System Requirements¶

This guide will walk you through the necessary steps to prepare your Kubernetes cluster for a production-ready Orion environment. Proper cluster preparation ensures optimal performance and reliability.

Prerequisites¶

Hardware Requirements¶

The following table outlines the minimum hardware requirements for a standard Orion installation:

Server Role	Count	CPU	RAM	Purpose
`Support`	2	4 Core	16GB	Runs core services required by Orion
`Workstation`	1	4 Core	16GB	Handles workstation tasks
`Headless`	1	4 Core	16GB	Processes headless workloads

Note: These are minimum requirements. For production environments or larger workloads, we recommend scaling up resources accordingly.

Kubernetes Requirements¶

Component	Requirement	Notes
Kubernetes Version	1.27+	Earlier versions may not be fully supported
Recommended Distro	K3s	Other distributions should work but may require additional configuration

Note: While we use K3s internally, Orion is designed to be compatible with most Kubernetes distributions.

Required Services¶

The following services are needed for Orion to function properly:

Service	Required	Cloud Recommended	Purpose
Ingress Controller	Yes	Yes	We recommend the helm install, not the bare metal
ArgoCD	Yes	Yes	Handles GitOps deployments
External DNS	No	Yes	Automates DNS record management
Cluster Autoscaler	No	Yes	Automatically adjusts cluster size
Cluster Manager	No	Yes	Provides a UI for cluster management

Ingress Controller Options¶

Ingress Controller	Tested	Recommended
NGINX Ingress Controller	Yes	Yes
Traefik Ingress Controller	Yes	No

While both controllers work with Orion, we recommend NGINX for its simplicity and reliable performance with our stack. Orion uses standard Kubernetes objects for maximum compatibility.

Server Role Configuration¶

Juno products deploy components to servers based on assigned roles. These roles are implemented through Kubernetes labels and taints.

Core Roles¶

Role	Label	Purpose
`Support`	`juno-innovations.com/service: true`	Runs infrastructure services (databases, message queues, etc.)
`Workstation`	`juno-innovations.com/workstation: true`	Runs interactive workstation environments
`Headless`	`juno-innovations.com/headless: true`	Processes background and rendering workloads

Servers can have multiple roles if needed. For example, in smaller deployments, a server might handle both workstation and headless workloads.

Node Configuration¶

Cloud Provider Configuration¶

For cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure), refer to your provider's documentation for implementing node groups with the appropriate labels and taints:

On-Premises Configuration¶

Follow these steps to label and taint your on-premises Kubernetes nodes:

1. Labeling Nodes¶

Apply the appropriate labels to designate node roles:

# Label support nodes
kubectl label nodes <node-name> juno-innovations.com/service=true

# Label workstation nodes
kubectl label nodes <node-name> juno-innovations.com/workstation=true

# Label headless nodes
kubectl label nodes <node-name> juno-innovations.com/headless=true

2. Tainting Nodes¶

Tainting is only needed if you are doing cloud deployments or if you want to isolate workloads between local on-prem nodes..

Apply taints to reserve nodes for specific workloads:

# Taint workstation nodes
kubectl taint nodes <node-name> juno-innovations.com/workstation=true:NoSchedule

# Taint headless nodes
kubectl taint nodes <node-name> juno-innovations.com/headless=true:NoSchedule

Note: Support nodes typically do not need taints as they should be able to run general workloads.

Verifying Your Configuration¶

To verify that your nodes are correctly labeled and tainted:

# List all nodes with their labels
kubectl get nodes --show-labels | grep juno

# Check for taints on a specific node
kubectl describe node <node-name> | grep Taints

Next Steps¶

Once your cluster is properly configured, you can proceed with setting up your hosts.

Troubleshooting¶

If you encounter issues during cluster preparation:

Ensure all nodes meet the minimum hardware requirements
Verify that Kubernetes version is 1.27 or newer
Check that all required services are properly installed
Confirm node labels and taints are correctly applied

For further assistance, contact Juno Support.