Skip to main content
Version: 3.27 (latest)

Quickstart

note

The manual method for installing Calico for Windows is deprecated in favor of using the Operator and Windows HostProcess containers (HPC). Support for this method will be dropped in a future Calico version.

Big picture

Install Calico for Windows manually on your Kubernetes cluster in approximately 5 minutes.

Concepts

Calico for Windows is a hybrid implementation that requires a Linux cluster for Calico components and Linux workloads, and Windows nodes for Windows workloads.

Before you begin

Review the Linux requirements and the Calico for Windows requirements.

Before beginning the quickstart, setup a Calico cluster on Linux nodes and provision Windows machines.

How to

Configure strict affinity for clusters using Calico networking

For Linux control nodes using Calico networking, strict affinity must be set to true. This is required to prevent Linux nodes from borrowing IP addresses from Windows nodes:

kubectl patch ipamconfigurations default --type merge --patch='{"spec": {"strictAffinity": true}}'
note

If the above command failed to find ipamconfigurations resource, you need to install the Calico API server. Please refer to installing the Calico API server.

Install Calico for Windows manually

The following steps install a Kubernetes cluster on a single Windows node with a Linux control node.

  • Kubernetes VXLAN

    The geeky details of what you get by default:

    PolicyIPAMCNIOverlayRoutingDatastore
  • Kubernetes BGP

    The geeky details of what you get by default:

    PolicyIPAMCNIOverlayRoutingDatastore
  • EKS

    The geeky details of what you get by default:

    PolicyIPAMCNIOverlayRoutingDatastore
  • AKS

    The geeky details of what you get by default:

    PolicyIPAMCNIOverlayRoutingDatastore
  1. Ensure that BGP is disabled since you're using VXLAN. If you installed Calico using operator, you can do this by:

    kubectl patch installation default --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"calicoNetwork": {"bgp": "Disabled"}}}'

    If you installed Calico using the manifest then BGP is already disabled.

  2. Prepare the directory for Kubernetes files on Windows node.

    mkdir c:\k
  3. Copy the Kubernetes kubeconfig file from the control plane node (default, Location $HOME/.kube/config), to c:\k\config.

  4. Download the PowerShell script, install-calico-windows.ps1.

    Invoke-WebRequest https://github.com/projectcalico/calico/releases/download/v3.27.2/install-calico-windows.ps1 -OutFile c:\install-calico-windows.ps1
  5. Install Calico for Windows for your datastore with using the default parameters or customize installation parameters. The PowerShell script downloads Calico for Windows release binary, Kubernetes binaries, Windows utilities files, configures Calico for Windows, and starts the Calico service.

    Kubernetes datastore (default)

    c:\install-calico-windows.ps1 -KubeVersion <your Kubernetes version (e.g. 1.18.6)> `
    -ServiceCidr <your service cidr (default 10.96.0.0/12)> `
    -DNSServerIPs <your DNS service IP (default 10.96.0.10)>

    etcd datastore

    c:\install-calico-windows.ps1 -KubeVersion <your Kubernetes version (e.g. 1.18.6)> `
    -Datastore etcdv3 `
    -EtcdEndpoints <your etcd endpoint ip> `
    -EtcdTlsSecretName <your etcd TLS secret name in calico-system namespace> (default no etcd TLS secret is used) `
    -EtcdKey <path to key file> (default not using TLS) `
    -EtcdCert <path to cert file> (default not using TLS) `
    -EtcdCaCert <path to ca cert file> (default not using TLS) `
    -ServiceCidr <your service cidr (default 10.96.0.0/12)> `
    -DNSServerIPs <your DNS server IPs (default 10.96.0.10)>
    note
    • You do not need to pass a parameter if the default value of the parameter is correct for your cluster.
    • If your Windows nodes have multiple network adapters, you can configure the one used for VXLAN by editing VXLAN_ADAPTER in C:\CalicoWindows\config.ps1, then restarting Calico for Windows.
  6. Verify that the Calico services are running.

    Get-Service -Name CalicoNode
    Get-Service -Name CalicoFelix
  7. Install and start kubelet/kube-proxy service. Execute following PowerShell script/commands.

    C:\CalicoWindows\kubernetes\install-kube-services.ps1
    Start-Service -Name kubelet
    Start-Service -Name kube-proxy
  8. Verify kubelet/kube-proxy services are running.

    Get-Service -Name kubelet
    Get-Service -Name kube-proxy

Congratulations! You now have a Kubernetes cluster with Calico for Windows and a Linux control node.

Configure installation parameters

Parameter NameDescriptionDefault
KubeVersionVersion of Kubernetes binaries to use. If the value is an empty string (default), the Calico for Windows installation script does not download Kubernetes binaries and run Kubernetes service. Use the default for managed public cloud.""
DownloadOnlyDownload without installing Calico for Windows. Set to yes to manually install and configure Calico for Windows. For example, Calico for Windows the hard way.no
DatastoreCalico for Windows datastore type [kubernetes or etcdv3] for reading endpoints and policy information.kubernetes
EtcdEndpointsComma-delimited list of etcd connection endpoints. Example: http://127.0.0.1:2379,http://127.0.0.2:2379. Valid only if Datastore is set to etcdv3.""
EtcdTlsSecretNameName of a secret in calico-system namespace which contains etcd-key, etcd-cert, etcd-ca for automatically configuring TLS. Either use this or parameters EtcdKey, EtcdCert, EtcdCaCert below. Note: If you are not using operator-based installation, use namespace kube-system.""
EtcdKeyPath to key file for etcd TLS connection.""
EtcdCertPath to certificate file for etcd TLS connection.""
EtcdCaCertPath to CA certificate file for etcd TLS connection.""
ServiceCidrService IP range of the Kubernetes cluster. Not required for most managed Kubernetes clusters. Note: EKS has non-default value.10.96.0.0/12
DNSServerIPsComma-delimited list of DNS service IPs used by Windows pod. Not required for most managed Kubernetes clusters. Note: EKS has a non-default value.10.96.0.10
CalicoBackendCalico backend network type (vxlan or bgp). If the value is an empty string (default), backend network type is auto detected.""

Next steps

You can now use the Calico Linux-based docs site for your documentation. Before you continue, review the Limitations and known issues to understand the features (and sections of documentation) that do not apply to Windows.