website/content/en/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/configure-upgrade-etcd.md

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---
reviewers:
- mml
- wojtek-t
title: Operating etcd clusters for Kubernetes
content_type: task
---
<!-- overview -->
{{< glossary_definition term_id="etcd" length="all" prepend="etcd is a ">}}
## {{% heading "prerequisites" %}}
{{< include "task-tutorial-prereqs.md" >}} {{< version-check >}}
<!-- steps -->
## Prerequisites
* Run etcd as a cluster of odd members.
* etcd is a leader-based distributed system. Ensure that the leader
periodically send heartbeats on time to all followers to keep the cluster
stable.
* Ensure that no resource starvation occurs.
Performance and stability of the cluster is sensitive to network and disk
I/O. Any resource starvation can lead to heartbeat timeout, causing instability
of the cluster. An unstable etcd indicates that no leader is elected. Under
such circumstances, a cluster cannot make any changes to its current state,
which implies no new pods can be scheduled.
* Keeping etcd clusters stable is critical to the stability of Kubernetes
clusters. Therefore, run etcd clusters on dedicated machines or isolated
environments for [guaranteed resource requirements](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/hardware/).
* The minimum recommended version of etcd to run in production is `3.2.10+`.
## Resource requirements
Operating etcd with limited resources is suitable only for testing purposes.
For deploying in production, advanced hardware configuration is required.
Before deploying etcd in production, see
[resource requirement reference](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/hardware/#example-hardware-configurations).
## Starting etcd clusters
This section covers starting a single-node and multi-node etcd cluster.
### Single-node etcd cluster
Use a single-node etcd cluster only for testing purpose.
1. Run the following:
```sh
etcd --listen-client-urls=http://$PRIVATE_IP:2379 \
--advertise-client-urls=http://$PRIVATE_IP:2379
```
2. Start the Kubernetes API server with the flag
`--etcd-servers=$PRIVATE_IP:2379`.
Make sure `PRIVATE_IP` is set to your etcd client IP.
### Multi-node etcd cluster
For durability and high availability, run etcd as a multi-node cluster in
production and back it up periodically. A five-member cluster is recommended
in production. For more information, see
[FAQ documentation](https://etcd.io/docs/current/faq/#what-is-failure-tolerance).
Configure an etcd cluster either by static member information or by dynamic
discovery. For more information on clustering, see
[etcd clustering documentation](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/clustering/).
For an example, consider a five-member etcd cluster running with the following
client URLs: `http://$IP1:2379`, `http://$IP2:2379`, `http://$IP3:2379`,
`http://$IP4:2379`, and `http://$IP5:2379`. To start a Kubernetes API server:
1. Run the following:
```shell
etcd --listen-client-urls=http://$IP1:2379,http://$IP2:2379,http://$IP3:2379,http://$IP4:2379,http://$IP5:2379 --advertise-client-urls=http://$IP1:2379,http://$IP2:2379,http://$IP3:2379,http://$IP4:2379,http://$IP5:2379
```
2. Start the Kubernetes API servers with the flag
`--etcd-servers=$IP1:2379,$IP2:2379,$IP3:2379,$IP4:2379,$IP5:2379`.
Make sure the `IP<n>` variables are set to your client IP addresses.
### Multi-node etcd cluster with load balancer
To run a load balancing etcd cluster:
1. Set up an etcd cluster.
2. Configure a load balancer in front of the etcd cluster.
For example, let the address of the load balancer be `$LB`.
3. Start Kubernetes API Servers with the flag `--etcd-servers=$LB:2379`.
## Securing etcd clusters
Access to etcd is equivalent to root permission in the cluster so ideally only
the API server should have access to it. Considering the sensitivity of the
data, it is recommended to grant permission to only those nodes that require
access to etcd clusters.
To secure etcd, either set up firewall rules or use the security features
provided by etcd. etcd security features depend on x509 Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI). To begin, establish secure communication channels by
generating a key and certificate pair. For example, use key pairs `peer.key`
and `peer.cert` for securing communication between etcd members, and
`client.key` and `client.cert` for securing communication between etcd and its
clients. See the [example scripts](https://github.com/coreos/etcd/tree/master/hack/tls-setup)
provided by the etcd project to generate key pairs and CA files for client
authentication.
### Securing communication
To configure etcd with secure peer communication, specify flags
`--peer-key-file=peer.key` and `--peer-cert-file=peer.cert`, and use HTTPS as
the URL schema.
Similarly, to configure etcd with secure client communication, specify flags
`--key-file=k8sclient.key` and `--cert-file=k8sclient.cert`, and use HTTPS as
the URL schema. Here is an example on a client command that uses secure
communication:
```
ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl --endpoints 10.2.0.9:2379 \
--cert=/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.crt \
--key=/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.key \
--cacert=/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt \
member list
```
### Limiting access of etcd clusters
After configuring secure communication, restrict the access of etcd cluster to
only the Kubernetes API servers. Use TLS authentication to do so.
For example, consider key pairs `k8sclient.key` and `k8sclient.cert` that are
trusted by the CA `etcd.ca`. When etcd is configured with `--client-cert-auth`
along with TLS, it verifies the certificates from clients by using system CAs
or the CA passed in by `--trusted-ca-file` flag. Specifying flags
`--client-cert-auth=true` and `--trusted-ca-file=etcd.ca` will restrict the
access to clients with the certificate `k8sclient.cert`.
Once etcd is configured correctly, only clients with valid certificates can
access it. To give Kubernetes API servers the access, configure them with the
flags `--etcd-certfile=k8sclient.cert`,`--etcd-keyfile=k8sclient.key` and
`--etcd-cafile=ca.cert`.
{{< note >}}
etcd authentication is not currently supported by Kubernetes. For more
information, see the related issue
[Support Basic Auth for Etcd v2](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/23398).
{{< /note >}}
## Replacing a failed etcd member
etcd cluster achieves high availability by tolerating minor member failures.
However, to improve the overall health of the cluster, replace failed members
immediately. When multiple members fail, replace them one by one. Replacing a
failed member involves two steps: removing the failed member and adding a new
member.
Though etcd keeps unique member IDs internally, it is recommended to use a
unique name for each member to avoid human errors. For example, consider a
three-member etcd cluster. Let the URLs be, `member1=http://10.0.0.1`,
`member2=http://10.0.0.2`, and `member3=http://10.0.0.3`. When `member1` fails,
replace it with `member4=http://10.0.0.4`.
1. Get the member ID of the failed `member1`:
```shell
etcdctl --endpoints=http://10.0.0.2,http://10.0.0.3 member list
```
The following message is displayed:
```console
8211f1d0f64f3269, started, member1, http://10.0.0.1:2380, http://10.0.0.1:2379
91bc3c398fb3c146, started, member2, http://10.0.0.2:2380, http://10.0.0.2:2379
fd422379fda50e48, started, member3, http://10.0.0.3:2380, http://10.0.0.3:2379
```
2. Remove the failed member:
```shell
etcdctl member remove 8211f1d0f64f3269
```
The following message is displayed:
```console
Removed member 8211f1d0f64f3269 from cluster
```
3. Add the new member:
```shell
etcdctl member add member4 --peer-urls=http://10.0.0.4:2380
```
The following message is displayed:
```console
Member 2be1eb8f84b7f63e added to cluster ef37ad9dc622a7c4
```
4. Start the newly added member on a machine with the IP `10.0.0.4`:
```shell
export ETCD_NAME="member4"
export ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER="member2=http://10.0.0.2:2380,member3=http://10.0.0.3:2380,member4=http://10.0.0.4:2380"
export ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER_STATE=existing
etcd [flags]
```
5. Do either of the following:
1. Update the `--etcd-servers` flag for the Kubernetes API servers to make
Kubernetes aware of the configuration changes, then restart the
Kubernetes API servers.
2. Update the load balancer configuration if a load balancer is used in the
deployment.
For more information on cluster reconfiguration, see
[etcd reconfiguration documentation](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/runtime-configuration/#remove-a-member).
## Backing up an etcd cluster
All Kubernetes objects are stored on etcd. Periodically backing up the etcd
cluster data is important to recover Kubernetes clusters under disaster
scenarios, such as losing all control plane nodes. The snapshot file contains
all the Kubernetes states and critical information. In order to keep the
sensitive Kubernetes data safe, encrypt the snapshot files.
Backing up an etcd cluster can be accomplished in two ways: etcd built-in
snapshot and volume snapshot.
### Built-in snapshot
etcd supports built-in snapshot. A snapshot may either be taken from a live
member with the `etcdctl snapshot save` command or by copying the
`member/snap/db` file from an etcd
[data directory](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/configuration/#--data-dir)
that is not currently used by an etcd process. Taking the snapshot will
not affect the performance of the member.
Below is an example for taking a snapshot of the keyspace served by
`$ENDPOINT` to the file `snapshotdb`:
```shell
ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl --endpoints $ENDPOINT snapshot save snapshotdb
```
Verify the snapshot:
```shell
ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl --write-out=table snapshot status snapshotdb
```
```console
+----------+----------+------------+------------+
| HASH | REVISION | TOTAL KEYS | TOTAL SIZE |
+----------+----------+------------+------------+
| fe01cf57 | 10 | 7 | 2.1 MB |
+----------+----------+------------+------------+
```
### Volume snapshot
If etcd is running on a storage volume that supports backup, such as Amazon
Elastic Block Store, back up etcd data by taking a snapshot of the storage
volume.
### Snapshot using etcdctl options
We can also take the snapshot using various options given by etcdctl. For example
```shell
ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl -h
```
will list various options available from etcdctl. For example, you can take a snapshot by specifying
the endpoint, certificates etc as shown below:
```shell
ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl --endpoints=https://127.0.0.1:2379 \
--cacert=<trusted-ca-file> --cert=<cert-file> --key=<key-file> \
snapshot save <backup-file-location>
```
where `trusted-ca-file`, `cert-file` and `key-file` can be obtained from the description of the etcd Pod.
## Scaling up etcd clusters
Scaling up etcd clusters increases availability by trading off performance.
Scaling does not increase cluster performance nor capability. A general rule
is not to scale up or down etcd clusters. Do not configure any auto scaling
groups for etcd clusters. It is highly recommended to always run a static
five-member etcd cluster for production Kubernetes clusters at any officially
supported scale.
A reasonable scaling is to upgrade a three-member cluster to a five-member
one, when more reliability is desired. See
[etcd reconfiguration documentation](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/runtime-configuration/#remove-a-member)
for information on how to add members into an existing cluster.
## Restoring an etcd cluster
etcd supports restoring from snapshots that are taken from an etcd process of
the [major.minor](http://semver.org/) version. Restoring a version from a
different patch version of etcd also is supported. A restore operation is
employed to recover the data of a failed cluster.
Before starting the restore operation, a snapshot file must be present. It can
either be a snapshot file from a previous backup operation, or from a remaining
[data directory]( https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/configuration/#--data-dir).
Here is an example:
```shell
ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl --endpoints 10.2.0.9:2379 snapshot restore snapshotdb
```
For more information and examples on restoring a cluster from a snapshot file, see
[etcd disaster recovery documentation](https://etcd.io/docs/current/op-guide/recovery/#restoring-a-cluster).
If the access URLs of the restored cluster is changed from the previous
cluster, the Kubernetes API server must be reconfigured accordingly. In this
case, restart Kubernetes API servers with the flag
`--etcd-servers=$NEW_ETCD_CLUSTER` instead of the flag
`--etcd-servers=$OLD_ETCD_CLUSTER`. Replace `$NEW_ETCD_CLUSTER` and
`$OLD_ETCD_CLUSTER` with the respective IP addresses. If a load balancer is
used in front of an etcd cluster, you might need to update the load balancer
instead.
If the majority of etcd members have permanently failed, the etcd cluster is
considered failed. In this scenario, Kubernetes cannot make any changes to its
current state. Although the scheduled pods might continue to run, no new pods
can be scheduled. In such cases, recover the etcd cluster and potentially
reconfigure Kubernetes API servers to fix the issue.
{{< note >}}
If any API servers are running in your cluster, you should not attempt to
restore instances of etcd. Instead, follow these steps to restore etcd:
- stop *all* API server instances
- restore state in all etcd instances
- restart all API server instances
We also recommend restarting any components (e.g. `kube-scheduler`,
`kube-controller-manager`, `kubelet`) to ensure that they don't rely on some
stale data. Note that in practice, the restore takes a bit of time. During the
restoration, critical components will lose leader lock and restart themselves.
{{< /note >}}