---
title: Installing Calico for policy (advanced)
canonical_url: 'https://docs.projectcalico.org/v3.5/getting-started/kubernetes/installation/other'
---

You can also use {{site.prodname}} just for policy enforcement and achieve networking
with another solution, such as static routes or a Kubernetes cloud provider integration.

To install {{site.prodname}} in this mode using the Kubernetes API datastore,
complete the following steps.

1. Ensure that you have a Kubernetes cluster that meets the
   {{site.prodname}} [system requirements](../requirements). If you don't,
   follow the steps in [Using kubeadm to create a cluster](http://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/kubeadm/).

1. Ensure that the Kubernetes controller manager has the following flags
   set: <br>
   `--cluster-cidr=<your-pod-cidr>` and `--allocate-node-cidrs=true`.

   > **Tip**: On kubeadm, you can pass `--pod-network-cidr=<your-pod-cidr>`
   > to kubeadm to set both Kubernetes controller flags.
   {: .alert .alert-success}

1. Download the {{site.prodname}} policy-only manifest for the Kubernetes API datastore.

   ```bash
   curl \
   {{site.url}}/{{page.version}}/getting-started/kubernetes/installation/hosted/kubernetes-datastore/policy-only/1.7/calico.yaml \
   -O
   ```

{% include {{page.version}}/pod-cidr-sed.md yaml="calico" %}

1. If your cluster contains more than 50 nodes:

   - In the `ConfigMap` named `calico-config`, locate the `typha_service_name`,
     delete the `none` value, and replace it with `calico-typha`.

   - Modify the replica count in the`Deployment` named `calico-typha`
     to the desired number of replicas.

     ```
     apiVersion: apps/v1beta1
     kind: Deployment
     metadata:
       name: calico-typha
       ...
     spec:
       ...
       replicas: <number of replicas>
     ```
     {: .no-select-button}

     We recommend at least one replica for every 200 nodes and no more than
     20 replicas. In production, we recommend a minimum of three replicas to reduce
     the impact of rolling upgrades and failures.  The number of replicas should 
     always be less than the number of nodes, otherwise rolling upgrades will stall.
     In addition, Typha only helps with scale if there are fewer Typha instances than 
     there are nodes.

     > **Tip**: If you set `typha_service_name` without increasing the replica
     > count from its default of `0` Felix will try to connect to Typha, find no
     > Typha instances to connect to, and fail to start.
     {: .alert .alert-success}

1. Apply the manifest using the following command.

   ```bash
   kubectl apply -f calico.yaml
   ```

1. If you wish to enforce application layer policies and secure workload-to-workload
   communications with mutual TLS authentication, continue to [Enabling application layer policy](app-layer-policy) (optional).
