Deployment basics

There are multiple ways to deploy and manage your vCluster. Review the different choices and choose the one that suits your needs.

Predeployment configuration options

Before deploying, it's recommended to review the set of configuration options that cannot be updated post deployment. These options require deploying a new vCluster instead of upgrading your vCluster with new options.

Topologies

• High availability - Run multiple copies of vCluster components.
• Isolated workloads - Different options to isolate a workload in a vCluster.
• Isolated control plane - Run vCluster control plane in a host cluster different from the host cluster running workloads.
• Rootless mode - Deploy the vCluster pod without root access to the host cluster.

Other options

Backing store options

vCluster supports etcd or a relational database (using KINE) as the backend.This feature provides flexibility to vCluster operators. The available data store options allow you to select a data store that fits your use case.

vCluster supports the following datastore options:

• Embedded SQLite (default with PersistentVolume (PV))
• PostgreSQL
• MySQL
• MariaDB
• etcd

warning

After deploying your vCluster, there are limited migration paths to change your backing store. Review the backing store migration options before deploying.

Configuration options

Embedded SQLite (Default)

This is the default, so you don't need to configure anything. If you want to explicitly set this option, you can use:

controlPlane:
  backingStore:
    database:
      embedded:
        enabled: true

Embedded SQLite (No PV)

By default, vCluster stores its data in a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC). Alternatively, you can use an emptyDir volume to store virtual cluster data.

To use an emptyDir to store the data instead of a PersistentVolume, create a values.yaml with the following contents:

controlPlane:
  statefulSet:
    persistence:
      volumeClaim:
        enabled: true

Then upgrade or recreate the vCluster with:

vcluster create my-vcluster -n my-vcluster --upgrade -f values.yaml

Potential data loss

This method should only be used for testing purposes, as data is lost upon pod recreation.

Embedded etcd

This is an enterprise feature that allows you to deploy etcd within each vCluster to enable high availability (HA), which isn’t supported with embedded SQLite:

controlPlane:
  backingStore:
    etcd:
      embedded:
        enabled: true

Deployed etcd

This deploys an etcd instance outside of the vCluster control plane pod that is used as a backing store:

controlPlane:
  backingStore:
    etcd:
      deploy:
        enabled: true

MySQL / MariaDB

The option for MySQL and MariaDB typically has the following format:

controlPlane:
  backingStore:
    database:
      external:
        enabled: true
        dataSource: mysql://username:password@tcp(hostname:3306)/database-name

If you specify a database name and it does not exist, the server attempts to create it.

PostgreSQL

The option for PostgreSQL typically has the following format:

controlPlane:
  backingStore:
    database:
      external:
        enabled: true
        dataSource: postgres://username:password@hostname:port/database-name

More advanced configuration parameters are available. For more information, see https://godoc.org/github.com/lib/pq.

If you specify a database name and it does not exist, the server attempts to create it.

vCluster Kubernetes distribution options

vCluster is deployed with its own Kubernetes distribution that does not need to match with the host cluster's distribution. For example, you can deploy virtual clusters with the K8s distro on top of EKS clusters.

warning

After deploying your vCluster, changing the Kubernetes distribution of vCluster is not supported.

By default, the distribution of vCluster is vanilla Kubernetes (K8s) and is the recommended distribution to use.

Deprecation notice

Support for K0s and K3s is deprecated in vCluster v0.25. K0s support is removed in v0.26.
Migration to a supported Kubernetes distribution is recommended.

The following distributions are supported for virtual clusters:

• K8s: By default, vCluster uses vanilla Kubernetes. This is the recommended distribution.
• K3s: A lightweight, certified Kubernetes distribution designed for resource-constrained environments, remote locations, and IoT devices.
• K0s: A single-binary Kubernetes distribution with built-in cluster configuration. It can run on dual-stack host clusters but does not fully support dual-stack networking.

The Kubernetes distro of vCluster is completely independent of the Kubernetes distro of the host cluster. This means you can run vCluster using any supported Kubernetes distribution distribution regardless of the distribution type of the host cluster.

Host cluster compatibility

vCluster supports specific Kubernetes versions on host clusters. For more information, see the Kubernetes compatibility matrix.

Prerequisites

In order to deploy vcluster, you need the following:

• kubectl
• Helm v3.10.0+
• Access to a Kubernetes v1.28+ cluster with permissions to deploy applications into a namespace. This is considered the host cluster for the vCluster deployment.

Host Cluster Requirements

Since vCluster runs as an application, vCluster can run on any host cluster regardless of OS or Kubernetes distribution. The Kubernetes distribution of vCluster does not need to match the Kubernetes distribution of the host cluster. For example, you can select a vCluster with k8s as the distro and run it on host cluster that's running EKS.

Deploy vCluster

All of the deployment options below have the following assumptions:

• A vcluster.yaml is provided. Refer to the vcluster.yaml reference docs to explore all configuration options. This file is optional and can be removed from the examples.
• The vCluster is called my-vcluster.
• The vCluster is be deployed into the team-x namespace.

YAML configuration

If you're not sure which options to configure, you can update most settings later by upgrading your vCluster with an updated vcluster.yaml. However, some settings—such as the backing store—can only be set during the initial deployment and cannot be changed during an upgrade.

vCluster CLI

The vCluster CLI provides the most straightforward way to deploy and manage virtual clusters.

1. Install the vCluster CLI:

   Homebrew

    brew install loft-sh/tap/vcluster-experimental

   If you installed the CLI using brew install vcluster, you should brew uninstall vcluster and then install the experimental version. The binaries in the tap are signed using the Sigstore framework for enhanced security.

   Mac (Intel/AMD)

   curl -L -o vcluster "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/download/<VCLUSTER_VERSION>/vcluster-darwin-amd64" && sudo install -c -m 0755 vcluster /usr/local/bin && rm -f vcluster

   Replace <VCLUSTER_VERSION> with the version you want to download.

   Mac (Silicon/ARM)

   curl -L -o vcluster "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/download/<VCLUSTER_VERSION>/vcluster-darwin-arm64" && sudo install -c -m 0755 vcluster /usr/local/bin && rm -f vcluster

   Replace <VCLUSTER_VERSION> with the version you want to download.

   Linux (AMD)

   curl -L -o vcluster "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/download/<VCLUSTER_VERSION>/vcluster-linux-amd64" && sudo install -c -m 0755 vcluster /usr/local/bin && rm -f vcluster

   Replace <VCLUSTER_VERSION> with the version you want to download.

   Linux (ARM)

   curl -L -o vcluster "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/download/<VCLUSTER_VERSION>/vcluster-linux-arm64" && sudo install -c -m 0755 vcluster /usr/local/bin && rm -f vcluster

   Replace <VCLUSTER_VERSION> with the version you want to download.

   Download Binary

   Download the binary for your platform from the GitHub Releases page and add this binary to your $PATH.

   Windows Powershell

   md -Force "$Env:APPDATA\vcluster"; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Tls,Tls11,Tls12';
   Invoke-WebRequest -URI "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/download/<VCLUSTER_VERSION>/vcluster-windows-amd64.exe" -o $Env:APPDATA\vcluster\vcluster.exe;
   $env:Path += ";" + $Env:APPDATA + "\vcluster";
   [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User);

   Replace <VCLUSTER_VERSION> with the version you want to download.

   Reboot Required

   You may need to reboot your computer to use the CLI due to changes to the PATH variable (see below).

   Check Environment Variable $PATH

   Line 4 of this install script adds the install directory %APPDATA%\vcluster to the $PATHenvironment variable. This is only effective for the current Powershell session, i.e. when opening a new terminal window,vcluster may not be found.

   Make sure to add the folder %APPDATA%\vcluster to the PATH environment variable after installing vcluster CLI via Powershell. Afterward, a reboot might be necessary.

   Confirm that you've installed the correct version of the vCluster CLI.

   vcluster --version

2. Deploy vCluster:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAME

   NAMESPACE

   CONFIG FILE

   vcluster create my-vcluster --namespace team-x --values vcluster.yaml

   note

   After installation, vCluster automatically switches your Kubernetes context to the new virtual cluster. You can now run kubectl commands against the virtual cluster.

Helm

Helm provides fine-grained control over the deployment process and integrates well with existing Helm-based workflows.

1. Deploy vCluster using the helm upgrade command:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAME

   CONFIG FILE

   NAMESPACE

   helm upgrade --install my-vcluster vcluster \
     --values vcluster.yaml \
     --repo https://charts.loft.sh \
     --namespace team-x \
     --repository-config='' \
     --create-namespace

Terraform

You can use Terraform to deploy vCluster as code with version control and state management.

1. Create a main.tf file to define your vCluster deployment using the Terraform Helm provider:

   provider "helm" {
     kubernetes {
       config_path = "~/.kube/config"
     }
   }
   
   resource "helm_release" "my_vcluster" {
     name             = "my-vcluster"
     namespace        = "team-x"
     create_namespace = true
   
     repository       = "https://charts.loft.sh"
     chart            = "vcluster"
   
     # If you didn't create a vcluster.yaml, remove the values section.
     values = [
       file("${path.module}/vcluster.yaml")
     ]
   }

2. Install the required Helm provider and initialize Terraform:

   terraform init

3. Generate a plan to preview the changes:

   terraform plan

   
   

   Review the plan output to verify connectivity and proposed changes.

4. Deploy vCluster:

   terraform apply

Argo CD

ArgoCD deployment enables GitOps workflows for vCluster management, and provides automated deployment, drift detection, and declarative configuration management through Git repositories.

To deploy vCluster using ArgoCD, you need the following files:

• vcluster.yaml for your vCluster configuration options.
• <CLUSTER_NAME>-app.yaml for your ArgoCD Application definition. Replace <CLUSTER_NAME> with your actual cluster name.

1. Create the ArgoCD Application file <CLUSTER_NAME>-app.yaml, which references the vCluster Helm chart:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAME

   NAMESPACE

   apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
   kind: Application
   metadata:
   name: my-vcluster
   namespace: argocd
   spec:
   project: default
   source:
     chart: vcluster
     repoURL: https://charts.loft.sh
     helm:
       releaseName: my-vcluster
       valueFiles:
         - vcluster.yaml
   destination:
     server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
     namespace: team-x

2. Commit and push these files to your configured ArgoCD repository.

3. Sync your ArgoCD repository with your configured cluster:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAME

   argocd app sync my-vcluster

Cluster API

Cluster API (CAPI) provides lifecycle management for Kubernetes clusters. The vCluster CAPI provider enables you to manage virtual clusters using the same declarative APIs and tooling used for physical clusters. For more details, see the Cluster API Provider for vCluster documentation.

1. Install the clusterctl CLI.

2. Install the vCluster provider:

   clusterctl init --infrastructure vcluster:v0.2.0

3. Export environment variables for the Cluster API provider to create the manifest. The manifest is applied to your Kubernetes cluster, which deploys a vCluster.

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAME

   NAMESPACE

   CONFIG FILE

   export CLUSTER_NAME=my-vcluster
   export CLUSTER_NAMESPACE=team-x
   export VCLUSTER_YAML=$(awk '{printf "%s\n", $0}' vcluster.yaml)

4. Create the namespace for the vCluster using the exported variable:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAMESPACE

   kubectl create namespace team-x

5. Generate the required manifests and apply them using the exported variables:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAME

   CLUSTER NAMESPACE

   clusterctl generate cluster my-vcluster \
     --infrastructure vcluster \
     --target-namespace team-x \
   | kubectl apply -f -

   Kubernetes version

   The Kubernetes version for the vCluster is not set at the CAPI provider command. Configure it in the vcluster.yaml file based on your Kubernetes distribution.

6. Wait for vCluster to become ready by monitoring the vCluster custom resource status:

   Modify the following with your specific values to generate a copyable command:

   CLUSTER NAMESPACE

   CLUSTER NAME

   kubectl wait --for=condition=ready vcluster -n team-x my-vcluster --timeout=300s

Deploy vCluster with the vCluster Platform

Virtual clusters can be deployed as standalone virtual clusters on host clusters as described above, but there is also a vCluster Platform that is a UI to manage your virtual clusters, host clusters and other resources.

There are many features that are included as part of the vCluster Platform besides having a central management platform for virtual clusters.

If you already have vCluster Platform, learn how to deploy virtual clusters in the platform.