docs/content/master/getting-started/install-configure.md

title	weight
Install & Configure	2

Choosing Your Crossplane Distribution

Users looking to use Crossplane for the first time have two options available to them today. The first way is to use the version of Crossplane which is maintained and released by the community and found on the [Crossplane GitHub].

The second option is to use a vendor supported Crossplane distribution. These distributions are [certified by the CNCF] to be conformant with Crossplane, but may include additional features or tooling around it that makes it easier to use in production environments.

{{% tabs "Crossplane Distros" %}}

{{% tab "Crossplane (upstream)" %}}

Start with Upstream Crossplane

Installing Crossplane into an existing Kubernetes cluster will require a bit more setup, but can provide more flexibility for users who need it.

Get a Kubernetes Cluster

{{% tabs "Kubernetes Clusters" %}}

{{% tab "macOS via Homebrew" %}}

For macOS via Homebrew use the following:

brew upgrade
brew install kind
brew install kubectl
brew install helm
kind create cluster --image kindest/node:v1.23.0 --wait 5m

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "macOS / Linux" %}}

For macOS / Linux use the following:

• Kubernetes cluster
• Kind
• Minikube, minimum version v0.28+
• etc.
• Helm, minimum version v3.0.0+.

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "Windows" %}} For Windows use the following:

• Kubernetes cluster
• Kind
• Minikube, minimum version v0.28+
• etc.
• Helm, minimum version v3.0.0+.

{{% /tab %}}

{{% /tabs %}}

Install Crossplane

{{% tabs "install with helm" %}}

{{% tab "Helm 3 (stable)" %}} Use Helm 3 to install the latest official stable release of Crossplane, suitable for community use and testing:

kubectl create namespace crossplane-system
helm repo add crossplane-stable https://charts.crossplane.io/stable
helm repo update

helm install crossplane --namespace crossplane-system crossplane-stable/crossplane

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "Helm 3 (latest)" %}}

Use Helm 3 to install the latest pre-release version of Crossplane:

kubectl create namespace crossplane-system

helm repo add crossplane-master https://charts.crossplane.io/master/
helm repo update
helm search repo crossplane-master --devel

helm install crossplane --namespace crossplane-system crossplane-master/crossplane \
  --devel --version <version>

For example:

helm install crossplane --namespace crossplane-system crossplane-master/crossplane \
  --version 0.11.0-rc.100.gbc5d311 --devel

{{% /tab %}}

{{% /tabs %}}

Check Crossplane Status

helm list -n crossplane-system

kubectl get all -n crossplane-system

Install Crossplane CLI

The Crossplane CLI extends kubectl with functionality to build, push, and install [Crossplane packages]({{<ref "../concepts/packages" >}}):

{{% tabs "crossplane CLI" %}}

{{% tab "Stable" %}}

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crossplane/crossplane/master/install.sh | sh

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "Latest" %}}

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crossplane/crossplane/master/install.sh | XP_CHANNEL=master sh

You may also specify XP_VERSION for download if you would like to select a specific version from the given release channel. If a version is not specified the latest version from the release channel will be used.

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crossplane/crossplane/master/install.sh | XP_CHANNEL=master XP_VERSION=v1.0.0-rc.0.130.g94f34fd3 sh

{{% /tab %}}

{{% /tabs %}}

Select a Getting Started Configuration

Crossplane goes beyond simply modelling infrastructure primitives as custom resources - it enables you to define new custom resources with schemas of your choosing. We call these "composite resources" (XRs). Composite resources compose managed resources -- Kubernetes custom resources that offer a high fidelity representation of an infrastructure primitive, like an SQL instance or a firewall rule.

We use two special Crossplane resources to define and configure these new custom resources:

• A CompositeResourceDefinition (XRD) defines a new kind of composite resource, including its schema. An XRD may optionally offer a claim (XRC).
• A Composition specifies which resources a composite resource will be composed of, and how they should be configured. You can create multiple Composition options for each composite resource.

XRDs and Compositions may be packaged and installed as a configuration. A configuration is a [package]({{<ref "../concepts/packages" >}}) of composition configuration that can easily be installed to Crossplane by creating a declarative Configuration resource, or by using kubectl crossplane install configuration.

In the examples below we will install a configuration that defines a new XPostgreSQLInstance XR and PostgreSQLInstance XRC that takes a single storageGB parameter, and creates a connection Secret with keys for username, password, and endpoint. A Configuration exists for each provider that can satisfy a PostgreSQLInstance. Let's get started!

{{% tabs "getting started" %}}

{{% tab "AWS (Default VPC)" %}}

Install Configuration Package

If you prefer to see the contents of this configuration package and how it is constructed prior to install, skip ahead to the [create a configuration]({{<ref "create-configuration" >}}) section.

kubectl crossplane install configuration registry.upbound.io/xp/getting-started-with-aws:latest

Wait until all packages become healthy:

watch kubectl get pkg

Get AWS Account Keyfile

Using an AWS account with permissions to manage RDS databases:

AWS_PROFILE=default && echo -e "[default]\naws_access_key_id = $(aws configure get aws_access_key_id --profile $AWS_PROFILE)\naws_secret_access_key = $(aws configure get aws_secret_access_key --profile $AWS_PROFILE)" > creds.conf

Create a Provider Secret

kubectl create secret generic aws-creds -n crossplane-system --from-file=creds=./creds.conf

Configure the Provider

We will create the following ProviderConfig object to configure credentials for AWS Provider:

apiVersion: aws.crossplane.io/v1beta1
kind: ProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  credentials:
    source: Secret
    secretRef:
      namespace: crossplane-system
      name: aws-creds
      key: creds

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crossplane/crossplane/master/docs/snippets/configure/aws/providerconfig.yaml

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "AWS (New VPC)" %}}

Install Configuration Package

If you prefer to see the contents of this configuration package and how it is constructed prior to install, skip ahead to the [create a configuration]({{<ref "create-configuration" >}}) section.

kubectl crossplane install configuration registry.upbound.io/xp/getting-started-with-aws-with-vpc:latest

Wait until all packages become healthy:

watch kubectl get pkg

Get AWS Account Keyfile

Using an AWS account with permissions to manage RDS databases:

AWS_PROFILE=default && echo -e "[default]\naws_access_key_id = $(aws configure get aws_access_key_id --profile $AWS_PROFILE)\naws_secret_access_key = $(aws configure get aws_secret_access_key --profile $AWS_PROFILE)" > creds.conf

Create a Provider Secret

kubectl create secret generic aws-creds -n crossplane-system --from-file=creds=./creds.conf

Configure the Provider

We will create the following ProviderConfig object to configure credentials for AWS Provider:

apiVersion: aws.crossplane.io/v1beta1
kind: ProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  credentials:
    source: Secret
    secretRef:
      namespace: crossplane-system
      name: aws-creds
      key: creds

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crossplane/crossplane/master/docs/snippets/configure/aws/providerconfig.yaml

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "GCP" %}}

Install Configuration Package

If you prefer to see the contents of this configuration package and how it is constructed prior to install, skip ahead to the [create a configuration]({{<ref "create-configuration" >}}) section.

kubectl crossplane install configuration registry.upbound.io/xp/getting-started-with-gcp:latest

Wait until all packages become healthy:

watch kubectl get pkg

Get GCP Account Keyfile

# replace this with your own gcp project id and the name of the service account
# that will be created.
PROJECT_ID=my-project
NEW_SA_NAME=test-service-account-name

# create service account
SA="${NEW_SA_NAME}@${PROJECT_ID}.iam.gserviceaccount.com"
gcloud iam service-accounts create $NEW_SA_NAME --project $PROJECT_ID

# enable cloud API
SERVICE="sqladmin.googleapis.com"
gcloud services enable $SERVICE --project $PROJECT_ID

# grant access to cloud API
ROLE="roles/cloudsql.admin"
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding --role="$ROLE" $PROJECT_ID --member "serviceAccount:$SA"

# create service account keyfile
gcloud iam service-accounts keys create creds.json --project $PROJECT_ID --iam-account $SA

Create a Provider Secret

kubectl create secret generic gcp-creds -n crossplane-system --from-file=creds=./creds.json

Configure the Provider

We will create the following ProviderConfig object to configure credentials for GCP Provider:

# replace this with your own gcp project id
PROJECT_ID=my-project
echo "apiVersion: gcp.crossplane.io/v1beta1
kind: ProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  projectID: ${PROJECT_ID}
  credentials:
    source: Secret
    secretRef:
      namespace: crossplane-system
      name: gcp-creds
      key: creds" | kubectl apply -f -

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "Azure" %}}

Install Configuration Package

If you prefer to see the contents of this configuration package and how it is constructed prior to install, skip ahead to the [create a configuration]({{<ref "create-configuration" >}}) section.

kubectl crossplane install configuration registry.upbound.io/xp/getting-started-with-azure:latest

Wait until all packages become healthy:

watch kubectl get pkg

Get Azure Principal Keyfile

# create service principal with Owner role
az ad sp create-for-rbac --role Contributor --scopes /subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx > "creds.json"

Create a Provider Secret

kubectl create secret generic azure-creds -n crossplane-system --from-file=creds=./creds.json

Configure the Provider

We will create the following ProviderConfig object to configure credentials for Azure Provider:

apiVersion: azure.crossplane.io/v1beta1
kind: ProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  credentials:
    source: Secret
    secretRef:
      namespace: crossplane-system
      name: azure-creds
      key: creds

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crossplane/crossplane/master/docs/snippets/configure/azure/providerconfig.yaml

{{% /tab %}}

{{% /tabs %}}

Next Steps

Now that you have configured Crossplane with support for PostgreSQLInstance, you can [provision infrastructure]({{<ref "provision-infrastructure" >}}).

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab "Downstream Distribution" %}}

Start with a Downstream Distribution

Upbound, the founders of Crossplane, maintains a free and open source downstream distribution of Crossplane which makes getting started with Crossplane easy. Universal Crossplane, or UXP for short, connects to Upbound's hosted management console and Registry to make it easier to develop, debug, and manage Provider and Configuration packages.

Get started with Universal Crossplane on the Upbound Documentation site.

Want see another hosted Crossplane service listed? Please reach out on Slack and our community will highlight it here!

{{% /tab %}}

{{% /tabs %}}

More Info

• See [Install] and [Configure] docs for installing alternate versions and more detailed instructions.

• See [Uninstall] docs for cleaning up resources, packages, and Crossplane itself.

• See [Providers] for installing and using different providers beyond AWS, GCP and Azure mentionded in this guide.

[Install]: {{<ref "../reference/install" >}} [Configure]: {{<ref "../reference/configure" >}} [Uninstall]: {{<ref "../reference/uninstall" >}} [Providers]: {{<ref "../concepts/providers" >}} [certified by the CNCF]: https://github.com/cncf/crossplane-conformance [Crossplane GitHub]: https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane