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Version: 8.2

Amazon EKS

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) is a managed container service to run and scale Kubernetes applications in the cloud or on-premises.

Camunda 8 Self-Managed can be deployed on EKS like any Kubernetes cluster using Helm charts. However, there are a few pitfalls to avoid as described below.

EKS cluster specification​

Generally speaking, the EKS cluster specification depends on your needs and workloads. Here is a recommended start to run Camunda 8:

  • Instance type: m6i.xlarge (4 vCPUs, 16 GiB Memory)
  • Number of nodes: 4
  • Volume type: SSD gp3
caution

To use SSD gp3 volume type on an EKS cluster, you need to install Amazon EBS CSI driver. If you are on 1.22 or an earlier cluster be sure to install this driver to your cluster before updating the cluster to 1.23 to avoid potential workload interruptions.

The next step is to create a new StorageClass that uses the Amazon EBS gp3 volume type. Then, use it cluster-wide as a default StorageClass or set it in your values file under zeebe.pvcStorageClassName.

If you encounter issues with EBS CSI Driver, follow the instructions in the helm-profiles repository maintained by the Camunda Consulting Team.

Load Balancer set up​

AWS offers different types of Load Balancers (LB). Those namely being:

  • Classic Load Balancer (CLB) - previous generation, unsupported by Camunda 8
  • Network Load Balancer (NLB)
  • Application Load Balancer (ALB)

Typically the NLB and ALB are used in production setups and the ones we're focusing on as CLB are not endorsed anymore and counted as previous generation LB.

The Zeebe Gateway requires gRPC to work, which in itself requires http2 to be used. Additionally, it's recommended to secure the endpoint with a TLS certificate.

Here the choice of LB is important as not every setup will work with every TLS termination. Typically, the NLB has to terminate the TLS within the ingress, while the ALB can terminate TLS within the LB, allowing the usage of the AWS Certificate Manager (ACM).

The NLB will not work with the AWS Certificate Manager, as the ACM does not allow exporting the private key required to terminate the TLS within the ingress.

The Camunda 8 Helm chart primarily focuses on the ingress-nginx controller due to the usage of controller specific annotations. Using a different ingress controller requires supplying the necessary equivalent annotation options, ensuring http2 is enabled, and gRPC is used for the Zeebe Gateway.

Application Load Balancer (ALB)​

To conclude for using the Application Load Balancer (ALB) to terminate TLS in the Load Balancer, the following is required:

  • Deploy the AWS Load Balancer Controller.
  • A certificate set up in the AWS Certificate Manager (ACM).
  • Follow the example by AWS to configure the ingress for the Zeebe Gateway. To summarize, add the following annotations to the Zeebe Gateway ingress:
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect: '443'
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol-version: GRPC
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/listen-ports: '[{"HTTP": 80}, {"HTTPS":443}]'
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/scheme: internet-facing
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/target-type: ip
    • This does not require the configuration of the TLS on the ingress
    • If the AWS Load Balancer Controller is correctly set up, it automatically pulls the correct certificate from ACM based on the host name.

Network Load Balancer (NLB)​

Alternatively, one can use a Network Load Balancer (NLB) to terminate TLS within the ingress. This requires the following:

  • An ingress controller, preferably ingress-nginx deployed.
    • The ingress controller must support gRPC and http2.
  • A certificate, preferably created with Cert-Manager.
  • TLS configured on the ingress object.

Pitfalls to avoid​

For general deployment pitfalls, visit the deployment troubleshooting guide.

Volume performance​

To have proper performance in Camunda 8, the persistent volumes attached to Zeebe should have around 1,000-3,000 IOPS. The gp3 volumes deliver a consistent baseline IOPS performance of 3,000 IOPS. The gp2 volumes could also be used, but gp2 volume type performance varies based on volume size.

It's recommended to use gp3 volumes, but if only gp2 type is available, persistent volumes should use gp2 volumes of at least 334 GB.