Deploy Microsoft Windows Workloads on an Azure AKS Cluster

Palette supports the deployment of Microsoft Windows applications on Azure AKS clusters. For the Windows applications to work, Palette requires a Windows-based node pool created within the cluster. This section guides you on creating a Windows node pool within an existing AKS cluster managed by Palette and configuring your Windows application to be deployed to that node pool.

Prerequisites

• An AKS cluster created as described in the Create and Manage Azure AKS Cluster guide.

• A Linux-based node pool configured as the system node pool as described in the Create and Manage Azure AKS Cluster guide.

• A Windows node pool configured as described in the Create a Windows Node Pool section.

Enablement

Create a Windows Node Pool

Follow the steps below to create a Windows node pool within an existing AKS cluster. Refer to the Node Pools page for more information about node pool configuration.

info

Palette also allows you to add a Windows node pool during the creation of an AKS cluster. Refer to the Node Pool guide to learn more.

1. Log in to Palette, navigate to the left Main Menu, and click on Clusters.

2. Select your Azure AKS cluster.

3. Navigate to the Nodes tab and click on New Node Pool.

4. Provide a name for your node pool. When naming a node pool, it is good practice to include a name that matches the node and operating system (OS) in Azure.

5. If auto-scaling is necessary, enable the Enable Autoscaler option.

   warning

   Do not select the System Node Pool option. System node pools must be Linux-based, and choosing this option will remove the ability to create a Windows node pool.

6. Enter the Number of nodes in the pool, or set the Minimum Size and Maximum Size if you have enabled Autoscaler.

7. Include Additional Labels if desired. This step is optional.

8. Enable Taints. This step is also optional.

9. Choose the Instance type. Once selected, the cost details will be displayed.

10. For the OS Type, choose Windows.

11. Select the Managed Disk information and its size.

12. Last, click on Confirm to create the Windows node pool.

The video below showcases the process of creating a Windows node pool within an existing AKS cluster.

Create an Add-on Profile with a Windows Workload

After creating your Windows node pool, use the following steps to create an add-on cluster profile with a Windows workload.

13. Follow the Add a Manifest to an Add-on Profile guide to create an add-on cluster profile with a custom manifest.

14. Use the manifest provided below for a sample ASP.NET application. Alternatively, use your own Windows application manifest. It is essential to include in the spec block of the manifest the nodeSelector: "kubernetes.io/os": windows specification. This specification is required for Kubernetes to know that the application needs to be deployed on a Windows node.

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Namespace
    metadata:
      name: win-pack
    ---
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    metadata:
      namespace: win-pack
      name: sample
      labels:
        app: sample
    spec:
      replicas: 1
      template:
        metadata:
          name: sample
          labels:
            app: sample
        spec:
          nodeSelector:
            "kubernetes.io/os": windows
          containers:
            - name: sample
              image: mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/samples:aspnetapp
              resources:
                limits:
                  cpu: 1
                  memory: 800M
              ports:
                - containerPort: 80
      selector:
        matchLabels:
          app: sample
    ---
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: sample
      namespace: win-pack
    spec:
      type: LoadBalancer
      ports:
        - protocol: TCP
          port: 80
      selector:
        app: sample

Deploy a Windows Add-on Profile to an Existing AKS Cluster

Lastly, after creating your add-on cluster profile, attach it to your AKS cluster that has the previously created Windows node pool. Follow the steps outlined in the Attach an Add-on Profile guide to attach your add-on cluster profile to the AKS cluster.

Validate

1. In Palette, navigate to the left Main Menu and select Clusters.

2. Next, click on your AKS cluster, which will open the cluster's Overview page.

3. Click on the exposed Services URL to access the Windows application landing page.