Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) takes the pain out of managing Kubernetes. In this tutorial, you’ll spin up a fully working Kubernetes cluster on AWS EKS in just 20 minutes, using eksctl. We’ll cover IAM roles, VPCs, node groups, and how to deploy your first app.
✅ Perfect for DevOps engineers, developers, and cloud architects looking to scale fast with Kubernetes on AWS.
Why Use Amazon EKS?
Managing Kubernetes yourself is like building your own car engine just to go to the grocery store. With Amazon EKS, you get:
☁️ Fully managed Kubernetes control plane
Secure by default with IAM integration
Native integration with CloudWatch, ALB, and ECR
Seamless scaling with Fargate or EC2-backed nodes
️ Prerequisites
Make sure you have the following tools installed:
✅ AWS CLI (v2+)
✅ kubectl
✅ eksctl
✅ AWS account with IAM admin privileges
Optional: Install helm for easier app deployments later.
Step 1: Configure AWS Credentials
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aws configure
Enter your Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, region (e.g. us-west-2), and output format (json).
️ Step 2: Create an EKS Cluster Using eksctl
Let’s use the simplest method to create your cluster:
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eksctl create cluster \
--name demo-cluster \
--region us-west-2 \
--nodes 3 \
--node-type t3.medium \
--with-oidc \
--ssh-access \
--ssh-public-key your-key-name
✅ This command:
Creates the EKS control plane
Sets up networking (VPC, subnets, etc.)
Launches 3 EC2 nodes in a managed node group
⏱️ It takes about 15–20 minutes.
Step 3: Verify the Cluster is Working
Once complete, test the cluster with:
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kubectl get nodes
You should see 3 nodes in Ready state.
Step 4: Deploy a Sample App
Let’s deploy the classic Hello World app:
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kubectl create deployment hello-node --image=k8s.gcr.io/echoserver:1.4
kubectl expose deployment hello-node --type=LoadBalancer --port=8080
Then get the external IP:
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kubectl get svc
Paste the external IP in your browser — your app is live!
Bonus: Monitoring and Scaling
Want to scale pods?
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kubectl scale deployment hello-node --replicas=5
Want observability?
Use CloudWatch Container Insights
Or install Prometheus + Grafana via Helm:
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helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts helm install prometheus prometheus-community/prometheus
Clean Up
Don’t forget to delete the cluster to avoid charges:
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eksctl delete cluster --name demo-cluster
Infographic: EKS Cluster Creation Flow (Visual)
Pro Tips
Use Fargate for serverless Kubernetes pods.
Use IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts) for fine-grained IAM permissions in pods.
Enable EBS CSI Driver for persistent volumes.
✅ Final Thoughts
Setting up Kubernetes on AWS used to be a DevOps nightmare. With EKS and eksctl, it’s now a breeze. Whether you're running a side project or scaling a microservices architecture, EKS gives you the power of Kubernetes without the pain of managing it.
Useful Links
EKS Official Docs
eksctl GitHub
AWS IAM Best Practices
