Deploy Portworx using Azure managed identity on new AKS cluster


Perform the following steps to enable Azure managed identity on new AKS cluster:

  1. Log in to Azure and set the subscription:

    az login
    az account set –subscription <Your-Azure-Subscription-UUID>
  2. Check locations to create AKS cluster:

    az account list-locations
  3. Create an Azure Resource Group:

    az group create –name <resource-group-name> –location <location>
  4. Create an AKS cluster with managed identities:

    az aks create -g myResourceGroup -n myManagedCluster --enable-managed-identity
  5. Identify object and client IDs:

    az aks show -g myResourceGroup -n myManagedCluster --query identityProfile

    For example:

    az aks show -g cass-rg -n msi-test --query identityProfile
    {
      "kubeletidentity": {
        "clientId": "68c2bc67-f3a5-459d-9b57-14597efcbc70",
        "objectId": "c099f8ac-ba91-4c13-9456-3e5614296a35",
        "resourceId": "/subscriptions/72c299a4-a431-4b8e-80ef-6855109979d9/resourcegroups/MC_cass-rg_msi-test_eastus/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/msi-test-agentpool"
      }
    }
  6. Assign contributor role to managed identity:

     az aks show -g cass-rg -n msi-test --query nodeResourceGroup
     az role assignment create --assignee-object-id ObjectId --role "Contributor" --resource-group nodeResourceGroup

    For example:

    az aks show -g myResourceGroup -n myManagedCluster --query nodeResourceGroup
    "MC_cass-rg_msi-test_eastus"
    az role assignment create --assignee-object-id "c099f8ac-ba91-4c13-9456-3e5614296a35" --role "Contributor" --resource-group "MC_cass-rg_msi-test_eastus"
    {
      "canDelegate": null,
      "condition": null,
      "conditionVersion": null,
      "description": null,
      "id": "/subscriptions/72c299a4-a431-4b8e-80ef-6855109979d9/resourceGroups/MC_cass-rg_msi-test_eastus/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments/d0060dc6-4e9f-452c-8e43-1a661ecf0111",
      "name": "d0060dc6-4e9f-452c-8e43-1a661ecf0111",
      "principalId": "c099f8ac-ba91-4c13-9456-3e5614296a35",
      "principalType": "ServicePrincipal",
      "resourceGroup": "MC_cass-rg_msi-test_eastus",
      "roleDefinitionId": "/subscriptions/72c299a4-a431-4b8e-80ef-6855109979d9/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions/b24988ac-6180-42a0-ab88-20f7382dd24c",
      "scope": "/subscriptions/72c299a4-a431-4b8e-80ef-6855109979d9/resourceGroups/MC_cass-rg_msi-test_eastus",
      "type": "Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments"
    } 
  7. Create a Kubernetes secret based on clientId that you retrieved in step 5:

    kubectl create secret generic -n kube-system px-azure --from-literal=AZURE_CLIENT_ID=clientId

    For example:

    kubectl create secret generic -n kube-system px-azure --from-literal=AZURE_CLIENT_ID="68c2bc67-f3a5-459d-9b57-14597efcbc70”
  8. Follow the steps to generate the Operator and StorageCluster spec in Install Portworx on AKS using the Operator. Save the spec for the next step.

  9. Modify the StorageCluster spec that is automatically generated. In the env section, remove the AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET and AZURE_TENANT_ID sections. The finished section should match the following:

    env:
    name: AZURE_CLIENT_ID
      valueFrom:
        secretKeyRef:
          name: px-azure
          key: AZURE_CLIENT_ID


Last edited: Tuesday, May 9, 2023