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Cluster bootstrap

The bootstrap process installs Flux components on a cluster and creates the relevant files within the repository for managing clusters object using GitOps with Flux.

Before bootstrapping a cluster, Flux allows us to run pre-bootstrap checks to verify that everything is set up correctly. Run the following command for Flux CLI to perform the checks:

~$flux check --pre
> checking prerequisites
...
> prerequisites checks passed


Now let's bootstrap Flux on our EKS cluster using the CodeCommit repository:


~$flux bootstrap git \
  --url=ssh://${GITOPS_IAM_SSH_KEY_ID}@git-codecommit.${AWS_REGION}.amazonaws.com/v1/repos/${EKS_CLUSTER_NAME}-gitops \
  --branch=main \
  --private-key-file=${HOME}/.ssh/gitops_ssh.pem \
  --components-extra=image-reflector-controller,image-automation-controller \
  --network-policy=false \
  --silent


Let's break down the command above:


    

  • First we tell Flux which Git repository to use to store its state
    • 

  • After that, we're passing the Git branch that we want this instance of Flux to use, since some patterns involve multiple branches in the same Git repository
    • 

  • We use the --components-extra parameter to install additional toolkit components that we'll use in the Continuous Integration section
    • 

  • Finally we'll be using SSH for Flux to connect and authenticate using the SSH key at /home/ec2-user/gitops_ssh.pem
    • 



Now, let's verify that the bootstrap process completed successfully by running the following command:


~$flux get kustomization
NAME            REVISION        SUSPENDED       READY   MESSAGE
flux-system     main/6e6ae1d    False           True    Applied revision: main/6e6ae1d


That shows that Flux created the basic kustomization, and that it's in sync with the cluster.