Upgrading Windows nodes

FEATURE STATE: Kubernetes v1.18 [beta]

This page explains how to upgrade a Windows node created with kubeadm.

Before you begin

You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. It is recommended to run this tutorial on a cluster with at least two nodes that are not acting as control plane hosts. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using minikube or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:

Your Kubernetes server must be at or later than version 1.17. To check the version, enter kubectl version.

Upgrading worker nodes

Upgrade kubeadm

  1. From the Windows node, upgrade kubeadm:

    1. # replace 1.30.0 with your desired version
    2. curl.exe -Lo <path-to-kubeadm.exe> "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.30.0/bin/windows/amd64/kubeadm.exe"

Drain the node

  1. From a machine with access to the Kubernetes API, prepare the node for maintenance by marking it unschedulable and evicting the workloads:

    1. # replace <node-to-drain> with the name of your node you are draining
    2. kubectl drain <node-to-drain> --ignore-daemonsets

    You should see output similar to this:

    1. node/ip-172-31-85-18 cordoned
    2. node/ip-172-31-85-18 drained

Upgrade the kubelet configuration

  1. From the Windows node, call the following command to sync new kubelet configuration:

    1. kubeadm upgrade node

Upgrade kubelet and kube-proxy

  1. From the Windows node, upgrade and restart the kubelet:

    1. stop-service kubelet
    2. curl.exe -Lo <path-to-kubelet.exe> "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.30.0/bin/windows/amd64/kubelet.exe"
    3. restart-service kubelet
  2. From the Windows node, upgrade and restart the kube-proxy.

    1. stop-service kube-proxy
    2. curl.exe -Lo <path-to-kube-proxy.exe> "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.30.0/bin/windows/amd64/kube-proxy.exe"
    3. restart-service kube-proxy

Note: If you are running kube-proxy in a HostProcess container within a Pod, and not as a Windows Service, you can upgrade kube-proxy by applying a newer version of your kube-proxy manifests.

Uncordon the node

  1. From a machine with access to the Kubernetes API, bring the node back online by marking it schedulable:

    1. # replace <node-to-drain> with the name of your node
    2. kubectl uncordon <node-to-drain>

What’s next