Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) manages your hosted Kubernetes environment, making it quick and easy to deploy and manage containerized applications without container orchestration expertise. It also eliminates the burden of ongoing operations and maintenance by provisioning, upgrading, and scaling resources on demand without taking your applications offline.
If you don’t have an AKS cluster deployed, you’ll need to create one. If you already have one set up, you can skip to the section on deploying Step Runners on the cluster.
Create Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Clusters
To create a Microsoft AKS cluster:
Open AKS: Sign in to the Azure portal and go to Kubernetes services.
Create a cluster: Click Create and select Kubernetes cluster.
Configure the cluster:
On the Basics page, select a relevant Azure subscription.
Select an existing resource group or create a new one.
Select a cluster preset configuration that best meets your needs.
Enter a meaningful cluster name.
Select a region.
Select one or more availability zones.
(Optional) Modify the default Kubernetes version, Automatic upgrade, Node security channel, and Authentication and Authorization fields.
Click Next.
Verify a node pool with an Ubuntu OS SKU exists.
(Optional) Adjust the node count, such as reducing from the default 2–5 to only 1–2 for dev deployments.
Click the Monitoring page and enable container logs.
Click the Review + create page. The wizard will check the cluster's settings. If an issue is detected, there will be a validation failure.
A common observed failure is
Message: The zone(s) '1' for resource 'agentpool' is not supported. The supported zones for location 'eastus' are ''. Details:.If you see this message, return to the Basics page, deselect and reselect the availability zones, and then return to the Review + create page. This will reprocess your configuration.
Click Create. The deployment process will take around 5 minutes to complete.
Deploy Torq Step Runners on AKS Clusters
To create and deploy a Step Runner in AKS:
Navigate to the Step Runner: In Torq, go to Integrations > Step Runner and click Add Instance.
Configure the Step Runner:
Enter a name that reflects the Runner's type and the deployment environment.
Enter a meaningful description to provide context.
Select Kubernetes.
Copy the install command: Click Add and copy the install command that is generated to save it for later.
Open AKS: In the Azure portal, go to Kubernetes services and select the cluster onto which you would like to deploy the Step Runner.
Open Azure Cloud Shell: Click Connect, confirm Cloud shell is selected, and then click Open Cloud Shell.
Execute the install command: Once automatic actions are completed in the terminal, paste the Runner install command from Torq. This deploys the Step Runner using the generated YAML deployment configuration file that was automatically downloaded to your device.
(Optional) For customized deployments, see advanced deployment settings.
Confirm the installation: Return to the Step Runner page in Torq and verify that the Runner's status has changed from Pending to Healthy.