
KubeSphere Lite is a SaaS solution launched by the KubeSphere team. On the KubeSphere Cloud platform, users can create a managed Kubernetes cluster with a few clicks and quickly get started with feature-rich KubeSphere.

Describe features and application scenarios of the KubeSphere Lite on KubeSphere Cloud.

Overview


This topic introduces the billing items, subscriptions, and renewal methods of KubeSphere Lite.

## Billing items

KubeSphere Lite is billed based on the duration of cluster usage, which is the quota that you can use. Multiple clusters can share the cluster usage duration.

## Subscriptions

KubeSphere Lite offers a free version for individuals. To meet your various business needs, we also provide Standard, Professional, and Exclusive versions. Please refer to the table below for differences between different versions.

  <table>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
      	<th width="5%">Version</th>
        <th width="30%">Pricing/Month</th>
       	<th width="35%">Usage Duration (h)</th>
       	<th width="5%">Maximum Clusters</th>
        <th width="10%">Specifications</th>
        <th width="10%">Applicable To</th>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Free</td>
        <td>Free</td>
        <td>10</td>
        <td>1</td>
        <td>2C4G, shared by all nodes</td>
        <td>Individuals</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Standard</td>
        <td>
         	Fees vary depending on the duration you use:
           <ul>
             <li>200 h: $ 38/month</li>
             <li>600 h: $ 105/month</li>
             <li>1,000 h: $ 168/month</li>
           </ul>
        </td>
        <td>3 specifications: 200, 600, 1000</td>
        <td>3</td>
        <td>4C8G, shared by all nodes</td>
        <td>Learning and business demo</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>（Recommended）Professional</td>
        <td>
         	Fees vary depending on the duration you use:
           <ul>
             <li>200 h: $ 70/month</li>
             <li>600 h: $ 188/month</li>
             <li>1,000 h: $ 300/month</li>
           </ul>
        </td>
        <td>3 specifications: 200, 600, 1000</td>
        <td>20</td>
        <td>8C16G, shared by all nodes</td>
        <td>Test and training by teams</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <td>Exclusive</td>
        <td>Pay as you go</td>
        <td>Customizable</td>
        <td>Customizable</td>
        <td>Customizable</td>
        <td>Enterprises</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>

## Change of subscription

After you subscribe to the service, you can change your subscription according to your needs. The billing formula is described as follows:

Amount paid = Amount payable of new subscription － (Amount payable of current subscription/Days of current subscription) x (Days of current subscription － Used days of current subscription)

## Renewal

The Service currently supports renewal of the same subscription or upgrading to a higher-level subscription. Renewal to a lower-level subscription is not supported.

## Out of credit

The Service will send you a notice starting from 7 days before your subscription expires. You can click **Subscribe Now** to renew your subscription. 

If you do not renew your subscription in time, we will still offer the Free version with 10 h free quotas, which will be reduced to 0 at the end of the month.

Introduces the billing items, subscriptions, and renewal methods of KubeSphere Lite.

Billing

Describe how to use the KubeSphere Lite on KubeSphere Cloud.

KubeSphere Lite


This topic describes how to create a lite cluster (managed Kubernetes cluster) on KubeSphere Cloud and access KubeSphere.

## Prerequisites

You have [registered an account](https://kubesphere.cloud/en/sign-up/).

## Procedure

1. Log in to the KubeSphere Cloud Platform with your account.

2. In the upper-right corner, hover your cursor over the username area and click **Console** from the drop-down list.

3. In the navigation pane on the left, click **Lite Cluster**.

4. Click **Create Lite Cluster** on the right page.

   <Notice type='note'>

   - You can also create a managed Kubernetes cluster on the **Overview** and **Resource Management** pages.
   - Currently, only one managed Kubernetes cluster can be created.

   </Notice>

5. On the **Create Kubernetes Cluster** page, enter a cluster name, and choose a cluster tag.

6. In **Cluster Settings**, choose cluster specifications. The following specifications are supported:

   | Specifications | Description                                               |
   | -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
   | Basic          | 2C4G (shared by 1 Master node and 1 worker node)          |
   | Standard       | 4C8G（shared by 1 Master node and 1 worker node）         |
   | Professional   | 8C16G（shared by 1 Master node and up to 3 worker nodes） |
   | Exclusive      | Customize cluster specifications                          |

   <Notice type='note'>

   In KubeSphere Lite Basic, KubeSphere Backup and some KubeSphere components may not be installed due to insufficient resources. To install all KubeSphere components, upgrade KubeSphere Lite to a higher version.

   All nodes share cluster resources. For example, if you create a standard cluster, one Master node and one Worker node share the 4C8G resources.

   </Notice>

7. In **Cluster Settings**, determine whether to install KubeSphere, and then click **Create**. On the **Cluster Details** page, you can view the cluster details, such as Kubernetes and KubeSphere versions and node specifications.

   <Notice type='note'>

   - Currently, node specifications cannot be changed.
   - The free trial of the managed Kubernetes cluster is valid for 2 hours. The managed cluster will be deleted after expiry. If you want to continue using the service, create a managed Kubernetes cluster again.
   - To get you started with the latest version of KubeSphere, we provide KubeSphere v3.3.2 by default. You are advised to install KubeSphere in advance. If not, you can go to the **Cluster Details** page and click **Edit** to go to the installation page, but the installation may take 8 to 15 minutes.

   </Notice>

8. On the **System Components** tab, you can enable or disable the backup and inspection components.

9. On the **Resources** tab, view the node information.

   <table border="1">
     <tbody>
     	<tr>
       	<th>Parameter</th>
         <th>Description</th>
       </tr>
       <tr>
       	<td><b>Name</b></td>
         <td>User-defined cluster name.</td>
       </tr>
       <tr>
       	<td><b>Role</b></td>
         <td>Role assigned to the node.</td>
       </tr>
       <tr>
       	<td><b>Status</b></td>
         <td>
         	Status of the cluster, which can be either of the following:
           <ul>
             <li>Ready: The managed cluster has been created.</li>
             <li>Creating: The managed cluster is being created.</li>
           </ul>
         </td>
       </tr>
     </tbody>
   </table>

10. Click the **Network** tab to view the created external service.

11. On the upper-right corner of the page, click **Access KubeSphere**. On the login page, enter the username and password (username: `admin`, password: `P@88w0rd`）to get started with KubeSphere.

   <Notice type='note'>

    If you are a Kubernetes veteran, you can click **View Kubeconfig** on the **Cluster Details** page, copy or download the Kubeconfig content, and use Kubectl to access and manage the newly created Kubernetes cluster.

    A minimal KubeSphere is installed by default. To learn about more features of KubeSphere , please visit the [KubeSphere official website](https://kubesphere.io/).

   </Notice>
s

Describe how to create a lite Kubernetes cluster on KubeSphere Cloud and access KubeSphere.

Create a lite cluster


This topic describes how to create a lite cluster (managed Kubernetes cluster) on KubeSphere Cloud to expose HTTP or HTTPS services.

## Prerequisites

You have [created a lite cluster](../create-lite-cluster/).

## Procedure

To expose your service, you need to create an external service first. Here, `nginx` is used to exemplify how to quickly create an external service.

### Create a workload

1. On the KubeSphere console, click **Platform > Cluster Management**.

2. On the navigation pane on the left, click **Application Workloads > Workloads**.

3. On the **Deployments** tab, click **Create**.

4. In the **Create Deployment** dialog box, enter a name of the deployment, for example, `nginx`, and choose a project, for example, `default`.

5. On the **Pod Settings** tab, click **Add Container**, enter `nginx` in the search box and press **Enter**. In the pop-up area, click **Use Default Ports**, and click **Next**.

   <Notice type='note'>

   Record the default port. In this example, the default port is `80`.

   </Notice>

6. On the **Storage Settings** tab, you can mount a volume, configmap or secret. Also, you can skip this step. Click **Next**.

7. On the **Advanced Settings** tab, click **Add Metadata** and record the key and value in the **Labels** area (key: `app`, value: `nginx`, and then click **Create**.

   When the status of `nginx` is `running`, the deployment has been successfully created.

### Create a service

1. On the navigation pane on the left, click **Application Workloads > Workloads**.

2. On the **Services** page on the right, click **Create**.

3. On the **Create Service** dialog box, enter a service name, for example, `nginx`， choose project `defalut`, and then click **Next**.

   <Notice type='note'>

   Ensure that the selected projects are the same when you create a workload and service.

   </Notice>

4. In the **Workload Selector** area of **Service Settings**, enter the recorded key and value (key: `app`, value: `nginx`).

5. In **Ports**, select a protocol, enter a protocol name, container port, and service port. Here, enter container port `80` recorded when the deployment was created, and then click **Next**.

   <Notice type='note'>

   - Currently, only HTTP and HTTPS services can be exposed.
   - Exposing internal services whose `ClusterIP` is `None` is not supported.

   </Notice>

6. In **Advanced Settings**, click **Create**, and then you can view the created service on the **Sevices** page.

7. Click the service to go to its details page. On the left pane, select **More > Edit External Access**, set the access mode to **NodePort**, and click **OK**.

### Expose the internal service

1. On the KubeSphere Cloud console, click **Lite Cluster**.

2. On the **Cluster Details** page, click **Network**.

3. In **External Service**, click **Create**.

4. On the **Create External Service** page on the right, set a name of the external service, for example, `nginx`， choose an Internal protocol, select the created `nginx` service, and then click **OK**.

5. In **Network**, click the access address to access `nginx`.


Describe how to use the lite cluster to expose HTTP or HTTPS services.

Use a lite cluster

Quickstarts

KubeSphere Lite is a SaaS solution on KubeSphere Cloud, where you can create a managed Kubernetes cluster and quickly get started with KubeSphere.