Building Talos Linux Kubernetes Cluster

Table of Contents

Talos Linux is a minimal, hardened and immutable Linux distribution designed for Kubernetes. It supports cloud platforms, bare metal and virtualization, and all system management is done via an API.

📺 YouTube Tutorial #

💡Talos Linux - The Best OS For Kubernetes.

This blog post describes Talos Linux installation on Proxmox Virtual Environment. #

‼️When downloading ISO image, ensure downloading one with QEMU guest agent support for Proxmox.

💾 Download Talos Linux #

If you need the QEMU guest agent so you can do guest VM shutdowns of your Talos VMs on Proxmox, then you will need a custom ISO
To get this, navigate to https://factory.talos.dev/
Scroll down and select your Talos version (v1.10.0 for example)
Then tick the box for siderolabs/qemu-guest-agent and submit
This will provide you with a link to the bare metal ISO

Building Talos Kubernetes cluster using patches #

Install talosctl, kubectl and k9s ¹ #

On your Jump Server, install talosctl, kubectl and k9s. I am using Ubuntu Linux in this example.

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# talosctl
curl -sL https://talos.dev/install | sh

# kubectl
sudo snap install kubectl --classic

# k9s
sudo snap install k9s

sudo ln -s /snap/k9s/current/bin/k9s /snap/bin/

Cluster Build #

1. Generate Secrets #

cd ~

talosctl gen secrets

2. Export Variables #

export CLUSTER_IP=192.168.XX.AB
export CLUSTER_NAME=talos-cluster

export CONTROL_PLANE_IP1=192.168.XX.AC
export CONTROL_PLANE_IP2=192.168.XX.AD
export CONTROL_PLANE_IP3=192.168.XX.AE

export WORKER_IP1=192.168.XX.BA
export WORKER_IP2=192.168.XX.BB
export WORKER_IP3=192.168.XX.BC

3. Generate config files for the cluster using patches #

git clone https://github.com/rtdevx/homelab.git

cd ~/homelab/kubernetes/talos

talosctl gen config $CLUSTER_NAME https://$CLUSTER_IP:6443 \
  --with-secrets ~/secrets.yaml \
  --config-patch @patches/all.yaml \
  --config-patch-control-plane @patches/cp.yaml \
  --config-patch-worker @patches/worker.yaml \
  --output ~/rendered/

4. Set Up the cluster #

cd ~

talosctl apply -f rendered/controlplane.yaml -n $CONTROL_PLANE_IP1 --insecure
talosctl apply -f rendered/controlplane.yaml -n $CONTROL_PLANE_IP2 --insecure
talosctl apply -f rendered/controlplane.yaml -n $CONTROL_PLANE_IP3 --insecure

5. Add Worker Nodes #

talosctl apply -f rendered/worker.yaml -n $WORKER_IP1 --insecure
talosctl apply -f rendered/worker.yaml -n $WORKER_IP2 --insecure
talosctl apply -f rendered/worker.yaml -n $WORKER_IP3 --insecure

‼️Note: --insecure is only used for the initial install. After cluster is installed with it’s newly generated keys, this option should not be used.

6. Configure talosctl #

mkdir -p ~/.talos 
cp rendered/talosconfig ~/.talos/config

# Test
talosctl config contexts

# Set endpoints for talosctl
talosctl config endpoint $CONTROL_PLANE_IP1 $CONTROL_PLANE_IP2 $CONTROL_PLANE_IP3

# Set config node
talosctl config node $CONTROL_PLANE_IP1

7. Install (Bootstrap) Kubernetes #

talosctl bootstrap

# Fetch kubeconfig
talosctl kubeconfig

8. Add kubectl alias (Optional) #

vi ~/.bashrc

#Custom Aliases
alias k='kubectl'

» Sources « #

Proxmox Official Documentation: https://www.talos.dev/v1.10/talos-guides/install/virtualized-platforms/proxmox/
Building Cluster using patches: https://www.talos.dev/v1.10/talos-guides/configuration/patching/

“Install talosctl, kubectl and k9s"⚠️
ERROR:
k9s command not found after snap install issue in Ubuntu 24.04

Solution:
Command highlighted in “Install talosctl, kubectl and k9s” must be executed in order to solve the problem.

More about the problem: https://github.com/derailed/k9s/issues/2128 ↩︎