Create a Node Pool for EKS Auto Mode - Amazon EKS
Create a NodePoolSample NodePoolEKS Auto Mode SupportedEKS Auto Mode Not Supported

Create a Node Pool for EKS Auto Mode

Amazon EKS node pools provide a flexible way to manage compute resources in your Kubernetes cluster. This topic demonstrates how to create and configure node pools using Karpenter, a node provisioning tool that helps optimize cluster scaling and resource utilization. With Karpenter’s NodePool resource, you can define specific requirements for your compute resources, including instance types, availability zones, architectures, and capacity types.

The NodePool specification allows for fine-grained control over your EKS cluster’s compute resources through various supported labels and requirements. These include options for specifying EC2 instance categories, CPU configurations, availability zones, architectures (ARM64/AMD64), and capacity types (spot/on-demand). You can also set resource limits for CPU and memory usage, ensuring your cluster stays within desired operational boundaries.

EKS Auto Mode leverages well-known Kubernetes labels to provide consistent and standardized ways of identifying node characteristics. These labels, such as topology.kubernetes.io/zone for availability zones and kubernetes.io/arch for CPU architecture, follow established Kubernetes conventions. Additionally, EKS-specific labels (prefixed with eks.amazonaws.com/) extend this functionality with AWS-specific attributes like instance types, CPU manufacturers, GPU capabilities, and networking specifications. This standardized labeling system enables seamless integration with existing Kubernetes tooling while providing deep AWS infrastructure integration.

Create a NodePool

Follow these steps to create a NodePool for your Amazon EKS cluster:

  1. Create a YAML file named nodepool.yaml with your desired NodePool configuration. You can use the sample configuration below.

  2. Validate your NodePool configuration:

    kubectl validate -f nodepool.yaml

  3. Apply the NodePool to your cluster:

    kubectl apply -f nodepool.yaml

  4. Verify that the NodePool was created successfully:

    kubectl get nodepools

  5. (Optional) Monitor the NodePool status:

    kubectl describe nodepool default

Ensure that your NodePool references a valid NodeClass that exists in your cluster. The NodeClass defines AWS-specific configurations for your compute resources. For more information, see Create a Node Class for Amazon EKS.

Sample NodePool

apiVersion: karpenter.sh/v1
kind: NodePool
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        billing-team: my-team
    spec:
      nodeClassRef:
        group: eks.amazonaws.com
        kind: NodeClass
        name: default

      requirements:
        - key: "eks.amazonaws.com/instance-category"
          operator: In
          values: ["c", "m", "r"]
        - key: "eks.amazonaws.com/instance-cpu"
          operator: In
          values: ["4", "8", "16", "32"]
        - key: "topology.kubernetes.io/zone"
          operator: In
          values: ["us-west-2a", "us-west-2b"]
        - key: "kubernetes.io/arch"
          operator: In
          values: ["arm64", "amd64"]

  limits:
    cpu: "1000"
    memory: 1000Gi

EKS Auto Mode Supported

EKS Auto Mode supports the following well known labels.

Label Example Description

topology.kubernetes.io/zone

us-east-2a

AWS region

node.kubernetes.io/instance-type

g4dn.8xlarge

AWS instance type

kubernetes.io/arch

amd64

Architectures are defined by GOARCH values on the instance

karpenter.sh/capacity-type

spot

Capacity types include spot, on-demand

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-hypervisor

nitro

Instance types that use a specific hypervisor

eks.amazonaws.com/compute-type

auto

Identifies EKS Auto Mode managed nodes

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-encryption-in-transit-supported

true

Instance types that support (or not) in-transit encryption

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-category

g

Instance types of the same category, usually the string before the generation number

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-generation

4

Instance type generation number within an instance category

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-family

g4dn

Instance types of similar properties but different resource quantities

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-size

8xlarge

Instance types of similar resource quantities but different properties

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-cpu

32

Number of CPUs on the instance

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-cpu-manufacturer

aws

Name of the CPU manufacturer

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-memory

131072

Number of mebibytes of memory on the instance

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-ebs-bandwidth

9500

Number of maximum megabits of EBS available on the instance

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-network-bandwidth

131072

Number of baseline megabits available on the instance

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-gpu-name

t4

Name of the GPU on the instance, if available

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-gpu-manufacturer

nvidia

Name of the GPU manufacturer

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-gpu-count

1

Number of GPUs on the instance

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-gpu-memory

16384

Number of mebibytes of memory on the GPU

eks.amazonaws.com/instance-local-nvme

900

Number of gibibytes of local nvme storage on the instance

EKS Auto Mode Not Supported

EKS Auto Mode does not support the following labels.

  • EKS Auto Mode only supports Linux

    • node.kubernetes.io/windows-build

    • kubernetes.io/os