How to edit cluster to add a cloud_provider

Rancher
5

Hi,

this is a sample config:

docker_root_dir: /var/lib/docker
enable_cluster_alerting: false
enable_cluster_monitoring: false
enable_network_policy: false
local_cluster_auth_endpoint:
  enabled: true
name: my-cluster
rancher_kubernetes_engine_config:
  addon_job_timeout: 30
  authentication:
    strategy: x509
  cloud_provider:
    name: vsphere
    vsphereCloudProvider:
      global:
        insecure-flag: true
        soap-roundtrip-count: 0
      virtual_center:
        xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:
          user: xxxxxxx@vsphere.local
          password: xxxxxx
          port: 443
          datacenters: MY-DATACENTER
      workspace:
        server: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
        folder: MYFOLDER
        default-datastore: YYYYY/XXXXSX
        datacenter: MY-DATACENTER
        resourcepool-path: POOL/Resources
  ignore_docker_version: true
  ingress:
    provider: none
  kubernetes_version: v1.16.8-rancher1-2
  monitoring:
    provider: metrics-server
  network:
    plugin: calico
  services:
    etcd:
      backup_config:
        enabled: true
        interval_hours: 12
        retention: 6
        s3_backup_config:
          access_key: xxxx
          bucket_name: xxxx
          endpoint: xxxx
          secret_key: xxx
        safe_timestamp: false
      creation: 12h
      extra_args:
        election-timeout: 5000
        heartbeat-interval: 500
      gid: 0
      retention: 72h
      snapshot: false
      uid: 0
    kube_api:
      always_pull_images: false
      pod_security_policy: false
      service_cluster_ip_range: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/16
      service_node_port_range: 30000-32767
    kube-controller:
      cluster_cidr: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/16
      service_cluster_ip_range: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/16
    kubelet:
      cluster_dns_server: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
      cluster_domain: cluster.local
      fail_swap_on: false
      generate_serving_certificate: false
  ssh_agent_auth: false
windows_prefered_cluster: false

However we had some problem activating the provider in an existing cluster: when Rancher started updating nodes, the nodes changed their name from the name we provided them when cluster was first created (–node-name option) to VM’s hostname, so that Rancher itself was unable to recognize them and it lost cluster control (that’s why I posted this question).

So, to add the provider, we had to create a new cluster and migrate workloads to it.

If you didn’t provide custom node names, or you know how to handle their change, you can try adding the provider config. Once added, you also have to patch nodes K8s level to add to their description the vSphere ID, as suggested by this article, with something like this:

kubectl patch node $NODE_NAME -p "{\"spec\":{\"providerID\":\"vsphere://$VM_UUID\"}}"

Hope this help.