Introduction

Hey there! Ready to take this Kubernetes setup to the next level? 🚀 In Part 1, we got our base VM image up and running—nice work! Now, in Part 2, I am going to clone that image to set up a local server as a DNS server and NTP server. I was considering to incorporate the steps to setup Kubernetes master and worker nodes, but seems too much. Anyway, a real cluster is coming soon! 😎

Excited? Let’s dive in and make some magic happen. 🔥

Create `localserver` VM

This DNS server isn’t to replace CoreDNS in Kubernetes, which is used inside Kubernetes for service discovery. Instead, it’s a local DNS server for VMs to resolve hostnames within the private network. This ensures that all nodes (master and workers) can communicate using hostnames instead of IP addresses, making cluster management smoother. 🚀

Clone from Base Image Rocky 9

vmrun clone /Users/geekcoding101.com/Virtual\ Machines.localized/baseimage-rocky9.vmwarevm/baseimage-rocky9.vmx  /Users/geekcoding101.com/Virtual\ Machines.localized/localserver.vmwarevm/localserver.vmx full
sed -i '' 's/displayName = "Clone of baseimage-rocky9"/displayName = "localserver"/' "/Users/geekcoding101.com/Virtual Machines.localized/localserver.vmwarevm/localserver.vmx"
cat "/Users/geekcoding101.com/Virtual Machines.localized/localserver.vmwarevm/localserver.vmx" | grep disp

Above commands is to clone the base VM image (display name in VMFusion is Clone of baseimage-rocky9) as a new one, then update the display name of the new VM to localserver instead of Clone of baseimage-rocky9.

Now, you probably need to run a scan in VMware Fusion to see the newly added VM:

Customize the Local Server VM

First, stop the baseimage VM and start the localserver VM to avoid network conflict.

Now we can SSH as root into the localserver VM by using the IP172.16.211.3 of the base VM.

Remember the script /opt/share_tools/bin/configure_vm.yml we created in Ultimate Kubernetes Tutorial - Setting Up a Thriving Multi-Node Cluster on Mac: Part 1.

Let’s preapre the input file /opt/share_tools/init_data/localserver_vm_input.json:

{
  "hostname": "localserver",
  "ip": "172.16.211.100",
  "subnet": "24",
  "gateway": "172.16.211.2",
  "dns1": "8.8.8.8",
  "dns2": "8.8.4.4",
  "domain": "dev.geekcoding101local.com",
  "ansible_key_path": "~/.ssh/ansible_ed25519",
  "ssh_key_path": "~/.ssh/ssh_ed25519"
}

I would suggest now you use the VMFusion console to run the following command instead of in the SSH terminal, because it will change the IP and might interrupt the SSH connection results script failure:

ansible-playbook /opt/share_tools/bin/configure_vm.yml -e "input_file_path=/opt/share_tools/init_data/localserver_vm_input.json"

As it suggested in the input json file, the script will:

Update hostname to localserver
Configure the network interface defined in script to 172.16.211.100 (my case is ens160)
Generate SSH keys for both Ansible and normal SSH
Apply other necessary settings

Once done, you should be able to connect via SSH with the new IP address.

Setting Up DNS Server

Now that the localserver is up, let’s install and configure the DNS server.

dnf update -y
dnf install bind -y

Now let’s start update the BIND configuration.

First one is /etc/named.conf:

❯ cat /etc/named.conf
//
//
// Provided by Red Hat bind package to configure the ISC BIND named(8) DNS
// server as a caching only nameserver (as a localhost DNS resolver only).
//
// See /usr/share/doc/bind*/sample/ for example named configuration files.
//

options {
        listen-on port 53 { 127.0.0.1; 172.16.211.100; };
        listen-on-v6 port 53 { ::1; };
        directory     "/var/named";
        dump-file     "/var/named/data/cache_dump.db";
        statistics-file "/var/named/data/named_stats.txt";
        memstatistics-file "/var/named/data/named_mem_stats.txt";
        secroots-file    "/var/named/data/named.secroots";
        recursing-file    "/var/named/data/named.recursing";
        allow-query     { any; };
        forwarders {
          8.8.8.8;  # Google's DNS as a fallback
        };

        /*
         - If you are building an AUTHORITATIVE DNS server, do NOT enable recursion.
         - If you are building a RECURSIVE (caching) DNS server, you need to enable
           recursion.
         - If your recursive DNS server has a public IP address, you MUST enable access
           control to limit queries to your legitimate users. Failing to do so will
           cause your server to become part of large scale DNS amplification
           attacks. Implementing BCP38 within your network would greatly
           reduce such attack surface
        */
        recursion yes;

        dnssec-validation yes;

        managed-keys-directory "/var/named/dynamic";
        geoip-directory "/usr/share/GeoIP";

        pid-file "/run/named/named.pid";
        session-keyfile "/run/named/session.key";

        /* https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/CryptoPolicy */
        include "/etc/crypto-policies/back-ends/bind.config";
};

logging {
        channel default_debug {
                file "data/named.run";
                severity dynamic;
        };
};

zone "." IN {
    type hint;
    file "named.ca";
};
zone "dev.geekcoding101local.com" IN {
    type master;
    file "/var/named/dev.geekcoding101local.com.zone";
    allow-update { none; };
};
zone "211.16.172.in-addr.arpa" IN {
    type master;
    file "/var/named/211.16.172.in-addr.arpa.zone";
    allow-update { none; };
};

include "/etc/named.rfc1912.zones";
include "/etc/named.root.key";

Second file is DNS zone file /var/named/dev.geekcoding101local.com.zone:

❯ cat /var/named/dev.geekcoding101local.com.zone
$TTL 86400
@   IN  SOA ns1.dev.geekcoding.com. root.dev.geekcoding101local.com. (
            2024010103  ; Serial
            3600        ; Refresh
            1800        ; Retry
            1209600     ; Expire
            86400 )     ; Minimum TTL

@   IN  NS  localserver.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
localserver IN A 172.16.211.100  ; IP of localserver DNS

k8s-1 IN A 172.16.211.11
k8s-2 IN A 172.16.211.12
k8s-3 IN A 172.16.211.13
k8s-4 IN A 172.16.211.14
k8s-5 IN A 172.16.211.15

devbox IN A 172.16.211.99
; Local server entry
localserver IN A 172.16.211.100

Third file is /var/named/211.16.172.in-addr.arpa.zone:

❯ cat /var/named/211.16.172.in-addr.arpa.zone
$TTL 86400
@   IN  SOA ns1.dev.geekcoding.com. root.dev.geekcoding101local.com. (
            2024010103  ; Serial
            3600        ; Refresh
            1800        ; Retry
            1209600     ; Expire
            86400 )     ; Minimum TTL

@   IN  NS  localserver.dev.geekcoding101local.com.

; PTR Records
11  IN  PTR k8s-1.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
12  IN  PTR k8s-2.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
13  IN  PTR k8s-3.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
14  IN  PTR k8s-4.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
15  IN  PTR k8s-5.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
99  IN  PTR devbox.dev.geekcoding101local.com.
100 IN  PTR localserver.dev.geekcoding101local.com.

Let’s run a test on the files for syntax check:

named-checkzone dev.geekcoding101local.com /var/named/dev.geekcoding101local.com.zone
named-checkzone 211.16.172.in-addr.arpa /var/named/211.16.172.in-addr.arpa.zone

named-checkzone command pass on kubernetes cluster to test DNS server

Restart DNS Service:

systemctl restart named
systemctl status named

You might see Unable to fetch DNSKEY error in above, we can ignore, as we don’t need DNSKEY.

Let’s run a nslookup test:

DNS server nslookup test localserver in kubernetes environment

:::warning

Every time after modifying a DNS zone file, we need to increment the serial number.

The serial number is in the format YYYYMMDD##.

For example, if the current serial number is 2024010101, and you’re making a second change on the same day, update it to 2024010102.

:::

Setting Up NTP Server

To ensure time synchronization across all nodes just in case internet issue as we’re running all nodes on my laptop, let’s setup NTP server Chrony.

Chrony is an implementation of the Network Time Protocol (NTP). It is an alternative to ntpd, a reference implementation of NTP.

dnf install chrony -y

Modify the configuration, actually just one line change:

[root@localserver ~]# cat /etc/chrony.conf
...
allow 172.16.211.0/24
...

Start the NTP Service:

systemctl restart chronyd
systemctl status chronyd

Verify with:

❯ chronyc sources -v

  .-- Source mode  '^' = server, '=' = peer, '#' = local clock.
 / .- Source state '*' = current best, '+' = combined, '-' = not combined,
| /             'x' = may be in error, '~' = too variable, '?' = unusable.
||                                                 .- xxxx [ yyyy ] +/- zzzz
||      Reachability register (octal) -.           |  xxxx = adjusted offset,
||      Log2(Polling interval) --.      |          |  yyyy = measured offset,
||                                \     |          |  zzzz = estimated error.
||                                 |    |           \
MS Name/IP address         Stratum Poll Reach LastRx Last sample
===============================================================================
^? 65-100-46-164.dia.static>     1   6   377    16    -33ms[  -33ms] +/- 47ms
^? ntp3.radio-sunshine.org       2   6   377    15    -81ms[  -81ms] +/- 120ms
^? server.slakjd.com             3   6   377    16    -71ms[  -71ms] +/- 44ms
^? kjsl-fmt2-net.fmt2.kjsl.>     2   6   377    16    -65ms[  -65ms] +/- 8139us
^? localserver.dev.geekcodi>     0   6     0     - +0ns[   +0ns] +/- 0ns
[root@localserver ~]#

Wrapping Up

At this point, our localserver is now running DNS and NTP services 🚀

In Part 3, I will:

Configure a Kubernetes base image
Spin up the master node and 4 worker nodes with the Kubernetes base image
Setup the K8s Master Node
Join the worker nodes to the cluster

Stay tuned, and let’s keep this cluster rolling! 🚀🔥

:::successYou’re on a roll! Don’t stop now—check out the full series and level up your Kubernetes skills. Each post builds on the last, so make sure you haven’t missed anything! 👇

🚀 In Part 1, I laid out the networking plan, my goals for setting up Kubernetes, and how to prepare a base VM image for the cluster.

🚀 In Part 2, current post.

🚀 In Part 3, I finished the Kubernetes cluster setup with Flannel, got one Kubernetes master and 4 worker nodes that’s ready for real workloads.

🚀 In Part 4, I explored NodePort and ClusterIP,understood the key differences, use cases, and when to choose each for internal and external service access!🔥

🚀 In Part 5, explored how to use externalName and LoadBalancer and how to run load testing with tool hey.:::

# Ultimate Kubernetes Tutorial Part 2: DNS server and NTP server Configuration

Introduction

Create `localserver` VM

Clone from Base Image Rocky 9

Customize the Local Server VM

Setting Up DNS Server

Setting Up NTP Server

Wrapping Up

# Ultimate Kubernetes Tutorial Part 1: Setting Up a Thriving Multi-Node Cluster on Mac

# Ultimate Kubernetes Tutorial Part 3: A Streamlined Kubernetes cluster setup