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AWS Multi-Region PingFederate Cluster (Prerequisite)

In this example, we'll deploy 2 PingFederate clusters, each in a different Amazon Web Services (AWS) region. An AWS virtual private cloud (VPC) is assigned and dedicated to each cluster. Throughout this document, "VPC" is synonymous with "cluster".

Prerequisites

  • AWS CLI.

  • eksctl, the current version.

  • AWS account permissions to create clusters.

Configure the AWS CLI

If you've not already done so, configure the AWS CLI to use your profile and credentials:

  1. Assign your profile and supply your aws_access_key_id and aws_secret_access_key. Enter:

    aws configure --profile=<aws-profile>

    Then enter your aws_access_key_id and aws_secret_access_key.

  2. Open your ~/.aws/credentials file in a text editor and add your AWS role_arn. For example:

    “role_arn = arn:aws:iam::xxxxxxxx4146:role/GTE”

Create the Multi-Region Clusters

  1. Create the YAML files to configure the the clusters. You'll create the clusters in different AWS regions. We'll be using the ca-central-1 region and the us-west-2 region in this document.

    1. Configure the first cluster. For example, using the ca-central-1 region and the reserved CIDR 172.16.0.0:

      apiVersion: eksctl.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig

metadata:
name: pingfed-ca-central-1
region: ca-central-1
version: "1.17"

vpc:
cidr: 172.16.0.0/16

managedNodeGroups:
- name: us-west-2a-worker-nodes
   instanceType: t3a.2xlarge
   labels: {}
   tags: {}
   minSize: 1
   maxSize: 2
   desiredCapacity: 1
   volumeSize: 12
   privateNetworking: true
   ssh:
      publicKeyPath: ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
   iam:
      withAddonPolicies:
      imageBuilder: true
      autoScaler: true
      externalDNS: true
      certManager: true
      appMesh: true
      ebs: true
      fsx: true
      efs: true
      albIngress: true
      xRay: true
      cloudWatch: true
- name: us-west-2b-worker-nodes
instanceType: t3a.2xlarge
labels: {}
tags: {}
minSize: 1
maxSize: 2
desiredCapacity: 1
volumeSize: 12
privateNetworking: true
ssh:
   publicKeyPath: ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
iam:
   withAddonPolicies:
      imageBuilder: true
      autoScaler: true
      externalDNS: true
      certManager: true
      appMesh: true
      ebs: true
      fsx: true
      efs: true
      albIngress: true
      xRay: true
      cloudWatch: true

      Config Settings

      • For production purposes, select a VPC with a private IP.
      • The ssh entry is optional, allowing you to SSH in to your cluster.

    2. Configure the second cluster. For example, using the us-west-2 region and the reserved CIDR 10.0.0.0:

      apiVersion: eksctl.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig

metadata:
name: pingfed-us-west-2
region: us-west-2
version: "1.17"

vpc:
cidr: 10.0.0.0/16

managedNodeGroups:
- name: us-west-2a-worker-nodes
   instanceType: t3a.2xlarge
   labels: {}
   tags: {}
   minSize: 1
   maxSize: 2
   desiredCapacity: 1
   volumeSize: 12
   privateNetworking: true
   ssh:
      publicKeyPath: ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
   iam:
      withAddonPolicies:
      imageBuilder: true
      autoScaler: true
      externalDNS: true
      certManager: true
      appMesh: true
      ebs: true
      fsx: true
      efs: true
      albIngress: true
      xRay: true
      cloudWatch: true
- name: us-west-2b-worker-nodes
instanceType: t3a.2xlarge
labels: {}
tags: {}
minSize: 1
maxSize: 2
desiredCapacity: 1
volumeSize: 12
privateNetworking: true
ssh:
   publicKeyPath: ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
iam:
   withAddonPolicies:
      imageBuilder: true
      autoScaler: true
      externalDNS: true
      certManager: true
      appMesh: true
      ebs: true
      fsx: true
      efs: true
      albIngress: true
      xRay: true
      cloudWatch: true

      Config Settings

      • For production purposes, select a VPC with a private IP.
      • The ssh entry is optional, allowing you to SSH in to your cluster.

  2. Create the clusters using eksctl.

    1. Create the first cluster. For example:
    eksctl create cluster -f ca-central-1.yaml --profile <aws-profile>
    1. Create the second cluster. For example:
    eksctl create cluster -f us-west-2.yaml --profile <aws-profile>

  3. Log in to the AWS console, go to the VPC service, select Your VPCs (under Virtual Private Cloud), and note the VPC details for the clusters you've created.

    VPC IDs

    Retain the VpcId values for the ca-central-1 and us-west-2 VPCs. You'll use these in subsequent steps.

  4. Set up VPC peering between the two clusters. You'll create a peering connection from the cluster in the us-west-2 region to the cluster in the ca-central-1 region. You'll do this from the VPC Dashboard as in the prior step.

    1. In the top right of the page, select the Oregon (us-west-2) region.
    2. Select Peering Connections, and click Create Peering Connection.
    3. Assign a unique name for the peering connection (for example, us-west-2-to-ca-central-1).
    4. Under Select a local VPC to peer with, enter the VpcId value for the us-west-2 VPC.
    5. Under Select another VPC to peer with, select My account --> Another region --> Canada Central (ca-central-1).
    6. Under VPC (Accepter), enter the VpcId value for the ca-central-1 region.
    7. Click Create Peering Connection. When successful, a confirmation is displayed. Click OK to continue.
    8. In the top right of the page, change the region to Canada Central.

    9. Select Peering Connections.

      Connection Status

      Notice that the peering connection status for us-west-2 shows as Pending Acceptance.

    10. Select the ca-central-1 connection, click the Actions dropdown list, and select Accept Request. You'll be prompted to confirm.

      Connection Status

      The VPC peering connection status should now show as Active.

  5. Get the subnets information for each cluster node. Each cluster node uses a different subnet, so there'll be three subnets assigned to each VPC. The information displayed will contain the subnet ID for each subnet. You'll use the subnet IDs in the subsequent step to get the associated routing tables.

    1. In the top right of the page, change the region to Oregon.
    2. Go to the EC2 service, and select Instances. Apply a filter, if needed, to find your nodes for the cluster.
    3. Select each node, and record the Subnet ID of each. You'll use the subnet IDs in a subsequent step.
    4. In the top right of the page, change the region to Canada Central, and repeat the 2 previous steps to find and record the subnet IDs for this VPC.

  6. Get the routing table associated with the subnets for each VPC.

    1. Go to the VPC service. (You're still using the Canada Central region.)
    2. In the VPC Dashboard, select Subnets.
    3. For each subnet displayed, record the Routing Table value. You may have a single routing table for all of your subnets. You'll use the routing table ID or IDs in a subsequent step.
    4. In the top right of the page, change the region to Oregon, and repeat the 2 previous steps to find and record the routing table ID or IDs for this VPC.

  7. Modify the routing table or tables for each VPC to add a route to the other VPC using the peering connection you created.

    1. In the VPC Dashboard, select Route Tables. (You're still using the Oregon region.)
    2. Select the route table you recorded for the us-west-2 (Oregon) VPC, and click the Routes button. You should see 2 routes displayed.
    3. Click Edit Routes --> Add Route, and for Destination, enter the CIDR block for the ca-central-1 cluster (172.16.0.0/16).
    4. For Target, select the VPC peering connection you created in a prior step. Click Save Routes. A route for the ca-central-1 cluster directed to the peering connection is displayed.
    5. If more than one routing table is used for the us-west-2 VPC, repeat the previous steps for each routing table.
    6. In the top right of the page, change the region to Canada Central.
    7. Select the route table you recorded for the ca-central-1 (Canada Central) VPC, and click the Routes button. You should see 2 routes displayed.
    8. Click Edit Routes --> Add Route, and for Destination, enter the CIDR block for the us-west-2 cluster (10.0.0.0/16).
    9. For Target, select the VPC peering connection you created in a prior step. Click Save Routes. A route for the us-west-2 cluster directed to the peering connection is displayed.
    10. If more than one routing table is used for the ca-central-1 VPC, repeat the previous steps for each routing table.

  8. Update the Security Groups for each VPC. You'll get the Security Group IDs for each VPC, then add inbound and outbound rules for both the us-west-2 VPC, and the ca-central-1 VPC.

    1. In the VPC Dashboard, select Security Groups. (You're still using the Canada Central region.)
    2. Apply a filter to find the security groups for the ca-central-1 cluster, and select the security group with “-nodegroup” in the name. This is the security group used for the firewall settings for all the worker nodes in the ca-central-1 cluster.
    3. Click Inbound Rules --> Add Rule.

    4. Select these values for the rule:

      Name Value
      Type Custom TCP Rule
      Protocol TCP
      Port Range 7600-7700
      Source Custom. Enter the CIDR block for the us-west-2 (10.0.0.0/16) cluster.

    5. Click Save Rules to save the inbound security group rule for the ca-central-1 cluster.

    6. Click Outbound Rules --> Add Rule.

    7. Select these values for the rule:

      Name Value
      Type Custom TCP Rule
      Protocol TCP
      Port Range 7600-7700
      Source Custom. Enter the CIDR block for the us-west-2 (10.0.0.0/16) cluster.

    8. Click Save Rules to save the outbound security group rule for the ca-central-1 cluster.

    9. In the top right of the page, change the region to Oregon. You'll now repeat the previous steps to add inbound and outbound rules for the us-west-2 cluster.
    10. Apply a filter to find the security groups for the us-west-2 cluster, and select the security group with “-nodegroup” in the name. This is the security group used for the firewall settings for all the worker nodes in the us-west-2 cluster.
    11. Click Inbound Rules --> Add Rule.

    12. Select these values for the rule:

      Name Value
      Type Custom TCP Rule
      Protocol TCP
      Port Range 7600-7700
      Source Custom. Enter the CIDR block for the ca-central-1 (172.16.0.0/16) cluster.

    13. Click Save Rules to save the inbound security group rule for the us-west-2 cluster.

    14. Click Outbound Rules --> Add Rule.

    15. Select these values for the rule:

      Name Value
      Type Custom TCP Rule
      Protocol TCP
      Port Range 7600-7700
      Source Custom. Enter the CIDR block for the ca-central-1 (172.16.0.0/16) cluster.

    16. Click Save Rules to save the outbound security group rule for the us-west-2 cluster.