Quickstart for K3S

k3s is a lightweight, easy to install Kubernetes distribution geared towards resource-constrained environments and low touch operations. Some use cases in which k3s really shines are edge, ARM, IoT, and CI.

Deploy K3S on Elestio

1. Open the K3S deployment page and sign in, or create an account.
2. Choose a cloud provider, a region and a data center. Pick the region closest to your users for the lowest latency.
3. Choose an instance size. Elestio only lists the sizes that can run K3S properly (at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB of RAM).
4. Choose your support plan and the maintenance window for system and software updates (times are in UTC).
5. Click Create Service. K3S is deployed and ready in a few minutes, and you receive an email with the access details.

The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the installation guide.

Access K3S

Open your service in the Elestio dashboard and go to the Overview tab. Click Display Admin UI to reveal the URL, username and password of your K3S instance.

If the password field is blank, K3S does not ship with a pre-created admin user: open the admin URL to start its setup. Software without a web interface, such as databases, is reached with the credentials and port listed in the same tab. See Admin UI and credentials.

Next steps

• Custom domain and SSL: point your own domain to K3S (guide).
• Backups: new services follow a 3-2-1 backup strategy by default (backups).
• Updates: manage the K3S version and update policy (software versions and updates).
• Learn K3S: read the official K3S documentation.