Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Container Engine for Kubernetes is a fully-managed, scalable, and highly available service that you can use to deploy your containerized applications to the cloud. Use Container Engine for Kubernetes (sometimes abbreviated to just OKE) when your development team wants to reliably build, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications. You specify the compute resources that your applications require, and Container Engine for Kubernetes provisions them on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in an existing OCI tenancy.

Container Engine for Kubernetes uses Kubernetes - the open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across clusters of hosts. Kubernetes groups the containers that make up an application into logical units (called pods) for easy management and discovery.

You can access Container Engine for Kubernetes to define and create Kubernetes clusters using the Console and the REST API. You can access the clusters you create using the Kubernetes command line (kubectl), the Kubernetes Dashboard, and the Kubernetes API.

In this blog post we'll see how to install a OKE Cluster. Using the Console, you first specify basic details for the new cluster (the cluster name, and the Kubernetes version to install on control plane nodes). You can then create the cluster in one of two ways:

Using default settings in the 'Quick Create' workflow : to create a cluster with new network resources as required. This approach is the fastest way to create a new cluster. If you accept all the default values, you can create a new cluster in just a few clicks. New network resources for the cluster are created automatically, including regional subnets for the Kubernetes API endpoint, for worker nodes, and for load balancers. The regional subnet for load balancers is public, but you specify whether the regional subnets for the Kubernetes API endpoint and for worker nodes are public or private.
Using custom settings in the 'Custom Create' workflow : This approach gives you the most control over the new cluster. You can explicitly define the new cluster's properties. And you can explicitly specify which existing network resources to use, including the existing public or private subnets in which to create the Kubernetes API endpoint, worker nodes, and load balancers.

Quick Create workflow

To create a cluster with default settings and new network resources in the 'Quick Create' workflow using Container Engine for Kubernetes:

In the Console, open the navigation menu and click Developer Services. Under Containers & Artifacts , click Kubernetes Clusters (OKE).

Choose a Compartment you have permission to work in.
On the Cluster List page, click Create Cluster.

In the Create Cluster dialog, select Quick Create and click Launch Workflow.

OKE Quick Create

On the Create Cluster page, either just accept the default configuration details for the new cluster, or specify alternatives as follows:
- Name: The name of the new cluster. Either accept the default name or enter a name of your choice. Avoid entering confidential information.
- Compartment: The compartment in which to create the new cluster and the associated network resources.
- Kubernetes Version: The version of Kubernetes to run on the control plane nodes and worker nodes of the cluster. Either accept the default version or select a version of your choice.
- Kubernetes API Endpoint: The type of access to the cluster's Kubernetes API endpoint. The Kubernetes API endpoint is either private (accessible by other subnets in the VCN) or public (accessible directly from internet):
  - Private Endpoint: A private regional subnet is created and the Kubernetes API endpoint is hosted in that subnet. The Kubernetes API endpoint is assigned a private IP address.
  - Public Endpoint: A public regional subnet is created and the Kubernetes API endpoint is hosted in that subnet. The Kubernetes API endpoint is assigned a public IP address as well as a private IP address.

Kubernetes Worker Nodes: The type of access to the cluster's worker nodes. The worker nodes are either private (accessible through other VCN subnets) or public (accessible directly from internet):
- Private: A private regional subnet is created to host worker nodes. The worker nodes are assigned a private IP address.
- Public: A public regional subnet is created to host worker nodes. The worker nodes are assigned a public IP address as well as a private IP address.
Note that a public regional subnet is always created to host load balancers in clusters created in the 'Quick Create' workflow, regardless of your selection here.
Shape: The shape to use for each node in the node pool. The shape determines the number of CPUs and the amount of memory allocated to each node. If you select a flexible shape, you can explicitly specify the number of CPUs and the amount of memory.
Number of Nodes: The number of worker nodes to create in the node pool, placed in the regional subnet created for the cluster. The nodes are distributed as evenly as possible across the availability domains in a region (or in the case of a region with a single availability domain, across the fault domains in that availability domain).
Click Next to review the details you entered for the new cluster.