E2E CloudTIR Kubernetes FAQ
For step-by-step fixes, see Troubleshooting TIR Kubernetes.
Choosing and creating a cluster
Section titled “Choosing and creating a cluster”What is TIR Kubernetes, and when should I use it instead of an instance?
Section titled “What is TIR Kubernetes, and when should I use it instead of an instance?”TIR Kubernetes is managed Kubernetes in a TIR project. E2E sets up and runs the control plane. You
choose the Kubernetes version, the control plane’s size and plan, the worker pools, and the VPC.
You then work with the cluster through its kubeconfig and kubectl.
Choose it to run containerised apps across several nodes. You get worker pools you can resize or autoscale, Services on public addresses, and volumes that keep their data. For work on one machine, see TIR Instance. For an overview, see TIR Kubernetes.
In which regions can I run a cluster?
Section titled “In which regions can I run a cluster?”Delhi and Chennai. A cluster belongs to one project and the region you create it in. You see the clusters of the project and region you have selected. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
What do I need before I create a cluster?
Section titled “What do I need before I create a cluster?”An Active VPC with a subnet in the same project and region, and permission to create Kubernetes clusters. On a prepaid account, you also need enough credit for every pool. To give Services public addresses later, you need at least one public reserved IP. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
Should I choose one or three control plane nodes?
Section titled “Should I choose one or three control plane nodes?”Choose three for a cluster you depend on: three nodes give the control plane redundancy, and the cluster keeps its number of control plane nodes from then on. Three is the default. See How a TIR Kubernetes cluster works.
Which Kubernetes versions can I choose?
Section titled “Which Kubernetes versions can I choose?”You choose from the versions offered when you create the cluster. The Kubernetes version list on the create form shows them, newest first, with the newest selected. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
How do I upgrade my cluster to a newer Kubernetes version?
Section titled “How do I upgrade my cluster to a newer Kubernetes version?”A cluster keeps the Kubernetes version you create it with; it cannot be upgraded in place. To run a newer version, create a new cluster with it and move your workloads across. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
Can I change a cluster’s VPC after I create it?
Section titled “Can I change a cluster’s VPC after I create it?”No. You choose the VPC when you create the cluster, and the cluster cannot move to another VPC later. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
What stays fixed after I create a cluster?
Section titled “What stays fixed after I create a cluster?”The Kubernetes version, the VPC, and the control plane’s node count, plan, and commitment policy cannot be changed once the cluster exists. Worker pools stay flexible: you can add, resize, autoscale, and delete them while the cluster is Ready, except that a committed pool keeps its size until its term ends. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
Can I choose the pod and Service address ranges?
Section titled “Can I choose the pod and Service address ranges?”No. Every cluster uses 172.30.0.0/16 for pods and 172.31.0.0/16 for Services, so keep your VPC
ranges, and the networks you route to, clear of them. See
How a TIR Kubernetes cluster works.
Can I install a different network plugin or choose add-ons?
Section titled “Can I install a different network plugin or choose add-ons?”No. Cilium is the network plugin on every cluster, managed by the platform, and installing a second one breaks networking. The platform also chooses and installs the add-ons. See How a TIR Kubernetes cluster works.
What happens to my cluster if my free credit runs out?
Section titled “What happens to my cluster if my free credit runs out?”On an account that runs on unverified free credit, TIR deletes the cluster if the account’s credits become negative. You accept this in a confirmation when you create the cluster. See Create a Kubernetes cluster.
Access and connecting
Section titled “Access and connecting”Can I SSH into the nodes of my cluster?
Section titled “Can I SSH into the nodes of my cluster?”No. You manage the cluster with its kubeconfig and the Kubernetes API, through kubectl. See
Connect to a Kubernetes cluster.
When can I download the kubeconfig, and who can download it?
Section titled “When can I download the kubeconfig, and who can download it?”Once the cluster reaches Worker Joined or Ready. Anyone with permission to read Kubernetes in the project can download it. Download kubeconfig is in the details page header and in the list’s Actions menu. See Connect to a Kubernetes cluster.
Can I rotate or revoke a kubeconfig?
Section titled “Can I rotate or revoke a kubeconfig?”No. The kubeconfig gives full administrative access to the cluster, so keep it as you would a private key. If it leaks, delete the cluster and create a new one. Copy your data out first, because deleting removes the volumes, and a committed term’s upfront charge is not refunded. See Delete a Kubernetes cluster.
Which port does the cluster’s API server use?
Section titled “Which port does the cluster’s API server use?”Port 6443, on a public address that the kubeconfig points at, so kubectl reaches it over the
internet from your own computer. A firewall between your computer and the cluster must allow outbound connections on
port 6443. See Troubleshooting TIR Kubernetes.
Why do I not see Create Cluster, or why is a button unavailable?
Section titled “Why do I not see Create Cluster, or why is a button unavailable?”Buttons follow your role and the cluster’s status. Your role decides which buttons you see, and the status decides which of them are available. Hold the pointer over a button that the status blocks to see why. For example, worker pools change only while the cluster is Ready or Worker Joined. See A button is missing or unavailable.
Is there a security group setting for a cluster?
Section titled “Is there a security group setting for a cluster?”No. The cluster screens have no security group setting. See How a TIR Kubernetes cluster works.
Worker pools and scaling
Section titled “Worker pools and scaling”How many nodes can one worker pool have?
Section titled “How many nodes can one worker pool have?”From 1 to 25. A cluster needs at least one worker pool, and it can hold any number of pools. See Add and delete worker pools.
Can I delete the last worker pool, or reuse a deleted pool’s name?
Section titled “Can I delete the last worker pool, or reuse a deleted pool’s name?”A cluster always keeps at least one worker pool, so its last pool stays until you delete the cluster. You can reuse the name of a pool you have deleted, because a name only has to differ from the pools the cluster has now. See Add and delete worker pools.
Does a worker pool scale itself up and down with load?
Section titled “Does a worker pool scale itself up and down with load?”Yes, if you turn on autoscaling where the region offers CPU and memory autoscaling. Autoscale keeps an hourly pool between a minimum and a maximum number of nodes. It adds and removes nodes to stay near a CPU or memory use target. Committed pools keep a fixed size. See Resize or autoscale a worker pool.
Is CPU and memory autoscaling available in every region?
Section titled “Is CPU and memory autoscaling available in every region?”Autoscaling needs CPU and memory readings from the region. Until a region has those readings, the Autoscale panel says “CPU and memory autoscaling are not available in this region yet. Use a static size instead.”, and you set the pool to a fixed size. See Resize or autoscale a worker pool.
Can I move an autoscaled pool to a committed plan?
Section titled “Can I move an autoscaled pool to a committed plan?”Yes, once you give it a fixed size. Set the size with Static resize, which replaces the autoscaling, then select Convert to Committed Plan. See Manage committed plans for worker pools.
Why can I not change the number of nodes in my committed pool?
Section titled “Why can I not change the number of nodes in my committed pool?”Because a committed pool’s billing is fixed for its term: you paid upfront for its number of nodes. It keeps that size for the whole term, and becomes resizable once it moves to hourly billing at the end of a term. That happens with Switch to hourly billing, or with Auto-renew the committed plan when the account lacks the credit to renew. To add capacity during the term, add another pool. See Billing options for TIR Kubernetes.
Does a failed worker pool take the cluster down?
Section titled “Does a failed worker pool take the cluster down?”No. A pool that fails leaves the cluster Ready while another pool is serving. Add a new pool, then delete the failed one. See Troubleshooting TIR Kubernetes.
How many labels and taints can a worker pool have?
Section titled “How many labels and taints can a worker pool have?”Up to 20 labels and 10 taints a pool. Every key starts with node.e2enetworks.com/, and pods use
the full key. Labels and taints are for worker pools only. See
Set node labels and taints.
What happens if I change a pool’s labels or taints with kubectl?
Section titled “What happens if I change a pool’s labels or taints with kubectl?”TIR puts them back. It manages a pool’s labels and taints on every node of the pool, so a label or taint removed or changed directly on a node is restored. Change them in Manage labels and taints on the Node Pool tab instead. See Set node labels and taints.
Do my pods run on the control plane nodes?
Section titled “Do my pods run on the control plane nodes?”No. kubectl get nodes lists the control plane nodes beside the workers, but your workloads run on
the worker pools only. See
How a TIR Kubernetes cluster works.
Workloads, networking, and storage
Section titled “Workloads, networking, and storage”How do I put my app on a public IP?
Section titled “How do I put my app on a public IP?”Attach a public reserved IP to the cluster on its LB IP Pool tab, then create a Service of type LoadBalancer. The Service takes one of the attached addresses. See Expose services with a load balancer.
Can I use a VPC IP for a LoadBalancer Service?
Section titled “Can I use a VPC IP for a LoadBalancer Service?”No. The LB IP pool takes public reserved IPs only, and refuses a VPC IP. See Expose services with a load balancer.
Can one reserved IP be used by two clusters?
Section titled “Can one reserved IP be used by two clusters?”No. An address can be in one cluster’s LB IP pool at a time, and TIR refuses an address that is already attached to another cluster. Detach it from that cluster first, or attach a different address. See Expose services with a load balancer.
Can several sites share one public IP?
Section titled “Can several sites share one public IP?”Yes. Run an ingress controller, which routes incoming web traffic by hostname and path. Its one LoadBalancer Service holds one address, and any number of sites can share it. See Set up an ingress controller with HTTPS.
Can pods on different nodes write to the same volume, or can I mount SFS in the cluster?
Section titled “Can pods on different nodes write to the same volume, or can I mount SFS in the cluster?”No. The cluster’s built-in storage offers ReadWriteOnce volumes only, which one node mounts at a time. TIR Shared File System and Parallel File System are not mounted into Kubernetes clusters. See Use persistent volumes, which keep their data when a pod restarts.
Can my pods pull private images from TIR Container Registry?
Section titled “Can my pods pull private images from TIR Container Registry?”Yes. Create a pull secret with the registry’s address, username, and password, and name it under
imagePullSecrets in the pod. See
Pull images from Container Registry.
Where can I see CPU and memory use for my cluster’s nodes?
Section titled “Where can I see CPU and memory use for my cluster’s nodes?”On the cluster’s Monitoring tab, which is built in. It covers the nodes only: their health, CPU, memory, disk, and network. For pods and namespaces, run Prometheus and Grafana in the cluster. See Monitor a Kubernetes cluster.
Billing
Section titled “Billing”How is a cluster billed, and is the control plane charged?
Section titled “How is a cluster billed, and is the control plane charged?”Per node pool. The control plane is a pool on its own plan, billed for its nodes from when it is ready until you delete the cluster. Each worker pool has its own plan, hourly or committed, and an hourly pool is billed for each node while it is up and ready. Prices are on E2E’s pricing page. See Billing options for TIR Kubernetes.
Am I charged for pods and Services?
Section titled “Am I charged for pods and Services?”No. Only the nodes are billed, and the pods, Services, and jobs you run on them are included. See Billing options for TIR Kubernetes.
Does a failed cluster cost anything?
Section titled “Does a failed cluster cost anything?”Yes. A Failed cluster stops billing its worker pools, but its control plane is billed until you delete the cluster. See Delete a Kubernetes cluster.
Can I move an hourly pool to a committed plan, and what happens at the end of the term?
Section titled “Can I move an hourly pool to a committed plan, and what happens at the end of the term?”Yes. A Ready hourly pool can move to a committed plan, which charges the whole term upfront. When the term ends, the pool’s commitment policy decides what happens. The pool either renews for another term, if the account has enough credit, or moves to hourly billing. You can change the policy during the term. See Manage committed plans for worker pools.
Do I get a refund if I delete a committed pool early?
Section titled “Do I get a refund if I delete a committed pool early?”No. A committed term is paid upfront, and it is not refunded, even if you delete the pool or the cluster before the term ends. See Billing options for TIR Kubernetes.
Failures and deleting
Section titled “Failures and deleting”How long does it take to create a cluster?
Section titled “How long does it take to create a cluster?”Usually 10 to 30 minutes. A cluster whose provisioning hits a problem stops at Failed instead of waiting indefinitely. See Troubleshooting TIR Kubernetes.
Can I retry a failed cluster?
Section titled “Can I retry a failed cluster?”No. Delete the failed cluster and create a new one. See Troubleshooting TIR Kubernetes.
I deleted my cluster. Am I still charged, and what happens to my volumes?
Section titled “I deleted my cluster. Am I still charged, and what happens to my volumes?”Hourly pools stop being billed when you ask to delete, and the control plane is billed until the deletion finishes. The cluster’s volumes are deleted with it. A committed pool’s term keeps running, and its upfront charge is final. Reserved IPs that were attached go back to the project and stay billed until you delete them. See Delete a Kubernetes cluster.