Setting up Cloudflare in Kubernetes Cluster

In modern cloud architectures, keeping services secure and fast is a top priority. Cloudflare Tunnel and Kubernetes can be combined to offer a robust, scalable, and secure solution. This blog post will guide you through the process of setting up a Cloudflare Tunnel for a Kubernetes cluster.

Prerequisites

• A running Kubernetes cluster
• kubectl installed and configured
• Cloudflare account
• Cloudflared software installed

Step 1: Install Cloudflared on Your Local Machine

Firstly, download and install the cloudflared CLI tool from the Cloudflare website. Below are the installation steps for different operating systems.

For Linux:

wget https://bin.equinox.io/c/VdrWdbjqyF/cloudflared-stable-linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cloudflared-stable-linux-amd64.deb

For macOS:

You can install cloudflared using Homebrew:

brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared

Or manually download the package from the Cloudflare website and follow the installation instructions.

For Windows:

1. Download the cloudflared executable for Windows from the Cloudflare website.
2. Place it in a directory (e.g., C:\cloudflared).
3. Add this directory to your system PATH variable.
4. Open Command Prompt as an administrator and run:

cloudflared --version

to ensure it’s installed correctly.

Now you’ve installed cloudflared for your respective operating system and can proceed with the other steps.

Step 2: Authenticate Cloudflared

Run the following command and follow the prompts to authenticate:

cloudflared tunnel login

Step 3: Create a Tunnel

Create a new tunnel with a descriptive name.

cloudflared tunnel create my-k8s-tunnel

Step 4: Configure Your Kubernetes Cluster

Now it’s time to configure your Kubernetes cluster to direct traffic through the Cloudflare Tunnel. Create a Kubernetes ConfigMap for the cloudflared configuration:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: cloudflared-config
data:
  config.yml: |
    tunnel: my-k8s-tunnel
    credentials-file: /etc/cloudflared/credentials.json

Apply it using kubectl:

kubectl apply -f cloudflared-configmap.yml

Step 5: Deploy Cloudflared to Kubernetes

Create a Kubernetes deployment for Cloudflared.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: cloudflared
spec:
  replicas: 2
  template:
    ...
    volumes:
      - name: cloudflared-config
        configMap:
          name: cloudflared-config

Apply the deployment:

kubectl apply -f cloudflared-deployment.yml

Step 6: Verify

To confirm the tunnel is working, you can describe the Cloudflared pods or check the Cloudflare dashboard.

kubectl describe pods -l app=cloudflared

Conclusion

You’ve successfully set up a Cloudflare Tunnel for your Kubernetes cluster! This will help you secure and optimize traffic to your applications.

By following these steps, you can ensure better reliability and security for your Kubernetes-hosted services.