Deploy Ubuntu OKE nodes using Oracle Cloud Console

Ubuntu images are available for OKE worker nodes, with support for a select number of suites and Kubernetes versions. For a list of supported OKE configurations, see our Ubuntu availability on OKE page.

Prerequisites

You’ll need:

Get Ubuntu image access

Attention

Ubuntu worker node images for OKE are currently in a Limited Availability (LA) release. To gain access to the images, reach out to your Oracle account or support teams to express interest in this LA.

Once access has been provided to your tenancy and region then you must add an additional Policy to your root compartment to permit the listing of these images.

Use the Show manual editor button while creating the policy and add:

Define tenancy oke as ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaa5vrtu4bjcqpjvbworiwffgccrgrbkum64mtn33yrccjrqpzuyara
Endorse any-user to read instance-images in tenancy oke

Note

The tenancy OCID listed above for the policy belongs to the OCI OKE Service, it is not owned by Canonical.

After access is enabled, Ubuntu OKE images will be available for selection when creating a cluster or adding a node pool. You can choose your preferred Ubuntu image during the setup process.

Create an OKE cluster using Oracle Cloud Console

To create an OKE cluster from the Oracle Cloud Console:

In the Oracle Cloud Console, search for Kubernetes Clusters (OKE), and then select Create cluster. You’ll see two options:

  • Quick create: Creates a new cluster and all required network resources automatically (VCN, gateways, subnets, node pool, etc.). It is recommended for new environments.

  • Custom create: Lets you use existing network resources and allows you to customize the setup. Choose this if you need to integrate with existing VCNs or have specific network requirements.

OKE Quick Create

On selecting Quick create which is used in this example, you’ll be prompted to enter the cluster details:

  • Name: the display name for your cluster

  • Compartment: the compartment where the cluster and resources will be created

  • Kubernetes version: the version of Kubernetes to deploy

  • Kubernetes API endpoint: choose public or private endpoint access for the Kubernetes API server

  • Node type: select managed or self-managed nodes.

  • Kubernetes worker nodes: choose whether to create public or private worker nodes

OKE cluster options overview

  • Shape and image: select the compute shape (OCPUs, memory) for your nodes. Then, to use Ubuntu, select Change image and choose your required image based on the architecture, Ubuntu suite, and Kubernetes version.

Select Ubuntu image

Warning

Pay attention to which image you select and ensure its architecture matches your chosen node shape (for example, AMD64 or ARM64).

  • Node count: Set the node count to zero and proceed.

After reviewing your configuration, select Create cluster to create the cluster.

Add nodes to an existing OKE cluster

Once your cluster is created, on the cluster details page, under Resources, select Node pools. You’ll see a list of node pools:

Node pool list

Select a pool (‘pool1’ in the above example), and change the node count to your desired value.

Under Show advanced options > Initialization script, include your cloud-init script, which could just be:

#cloud-config
runcmd:
    - oke bootstrap

On saving the changes, the node pool will update, and new nodes will be created and initialized using your cloud-init script:

Node pool updated

Further references

For more information about oci CLI and managing self-managed nodes on your cluster, refer to the Oracle Documentation: