How to Install and Use Rancher: A Step‑by‑Step Guide for Kubernetes Management

What is Rancher

Rancher is a Kubernetes management tool that lets you deploy and run clusters on any provider or location. It can create clusters from managed Kubernetes services, provision nodes and install Kubernetes, or import existing clusters. Rancher adds unified authentication and RBAC across clusters, fine‑grained monitoring, alerting, log forwarding, Helm integration via an Application Catalog, and supports CI/CD integration or its built‑in Fleet for automated workload deployment and upgrades. It is a full‑stack Kubernetes container management platform.

This document records how to install and use Rancher.

Checking System and Software Versions

# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core)
# uname -a
Linux CentOS7K8SMaster01063 3.10.0-1160.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Oct 19 16:18:59 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
# kubectl version
Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"13", GitVersion:"v1.13.4", GitCommit:"c27b913fddd1a6c480c229191a087698aa92f0b1", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2019-02-28T13:37:52Z", GoVersion:"go1.11.5", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}
Server Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"13", GitVersion:"v1.13.4", GitCommit:"c27b913fddd1a6c480c229191a087698aa92f0b1", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2019-02-28T13:30:26Z", GoVersion:"go1.11.5", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}

Installation and Configuration

Install Docker

# Update repository
sudo yum install -y yum-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
# Install Docker packages
sudo yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Pull Rancher image (use version matching your Kubernetes version; for K8s 1.13.4 use Rancher v2.3.3)

docker pull rancher/rancher:v2.3.3

Run the container

docker run --privileged -d --restart=unless-stopped -p 80:80 -p 443:443 rancher/rancher:v2.3.3

Parameter explanation:

# Run Docker
docker run
# Grant privileged mode (container has root access to the host)
--privileged
# Run in background
-d
# Restart automatically unless stopped
--restart=unless-stopped
# Port mapping
-p 80:80 -p 443:443
# Image to run
rancher/rancher:v2.3.3

Access and initial setup (use HTTPS)

https://<ip>:<port>

On first login change the admin password.

Set language to Chinese.

Add a cluster (import an existing one).

Cluster name cannot contain Chinese characters.

If using a self‑signed certificate, run the following command on the master node:

Configure alerts:

First add a notification channel.

Add alert rules in the default alert group by right‑clicking and selecting upgrade.