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Installing Sitecore 10.4 on Kubernetes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Recently, a community member attempted to install Sitecore 10.4 on a Kubernetes (K8s) cluster and reached out to me regarding the challenges they faced. Despite following Sitecore's standard installation document, they encountered issues due to their limited knowledge of Kubernetes. This blog post summarizes their experience and serves as a reference for other developers in a similar situation.

Steps for Installation

To successfully set up a Sitecore instance in a K8s cluster, follow these detailed steps:

  1. Prerequisites

    • Access to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Ensure you have the ability to create namespaces and clusters in AKS. Having a team member knowledgeable in Kubernetes is highly beneficial.

    • Local Tools: Install Azure CLI, Chocolatey, and Helm on your local machine. You'll be needing these while executing commands in PowerShell.

  2. Cluster Specifications Ensure your cluster meets these specifications:

    • Kubernetes 1.27.x or later

    • Windows Server 2019 version 1809 or later OS node

    • Minimum 16 GB RAM per Kubernetes cluster

    • Quad-core or higher CPU per Kubernetes node

    • Premium SSD disks

    • For non-production environments: Minimum VM size of Standard_D4s_v3

    • For production environments: Minimum VM size of Standard_D8s_v3

  3. Login to Azure Environment Execute the following commands in PowerShell in admin mode to login and retrieve cluster credentials:

    az login
    az aks get-credentials --resource-group <your resource group name> --name <your cluster name>

  4. Navigate to Working Directory Change to your working directory where you've unzipped the Sitecore container deployment package:

    cd C:\Projects\<your project name>\k8s\ltsc2022\xp1

  5. Install Ingress Controller Ingress in Sitecore is similar to Traefik in Docker. It's crucial for networking in the cluster as it exposes routes from outside the cluster to services within the cluster. Run following commands to create ingress and ingress controller:

    helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm install nginx-ingress ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx --set controller.replicaCount=2 --set controller.nodeSelector."beta\.kubernetes\.io/os"=linux --set defaultBackend.nodeSelector."beta\.kubernetes\.io/os"=linux --set controller.admissionWebhooks.patch.nodeSelector."kubernetes\.io/os"=linux --set controller.service.externalTrafficPolicy=Local
kubectl apply -k ./ingress-nginx/

  6. Configure Secrets Set up the necessary secrets for Sitecore, including admin passwords and SQL credentials. This will specify certain settings called as Secrets to Cluster:

    .\k8s-init.ps1 -Topology <your topology like xm1 or xp1> -LicenseXmlPath <license path>\license.xml -IdHost <hostname for id server> -CdHost <hostname for cd server> -CmHost <hostname for cm server> -ExternalIPAddress <Ingress controller IP> -SqlUserPassword <sql user password> -SqlUserName sa -SitecoreAdminPassword <Sitecore admin password>

    ExternalIPAddress in above command can be retrieved by running:

    kubectl get ingress

  7. Deploy Secrets to Cluster

    kubectl apply -k ./secrets/

  8. Set Up External Services Deploy MSSQL, Solr, and Redis, which are prerequisites for Sitecore:

    kubectl apply -k ./external/

  9. Run Initialization Scripts Initialize MSSQL and Solr:

    kubectl apply -k ./init/
    kubectl wait --for=condition=Complete job.batch/mssql-init --timeout=900s

  10. Create Storage Volumes This deploys a persistent volume claim:

    kubectl apply -f ./volumes/azurefile

  11. Install Sitecore Pods Deploy the Sitecore cd, cm, and id pods:

    kubectl apply -k ./

    This process may take 30 minutes to an hour. Verify pod status with:

    kubectl get pods -n default 

    If any pod is not in a running state, troubleshoot using:

    kubectl describe pod <pod name>

  12. Update Local Hosts File Map Ingress IP to the specified hostnames for cd, cm, and id servers in your hosts file:

    4.175.34.228  cd.sitename.dev
4.175.34.228  cm.sitename.dev
4.175.34.228  id.sitename.dev

Conclusion

By following these steps, you should be able to successfully set up a Sitecore instance on a Kubernetes cluster. If you encounter issues, consider reaching out to a team member with Kubernetes expertise or leveraging online resources for further assistance. This guide aims to provide a comprehensive reference for developers facing similar challenges in their Sitecore and Kubernetes journey

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