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Krisha Arya
Krisha Arya

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EKS Cluster Setup, Deployment & LoadBalancer Exposure (Using eksctl) in Kubernetes

#devops #beginners #webdev #tutorial

Overview

This practical demonstrates a complete end-to-end Kubernetes workflow on AWS EKS using eksctl from a Windows PowerShell environment.
The goal is to:

  • Create a new EKS cluster
  • Provision worker nodes
  • Deploy applications on Kubernetes
  • Expose the application to the outside world using a LoadBalancer
  • Perform complete cleanup to avoid AWS charges

This documentation is based on real execution logs and troubleshooting, not theoretical steps.

Prerequisites

  • Windows OS
  • PowerShell
  • AWS Account
  • AWS CLI installed
  • kubectl installed
  • eksctl installed

STEP 1: Verify eksctl Installation 

eksctl version
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Output:

0.221.0
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✅ Confirms eksctl is installed and ready.

STEP 2: Configure AWS Credentials 

aws configure
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Entered details:

  • AWS Access Key ID
  • AWS Secret Access Key
  • Default region: us-east-1
  • Output format: json

Sure 👍 here’s a clear, step-by-step guide to get AWS Access Key ID and Secret Access Key from the AWS Security (IAM) section.
This is exactly what you should write in documentation / practical files.

🔐 How to Get AWS Access Key ID & Secret Access Key (IAM)

Login to AWS Console

  1. Go to 👉 https://aws.amazon.com/console/
  2. Click Sign in to the Console
  3. Login using your AWS root account or IAM user

Open IAM (Security Service)

  1. In the AWS Console search bar, type IAM
  2. Open IAM – Identity and Access Management

👉 IAM is used to manage users, permissions, and access keys.

Go to Users

  1. In the left sidebar, click Users
  2. Click on your IAM User name

⚠️ Best practice:
Use an IAM user, not the root account, for CLI access.

Open Security Credentials

  1. Inside the user page, go to the Security credentials tab
  2. Scroll down to Access keys

Create Access Key

  1. Click Create access key
  2. Select Command Line Interface (CLI)
  3. Check the confirmation box
  4. Click Next
  5. (Optional) Add a tag
  6. Click Create access key

Copy Access Keys (VERY IMPORTANT)

You will see:

  • Access Key ID
  • Secret Access Key

⚠️ IMPORTANT RULES

  • Secret Access Key is shown ONLY ONCE
  • Copy and store it safely
  • If lost, you must create a new key

Example:

Access Key ID     : AKIAxxxxxxxxxxxx
Secret Access Key : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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STEP 3: Verify AWS Identity 

aws sts get-caller-identity
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Output:

{
    "UserId": "198961699878",
    "Account": "198961699878",
    "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::198961699878:root"
}
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✅ Confirms AWS authentication is working.

STEP 4: Verify Configured Region 

aws configure get region
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Output:

us-east-1
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STEP 5: Create EKS Cluster with Managed Node Group 

eksctl create cluster `
  --name my-cluster `
  --region us-east-1 `
  --nodegroup-name standard-workers `
  --node-type t3.medium `
  --nodes 3
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What this does:

  • Creates an EKS cluster named my-cluster
  • Uses Kubernetes version 1.32
  • Provisions 3 EC2 worker nodes

  • Installs core add-ons:

    • kube-proxy
    • CoreDNS
    • VPC CNI
    • metrics-server

⏱️ Cluster creation took ~15 minutes.

Final Status:

EKS cluster "my-cluster" in "us-east-1" region is ready
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STEP 6: Update kubeconfig for kubectl 

aws eks update-kubeconfig --name my-cluster --region us-east-1
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Output:

Added new context arn:aws:eks:us-east-1:198961799878:cluster/my-cluster
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STEP 7: Verify Worker Nodes 

kubectl get nodes
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Output:

ip-192-168-21-14.ec2.internal   Ready
ip-192-168-28-52.ec2.internal   Ready
ip-192-168-49-76.ec2.internal   Ready
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✅ All worker nodes are in Ready state.

STEP 8: Create ConfigMap (Application Configuration)

Initial PowerShell Multiline Error

Linux-style \ caused parsing errors in PowerShell.

Correct Command (Single Line) 

kubectl create configmap app-config --from-literal=APPENV=production --from-literal=LOGLEVEL=info
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Output:

configmap/app-config created
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Verify ConfigMap 

kubectl get configmap
kubectl describe configmap app-config
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STEP 9: Create Pod Using ConfigMap

Create YAML File 

notepad config-pod.yaml
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config-pod.yaml 

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: config-pod
spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: nginx
    env:
    - name: APPENV
      valueFrom:
        configMapKeyRef:
          name: app-config
          key: APPENV
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Apply Pod 

kubectl apply -f config-pod.yaml
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Verify Pod 

kubectl get pods
kubectl exec -it config-pod -- printenv APPENV
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Output:

production
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STEP 10: Create Deployment (Multiple Replicas)

Create Deployment YAML 

notepad nginx-deployment.yaml
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nginx-deployment.yaml 

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx
        image: nginx:1.25
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
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Apply Deployment 

kubectl apply -f nginx-deployment.yaml
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Verify 

kubectl get deployments
kubectl get pods
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STEP 11: Expose Deployment Using LoadBalancer 

kubectl expose deployment nginx-deployment --type=LoadBalancer --port=80
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Verify Service 

kubectl get svc
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Output:

nginx-deployment   LoadBalancer   a26036e6e746042178d8b53a365c218b.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com
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✅ AWS Elastic Load Balancer was created automatically.

STEP 12: Cleanup Kubernetes Resources 

kubectl delete deployment nginx-deployment
kubectl delete svc nginx-deployment
kubectl delete pod config-pod
kubectl delete configmap app-config
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Verify Cleanup 

kubectl get all
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Output:

service/kubernetes (default system service only)
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STEP 13: Delete EKS Cluster (MOST IMPORTANT) 

eksctl delete cluster --name my-cluster --region us-east-1
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What this deletes:

  • Worker nodes
  • EKS control plane
  • Load balancers
  • CloudFormation stacks
  • Networking resources

Final Status:

all cluster resources were deleted
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Conclusion

This practical successfully demonstrated:

  • EKS cluster creation using eksctl
  • Managed worker node provisioning
  • ConfigMap creation and usage
  • Pod and Deployment lifecycle
  • External access using LoadBalancer
  • Complete and safe cleanup to avoid AWS charges

Stay connected for next kubernetes tutorial! 😊

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