Installing the multi-cluster extension

Buoyant Enterprise for Linkerd provides a hardened version of the multi-cluster extension. This guide demonstrates how to install this extension.

Prerequisites

• Two Kubernetes clusters with Buoyant Enterprise for Linkerd installed
• A control plane installation in each cluster that shares a common trust anchor
• The BUOYANT_LICENSE environment variable set, with functioning BEL CLI

Install the multi-cluster extension

Start by creating a values.yaml file that contains the controllers value listing the links that will perform the service mirroring for each one of the target clusters you wish to connect to. In this example, we’d like to be able to access the east cluster from the west cluster:

controllers:
  - link:
      ref:
        name: east

Next add the linkerd-buoyant repo:

helm repo add linkerd-buoyant https://helm.buoyant.cloud
helm repo update

Now we can install the multi-cluster extension.

linkerd multicluster install -f values.yaml | \
  kubectl apply -f -

linkerd multicluster install | \
  kubectl apply -f -

helm install linkerd-multicluster \
  --create-namespace \
  --namespace linkerd-multicluster \
  --values values.yaml \
  linkerd-buoyant/linkerd-enterprise-multicluster

helm install linkerd-multicluster \
  --create-namespace \
  --namespace linkerd-multicluster \
  linkerd-buoyant/linkerd-enterprise-multicluster

Verify your installation

To verify that everything has started up successfully, run this on each cluster:

linkerd multicluster check

Linking clusters and exporting services

Now that the multi-cluster extention is installed, you need to link the clusters and export your services. You can complete these steps by following Step 2 and Step 3 in the “Installing Multi-cluster Components” guide at linkerd.io.

Learning more

More details about the multi-cluster extension can be found at linkerd.io.