1. Open Azure Portal and Search for Kubernetes Service

• Go to https://portal.azure.com
  
• In the search bar, type “Kubernetes services” and select it
  
  
• Click “Create” to begin creating a new AKS cluster

2. Configure Basics

• Subscription: Select your active subscription
  
  
• Resource group: Create or select one ( marty-rg)
  
  
• Cluster name: Enter a name ( marty-aks)
  
  
• Region: Choose your preferred region
  
  
• Kubernetes version: Leave default or choose the latest stable version

3. Configure Node Pool (3 Nodes)

• Node size: Choose a VM size like Standard_DS2_v2
  
  
• Node count: Set initial node count to 3
  
  
• Node pool name:  marty-nodepool
  
  
• Leave auto-scaling disabled unless required

4. Configure Access

• Under the Access tab:
  
  
  • Authentication method: Select System-assigned managed identity
    
    
  • Enable RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
    
    
  • Optionally, integrate with Azure Active Directory

5. Networking Configuration

• Choose Azure CNI networking (for advanced network control)
  
  
• Leave default networking values unless you have a custom VNet
  
  
• Keep HTTP application routing disabled for now

6. Review + Create

• Click through tabs or directly go to Review + create
  
  
• Validate settings, and once complete, click Create
  
  
• The cluster will take a few minutes to deploy

7. Access the AKS Cluster

• After deployment, go to the Kubernetes service resource
  
  
• Click “Connect” and follow the instructions to download and use kubectl
  
  

Run the following to verify cluster connection:

az aks get-credentials –resource-group marty-rg –name marty-aks 

kubectl get nodes