Skip to main content

​
Overview

This guide walks you through the process of creating an AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) cluster and setting up node groups. Follow these steps if you need to create a new cluster before importing it into the Simplismart platform.

​
Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure:
  • You have access to the AWS Management Console and EKS service

​
Create an AWS EKS Cluster

Go to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service > Clusters > Create cluster
1

Navigate to AWS EKS Console

Go to AWS Management Console → EKS.Click Add Cluster → Create Cluster.
2

Configure Basic Cluster Settings

  • Enter a Cluster Name (e.g., test-cluster)
  • Choose Kubernetes version (e.g., 1.33)
  • Select an existing IAM Role or create a new one with EKS permissions
  • Click Next
3

Configure Networking (VPC & Subnets)

  • Choose an existing VPC or create a new one
  • Select public and private subnets across different Availability Zones
  • Ensure proper routing and internet access for nodes
4

Configure Logging (Optional)

Enable control plane logging for audit and debugging.Click Next, review, and click Create.
⏳ Cluster creation typically takes 15–20 minutes.
For more details, check out the AWS documentation: AWS EKS Cluster Creation Guide

​
Create Node Groups

Once your cluster is active, you’ll need to create node groups to run your workloads.

​
Create a Standard Node Group

1

Add a Node Group

Once the cluster is active:
  • In the EKS cluster view, go to Compute → Add Node Group
  • Enter a Node Group Name (e.g., worker-nodes)
  • Select an IAM Role for nodes
  • Choose an Instance Type (e.g., t3.large or minimum m6a.xlarge) and Node Count
  • Label nodes with:
simplismart.ai/node-group-name: worker-nodes
  • Click Create
For Simplismart platform integration, minimum machine size is m6a.xlarge for auxiliary node groups where cluster tools will be installed.
2

Add GPU Node Group (Optional)

Create a new node group with GPU-enabled instances (e.g., g5.xlarge) following the same steps above, but:
  • Select a GPU-enabled instance type
  • Ensure NVIDIA GPU drivers are installed via DaemonSet after creation

​
Next Steps

After creating your cluster and node groups:

Import Cluster

Import your newly created AWS EKS cluster into the Simplismart platform

Configure Secrets

Set up Kubernetes credentials to authenticate with your cluster

​
Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues during cluster creation, please refer to: