Creating an Amazon EKS add-on

Amazon EKS add-ons are add-on software for Amazon EKS clusters. All Amazon EKS add-ons:

Include the latest security patches and bug fixes.
Are validated by AWS to work with Amazon EKS.
Reduce the amount of work required to manage the add-on software.

You can create an Amazon EKS add-on using eksctl, the AWS Management Console, or the AWS CLI. If the add-on requires an IAM role, see the details for the specific add-on in Amazon EKS add-ons for details about creating the role.

Prerequisites

Complete the following before you create an add-on:

The cluster must exist before you create an add-on for it. For more information, see Create an Amazon EKS cluster.
Check if your add-on requires an IAM role. For more information, see Verifying Amazon EKS add-on version compatibility with a cluster.
Verify that the Amazon EKS add-on version is compatabile with your cluster. For more information, see Verifying Amazon EKS add-on version compatibility with a cluster.
Verify that version 0.187.0 or later of the eksctl command line tool installed on your computer or AWS CloudShell. For more information, see Installation on the eksctl website.

Procedure

You can create an Amazon EKS add-on using eksctl, the AWS Management Console, or the AWS CLI. If the add-on requires an IAM role, see the details for the specific add-on in Available Amazon EKS add-ons from AWS for details about creating the role.

eksctl

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using `eksctl`

View the names of add-ons available for a cluster version. Replace 1.30 with the version of your cluster.


eksctl utils describe-addon-versions --kubernetes-version 1.30 | grep AddonName

An example output is as follows.

"AddonName": "aws-ebs-csi-driver",
                        "AddonName": "coredns",
                        "AddonName": "kube-proxy",
                        "AddonName": "vpc-cni",
                        "AddonName": "adot",
                        "AddonName": "dynatrace_dynatrace-operator",
                        "AddonName": "upbound_universal-crossplane",
                        "AddonName": "teleport_teleport",
                        "AddonName": "factorhouse_kpow",
                        [...]

View the versions available for the add-on that you would like to create. Replace 1.30 with the version of your cluster. Replace name-of-addon with the name of the add-on you want to view the versions for. The name must be one of the names returned in the previous step.
```
eksctl utils describe-addon-versions --kubernetes-version 1.30 --name name-of-addon | grep AddonVersion
```
The following output is an example of what is returned for the add-on named vpc-cni. You can see that the add-on has several available versions.
```
"AddonVersions": [
    "AddonVersion": "v1.12.0-eksbuild.1",
    "AddonVersion": "v1.11.4-eksbuild.1",
    "AddonVersion": "v1.10.4-eksbuild.1",
    "AddonVersion": "v1.9.3-eksbuild.1",
```
Determine whether the add-on you want to create is an Amazon EKS or AWS Marketplace add-on. The AWS Marketplace has third party add-ons that require you to complete additional steps to create the add-on.
```
eksctl utils describe-addon-versions --kubernetes-version 1.30 --name name-of-addon | grep ProductUrl
```
If no output is returned, then the add-on is an Amazon EKS. If output is returned, then the add-on is an AWS Marketplace add-on. The following output is for an add-on named teleport_teleport.
```
"ProductUrl": "https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp?sku=3bda70bb-566f-4976-806c-f96faef18b26"
```
You can learn more about the add-on in the AWS Marketplace with the returned URL. If the add-on requires a subscription, you can subscribe to the add-on through the AWS Marketplace. If you're going to create an add-on from the AWS Marketplace, then the IAM principal that you're using to create the add-on must have permission to create the AWSServiceRoleForAWSLicenseManagerRole service-linked role. For more information about assigning permissions to an IAM entity, see Adding and removing IAM identity permissions in the IAM User Guide.
Create an Amazon EKS add-on. Copy the command and replace the user-data as follows:
- Replace my-cluster with the name of your cluster.
- Replace name-of-addon with the name of the add-on that you want to create.
- If you want a version of the add-on that's earlier than the latest version, then replace latest with the version number returned in the output of a previous step that you want to use.
- If the add-on uses a service account role, replace 111122223333 with your account ID and replace role-name with the name of the role. For instructions on creating a role for your service account, see the documentation for the add-on that you're creating. Specifying a service account role requires that you have an IAM OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider for your cluster. To determine whether you have one for your cluster, or to create one, see Create an IAM OIDC provider for your cluster.
  
  If the add-on doesn't use a service account role, delete --service-account-role-arn arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/role-name.
- This example command overwrites the configuration of any existing self-managed version of the add-on, if there is one. If you don't want to overwrite the configuration of an existing self-managed add-on, remove the --force option. If you remove the option, and the Amazon EKS add-on needs to overwrite the configuration of an existing self-managed add-on, then creation of the Amazon EKS add-on fails with an error message to help you resolve the conflict. Before specifying this option, make sure that the Amazon EKS add-on doesn't manage settings that you need to manage, because those settings are overwritten with this option.
```
eksctl create addon --cluster my-cluster --name name-of-addon --version latest \
    --service-account-role-arn arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/role-name --force
```

You can see a list of all available options for the command.


eksctl create addon --help

For more information about available options see Addons in the eksctl documentation.

AWS Management Console

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using the AWS Management Console

Open the Amazon EKS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/eks/home#/clusters.
In the left navigation pane, select Clusters, and then select the name of the cluster that you want to create the add-on for.
Choose the Add-ons tab.
Choose Get more add-ons.
Choose the add-ons that you want to add to your cluster. You can add as many Amazon EKS add-ons and AWS Marketplace add-ons as you require.

For AWS Marketplace add-ons the IAM principal that you're using to create the add-on must have permissions to read entitlements for the add-on from the AWS LicenseManager. AWS LicenseManager requires AWSServiceRoleForAWSLicenseManagerRole service-linked role (SLR) that allows AWS resources to manage licenses on your behalf. The SLR is a one time requirement, per account, and you will not have to create separate SLR's for each add-on nor each cluster. For more information about assigning permissions to an IAM principal see Adding and removing IAM identity permissions in the IAM User Guide.

If the AWS Marketplace add-ons that you want to install aren't listed, you can search for available add-ons by entering text in the search box. In the Filtering options, you can also filter by category, vendor, or pricing model and then choose the add-ons from the search results. Once you've selected the add-ons that you want to install, choose Next.
On the Configure selected add-ons settings page:
- Choose View subscription options to open the Subscription options form. Review the Pricing details and Legal sections, then choose the Subscribe button to continue.
- For Version, select the version that you want to install. We recommend the version marked latest, unless the individual add-on that you're creating recommends a different version. To determine whether an add-on has a recommended version, see the documentation for the add-on that you're creating.
- If all of the add-ons that you selected have Requires subscription under Status, select Next. You can't configure those add-ons further until you've subscribed to them after your cluster is created. For the add-ons that don't have Requires subscription under Status:
  - For Select IAM role, accept the default option, unless the add-on requires IAM permissions. If the add-on requires AWS permissions, you can use the IAM role of the node (Not set) or an existing role that you created for use with the add-on. If there's no role to select, then you don't have an existing role. Regardless of which option your choose, see the documentation for the add-on that you're creating to create an IAM policy and attach it to a role. Selecting an IAM role requires that you have an IAM OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider for your cluster. To determine whether you have one for your cluster, or to create one, see Create an IAM OIDC provider for your cluster.
  - Choose Optional configuration settings.
    
    If the add-on requires configuration, enter it in the Configuration values box. To determine whether the add-on requires configuration information, see the documentation for the add-on that you're creating.
    
    Select one of the available options for Conflict resolution method.
  - Choose Next.
On the Review and add page, choose Create. After the add-on installation is complete, you see your installed add-ons.
If any of the add-ons that you installed require a subscription, complete the following steps:
1. Choose the Subscribe button in the lower right corner for the add-on. You're taken to the page for the add-on in the AWS Marketplace. Read the information about the add-on such as its Product Overview and Pricing Information.
2. Select the Continue to Subscribe button on the top right of the add-on page.
3. Read through the Terms and Conditions. If you agree to them, choose Accept Terms. It may take several minutes to process the subscription. While the subscription is processing, the Return to Amazon EKS Console button is grayed out.
4. Once the subscription has finished processing, the Return to Amazon EKS Console button is no longer grayed out. Choose the button to go back to the Amazon EKS console Add-ons tab for your cluster.
5. For the add-on that you subscribed to, choose Remove and reinstall and then choose Reinstall add-on. Installation of the add-on can take several minutes. When Installation is complete, you can configure the add-on.

AWS CLI

Prerequisite

Version 2.12.3 or later or version 1.27.160 or later of the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) installed and configured on your device or AWS CloudShell. To check your current version, use aws --version | cut -d / -f2 | cut -d ' ' -f1. Package managers such yum, apt-get, or Homebrew for macOS are often several versions behind the latest version of the AWS CLI. To install the latest version, see Installing, updating, and uninstalling the AWS CLI and Quick configuration with aws configure in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide. The AWS CLI version that is installed in AWS CloudShell might also be several versions behind the latest version. To update it, see Installing AWS CLI to your home directory in the AWS CloudShell User Guide.

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using the AWS CLI

Determine which add-ons are available. You can see all available add-ons, their type, and their publisher. You can also see the URL for add-ons that are available through the AWS Marketplace. Replace 1.30 with the version of your cluster.


aws eks describe-addon-versions --kubernetes-version 1.30 \
    --query 'addons[].{MarketplaceProductUrl: marketplaceInformation.productUrl, Name: addonName, Owner: owner Publisher: publisher, Type: type}' --output table

An example output is as follows.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                 DescribeAddonVersions                                                                 |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+--------------+---------------------+
|                     MarketplaceProductUrl                     |             Name              |      Owner       |  Publisher   |        Type         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+--------------+---------------------+
|  None                                                         |  aws-ebs-csi-driver           |  aws             |  eks         |  storage            |
|  None                                                         |  coredns                      |  aws             |  eks         |  networking         |
|  None                                                         |  kube-proxy                   |  aws             |  eks         |  networking         |
|  None                                                         |  vpc-cni                      |  aws             |  eks         |  networking         |
|  None                                                         |  adot                         |  aws             |  eks         |  observability      |
|  https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-brb73nceicv7u |  dynatrace_dynatrace-operator |  aws-marketplace |  dynatrace   |  monitoring         |
|  https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-uhc2iwi5xysoc |  upbound_universal-crossplane |  aws-marketplace |  upbound     |  infra-management   |
|  https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-hd2ydsrgqy4li |  teleport_teleport            |  aws-marketplace |  teleport    |  policy-management  |
|  https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-vgghgqdsplhvc |  factorhouse_kpow             |  aws-marketplace |  factorhouse |  monitoring         |
|  [...]                                                        |  [...]                        |  [...]           |  [...]       |  [...]              |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+--------------+---------------------+

Your output might be different. In this example output, there are three different add-ons available of type networking and five add-ons with a publisher of type eks. The add-ons with aws-marketplace in the Owner column may require a subscription before you can install them. You can visit the URL to learn more about the add-on and to subscribe to it.

You can see which versions are available for each add-on. Replace 1.30 with the version of your cluster and replace vpc-cni with the name of an add-on returned in the previous step.


aws eks describe-addon-versions --kubernetes-version 1.30 --addon-name vpc-cni \
    --query 'addons[].addonVersions[].{Version: addonVersion, Defaultversion: compatibilities[0].defaultVersion}' --output table

An example output is as follows.


------------------------------------------
|          DescribeAddonVersions         |
+-----------------+----------------------+
| Defaultversion  |       Version        |
+-----------------+----------------------+
|  False          |  v1.12.0-eksbuild.1  |
|  True           |  v1.11.4-eksbuild.1  |
|  False          |  v1.10.4-eksbuild.1  |
|  False          |  v1.9.3-eksbuild.1   |
+-----------------+----------------------+

The version with True in the Defaultversion column is the version that the add-on is created with, by default.

(Optional) Find the configuration options for your chosen add-on by running the following command:


aws eks describe-addon-configuration --addon-name vpc-cni --addon-version v1.12.0-eksbuild.1

{
    "addonName": "vpc-cni",
    "addonVersion": "v1.12.0-eksbuild.1",
    "configurationSchema": "{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/VpcCni\",\"$schema\":\"http://json-schema.org/draft-06/schema#\",\"definitions\":{\"Cri\":{\"additionalProperties\":false,\"properties\":{\"hostPath\":{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/HostPath\"}},\"title\":\"Cri\",\"type\":\"object\"},\"Env\":{\"additionalProperties\":false,\"properties\":{\"ADDITIONAL_ENI_TAGS\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_CNI_NODE_PORT_SUPPORT\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_ENI_MTU\":{\"format\":\"integer\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_CONFIGURE_RPFILTER\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_CUSTOM_NETWORK_CFG\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_EXTERNALSNAT\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_LOGLEVEL\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_LOG_FILE\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_RANDOMIZESNAT\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_CNI_VETHPREFIX\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_PLUGIN_LOG_FILE\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"AWS_VPC_K8S_PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"DISABLE_INTROSPECTION\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"DISABLE_METRICS\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"DISABLE_NETWORK_RESOURCE_PROVISIONING\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"ENABLE_POD_ENI\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"ENABLE_PREFIX_DELEGATION\":{\"format\":\"boolean\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"WARM_ENI_TARGET\":{\"format\":\"integer\",\"type\":\"string\"},\"WARM_PREFIX_TARGET\":{\"format\":\"integer\",\"type\":\"string\"}},\"title\":\"Env\",\"type\":\"object\"},\"HostPath\":{\"additionalProperties\":false,\"properties\":{\"path\":{\"type\":\"string\"}},\"title\":\"HostPath\",\"type\":\"object\"},\"Limits\":{\"additionalProperties\":false,\"properties\":{\"cpu\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"memory\":{\"type\":\"string\"}},\"title\":\"Limits\",\"type\":\"object\"},\"Resources\":{\"additionalProperties\":false,\"properties\":{\"limits\":{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/Limits\"},\"requests\":{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/Limits\"}},\"title\":\"Resources\",\"type\":\"object\"},\"VpcCni\":{\"additionalProperties\":false,\"properties\":{\"cri\":{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/Cri\"},\"env\":{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/Env\"},\"resources\":{\"$ref\":\"#/definitions/Resources\"}},\"title\":\"VpcCni\",\"type\":\"object\"}}}"
}

The output is a standard JSON schema.

Here is an example of valid configuration values, in JSON format, that works with the schema above.

{
  "resources": {
    "limits": {
      "cpu": "100m"
    }
  }
}

Here is an example of valid configuration values, in YAML format, that works with the schema above.

  resources: 
    limits: 
      cpu: 100m

Determine if the add-on requires IAM permissions. If so, you need to (1) determine if you want to use EKS Pod Identities or IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA), (2) determine the ARN of the IAM role to use with the add-on, and (3) determine the name of the Kubernetes service account used by the add-on. You can find this information in the documentation or using the AWS API, see Retrieve IAM info about an Add-on.
- Amazon EKS suggests using EKS Pod Identities if the add-on supports it. This requires the Pod Identity Agent is installed on your cluster. For more information about using Pod Identities with Add-ons, see IAM roles for Amazon EKS add-ons.
- If the add-on or your cluster is not setup for EKS Pod Identities, use IRSA. Confirm IRSA is setup on your cluster.
- Review the Amazon EKS Add-ons documentation to determine if the add-on requires IAM permissions and the name of the associated Kubernetes service account.
Create an Amazon EKS add-on. Copy the command that follows to your device. Make the following modifications to the command as needed and then run the modified command:
- Replace my-cluster with the name of your cluster.
- Replace vpc-cni with an add-on name returned in the output of the previous step that you want to create.
- Replace version-number with the version returned in the output of the previous step that you want to use.
- If the add-on doesn't require IAM permissions, delete <service-account-configuration>.
- If the add-on (1) requires IAM permissions, and (2) your cluster uses EKS Pod Identities, replace <service-account-configuration> with the following pod identity assocation. Replace <service-account-name> with the service account name used by the add-on. Replace <role-arn> with the ARN of an IAM role. The role must have the trust policy required by EKS Pod Identities.
  - --pod-identity-associations 'serviceAccount=<service-account-name>,roleArn=<role-arn>'
- If the add-on (1) requires IAM permissions, and (2) your cluster uses IRSA, replace <service-account-configuration> with the following IRSA configuration. Replace 111122223333 with your account ID and role-name with the name of an existing IAM role that you've created. For instructions on creating the role, see the documentation for the add-on that you're creating. Specifying a service account role requires that you have an IAM OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider for your cluster. To determine whether you have one for your cluster, or to create one, see Create an IAM OIDC provider for your cluster.
  - --service-account-role-arn arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/role-name
- These example commands overwrites the --configuration-values option of any existing self-managed version of the add-on, if there is one. Replace this with the desired configuration values, such as a string or a file input. If you don't want to provide configuration values, then delete the --configuration-values option. If you don't want the AWS CLI to overwrite the configuration of an existing self-managed add-on, remove the --resolve-conflicts OVERWRITE option. If you remove the option, and the Amazon EKS add-on needs to overwrite the configuration of an existing self-managed add-on, then creation of the Amazon EKS add-on fails with an error message to help you resolve the conflict. Before specifying this option, make sure that the Amazon EKS add-on doesn't manage settings that you need to manage, because those settings are overwritten with this option.
```
aws eks create-addon --cluster-name my-cluster --addon-name vpc-cni --addon-version version-number \
     <service-account-configuration> --configuration-values '{"resources":{"limits":{"cpu":"100m"}}}' --resolve-conflicts OVERWRITE
```
```
aws eks create-addon --cluster-name my-cluster --addon-name vpc-cni --addon-version version-number \
    <service-account-configuration> --configuration-values 'file://example.yaml' --resolve-conflicts OVERWRITE
```
For a full list of available options, see create-addon in the Amazon EKS Command Line Reference. If the add-on that you created has aws-marketplace listed in the Owner column of a previous step, then creation may fail, and you may receive an error message similar to the following error.
```
{
    "addon": {
        "addonName": "addon-name",
        "clusterName": "my-cluster",
        "status": "CREATE_FAILED",
        "addonVersion": "version",
        "health": {
            "issues": [
                {
                    "code": "AddonSubscriptionNeeded",
                    "message": "You are currently not subscribed to this add-on. To subscribe, visit the AWS Marketplace console, agree to the seller EULA, select the pricing type if required, then re-install the add-on"
[...]
```
If you receive an error similar to the error in the previous output, visit the URL in the output of a previous step to subscribe to the add-on. Once subscribed, run the create-addon command again.

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Document Conventions

Upwind

Updating an add-on

Creating an Amazon EKS add-on

Prerequisites

Procedure

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using eksctl

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using the AWS Management Console

Prerequisite

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using the AWS CLI

To create an Amazon EKS add-on using `eksctl`