aws-elasticache-controller-fips

packaged by Chainguard

Chainguard Container for aws-elasticache-controller-fips

A minimal, Wolfi-based, FIPS-enabled image for the AWS Controllers for Kubernetes (ACK) service controller for Amazon ElastiCache.

Chainguard Containers are regularly-updated, secure-by-default container images.

Download this Container Image

For those with access, this container image is available on cgr.dev:

docker pull cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/aws-elasticache-controller-fips:latest

Be sure to replace the ORGANIZATION placeholder with the name used for your organization's private repository within the Chainguard Registry.

Compatibility Notes

Chainguard's aws-elasticache-controller-fips image is the FIPS-enabled variant of the aws-elasticache-controller image and a drop-in replacement for it. It is comparable to the elasticache-controller image published by AWS in functionality: the controller binary is available at /bin/controller (the path the upstream image and Helm chart use) and the image runs as the nonroot user 1000.

FIPS Support

This image is built with the go-msft toolchain, so the controller's Go standard-library cryptography is serviced by the OpenSSL FIPS provider (the image includes openssl-config-fipshardened) instead of Go's native implementations. TLS to the Kubernetes API server and to AWS therefore uses only FIPS-approved algorithms. A tampered or missing OpenSSL FIPS module does not silently downgrade to unvalidated cryptography: the toolchain falls back to its own embedded FIPS module, and where that fallback is disabled the process aborts instead of continuing. See the FIPS-enabled images guide for supported configurations and operating requirements.

Getting Started

The controller is deployed with the official ACK (AWS Controllers for Kubernetes) Helm chart, oci://public.ecr.aws/aws-controllers-k8s/elasticache-chart, published in the ACK registry within the Amazon ECR Public Gallery. Installing it creates the controller Deployment, the custom resource definitions, the service account, and the RBAC it needs.

The chart is released in lockstep with the controller, so each chart version deploys the controller of the same version. List the versions available with:

crane ls public.ecr.aws/aws-controllers-k8s/elasticache-chart

Create a values.yaml pointing the chart at this image:

cat > values.yaml <<EOF
image:
  repository: cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/aws-elasticache-controller-fips
  tag: latest
aws:
  region: us-east-1
EOF

Then install the chart:

aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1 | helm registry login --username AWS --password-stdin public.ecr.aws

helm install ack-elasticache-controller \
  oci://public.ecr.aws/aws-controllers-k8s/elasticache-chart \
  --namespace ack-system --create-namespace \
  --values values.yaml --wait

Confirm the controller came up and registered its custom resource definitions:

kubectl rollout status deployment -n ack-system -l app.kubernetes.io/name=elasticache-chart
kubectl get crd | grep elasticache.services.k8s.aws

Once running, the controller reconciles ElastiCache custom resources. The chart installs CRDs for nine kinds: CacheCluster, CacheParameterGroup, CacheSubnetGroup, ReplicationGroup, ServerlessCache, ServerlessCacheSnapshot, Snapshot, User, and UserGroup. For example, to create a parameter group:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: elasticache.services.k8s.aws/v1alpha1
kind: CacheParameterGroup
metadata:
  name: my-parameter-group
  namespace: ack-system
spec:
  cacheParameterGroupName: my-parameter-group
  cacheParameterGroupFamily: redis7
  description: Managed by ACK
EOF

The controller writes the result back onto the resource, so a successful reconcile is visible in its status:

kubectl get cacheparametergroup my-parameter-group -n ack-system \
  -o jsonpath='{.status.ackResourceMetadata.arn}'

The deployment is fully functional once the controller has AWS IAM credentials to manage ElastiCache resources. The ACK documentation describes how to configure IAM permissions.

Configuration

The chart's deletionPolicy decides what happens to the AWS resource when its custom resource is deleted. It defaults to delete, which removes the ElastiCache resource along with the Kubernetes object. Set it to retain when the Kubernetes objects are managed by a pipeline that may recreate or prune them, so that deleting a manifest cannot destroy live cache infrastructure:

cat > values.yaml <<EOF
image:
  repository: cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/aws-elasticache-controller-fips
  tag: latest
aws:
  region: us-east-1
deletionPolicy: retain
leaderElection:
  enabled: true
  namespace: ack-system
EOF

Apply it with the same chart. helm upgrade --install both creates the release and updates an existing one, so the same command works whether or not the controller is already deployed:

helm upgrade --install ack-elasticache-controller \
  oci://public.ecr.aws/aws-controllers-k8s/elasticache-chart \
  --namespace ack-system --create-namespace \
  --values values.yaml --wait

Under retain the controller clears its finalizer and leaves the AWS resource in place. leaderElection is worth enabling alongside it whenever the Deployment runs more than one replica, so only one controller reconciles at a time.

To see every value the chart accepts, including the resource-specific reconcile settings:

helm show values oci://public.ecr.aws/aws-controllers-k8s/elasticache-chart

Documentation and Resources

• AWS ElastiCache Controller GitHub project
• ACK controller installation with Helm
• ACK deletion policy documentation
• AWS Controllers for Kubernetes documentation

What are Chainguard Containers?

Chainguard's free tier of Starter container images are built with Wolfi, our minimal Linux undistro.

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• Minimal design, without unnecessary software bloat
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• Verifiable signatures provided by Sigstore
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This software listing is packaged by Chainguard. The trademarks set forth in this offering are owned by their respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement by such companies.