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Cluster configuration guidelines#

Guidelines for cluster configuration:

  • Control plane
    • 3 control plane nodes
    • Vault will not be scheduled on the control plane in accordance with general Kubernetes community recommendations
    • Vault does not place unusual demands on the control plane relative to other general workloads
  • Worker nodes
    • A minimum of 3 worker nodes is needed to enable failure tolerance
    • The internal database that Vault uses is optimized for SSD drives
    • CPU and storage performance requirements will depend on the customer's exact use profile
      • Use Vault metrics to understand the load
  • Infra nodes
    • 3 infrastructure nodes
    • Traffic routing and monitoring pods will be hosted on the infra nodes

Stakater recommends this cluster configuration:

  • Two Kubernetes clusters to host four Vault clusters for sake of HA for two sites
  • Four Vault clusters (two prod and two non-prod) is the minimum setup to enable High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery:
    • Two Vault clusters running on one prod Kubernetes cluster:
      • One primary active prod Vault
      • One secondary passive non-prod Vault (DR)
    • Two Vault clusters running on one non-prod Kubernetes cluster:
      • One primary active non-prod Vault
      • One secondary passive prod Vault (DR)
  • Each Kubernetes cluster will have three control plane nodes and six worker/infra nodes
  • Each node (control plane/worker/infra) will be 4 vCPUs x 16 GB RAM x 100 GB disk with minimum 3000 IOPS
  • Each Vault cluster will be three nodes that will run on three worker/infra nodes
  • So, one Kubernetes cluster will be 36 vCPUs x 144 GB RAM x 900 GB disk
  • Each cluster will have two separate sharded ingresses