Installing and Configuring Kubernetes Cluster on Cozystack

Use Talm to bootstrap a Cozystack cluster

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This guide explains how to install and configure Kubernetes on a Talos Linux cluster using Talm. As a result of completing this guide you will have a Kubernetes cluster ready to install Cozystack.

Talm is a Helm-like utility for declarative configuration management of Talos Linux. Talm was created by Ænix to allow more declarative and customizable configurations for cluster management. Talm comes with pre-built presets for Cozystack.

Prerequisites

By the start of this guide you should have Talos Linux installed, but not initialized (bootstrapped), on several nodes. These nodes should belong to one subnet or have public IPs.

Use talos-bootstrap script to bootstrap a Cozystack cluster

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

talos-bootstrap is an interactive script for bootstrapping Kubernetes clusters on Talos OS.

It was created by Cozystack developers to simplify the installation of Talos Linux on bare-metal nodes in a user-friendly manner.

1. Install Dependencies

Install the following dependencies

talosctl
dialog
nmap

Download the latest version of talos-bootstrap from the releases page or directly from the trunk:

curl -fsSL -o /usr/local/bin/talos-bootstrap \
 https://github.com/cozystack/talos-bootstrap/raw/master/talos-bootstrap
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talos-bootstrap
talos-bootstrap --help

2. Prepare Configuration Files

Start by making a configuration directory for the new cluster:

Use talosctl to bootstrap a Cozystack cluster

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This guide explains how to prepare a Talos Linux cluster for deploying Cozystack using talosctl, a specialized command line tool for managing Talos.

Prerequisites

By the start of this guide you should have Talos OS booted from ISO, but not initialized (bootstrapped), on several nodes. These nodes should belong to one subnet or have public IPs.

This guide uses an example where the nodes of a cluster are located in the subnet 192.168.123.0/24, having the following IP addresses:

Bootstrap an Air-Gapped Cluster

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

This guide outlines the steps to bootstrap a Cozystack cluster in an air-gapped environment.

Air-gapped installation means that the cluster has no direct access to the Internet. All necessary resources, such as images and metadata, must be available on the private network.

Configuring Talos Nodes

For installing with Talm, it’s enough to make all mentioned changes once in ./templates/_helpers.tpl and then build the actual node configuration files with talm template.

Troubleshooting Kubernetes Installation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This page has instructions for resolving typical problems that can occur when installing Kubernetes with talm, talos-bootstrap, or talosctl.

No Talos nodes in maintenance mode found!

If you encounter issues with the talos-bootstrap script not detecting any nodes, follow these steps to diagnose and resolve the issue:

Verify Network Segment

Ensure that you are running the script within the same network segment as the nodes. This is crucial for the script to be able to communicate with the nodes.

Deploying Cozystack on Generic Kubernetes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This guide explains how to deploy Cozystack on generic Kubernetes distributions such as k3s, kubeadm, or RKE2. While Talos Linux remains the recommended platform for production deployments, Cozystack supports deployment on other Kubernetes distributions using the isp-full-generic bundle.

When to Use Generic Kubernetes

Consider using generic Kubernetes instead of Talos Linux when:

You have an existing Kubernetes cluster you want to enhance with Cozystack
Your infrastructure doesn’t support Talos Linux (certain cloud providers, embedded systems)
You need specific Linux features or packages not available in Talos

For new production deployments, Talos Linux is recommended due to its security and operational benefits.