IBM Cloud

Follow these instructions to prepare a cluster for Istio using the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service.

{{< tip >}} IBM offers a {{< gloss >}}managed control plane{{< /gloss >}} add-on for the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, which you can use instead of installing Istio manually. Refer to Istio on IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service for details and instructions. {{< /tip >}}

To prepare a cluster before manually installing Istio, proceed as follows:

1. Install the IBM Cloud CLI, the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service plug-in, and the Kubernetes CLI.

2. Create a standard Kubernetes cluster using the following command. Replace <cluster-name> with the name you want to use for your cluster and <zone-name> with the name of an available zone.

   {{< tip >}} You can display your available zones by running ibmcloud ks zones --provider classic. The IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service Locations Reference Guide describes the available zones and how to specify them. {{< /tip >}}

   {{< text bash >}} $ ibmcloud ks cluster create classic --zone <zone-name> --machine-type b3c.4x16
   --workers 3 --name <cluster-name> {{< /text >}}

   {{< tip >}} If you already have a private or a public VLAN, you must specify them in the above command using the --private-vlan and --public-vlan options. Otherwise, they will be automatically created for you. You can view your available VLANs by running ibmcloud ks vlans --zone <zone-name>. {{< /tip >}}

3. Run the following command to download your cluster configuration.

   {{< text bash >}} $ ibmcloud ks cluster config --cluster <cluster-name> {{< /text >}}

   {{< warning >}} Make sure to use the kubectl CLI version that matches the Kubernetes version of your cluster. {{< /warning >}}