Create a Cluster

Prerequisites

Before creating a Kubernetes cluster, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

A VPC network must already be created. If you do not have one, go to Cloud Networks > Virtual Private Cloud to create one. For setup instructions, refer to the VPC Private Network guide.
A subnet must be configured within the VPC network.
If you plan to use RDMA networking, ensure you select the appropriate availability zone: zone-a for IB RDMA, or zone-b for RoCE RDMA. Note that virtual machines do not support RDMA.
If you plan to attach shared file storage to the cluster, ensure a filesystem has been created in advance.

Configuration

Step 1: Cluster Configurations

Parameter	Description
Cluster Name	The name must be 1 to 63 characters in length, and can contain letters, digits, and hyphens (`-`). It must start with a letter or digit.
Region	Specifies the geographic location of the data center (e.g., `ap-southeast`, `us-west`, `us-east`). Impacts network latency — choose the region closest to your users. Cannot be modified after cluster creation.
RDMA	Determines the RDMA networking type based on availability zone. `zone-a` supports IB RDMA; `zone-b` supports RoCE RDMA. Virtual machines do not support RDMA.
Billing Method	Pay-As-You-Go: Use resources and pay hourly after creation. Subscription: Pay upfront to purchase and renew for months.
Kubernetes Version	The version of the Kubernetes control plane to deploy (e.g., `1.35.0`, `1.29.8-cks`, `1.29.8`).
VPC	Select an existing VPC network. The cluster nodes will be deployed within this VPC. If no VPC is available, click Create VPC to create one under Cloud Networks > Virtual Private Cloud.
Network Plugin	The CNI plugin used for pod networking within the cluster.
Container CIDR	IP address range assigned to pods within the cluster.
Service CIDR	IP address range assigned to Kubernetes services within the cluster.
Node OS	Operating system image installed on cluster nodes (e.g., `ubuntu-22.04`).
Node OS FsType	Filesystem type for node storage. Options: `ext4` or `xfs`.

Step 2: Node Configurations

Controlplane Configurations

The production cluster uses bare-metal servers to build the control plane, while the test cluster uses virtual machines.

Parameter	Description
Master Number	Number of control plane (master) nodes. Default is `3`.
Instance Type	Instance type for control plane nodes. Options: Bare Metal Instance or Virtual Machine Instance. Select three CPU nodes from the dropdown to create the cluster control plane.

Node Pool

A node pool allows you to create and manage a group of compute nodes with the same instance type, and quickly scale them out as needed.

Parameter	Description
NodePool Name	Name for the node pool. Default is `nodepool`. The hostname of each node is automatically derived from the pool name and node IP address. For example, a node with IP `10.10.10.1` in the `nodepool` pool is named `nodepool-10-10-10-1`.
Instance Type	Instance type for worker nodes. Select from the available Bare Metal or Virtual Machine instance types. See below for detailed specifications.
Node Quantity	The number of worker nodes to include in the node pool.
VPC	Select a VPC for the node pool. If no VPC is available, click Create VPC to create one under Cloud Networks > Virtual Private Cloud.
Install GPU Driver	Check this option to install the GPU driver on worker nodes. Only applicable when using GPU instance types.
GPU Driver Version	Available when Install GPU Driver is enabled. Select the GPU driver version to install.

Instance types and performance

product type	instance name	spec
CES(Bare Metal)	ces.g11-7.8xlarge	CPU：Intel 8358(2.6Ghz, 32 Core)* 2 MEM：2TB Disk：2960GB (raid 1) GPU：8NVIDIA A100-pcie-80G Network：25Gbps2RDMA: 2200Gbps
	ces.g20-3.8xlarge	CPU: Intel 8468(2.1Ghz, 48Core) * 2 MEM: 2T Disk: 960G 2 (raid 1) GPU: H100-nvlink-80G8 Network: 25Gbps2 RDMA: NDR 400Gbps 4
	ces.g21-3.8xlarge	CPU:Intel 8558P(48C 2.7GHz)2 MEM: 64G DDR532 DISK: SSD960G2（raid1） DISK：3.84T NVMe SSD 4 GPU: H200_nvlink-141G 8 NEWWORK: 25Gbps2RDMA: NDR 400Gbps * 8
	ces.c23-2	CPU:Intel 6430(2.1Ghz，32 Core) * 2 MEM: 64G DDR532 DISK: SSD960G2（raid1） Network: 25Gbps2RDMA: HDR 200Gbps 2
	ces.g14-2.8xlarge	CPU：Intel 8358（2.6Ghz, 32 Core）* 2 MEM：2TB Disk：2960GB (raid 1) GPU：NVIDIA A100-nvlink-80G 8 NetWork：25Gbps2RDMA: HDR 200Gbps 2
VIM Instance	ces.vc23-2.2xlarge	8 vCPU, 128G Memory, 200G Disk
	ces.vc23-2.4xlarge	16 CPU, 256G Memory, 200G Disk
	ces.vc23-2.8xlarge	32 CPU, 512G Memory, 200G Disk

Step 3: Addon Components

Select the optional add-on components to deploy alongside the cluster.

Component	Description
vmo	victoria-metrics-operator — Manages Victoria Metrics monitoring stack.
prometheus-monitoring-cks	Prometheus for Kubernetes monitoring.
kruise	kruise — Enhanced workload management for Kubernetes.
volcano	volcano — Batch scheduling system for high-performance workloads.
navix-nodegroup-controller	navix-nodegroup-controller — Manages node group resources.
training-operator	training-operator — Manages distributed machine learning training jobs.
argo-workflow	argo-workflow — Workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on Kubernetes.
rdma-device-plugin	RDMA device plugin for IB clusters.
nvidia-device-plugin	Exposes NVIDIA GPU resources to Kubernetes workloads.
scitix-label-manager	Manages node labels in a CKS cluster.

Step 4: FileStorage Configurations

Parameter	Description
Enable to mount filesystem automatically	Check this option to automatically mount a shared filesystem to all cluster nodes.
FileSystem	Available when auto-mount is enabled. Select the filesystem to mount.
Mount Path	Available when auto-mount is enabled. Specify the directory path where the filesystem will be mounted on each node (e.g., `/tmp`).

Step 5: Confirm Order

Review all configured settings before submitting. The confirmation page displays two sections: Configurations — Summary of cluster settings, including:

Field	Example
Cluster Name	`smchen-test`
Region	`us-east`
Kubernetes Version	`1.35.0`
VPC	`vpc-o30jjx2h`
Container CIDR	`172.16.0.0/16`
Service CIDR	`172.17.0.0/16`
Node OS	`ubuntu-22.04`
Node OS FsType	`xfs`
Enable to mount filesystem automatically	`Yes`
FileSystem	`xstor-10bd9db1`
Mount Path	`/tmp`

Nodes — Summary of node pricing, including:

Field	Description
Product	Node role (e.g., CES Instance - Controlplane, CES Instance - Worker)
Machine Type	Bare Metal or Virtual Machine
Configuration	Instance type and hardware specs
Quantity	Number of nodes
Billing Method	Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription
Subscription Duration	Duration for Subscription billing (None for Pay-As-You-Go)
Price	Estimated cost per hour

Procedure

Navigate to the Container Service > Kubernetes (CKS) management console.
On the cluster list page, click Create Kubernetes Cluster in the upper right corner.
Step 1 – Cluster Configurations: Configure the cluster name, region, Kubernetes version, VPC, network settings, and node OS. Then click Next: Node Configurations.
Step 2 – Node Configurations: Configure the control plane and worker node pool settings, including instance types, node quantity, and GPU driver options. Then click Next: Addon Components.
Step 3 – Addon Components: Select the optional add-on components to install on the cluster (e.g., monitoring, GPU plugins, workflow engines). Then click Next: FileStorage Configuration.
Step 4 – FileStorage Configuration: Optionally enable automatic filesystem mounting and configure the filesystem and mount path. Then click Next: Confirm Order.
Step 5 – Confirm Order: Review the cluster configuration summary and node pricing details. Once confirmed, click Create Cluster.

Expected result

Cluster provisioning typically takes several minutes. Monitor the cluster list for status updates. Creation is complete when the cluster status changes to Running.

Get Started

Instances

Clusters

Storage

Network

Monitoring

Alarms

Create a Cluster

Prerequisites

Configuration

Step 1: Cluster Configurations

Step 2: Node Configurations

Controlplane Configurations

Node Pool

Instance types and performance

Step 3: Addon Components

Step 4: FileStorage Configurations

Step 5: Confirm Order

Procedure

Expected result

​Prerequisites

​Configuration

​Step 1: Cluster Configurations

​Step 2: Node Configurations

​Controlplane Configurations

​Node Pool

​Instance types and performance

​Step 3: Addon Components

​Step 4: FileStorage Configurations

​Step 5: Confirm Order

​Procedure

​Expected result

Prerequisites

Configuration

Step 1: Cluster Configurations

Step 2: Node Configurations

Controlplane Configurations

Node Pool

Instance types and performance

Step 3: Addon Components

Step 4: FileStorage Configurations

Step 5: Confirm Order

Procedure

Expected result