# First steps with Constellation
The following steps guide you through the process of creating a cluster and deploying a sample app. This example assumes that you have successfully [installed and set up Constellation](install.md),
and have access to a cloud subscription.
:::tip
If you don't have a cloud subscription, check out [MiniConstellation](first-steps-local.md), which lets you set up a local Constellation cluster using virtualization.
:::
## Create a cluster
1. Create the configuration file for your selected cloud provider.
```bash
constellation config generate azure
```
```bash
constellation config generate gcp
```
This creates the file `constellation-conf.yaml` in your current working directory.
2. Fill in your cloud provider specific information.
You need several resources for the cluster. You can use the following `az` script to create them:
```bash
RESOURCE_GROUP=constellation # enter name of new resource group for your cluster here
LOCATION=westus # enter location of resources here
SUBSCRIPTION_ID=$(az account show --query id --out tsv)
SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME=constell
az group create --name "${RESOURCE_GROUP}" --location "${LOCATION}"
az group create --name "${RESOURCE_GROUP}-identity" --location "${LOCATION}"
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "${SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME}" --role Owner --scopes "/subscriptions/${SUBSCRIPTION_ID}/resourceGroups/${RESOURCE_GROUP}" | tee azureServiceAccountKey.json
az identity create -g "${RESOURCE_GROUP}-identity" -n "${SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME}"
identityID=$(az identity show -n "${SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME}" -g "${RESOURCE_GROUP}-identity" --query principalId --out tsv)
az role assignment create --assignee-principal-type ServicePrincipal --assignee-object-id "${identityID}" --role 'Virtual Machine Contributor' --scope "/subscriptions/${SUBSCRIPTION_ID}"
az role assignment create --assignee-principal-type ServicePrincipal --assignee-object-id "${identityID}" --role 'Application Insights Component Contributor' --scope "/subscriptions/${SUBSCRIPTION_ID}"
echo "subscription: ${SUBSCRIPTION_ID}
tenant: $(az account show --query tenantId -o tsv)
location: ${LOCATION}
resourceGroup: ${RESOURCE_GROUP}
userAssignedIdentity: $(az identity show -n "${SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_NAME}" -g "${RESOURCE_GROUP}-identity" --query id --out tsv)
appClientID: $(jq -r '.appId' azureServiceAccountKey.json)
clientSecretValue: $(jq -r '.password' azureServiceAccountKey.json)"
```
Fill the values produced by the script into your configuration file.
By default, Constellation uses `Standard_DC4as_v5` CVMs (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM) to create your cluster. Optionally, you can switch to a different VM type by modifying **instanceType** in the configuration file. For CVMs, any VM type with a minimum of 4 vCPUs from the [DCasv5 & DCadsv5](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/dcasv5-dcadsv5-series) or [ECasv5 & ECadsv5](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/ecasv5-ecadsv5-series) families is supported.
Run `constellation config instance-types` to get the list of all supported options.
* **subscription**: The UUID of your Azure subscription, e.g., `8b8bd01f-efd9-4113-9bd1-c82137c32da7`.
You can view your subscription UUID via `az account show` and read the `id` field. For more information refer to [Azure's documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-portal/get-subscription-tenant-id#find-your-azure-subscription).
* **tenant**: The UUID of your Azure tenant, e.g., `3400e5a2-8fe2-492a-886c-38cb66170f25`.
You can view your tenant UUID via `az account show` and read the `tenant` field. For more information refer to [Azure's documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-portal/get-subscription-tenant-id#find-your-azure-ad-tenant).
* **location**: The Azure datacenter location you want to deploy your cluster in, e.g., `westus`. CVMs are currently only supported in a few regions, check [Azure's products available by region](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/services/?products=virtual-machines®ions=all). These are:
* `westus`
* `eastus`
* `northeurope`
* `westeurope`
* **resourceGroup**: [Create a new resource group in Azure](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/manage-resource-groups-portal) for your Constellation cluster. Set this configuration field to the name of the created resource group.
* **userAssignedIdentity**: [Create a new managed identity in Azure](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/how-manage-user-assigned-managed-identities). You should create the identity in a different resource group as all resources within the cluster resource group will be deleted on cluster termination.
Add two role assignments to the identity: `Virtual Machine Contributor` and `Application Insights Component Contributor`. The `scope` of both should refer to the previously created cluster resource group.
Set the configuration value to the full ID of the created identity, e.g., `/subscriptions/8b8bd01f-efd9-4113-9bd1-c82137c32da7/resourcegroups/constellation-identity/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/constellation-identity`. You can get it by opening the `JSON View` from the `Overview` section of the identity.
The user-assigned identity is used by instances of the cluster to access other cloud resources.
For more information about managed identities refer to [Azure's documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/how-manage-user-assigned-managed-identities).
* **appClientID**: [Create a new app registration in Azure](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/develop/quickstart-register-app).
Set `Supported account types` to `Accounts in this organizational directory only` and leave the `Redirect URI` empty.
Set the configuration value to the `Application (client) ID`, e.g., `86ec31dd-532b-4a8c-a055-dd23f25fb12f`.
In the cluster resource group, go to `Access Control (IAM)` and set the created app registration as `Owner`.
* **clientSecretValue**: In the previously created app registration, go to `Certificates & secrets` and create a new `Client secret`.
Set the configuration value to the secret value.
* **instanceType**: The VM type you want to use for your Constellation nodes.
For CVMs, any type with a minimum of 4 vCPUs from the [DCasv5 & DCadsv5](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/dcasv5-dcadsv5-series) or [ECasv5 & ECadsv5](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/ecasv5-ecadsv5-series) families is supported. It defaults to `Standard_DC4as_v5` (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM).
Run `constellation config instance-types` to get the list of all supported options.
You need a service account for the cluster. You can use the following `gcloud` script to create it:
```bash
SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID=constell # enter name of service account here
PROJECT_ID= # enter project id here
SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL=${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID}@${PROJECT_ID}.iam.gserviceaccount.com
gcloud iam service-accounts create "${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID}" --description="Service account used inside Constellation" --display-name="Constellation service account" --project="${PROJECT_ID}"
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding "${PROJECT_ID}" --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL}" --role='roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1'
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding "${PROJECT_ID}" --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL}" --role='roles/compute.networkAdmin'
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding "${PROJECT_ID}" --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL}" --role='roles/compute.securityAdmin'
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding "${PROJECT_ID}" --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL}" --role='roles/compute.storageAdmin'
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding "${PROJECT_ID}" --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL}" --role='roles/iam.serviceAccountUser'
gcloud iam service-accounts keys create gcpServiceAccountKey.json --iam-account="${SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL}"
echo "project: ${PROJECT_ID}
serviceAccountKeyPath: $(realpath gcpServiceAccountKey.json)"
```
Fill the values produced by the script into your configuration file.
By default, Constellation uses `n2d-standard-4` VMs (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM) to create your cluster. Optionally, you can switch to a different VM type by modifying **instanceType** in the configuration file. Supported are all machines from the N2D family. Refer to [N2D machine series](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/general-purpose-machines#n2d_machines) or run `constellation config instance-types` to get the list of all supported options.
* **project**: The ID of your GCP project, e.g., `constellation-129857`.
You can find it on the [welcome screen of your GCP project](https://console.cloud.google.com/welcome). For more information refer to [Google's documentation](https://support.google.com/googleapi/answer/7014113).
* **region**: The GCP region you want to deploy your cluster in, e.g., `us-west1`.
You can find a [list of all regions in Google's documentation](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/regions-zones#available).
* **zone**: The GCP zone you want to deploy your cluster in, e.g., `us-west1-a`.
You can find a [list of all zones in Google's documentation](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/regions-zones#available).
* **serviceAccountKeyPath**: To configure this, you need to create a GCP [service account](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-accounts) with the following permissions:
* `Compute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1)`
* `Compute Network Admin (roles/compute.networkAdmin)`
* `Compute Security Admin (roles/compute.securityAdmin)`
* `Compute Storage Admin (roles/compute.storageAdmin)`
* `Service Account User (roles/iam.serviceAccountUser)`
Afterward, create and download a new JSON key for this service account. Place the downloaded file in your Constellation workspace, and set the config parameter to the filename, e.g., `constellation-129857-15343dba46cb.json`.
* **instanceType**: The VM type you want to use for your Constellation nodes.
Supported are all machines from the N2D family with a minimum of 4 vCPUs. It defaults to `n2d-standard-4` (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM), but you can use any other VMs from the same family. Refer to [N2D machine series](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/general-purpose-machines#n2d_machines) or run `constellation config instance-types` to get the list of all supported options.
:::info
In case you don't have access to CVMs on Azure, you may use less secure [trusted launch VMs](../workflows/trusted-launch.md) instead. For this, set **confidentialVM** to `false` in the configuration file.
:::
3. Download the trusted measurements for your configured image.
```bash
constellation config fetch-measurements
```
For details, see the [verification section](../workflows/verify-cluster.md).
4. Create the cluster with one control-plane node and two worker nodes. `constellation create` uses options set in `constellation-conf.yaml`.
:::tip
On Azure, you may need to wait 15+ minutes at this point for role assignments to propagate.
:::
```bash
constellation create --control-plane-nodes 1 --worker-nodes 2 -y
```
This should give the following output:
```shell-session
$ constellation create ...
Your Constellation cluster was created successfully.
```
5. Initialize the cluster
```bash
constellation init
```
This should give the following output:
```shell-session
$ constellation init
Your Constellation master secret was successfully written to ./constellation-mastersecret.json
Initializing cluster ...
Your Constellation cluster was successfully initialized.
Constellation cluster identifier g6iMP5wRU1b7mpOz2WEISlIYSfdAhB0oNaOg6XEwKFY=
Kubernetes configuration constellation-admin.conf
You can now connect to your cluster by executing:
export KUBECONFIG="$PWD/constellation-admin.conf"
```
The cluster's identifier will be different in your output.
Keep `constellation-mastersecret.json` somewhere safe.
This will allow you to [recover your cluster](../workflows/recovery.md) in case of a disaster.
:::info
Depending on your CSP and region, `constellation init` may take 10+ minutes to complete.
:::
6. Configure kubectl
```bash
export KUBECONFIG="$PWD/constellation-admin.conf"
```
## Deploy a sample application
1. Deploy the [emojivoto app](https://github.com/BuoyantIO/emojivoto)
```bash
kubectl apply -k github.com/BuoyantIO/emojivoto/kustomize/deployment
```
2. Expose the frontend service locally
```bash
kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=60s -n emojivoto --all deployments
kubectl -n emojivoto port-forward svc/web-svc 8080:80 &
curl http://localhost:8080
kill %1
```
## Terminate your cluster
```bash
constellation terminate
```
This should give the following output:
```shell-session
$ constellation terminate
Terminating ...
Your Constellation cluster was terminated successfully.
```
:::tip
On Azure, if you have used the `az` script, you can keep the prerequisite resources and reuse them for a new cluster.
Or you can delete them:
```bash
RESOURCE_GROUP=constellation # name of your cluster resource group
APPID=$(jq -r '.appId' azureServiceAccountKey.json)
az ad sp delete --id "${APPID}"
az group delete -g "${RESOURCE_GROUP}-identity" --yes --no-wait
az group delete -g "${RESOURCE_GROUP}" --yes --no-wait
```
:::