Deploy a K3s cluster with Astra

Use this model when you want Astra to be its own replicated datastore tier instead of sharing a host with K3s.

Topology

• 3 Astra nodes minimum for the control-plane datastore
• 1 or 3 K3s server nodes depending on your HA target
• additional worker nodes as needed

Design rules

• keep Astra peer traffic and client traffic explicit,
• give K3s all Astra client endpoints in --datastore-endpoint,
• reserve memory and IO for Astra instead of treating it like a sidecar,
• validate kubectl get crd, LIST-heavy workloads, and watch fanout before production cutover.

Example K3s server install

curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | \
  INSTALL_K3S_EXEC="server \
    --write-kubeconfig-mode 644 \
    --disable servicelb \
    --snapshotter stargz \
    --datastore-endpoint 'http://10.0.0.11:2379,http://10.0.0.12:2379,http://10.0.0.13:2379'" \
  sh -

Validation checklist

• all K3s servers are Ready
• Astra quorum is healthy across all client endpoints
• CRD discovery succeeds without chunk-size workarounds
• ingress and storage smoke tests succeed
• restart behavior is predictable after host or node reboots