Setting Up a Production-Ready Kubernetes Cluster on RHEL 9.7

Running Kubernetes on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a common requirement in enterprise environments, especially in regulated industries where stability, security, and support matter. This guide walks through how to set up a Kubernetes cluster on RHEL 9.7, using a multi-node architecture suitable for production workloads. Architecture Overview A typical production setup includes: Control Plane Nodes (3) API server scheduler controller manager etcd (stacked or external) Worker Nodes run application workloads Load Balancer (recommended) provides a single endpoint for the API server This design ensures: high availability fault tolerance scalability System Requirements Each node should have: RHEL 9.7 installed at least 2 CPUs (4+ recommended) 4GB RAM minimum (8GB+ recommended) stable network connectivity unique hostname Step 1: Disable Swap Kubernetes requires swap to be disabled. sudo swapoff -a Remove it permanently: sudo sed -i '/swap/d' /etc/fstab Verify free -h swapon --show Step