istio.io/content/docs/setup/kubernetes/platform-setup/azure/index.md

title	description	weight	skip_seealso	keywords
Azure	Instructions to setup an Azure cluster for Istio.	6	true	platform-setup azure

Follow these instructions to prepare an Azure cluster for Istio.

You can deploy a Kubernetes cluster to Azure via AKS or ACS-Engine which fully supports Istio.

AKS

You can create an AKS cluster via the az cli or the Azure portal.

For the az cli option, complete az login authentication OR use cloud shell, then run the following commands below.

1. Determine the desired region name which supports AKS

   {{< text bash >}} $ az provider list --query "[?namespace=='Microsoft.ContainerService'].resourceTypes[] | [?resourceType=='managedClusters'].locations[]" -o tsv {{< /text >}}

2. Verify the supported Kubernetes versions for the desired region

   Replace my location using the desired region value from the above step, and then execute:

   {{< text bash >}} $ az aks get-versions --location "my location" --query "orchestrators[].orchestratorVersion" {{< /text >}}

   Ensure 1.10.5 is listed or choose a different value greater than or equal to 1.9.6.

3. Create the resource group and deploy the AKS cluster

   Replace myResourceGroup and myAKSCluster with desired names, my location using the value from step 1, 1.10.5 if not supported in the region, and then execute:

   {{< text bash >}} $ az group create --name myResourceGroup --location "my location" $ az aks create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myAKSCluster --node-count 3 --kubernetes-version 1.10.5 --generate-ssh-keys {{< /text >}}

4. Get the AKS kubeconfig credentials

   Replace myResourceGroup and myAKSCluster with the names from the previous step and execute:

   {{< text bash >}} $ az aks get-credentials --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myAKSCluster {{< /text >}}

ACS-Engine

1. Follow the instructions to get and install the acs-engine binary.

2. Download the acs-engine API model definition that supports deploying Istio:

   {{< text bash >}} $ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/acs-engine/master/examples/service-mesh/istio.json {{< /text >}}

   Note: It is possible to use other api model definitions which will work with Istio. The MutatingAdmissionWebhook and ValidatingAdmissionWebhook admission control flags and RBAC are enabled by default on 1.9 or later clusters. See acs-engine api model default values for further information.

3. Deploy your cluster using the istio.json template. You can find references to the parameters in the official docs.

   Parameter	Expected value
   subscription_id	Azure Subscription Id
   dns_prefix	Cluster DNS Prefix
   location	Cluster Location

   {{< text bash >}} $ acs-engine deploy --subscription-id <subscription_id>
   --dns-prefix <dns_prefix> --location --auto-suffix
   --api-model istio.json {{< /text >}}

   After a few minutes, you can find your cluster on your Azure subscription in a resource group called <dns_prefix>-<id>. Assuming dns_prefix has the value myclustername, a valid resource group with a unique cluster ID is mycluster-5adfba82. The acs-engine generates your kubeconfig file in the _output folder.

4. Use the <dns_prefix>-<id> cluster ID, to copy your kubeconfig to your machine from the _output folder:

   {{< text bash >}} $ cp _output/<dns_prefix>-/kubeconfig/kubeconfig..json
   ~/.kube/config {{< /text >}}

   For example:

   {{< text bash >}} $ cp _output/mycluster-5adfba82/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.westus2.json
   ~/.kube/config {{< /text >}}