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EKS Prerequisites & Planning Guide

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Overview

This guide covers all prerequisites, planning considerations, and preparation steps required before deploying Orion on AWS EKS. Proper preparation ensures a smooth deployment and optimal performance.

Estimated Setup Time: 30-45 minutes

Required Skills & Knowledge

Before beginning your Orion deployment, ensure you have foundational knowledge in these areas:

AWS Foundational Knowledge

  • Amazon EC2: Instance types, security groups, key pairs
  • Amazon EKS: Managed Kubernetes concepts and architecture
  • Amazon VPC: Networking, subnets, route tables, NAT gateways
  • AWS IAM: Users, roles, policies, and permissions
  • Amazon Route 53: DNS management and hosted zones
  • EKSCTL: Command-line tool for EKS cluster management

Kubernetes Fundamentals

  • Pod, Service, Deployment, and ConfigMap concepts
  • kubectl command-line interface proficiency
  • Understanding of namespaces and resource management
  • Basic troubleshooting with logs and events

Container Orchestration Concepts

  • Container images and registries
  • Resource requests and limits
  • Health checks and probes
  • Persistent volumes and storage classes

Technical Prerequisites

  • Command Line Proficiency: Comfortable with bash/shell environments
  • YAML Configuration: Ability to read and edit YAML files
  • Basic Networking: Understanding of TCP/IP, DNS, and load balancing
  • Text Editor Skills: Proficiency with vi/vim, nano, or similar editors

AWS Account Setup

AWS Account Requirements

Account Access

  • AWS account with administrative privileges
  • AWS CLI installed and configured with appropriate credentials

Required AWS Service Access

Your AWS role/user must have access to these services:

  • Amazon EKS: Managed Kubernetes service

  • Amazon EC2: Virtual machine instances for worker nodes

  • Amazon VPC: Virtual private cloud networking

  • AWS IAM: Identity and access management

  • Amazon EBS: Elastic block storage for persistent volumes

  • Elastic Load Balancing: Application and network load balancers

  • Amazon ECR: Elastic container registry (optional but recommended)

  • Amazon Route 53: DNS management

IAM Permissions Required

Your deployment user/role needs these AWS managed policies:

  • PowerUserAccess (recommended for simplicity)

Partner Ecosystem Integration

Deployment Partner Strategy

Juno Innovations works with certified deployment partners who provide specialized expertise and integration services:

Partner Responsibilities

  • Custom Integration: Partners handle integration with customer-specific tools and workflows
  • Monitoring Setup: Configuration of customer's preferred monitoring and alerting platforms
  • Dashboard Creation: Custom dashboard development using customer's existing observability stack
  • Operational Training: Team training on integrated Orion platform within customer environment

Customer Operational Tools Integration

We recommend customers leverage their existing operational ecosystem:

Monitoring Platforms:

You can easily monitor your Orion deployment with any Prometheus or OpenMetric-capable monitoring stack.

For greenfield deployments, we recommend using CloudWatch and its EKS integration for an out-of-the-box setup. It will let you quickly start tracking your resource utilization and mission-critical metrics.

Operational Dashboards:

  • Integration with existing NOC/SOC dashboards
  • Custom executive reporting platforms
  • IT service management systems (ServiceNow, ITSM)

Partner Network Benefits

  • Local Expertise: Partners provide regional and industry-specific knowledge
  • Faster Implementation: Leverage partner experience for accelerated deployments
  • Ongoing Support: Local support augmenting Juno's global support capabilities
  • Custom Solutions: Tailored implementations meeting specific organizational requirements

Licensing Requirements

Orion Platform Licensing

  • Contact Required: Reach out to sales@juno-innovations.com
  • License Types: User-based or node-based licensing available
  • Trial Options: POC licenses available for evaluation
  • Support Tiers: Different support levels based on license type

Third-Party Software Licenses

  • GitOps Platform: ArgoCD comes pre-packaged with Orion for GitOps-based deployment and configuration management
  • Monitoring Integration: Customers should leverage existing monitoring platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, etc.)
  • Dashboard Solutions: We rely on customers and deployment partners to use their preferred dashboarding solutions
  • Observability: Orion can be monitored via any standard Kubernetes monitoring tool.

DNS Requirements

Domain Setup

  • Registered Domain: You need a domain for ingress access
  • DNS Management: Route 53 recommended for seamless AWS integration
  • Subdomain Strategy: Plan subdomain structure (e.g., orion.yourcompany.com)
  • SSL Certificates: AWS Certificate Manager can provide free SSL certs

DNS Configuration

genesis.yourcompany.com     -> Orion Genesis UI
<project>.yourcompany.com   -> Project deployment

External Dependencies

Container Registry Access

  • Amazon ECR: Recommended for private images
  • Docker Hub: For public images (rate limiting considerations)
  • Private Registry: If using custom internal registry
  • Network Access: Ensure nodes can pull images from chosen registry

Deployment and Operations Recommendations

  • GitOps Deployment: We recommend ArgoCD for GitOps-based deployment and configuration management
  • Monitoring Solutions: Customers should use their existing monitoring and dashboard solutions
  • Partner Integration: We rely on deployment partners and customers to integrate with their preferred operational tools

Pre-Installation Checklist

AWS Prerequisites

  • AWS account with administrative access
  • AWS CLI installed and configured
  • EKSCTL installed (latest version)
  • kubectl installed (compatible with EKS version)
  • Service quotas verified and increased if needed

Domain and DNS

  • Domain registered and accessible
  • Route 53 hosted zone created (if using Route 53)
  • DNS propagation verified
  • SSL certificate planned (AWS Certificate Manager recommended)

Licensing and Access

  • Orion license obtained or trial arranged
  • Container registry access confirmed

Infrastructure Planning

  • Sizing requirements determined
  • Region and availability zones selected
  • Backup and recovery strategy planned

Operational Integration Planning

  • GitOps platform selected (ArgoCD required)
  • Existing monitoring and dashboard platforms identified

Support Resources

Important: Don't skip the prerequisites! Proper preparation significantly reduces deployment time and prevents common issues.

Disclaimer: All cost estimates and deployment times are based on current AWS pricing and may vary by region and usage patterns. Contact our sales team for precise pricing and customized cost analysis based on your specific requirements.