Edit

Share via

Quickstart: Create an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Automatic cluster with managed system node pools (preview)

In this quickstart, you learn how to create an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Automatic cluster with managed system node pools (preview) using the Azure CLI.

With managed system node pools on AKS Automatic clusters, AKS manages the system node pool and its components for you. AKS automatically handles creating, upgrading, and scaling the system node pool, so you can focus on your application workloads.

Important

AKS preview features are available on a self-service, opt-in basis. Previews are provided "as is" and "as available," and they're excluded from the service-level agreements and limited warranty. AKS previews are partially covered by customer support on a best-effort basis. As such, these features aren't meant for production use. For more information, see the following support articles:

Prerequisites

Install or update the aks-preview extension

Important

AKS preview features are available on a self-service, opt-in basis. Previews are provided "as is" and "as available," and they're excluded from the service-level agreements and limited warranty. AKS previews are partially covered by customer support on a best-effort basis. As such, these features aren't meant for production use. For more information, see the following support articles:

  • Install the aks-preview extension using the az extension add command if you don't have it installed already.

    az extension add --name aks-preview

  • Update the aks-preview extension to the latest version using the az extension update command.

    az extension update --name aks-preview

Register the AKS-AutomaticHostedSystemProfilePreview feature flag

  • Register the AKS-AutomaticHostedSystemProfilePreview feature flag using the az feature register command.

    az feature register --name AKS-AutomaticHostedSystemProfilePreview --namespace Microsoft.ContainerService

Limitations

  • Windows nodes aren't supported.
  • The Istio-based service mesh add-on for AKS isn't supported.
  • Migrations between AKS Automatic clusters and AKS Automatic clusters with managed system node pools aren't supported.
  • AKS Automatic clusters in a custom virtual network (VNet) with managed system node pools aren't supported.

Note

Migrations between AKS Automatic clusters and AKS Standard clusters are supported. For more information, see Update the SKU of an existing AKS cluster.

Region availability

AKS Automatic clusters with managed system node pools are currently available in the following regions:

  • australiacentral, australiaeast, australiasoutheast, brazilsouth, canadacentral, centralindia, centralus, chilecentral, eastasia, francecentral, germanywestcentral, italynorth, japanwest, koreasouth, mexicocentral, newzealandnorth, northeurope, polandcentral, southcentralus, southeastasia, southindia, spaincentral, swedencentral, switzerlandnorth, uksouth, westcentralus, westeurope, westus2, westus3

Create an AKS Automatic cluster with managed system node pools

Create an AKS Automatic cluster with managed system node pools using the az aks create command with the --sku parameter set to automatic and the --enable-hosted-system flag.

az aks create \
    --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
    --name $CLUSTER_NAME \
    --sku automatic \
    --enable-hosted-system \
    --location $LOCATION

Your output should resemble the following condensed example output, showing that the managed system node pools feature is enabled:

...
"hostedSystemProfile": {
    "enabled": true
    },
...

Next steps

For more information about AKS Automatic, see the following article:

Introduction to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Automatic

  • Last updated on