWS, you can use Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service).

  1. Navigate to the AWS EKS Console.

  2. Click Create cluster and fill out the following details:

    • Cluster name: Name your cluster (e.g., cobalt-cluster).
    • Cluster version: Select the latest Kubernetes version.
    • Role ARN: Choose the IAM role that EKS will use to manage your cluster.
    • Networking: Select the appropriate VPC, subnets, and security groups. Ensure these allow access to your database and Redis services.
  3. Wait for the cluster to be created.

  4. Connect to the cluster using kubectl by running the following command:

    aws eks --region <region> update-kubeconfig --name cobalt-cluster
    

Step 2: Creating Worker Nodes

After your EKS cluster is created, you need to add worker nodes:

  1. Go to the EKS Node Groups section and click Add node group.

  2. Configure the node group with the following details:

    • Node group name: Name the node group (e.g., cobalt-nodes).
    • Instance type: Choose an instance type (e.g., t3.medium).
    • Scaling configuration: Set the minimum and maximum number of nodes.
  3. Click Create to provision the worker nodes.

5. Creating Docker Registry Credentials

Once your Kubernetes cluster is ready, you’ll need to create a secret to pull Docker images from the private GitHub Container Registry (GHCR). You will receive a Personal Access Token (PAT) from the Cobalt team.

Run the following command to create the secret:

kubectl create secret docker-registry regcred \
--docker-server=https://ghcr.io \
--docker-username=<user-name> \
--docker-password=<PAT> \
--docker-email=<email> \
-n services

This command creates a secret named regcred in the services namespace that will allow Kubernetes to authenticate and pull images from the private repository.

6. Applying ConfigMaps and Secrets Provided by Cobalt

As part of the Cobalt setup, you’ll receive ConfigMaps and Secrets from our team. These files contain important configurations such as REDIS_HOST, MONGODB_URI, and other service-related settings.

Option 1: Manually Applying ConfigMaps and Secrets

  1. Update the YAML Files:

    • Modify the received ConfigMap and Secret YAML files with your environment-specific values.
    • For example, update REDIS_HOST, MONGODB_URI, and other configurations to match your setup.
  2. Apply the Files:

    • Use the following commands to apply the ConfigMaps and Secrets to your Kubernetes cluster:

      kubectl apply -f <configmap.yaml> -n services
      kubectl apply -f <secret.yaml> -n services
      
  3. Replace and Repeat for All Files:

    • Replace <configmap.yaml> and <secret.yaml> with the actual file names you received.
    • Apply this process for each ConfigMap and Secret file provided by Cobalt.

Notes:

  • Ensure you are in the correct namespace (services) when applying these configurations.
  • Double-check all values in the files to avoid misconfigurations.

Option 2: Using apply_all.sh Script

Alternatively, you can use the provided apply_all.sh script to apply all ConfigMap and Secret files at once after updating the values.

  1. Update the YAML Files:

    • Ensure you have updated all necessary values (e.g., REDIS_HOST, MONGODB_URI, etc.) in the provided YAML files.
  2. Run the Script:

    • Execute the script using the following command:

      ./apply_all.sh
      
    • The script will automatically apply all the updated YAML files (ConfigMaps and Secrets) to your Kubernetes cluster, simplifying the process.

Notes:

  • Verify that all YAML files are updated correctly before running the script.

  • Ensure the script has the necessary execution permissions. If not, grant permissions using:

    chmod +x apply_all.sh
    

7. Installing Cobalt Services via Helm

After setting up Redis, MongoDB, the Kubernetes cluster, Docker registry credentials, ConfigMaps, and Secrets, you are ready to install the Cobalt services.

To Install Cobalt Services

  1. Use the provided install_all.sh script to install all necessary services:

    ./install_all.sh
    
    
  2. This script will handle the installation of all Cobalt services on your Kubernetes cluster, streamlining the deployment process.

Notes:

  • Ensure the script has the necessary execution permissions. If not, grant permissions using:

    chmod +x install_all.sh
    

To Uninstall Cobalt Services

If you need to uninstall the services, use the provided uninstall_all.sh script:

./uninstall_all.sh

This script will cleanly uninstall all Cobalt services from your cluster.