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Installation and setup

Constellation runs entirely in your cloud environment and can be controlled via a dedicated command-line interface (CLI) or a Terraform provider.

Prerequisites​

Make sure the following requirements are met:

  • Your machine is running Linux, macOS, or Windows
  • You have admin rights on your machine
  • kubectl is installed
  • Your CSP is Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or STACKIT

Install the Constellation CLI​

tip

If you prefer to use Terraform, you can alternatively use the Terraform provider to manage the cluster's lifecycle.

The CLI executable is available at GitHub. Install it with the following commands:

  1. Download the CLI:
curl -LO https://github.com/edgelesssys/constellation/releases/latest/download/constellation-linux-amd64

  1. Verify the signature (optional)

  2. Install the CLI to your PATH:

sudo install constellation-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/constellation
tip

The CLI supports autocompletion for various shells. To set it up, run constellation completion and follow the given steps.

Set up cloud credentials​

Constellation makes authenticated calls to the CSP API. Therefore, you need to set up Constellation with the credentials for your CSP.

tip

If you don't have a cloud subscription, you can also set up a local Constellation cluster using virtualization for testing.

Required permissions​

To set up a Constellation cluster, you need to perform two tasks that require permissions: create the infrastructure and create roles for cluster nodes. Both of these actions can be performed by different users, e.g., an administrator to create roles and a DevOps engineer to create the infrastructure.

To create the IAM configuration for Constellation, you need the following permissions:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes",
                "iam:AddRoleToInstanceProfile",
                "iam:AttachRolePolicy",
                "iam:CreateInstanceProfile",
                "iam:CreatePolicy",
                "iam:CreateRole",
                "iam:DeleteInstanceProfile",
                "iam:DeletePolicy",
                "iam:DeletePolicyVersion",
                "iam:DeleteRole",
                "iam:DetachRolePolicy",
                "iam:GetInstanceProfile",
                "iam:GetPolicy",
                "iam:GetPolicyVersion",
                "iam:GetRole",
                "iam:ListAttachedRolePolicies",
                "iam:ListInstanceProfilesForRole",
                "iam:ListPolicyVersions",
                "iam:ListRolePolicies",
                "iam:PassRole",
                "iam:RemoveRoleFromInstanceProfile",
                "sts:GetCallerIdentity"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

The built-in AdministratorAccess policy is a superset of these permissions.

To create a Constellation cluster, see the permissions of main.tf.

The built-in PowerUserAccess policy is a superset of these permissions.

Follow Amazon's guide on understanding and managing policies.

Authentication​

You need to authenticate with your CSP. The following lists the required steps for testing and production environments.

note

The steps for a testing environment are simpler. However, they may expose secrets to the CSP. If in doubt, follow the production steps.

Testing

You can use the AWS CloudShell. Make sure you are authorized to use it.

Production

Use the latest version of the AWS CLI on a trusted machine:

aws configure

Options and first steps are described in the AWS CLI documentation.

Next steps​

You are now ready to deploy your first confidential Kubernetes cluster and application.