NATS Cluster and Cert Manager

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First we need to install the cert-manager component from jetstack:
kubectl create namespace cert-manager
kubectl label namespace cert-manager certmanager.k8s.io/disable-validation=true
kubectl apply --validate=false -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v0.14.0/cert-manager.yaml
If you are running Kubernetes < 1.15, use cert-manager-legacy.yaml instead.
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1alpha2
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: selfsigning
spec:
  selfSigned: {}
clusterissuer.certmanager.k8s.io/selfsigning unchanged
Next, let's create the CA for the certs:
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1alpha2
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: nats-ca
spec:
  secretName: nats-ca
  duration: 8736h # 1 year
  renewBefore: 240h # 10 days
  issuerRef:
    name: selfsigning
    kind: ClusterIssuer
  commonName: nats-ca
  usages:
  - cert sign
  organization:
  - Your organization
  isCA: true
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1alpha2
kind: Issuer
metadata:
  name: nats-ca
spec:
  ca:
    secretName: nats-ca
Now create the certs that will match the DNS name used by the clients to connect, in this case traffic is within Kubernetes so we are using the name nats which is backed up by a headless service (here is an example of sample deployment)
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1alpha2
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: nats-server-tls
spec:
  secretName: nats-server-tls
  duration: 2160h # 90 days
  renewBefore: 240h # 10 days
  issuerRef:
    name: nats-ca
    kind: Issuer
  usages:
  - signing
  - key encipherment
  - server auth
  organization:
  - Your organization
  commonName: nats.default.svc.cluster.local
  dnsNames:
  - nats.default.svc
In case of using the NATS operator, the Routes use a service named $YOUR_CLUSTER-mgmt (this may change in the future)
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1alpha2
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: nats-routes-tls
spec:
  secretName: nats-routes-tls
  duration: 2160h # 90 days
  renewBefore: 240h # 10 days
  issuerRef:
    name: nats-ca
    kind: Issuer
  usages:
  - signing
  - key encipherment
  - server auth
  - client auth
  organization:
  - Your organization
  commonName: "*.nats-mgmt.default.svc.cluster.local"
  dnsNames:
  - "*.nats-mgmt.default.svc"
Now let's create an example NATS cluster with the operator:
apiVersion: "nats.io/v1alpha2"
kind: "NatsCluster"
metadata:
  name: "nats"
spec:
  # Number of nodes in the cluster
  size: 3
  version: "2.1.4"
​
  tls:
    # Certificates to secure the NATS client connections:
    serverSecret: "nats-server-tls"
​
    # Name of the CA in serverSecret
    serverSecretCAFileName: "ca.crt"
​
    # Name of the key in serverSecret
    serverSecretKeyFileName: "tls.key"
​
    # Name of the certificate in serverSecret
    serverSecretCertFileName: "tls.crt"
​
    # Certificates to secure the routes.
    routesSecret: "nats-routes-tls"
​
    # Name of the CA in routesSecret
    routesSecretCAFileName: "ca.crt"
​
    # Name of the key in routesSecret
    routesSecretKeyFileName: "tls.key"
​
    # Name of the certificate in routesSecret
    routesSecretCertFileName: "tls.crt"
Confirm that the pods were deployed:
kubectl get pods -o wide
NAME     READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE   IP            NODE       NOMINATED NODE
nats-1   1/1     Running   0          4s    172.17.0.8    minikube   <none>
nats-2   1/1     Running   0          3s    172.17.0.9    minikube   <none>
nats-3   1/1     Running   0          2s    172.17.0.10   minikube   <none>
Follow the logs:
kubectl logs nats-1
[1] 2019/12/18 12:27:23.920417 [INF] Starting nats-server version 2.1.4
[1] 2019/12/18 12:27:23.920590 [INF] Git commit [not set]
[1] 2019/12/18 12:27:23.921024 [INF] Listening for client connections on 0.0.0.0:4222
[1] 2019/12/18 12:27:23.921047 [INF] Server id is NDA6JC3TGEADLLBEPFAQ4BN4PM3WBN237KIXVTFCY3JSTDOSRRVOJCXN
[1] 2019/12/18 12:27:23.921055 [INF] Server is ready
Creating a Kubernetes Cluster
Securing a NATS Cluster with cfssl
Last modified 8mo ago
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