---
title: Creating an Aliyun ACK Cluster
---

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You can use Rancher to create a cluster hosted in Alibaba Cloud Kubernetes (ACK). Rancher has already implemented and packaged the [cluster driver](../../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/about-provisioning-drivers/manage-cluster-drivers.md) for ACK, but by default, this cluster driver is `inactive`. In order to launch ACK clusters, you will need to [enable the ACK cluster driver](../../authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/about-provisioning-drivers/manage-cluster-drivers.md#activatingdeactivating-cluster-drivers). After enabling the cluster driver, you can start provisioning ACK clusters.

## Prerequisites Outside of Rancher

:::caution

Deploying to ACK will incur charges.

:::

1. In Aliyun, activate the following services in their respective consoles.

    - [Container Service](https://cs.console.aliyun.com)
    - [Resource Orchestration Service](https://ros.console.aliyun.com)
    - [RAM](https://ram.console.aliyun.com)

2. Make sure that the account you will be using to create the ACK cluster has the appropriate permissions. Referring to the official Alibaba Cloud documentation about [Role authorization](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/86483.htm) and [Use the Container Service console as a RAM user](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/86484.htm) for details.

3. In Alibaba Cloud, create an [access key](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/53045.html).

4. In Alibaba Cloud, create an [SSH key pair](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/51793.html). This key is used to access nodes in the Kubernetes cluster.

## Prerequisite in Rancher

You will need to enable the Alibaba ACK cluster driver:

1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
1. Click **Drivers**.
1. In the **Cluster Drivers** tab, go to the **Alibaba ACK** cluster driver and click **⋮ > Activate**.

When the cluster driver is finished downloading, you will be able to create Alibaba ACK clusters in Rancher.

## Create an ACK Cluster

1. Click **☰ > Cluster Management**.
1. From the **Clusters** page, click **Create**.
1. Choose **Alibaba ACK**.
1. Enter a **Cluster Name**.
1. Use **Member Roles** to configure user authorization for the cluster. Click **Add Member** to add users that can access the cluster. Use the **Role** drop-down to set permissions for each user.
1. Configure **Account Access** for the ACK cluster. Choose the geographical region in which to build your cluster, and input the access key that was created as part of the prerequisite steps.
1. Click **Next: Configure Cluster**, then choose cluster type, the version of Kubernetes and the availability zone.
1. If you choose **Kubernetes** as the cluster type, Click **Next: Configure Master Nodes**, then complete the **Master Nodes** form.
1. Click **Next: Configure Worker Nodes**, then complete the **Worker Nodes** form.
1. Review your options to confirm they're correct. Then click **Create**.

**Result:**

Your cluster is created and assigned a state of **Provisioning**. Rancher is standing up your cluster.

You can access your cluster after its state is updated to **Active**.

**Active** clusters are assigned two Projects:

- `Default`, containing the `default` namespace
- `System`, containing the `cattle-system`, `ingress-nginx`, `kube-public`, and `kube-system` namespaces
