Infrastructure as a Code (IaaC) Installation

Deploy the KloudMate agent across any cloud provider or on-premises infrastructure using Infrastructure as a Code (IaaC) and automation tools.

Deployment Approaches

Method	Best For	Cloud Support
cloud-init	New VMs, ASGs, Scale Sets	All providers
Ansible	Existing VM fleets	All providers + on-prem
Terraform module	IaaC-managed infrastructure	All providers
Packer	Pre-baked machine images	AWS, GCP, Azure

If you are provisioning a new VM or Auto-scaling group, you should use cloud-init via User Data/Custom Data. If you want faster boot times, use Packer to pre-bake the image and cloud-init for config only.

If you are managing an existing fleet, use an Ansible playbook.

If you are managing infrastructure with Terraform, use the Terraform module.

1. cloud-init (Universal)

Works on every provider that supports cloud-init (AWS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean, Alibaba, Hetzner, Vultr, Linode, etc.)

Launch Template User Data

# Encode and attach to launch template
base64 -w0 cloud-init/cloud-init.yaml > /tmp/userdata.b64

aws ec2 create-launch-template \
  --launch-template-name kmagent-template \
  --launch-template-data '{
    "UserData": "'$(cat /tmp/userdata.b64)'"
  }'

Instance Template

gcloud compute instance-templates create kmagent-template \
  --metadata-from-file user-data=cloud-init/cloud-init.yaml \
  --machine-type e2-medium \
  --image-family ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project ubuntu-os-cloud

VM Scale Set

az vmss create \
  --name kmagent-vmss \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --custom-data cloud-init/cloud-init.yaml

doctl compute droplet create kmagent-node \
  --image ubuntu-22-04-x64 \
  --size s-1vcpu-1gb \
  --user-data-file cloud-init/cloud-init.yaml

Paste cloud-init.yaml content into: ECS Console → Instance → Advanced Options → User Data

2. Ansible

Ansible is perfect for deploying the KloudMate agent to existing VM fleets.

Navigate to the Ansible directory

cd ansible/

Set your API key

export KM_API_KEY="your-kloudmate-api-key"

Edit your inventory

Add your hosts to the inventory file:

vim inventories/production.ini

Deploy

ansible-playbook -i inventories/production.ini deploy-kmagent.yml \
  -e "km_api_key=$KM_API_KEY km_endpoint=https://otel.kloudmate.com"

ansible-playbook -i inventories/production.ini deploy-kmagent.yml \
  -e "km_api_key=$KM_API_KEY km_endpoint=https://otel.kloudmate.com" \
  --limit aws

ansible-playbook -i inventories/production.ini deploy-kmagent.yml \
  -e "km_api_key=$KM_API_KEY km_endpoint=https://otel.kloudmate.com" \
  --check --diff

Dynamic Inventory (Auto-discover VMs)

Instead of static inventory files, use cloud-native dynamic inventory plugins:

pip install boto3
ansible-playbook -i aws_ec2.yml deploy-kmagent.yml

Example aws_ec2.yml configuration:

plugin: amazon.aws.aws_ec2
regions:
  - us-east-1
  - us-west-2
  - ap-south-1
filters:
  tag:Environment: production
  instance-state-name: running
keyed_groups:
  - key: tags.Role
    prefix: role
  - key: placement.region
    prefix: region
compose:
  ansible_host: private_ip_address

pip install google-auth
ansible-playbook -i gcp_compute.yml deploy-kmagent.yml

pip install azure-identity azure-mgmt-compute
ansible-playbook -i azure_rm.yml deploy-kmagent.yml

Useful Ansible Commands

# Upgrade agent on all hosts
ansible-playbook deploy-kmagent.yml --tags upgrade \
  -e "kmagent_version=1.2.0"

# Only reconfigure (no reinstall)
ansible-playbook deploy-kmagent.yml --tags configure

# Uninstall from specific hosts
ansible-playbook deploy-kmagent.yml \
  -e "kmagent_state=absent" --limit "gcp"

# Check agent status across fleet
ansible all -i inventories/production.ini -m shell \
  -a "systemctl status kmagent | head -5"

3. Terraform Module

You can easily embed kmagent into your Terraform deployments across any provider using our user-data module.

module "kmagent" {
  source      = "./modules/user-data"
  km_api_key  = var.km_api_key
  km_endpoint = "https://otel.kloudmate.com"
  kmagent_tags = {
    env  = "production"
    team = "platform"
  }
}

AWS Auto Scaling Group

resource "aws_launch_template" "app" {
  name_prefix = "app-"
  user_data   = base64encode(module.kmagent.cloud_init)
}

resource "aws_autoscaling_group" "app" {
  launch_template {
    id      = aws_launch_template.app.id
    version = "$Latest"
  }
  min_size = 2
  max_size = 20
}

GCP Managed Instance Group

resource "google_compute_instance_template" "app" {
  metadata = {
    user-data = module.kmagent.cloud_init
  }
}

Azure VM Scale Set

resource "azurerm_linux_virtual_machine_scale_set" "app" {
  custom_data = base64encode(module.kmagent.cloud_init)
}

resource "digitalocean_droplet" "app" {
  user_data = module.kmagent.cloud_init
}

4. Packer (Pre-baked Images)

Best when you want zero install-time latency. The agent binary is baked into the image; only the config (API key) is injected at boot.

Navigate to the Packer directory

cd packer/

Build your images

packer build -only=amazon-ebs.kmagent \
  -var 'kmagent_version=1.2.0' \
  kmagent-image.pkr.hcl

packer build -only=googlecompute.kmagent \
  -var 'gcp_project=my-project' \
  kmagent-image.pkr.hcl

packer build kmagent-image.pkr.hcl

Deploy

Use the resulting image in your Launch Template / Instance Template, with minimal user-data that only injects the API key.

Secret Management

Never hardcode API keys! Use your cloud's native secret store to securely inject credentials at runtime.

Provider	Service	Retrieval Command
AWS	SSM Parameter Store	`aws ssm get-parameter --name /kloudmate/api-key --with-decryption`
AWS	Secrets Manager	`aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id kloudmate-api-key`
GCP	Secret Manager	`gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=kloudmate-api-key`
Azure	Key Vault	`az keyvault secret show --name kloudmate-api-key --vault-name myvault`
DigitalOcean	Reserved env vars	Set via doctl or Terraform
Alibaba	KMS	`aliyun kms GetSecretValue --SecretName kloudmate-api-key`

Directory Structure

kmagent-deploy/
├── ansible/
│   ├── ansible.cfg
│   ├── deploy-kmagent.yml          # Main playbook
│   ├── inventories/
│   │   └── production.ini          # Static inventory (edit with your hosts)
│   └── roles/
│       └── kmagent/
│           ├── defaults/main.yml   # Configurable variables
│           ├── handlers/main.yml   # Service reload/restart
│           ├── tasks/main.yml      # Install, configure, upgrade, uninstall
│           └── templates/
│               ├── agent.yaml.j2   # Agent config
│               └── kmagent.service.j2  # systemd unit
└── terraform/
    └── modules/
        └── user-data/
            └── main.tf              # Reusable user-data module