Amazon EKS — Prerequisites & Setup

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Chapter 2 — Prerequisites & Setup

Before creating your first EKS cluster, you need the right tools installed and configured. This chapter walks you through setting up every tool you’ll need for the rest of this tutorial.

What You’ll Learn

  • Install and configure AWS CLI v2
  • Install eksctl (the official EKS CLI)
  • Install kubectl and Helm
  • Set up IAM user/role with proper permissions
  • Verify all tools are working correctly

Chapter Topics

# Topic Description
1 Install AWS CLI Install and configure AWS CLI v2
2 Install eksctl The official CLI for creating EKS clusters
3 Install kubectl & Helm Kubernetes CLI and package manager
4 IAM Setup Create IAM user/role with EKS permissions
5 Verify Tools Confirm everything is installed correctly
6 Practice Exercises 5 hands-on exercises

Prerequisites for This Chapter

  • An AWS account (free tier works for some resources)
  • A terminal (macOS Terminal, Linux shell, or Windows WSL2)
  • Admin-level access on your computer (to install tools)
  • An internet connection

Tools Overview

Required Tools for EKS
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                     │
│  ┌──────────┐  AWS CLI communicates with AWS APIs   │
│  │ AWS CLI  │  Configure credentials, region         │
│  └──────────┘                                       │
│       │                                             │
│  ┌──────────┐  eksctl creates/manages EKS clusters  │
│  │  eksctl  │  Simplifies CloudFormation under hood  │
│  └──────────┘                                       │
│       │                                             │
│  ┌──────────┐  kubectl talks to Kubernetes API      │
│  │ kubectl  │  Deploy apps, check status, debug      │
│  └──────────┘                                       │
│       │                                             │
│  ┌──────────┐  Helm is the K8s package manager      │
│  │  Helm    │  Install add-ons like LB controller    │
│  └──────────┘                                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Ready? Start with Install AWS CLI.

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