Setting Up AWS EKS Cluster with ALB Ingress Controller

The AWS Load Balancer Controller is a Kubernetes controller that manages AWS Elastic Load Balancers for your Kubernetes cluster. It replaces the legacy in-tree AWS cloud provider and offers better integration with AWS services, supporting both Application Load Balancers (ALB) for HTTP/HTTPS traffic and Network Load Balancers (NLB) for TCP/UDP traffic.

In this guide, we will walk through the setup process on your AWS EKS cluster.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following:

• A running AWS EKS cluster
• kubectl configured for your cluster
• AWS CLI installed and configured
• eksctl installed
• Appropriate IAM permissions to create policies and roles

Installation Steps

1. Install Helm 3

We will use Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes, to deploy the controller.

curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3
chmod 700 get_helm.sh
./get_helm.sh

Helm simplifies the deployment and management of complex Kubernetes applications by packaging resources into a single chart.

2. Enable IAM OIDC Provider

This step is crucial for enabling IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA), which allows Kubernetes pods to assume IAM roles securely.

eksctl utils associate-iam-oidc-provider \
    --region ap-southeast-1 \
    --cluster dev-cluster \
    --approve

This establishes trust between your EKS cluster and AWS IAM.

3. Create IAM Policy

Download and create the official IAM policy that defines the permissions the controller needs to manage load balancers.

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/aws-load-balancer-controller/v2.11.0/docs/install/iam_policy.json
aws iam create-policy \
    --policy-name AWSLoadBalancerControllerIAMPolicy \
    --policy-document file://iam_policy.json

This policy includes permissions to create, modify, and delete load balancers and related resources.

4. Create IAM Service Account

Bind a Kubernetes service account to an IAM role, enabling the controller pods to authenticate with AWS.

eksctl create iamserviceaccount \
  --cluster=dev-cluster \
  --namespace=kube-system \
  --name=aws-load-balancer-controller \
  --role-name AmazonEKSLoadBalancerControllerRole \
  --attach-policy-arn=arn:aws:iam::YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID:policy/AWSLoadBalancerControllerIAMPolicy \
  --approve

5. Deploy the Controller

Add the official EKS Helm repository and install the controller.

helm repo add eks https://aws.github.io/eks-charts
helm repo update eks
helm install aws-load-balancer-controller eks/aws-load-balancer-controller \
  -n kube-system \
  --set clusterName=dev-cluster \
  --set serviceAccount.create=false \
  --set serviceAccount.name=aws-load-balancer-controller \
  --set region=ap-southeast-1 \
  --set vpcId=vpc-YOUR_VPC_ID

The controller runs as a deployment with two replicas by default for high availability.

Verify Installation

Confirm the controller is running and has proper permissions:

kubectl get deployment -n kube-system aws-load-balancer-controller
kubectl get pods -n kube-system -l app.kubernetes.io/name=aws-load-balancer-controller

Check the logs for any permission errors or successful startup messages.

How It Works

Once deployed, the controller watches for Ingress and Service resources:

1. When you create an Ingress with kubernetes.io/ingress.class: alb, it provisions an ALB in AWS.
2. Creates target groups for your backend services.
3. Configures routing rules based on your Ingress spec.
4. Manages security groups automatically.

Key Benefits

• Automatic Provisioning: No manual ALB creation needed.
• Native AWS Integration: Leverages AWS APIs directly.
• Cost Optimization: Share a single ALB across multiple Ingress resources.
• Security: Integrates with AWS WAF and security groups.

This setup is essential for modern DevOps workflows, enabling seamless integration with CI/CD tools like Jenkins and containerized applications using Docker.