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Changing the security update policy on an OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes cluster

Stephanie R.
Updated

Learn how to change the configuration of the security update policy for your cluster.

The OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes service provides Kubernetes clusters without the hassle of installing or operating them. At OVHcloud, we like to provide you with the best products and services. For us, security is important. That’s why, by default, we apply security updates on your Kubernetes clusters.

Requirements

 

Instructions

Configure security update policy through the OVHcloud Control Panel

From the OVHcloud Control Panel:

  1. Select Public Cloud from the top navigation bar.
  2. Choose your project.
  3. Click Managed Kubernetes Service in the left-hand menu.
  4. Click the more options ... button to the right of your cluster, and choose Manage cluster.

PaaS_MKS_guides_updatePolicy01**.png

From the Management panel, click on Change security policy.

PaaS_MKS_guides_updatePolicy02**.png

A pop-up displays all the options you can have: Maximum security, Minimum unavailability, and Do not update.

  • Maximum security. Apply (’patch version’) security updates to my Kubernetes service to guarantee service security and stability. The update may result in your nodes being unavailable for a few minutes while we perform the rolling update.
  • Minimum unavailability. Apply (’patch version’) security updates to my Kubernetes service to guarantee service security and stability. If we cannot avoid downtime while performing a rolling update on your nodes, we will report this to you. We advise sizing your cluster to ensure that it can be updated at any time.
  • Do not update. We do not recommend this choice. OVHcloud reserves the right to update Kubernetes components or your nodes on an exceptional basis, in critical cases that limit the security of our infrastructure.

The security policy Maximum security is configured by default. Even though we recommend that you keep this setting, you can choose the security policy that is convenient for you.

Choose an option and click Confirm.

PaaS_MKS_guides_updatePolicy03*.png

 

Configure security update policy through Terraform

Since version 0.20+ of our OVHcloud Terraform provider, you can configure the security update policy at cluster creation and update also through Terraform.

 

Getting your cluster/API tokens information

The “OVHprovider” needs to be configured with a set of credentials:

  • an application_key
  • an application_secret
  • a consumer_key

Why?

Behind the scenes, the “OVHcloud Terraform provider” is making requests to OVHcloud APIs.

To retrieve this information, please follow our First Steps with the OVHcloud APIs tutorial.

Specifically, you have to generate these credentials via the OVHcloud token generation page with the following rights:

PaaS_MKS_guides_updatePolicy04.png

When you have successfully generated your OVHcloud tokens, please save them as you will have to use them very soon.

The last information we need is the service_name: it is the ID of your Public Cloud project.

How to get it?

In the Public Cloud section, you can retrieve your service name ID thanks to the Copy to clipboard button.

PaaS_MKS_guides_updatePolicy05*.png

You will also use this information in the Terraform resources definition files.

 

Terraform instructions

First, create a provider.tf file with the minimum version, US endpoint (“ovh-us”), and the keys previously retrieved in this guide.

Terraform 0.13 and later:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    ovh = {
      source  = "ovh/ovh"
    }
  }
}

provider "ovh" {
  endpoint           = "ovh-us"
  application_key    = "<your_access_key>"
  application_secret = "<your_application_secret>"
  consumer_key       = "<your_consumer_key>"
}

Terraform 0.12 and earlier:

# Configure the OVHcloud Provider
provider "ovh" {
  endpoint           = "ovh-us"
  application_key    = "<your_access_key>"
  application_secret = "<your_application_secret>"
  consumer_key       = "<your_consumer_key>"
}

Alternatively the secret keys can be retrieved from your environment.

  • OVH_ENDPOINT
  • OVH_APPLICATION_KEY
  • OVH_APPLICATION_SECRET
  • OVH_CONSUMER_KEY

This second method (or a similar alternative) is recommended to avoid storing secret data in a source repository.

Here, we defined the ovh-us endpoint because we want to call the OVHcloud US API, but other endpoints exist depending on your needs:

  • ovh-us for OVHcloud US API
  • ovh-ca for OVHcloud North America API
  • ovh-eu for OVHcloud Europe API

Create a variables.tf file with service_name:

variable service_name {
  type        = string
  default     = "<your_service_name>"
}

Define the resources you want to create in a new file called ovh_kube_cluster.tf:

resource "ovh_cloud_project_kube" "cluster" {
  service_name = var.service_name
  name         = "my-super-cluster"
  region       = "US-EAST-VA-1"
  version      = "1.31"

  update_policy = "NEVER_UPDATE" # "ALWAYS_UPDATE" by default but you can choose also "MINIMAL_DOWNTIME" or "NEVER_UPDATE"
}

In the resources configuration, we ask Terraform to create a Kubernetes cluster, in the US-EAST-VA-1 region, using Kubernetes version 1.31 (the last and recommended version at the time we wrote this tutorial), with a security update policy of “Do not update”.

Now we need to initialize Terraform, generate a plan, and apply it.

$ terraform init

Initializing the backend...

Initializing provider plugins...
- Finding latest version of ovh/ovh...
- Installing ovh/ovh v0.20.0...
- Installed ovh/ovh v0.20.0 (signed by a HashiCorp partner, key ID F56D1A6CBDAAADA5)

Partner and community providers are signed by their developers.
If you'd like to know more about provider signing, you can read about it here:
https://www.terraform.io/docs/cli/plugins/signing.html

Terraform has created a lock file .terraform.lock.hcl to record the provider
selections it made above. Include this file in your version control repository
so that Terraform can guarantee to make the same selections by default when
you run "terraform init" in the future.

Terraform has been successfully initialized!

You may now begin working with Terraform. Try running "terraform plan" to see
any changes that are required for your infrastructure. All Terraform commands
should now work.

If you ever set or change modules or backend configuration for Terraform,
rerun this command to reinitialize your working directory. If you forget, other
commands will detect it and remind you to do so if necessary.

The init command will initialize your working directory which contains .tf configuration files.

It’s the first command to execute for a new configuration, or it can be executed after doing a checkout of an existing configuration in a given git repository.

The init command will:

  • Download and install Terraform providers/plugins
  • Initialize the backend (if defined)
  • Download and install modules (if defined)

Now, we can generate our plan:

$ terraform plan

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  + create

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster will be created
  + resource "ovh_cloud_project_kube" "cluster" {
      + control_plane_is_up_to_date = (known after apply)
      + id                          = (known after apply)
      + is_up_to_date               = (known after apply)
      + kubeconfig                  = (sensitive value)
      + name                        = "my-super-cluster"
      + next_upgrade_versions       = (known after apply)
      + nodes_url                   = (known after apply)
      + region                      = "US-EAST-VA-1"
      + service_name                = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      + status                      = (known after apply)
      + update_policy               = "NEVER_UPDATE"
      + url                         = (known after apply)
      + version                     = "1.31"
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Note: You didn't use the -out option to save this plan, so Terraform can't guarantee to take exactly these actions if you run "terraform apply" now.

Thanks to the plan command, we can check what Terraform wants to create, modify, or remove.

The plan is okay for us, so let’s apply it:

$ terraform apply

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  + create

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster will be created
  + resource "ovh_cloud_project_kube" "cluster" {
      + control_plane_is_up_to_date = (known after apply)
      + id                          = (known after apply)
      + is_up_to_date               = (known after apply)
      + kubeconfig                  = (sensitive value)
      + name                        = "my-super-cluster"
      + next_upgrade_versions       = (known after apply)
      + nodes_url                   = (known after apply)
      + region                      = "US-EAST-VA-1"
      + service_name                = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      + status                      = (known after apply)
      + update_policy               = "NEVER_UPDATE"
      + url                         = (known after apply)
      + version                     = "1.31"
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes

ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Creating...
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [10s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [20s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [30s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [40s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [50s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [1m0s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [1m10s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [1m20s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [1m30s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [1m40s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [1m50s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [2m0s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [2m10s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [2m20s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [2m30s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [2m40s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [2m50s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [3m0s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [3m10s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [3m20s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [3m30s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still creating... [3m40s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Creation complete after 3m47s [id=76db2764-58d2-4384-b17f-ab38b0c7fc78]

Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

 

Update

If you want to update the security policy, you can also do it through Terraform. Edit the ovh_kube_cluster.tf file with this content:

resource "ovh_cloud_project_kube" "cluster" {
  service_name = var.service_name
  name         = "my-super-cluster"
  region       = "US-EAST-VA-1"
  version      = "1.31"

  update_policy = "ALWAYS_UPDATE" # "ALWAYS_UPDATE" by default but you can choose also "MINIMAL_DOWNTIME" or "NEVER_UPDATE"
}

And apply it:

$ terraform apply
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Refreshing state... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx]

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  ~ update in-place

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster will be updated in-place
  ~ resource "ovh_cloud_project_kube" "cluster" {
        id                          = "xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
        name                        = "my-super-cluster"
      ~ update_policy               = "NEVER_UPDATE" -> "ALWAYS_UPDATE"
        # (10 unchanged attributes hidden)
    }

Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to destroy.

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes

ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Modifying... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Modifications complete after 1s [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx]

Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 1 changed, 0 destroyed.

 

Destroy

If you want to delete the Kubernetes cluster you added through Terraform, you have to execute the terraform destroy command:

$ terraform destroy
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Refreshing state... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx]

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  - destroy

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster will be destroyed
  - resource "ovh_cloud_project_kube" "cluster" {
      - control_plane_is_up_to_date = true -> null
      - id                          = "xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx" -> null
      - is_up_to_date               = true -> null
      - kubeconfig                  = (sensitive value)
      - name                        = "my-super-cluster" -> null
      - next_upgrade_versions       = [] -> null
      - nodes_url                   = "xxxxxx.nodes.c1.va1.k8s.ovh.us" -> null
      - region                      = "US-EAST-VA-1" -> null
      - service_name                = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" -> null
      - status                      = "READY" -> null
      - update_policy               = "ALWAYS_UPDATE" -> null
      - url                         = "xxxxxx.c1.va1.k8s.ovh.us" -> null
      - version                     = "1.31" -> null
    }

Plan: 0 to add, 0 to change, 1 to destroy.

Do you really want to destroy all resources?
  Terraform will destroy all your managed infrastructure, as shown above.
  There is no undo. Only 'yes' will be accepted to confirm.

  Enter a value: yes

ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Destroying... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still destroying... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx, 10s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still destroying... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx, 20s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Still destroying... [id=xxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx, 30s elapsed]
ovh_cloud_project_kube.cluster: Destruction complete after 37s

Destroy complete! Resources: 1 destroyed.

 

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Managed Kubernetes or Platform as a Service guides. You can also explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

If you need training or technical assistance to implement our solutions, contact your sales representative or click on this link to get a quote and ask our Professional Services experts for a custom analysis of your project.

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