Kubernetes SetupPrerequisites

Software Requirements

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Required Tools

Install the following tools on your local machine.

Helm

Helm 3.0 or higher is required.

$brew install helm

Verify installation:

$helm version

kubectl

Kubernetes CLI tool for cluster management.

$brew install kubectl

Verify installation:

$kubectl version --client

Cluster Access

Configure kubectl

Ensure kubectl is configured to access your cluster:

$kubectl cluster-info
$kubectl get nodes

Expected output should show your cluster nodes.

Test Cluster Access

Verify you have sufficient permissions:

$kubectl auth can-i create deployments
$kubectl auth can-i create services
$kubectl auth can-i create secrets

All should return yes.

GPU Support

NVIDIA GPU Operator

For Kubernetes clusters, install the NVIDIA GPU Operator to manage GPU resources.

The Smallest Self-Host Helm chart includes the GPU Operator as an optional dependency. You can enable it during installation or install it separately.

Verify GPU Nodes

Check that GPU nodes are properly labeled:

$kubectl get nodes -l node.kubernetes.io/instance-type

Verify GPU resources are available:

$kubectl get nodes -o json | jq '.items[].status.capacity'

Look for nvidia.com/gpu in the capacity.

Optional Components

Prometheus & Grafana

For monitoring and autoscaling based on custom metrics:

  • Prometheus Operator (included in chart)
  • Grafana (included in chart)
  • Prometheus Adapter (included in chart)

These are required for:

  • Custom metrics-based autoscaling
  • Advanced monitoring dashboards
  • Performance visualization

Cluster Autoscaler

For automatic node scaling on AWS EKS:

  • IAM role with autoscaling permissions
  • IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts) configured

See the Cluster Autoscaler guide for setup.