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Embedded datastore

Using an embedded datastore means leveraging a database that runs within the Kubernetes cluster, typically as a containerized service, e.g. etcd. This option simplifies deployment and could improve performance and security. The alternative is external databases

Datastore options​

Experimental

RKE2 officially supports Embedded etcd, embedded SQLite is considered experimental

  • Embedded Etcd
    Embedded Etcd is the default datastore, and will be used if no other datastore configuration is present.
  • Embedded SQLite
    SQLite cannot be used on clusters with multiple servers. It uses project kine

Embedded Etcd​

Embedded Etcd is the default datastore, and will be used if no other datastore configuration is present. It is the only embedded option that allows to deploy RKE2 in HA mode. Unless explicitely unset, one etcd pod will be deployed per RKE2 server and all the etcd instances will maintain a quorum. RKE2 includes tools to easily create snapshots when using this datastore as explained in the backup/restore.

Embedded SQLite​

This embedded option is not recommended for production but can be useful if you need to run a simple, short-lived cluster, for example in a CI/CD environment. HA mode is not supported when deploying with SQLite.

Single Server with SQLite​

  1. Set disable-etcd without the server parameter in the config file
disable-etcd: true
  1. Install RKE2
curl -sfL https://get.rke2.io | sh -
  1. Enable rke2-server service
systemctl enable rke2-server.service
  1. start the rke2-server service
systemctl start rke2-server.service

You can follow the server starting by kubectl get nodes to see the server get the Ready status. See Cluster access for more info about how to access RKE2.