Virtual Kubelet
Virtual Kubelet is an open source Kubernetes kubelet implementation that masquerades as a kubelet for the purposes of connecting Kubernetes to other APIs. This allows the nodes to be backed by other services like ACI, Hyper.sh, AWS, etc. This connector features a pluggable architecture and direct use of Kubernetes primitives, making it much easier to build on.
We invite the Kubernetes ecosystem to join us in empowering developers to build upon our base. Join our slack channel named, virtual-kubelet, within the Kubernetes slack group.
Please note this software is experimental and should not be used for anything resembling a production workload.
The best description is "Kubernetes API on top, programmable back."
Table of Contents
How It Works
The diagram below illustrates how Virtual-Kubelet works.
Usage
Deploy a Kubernetes cluster and make sure it's reachable.
Run the binary with your chosen provider:
./bin/virtual-kubelet --provider <your provider>
Now that the virtual-kubelet is deployed run kubectl get nodes
and you should see
a virtual-kubelet
node.
Current Features
- Multiple containers per pod
- Windows/Linux containers
- Restart policies
- Volumes
- Empty dir
- Git hub repo
- Azure files
- Config maps
- Secrets
- Pod status
- Resource limits (Mem and Cores)
- Environment variables
- Public IPs
- kubectl logs
- DNS name labels
Current Limitations
- kubectl exec
- Metrics
Command-Line Usage
virtual-kubelet implements the Kubelet interface with a pluggable
backend implementation allowing users to create kubernetes nodes without running the kubelet.
This allows users to schedule kubernetes workloads on nodes that aren't running Kubernetes.
Usage:
virtual-kubelet [flags]
virtual-kubelet [command]
Available Commands:
help Help about any command
version Show the version of the program
Flags:
-h, --help help for virtual-kubelet
--kubeconfig string config file (default is $HOME/.kube/config)
--namespace string kubernetes namespace (default is 'all')
--nodename string kubernetes node name (default "virtual-kubelet")
--os string Operating System (Linux/Windows) (default "Linux")
--provider string cloud provider
--provider-config string cloud provider configuration file
--taint string apply taint to node, making scheduling explicit
Use "virtual-kubelet [command] --help" for more information about a command.
Providers
This project features a pluggable provider interface developers can implement that defines the actions of a typical kubelet.
This enables on-demand and nearly instantaneous container compute, orchestrated by Kubernetes, without having VM infrastructure to manage and while still leveraging the portable Kubernetes API.
Each provider may have its own configuration file, and required environmental variables.
Azure Container Instances Provider
The Azure Container Instances Provider allows you to utilize both typical pods on VMs and Azure Container instances simultaneously in the same Kubernetes cluster.
You can find detailed instructions on how to set it up and how to test it in the Azure Container Instances Provider documentation.
Configuration File
The Azure connector can use a configuration file specified by the --provider-config
flag.
The config file is in TOML format, and an example lives in providers/azure/example.toml
.
More Details
See the ACI Readme
Hyper.sh Provider
The Hyper.sh Provider allows Kubernetes clusters to deploy Hyper.sh containers and manage both typical pods on VMs and Hyper.sh containers in the same Kubernetes cluster.
./bin/virtual-kubelet --provider hyper
Adding a New Provider via the Provider Interface
The structure we chose allows you to have all the power of the Kubernetes API on top with a pluggable interface.
Create a new directory for your provider under providers
and implement the
following interface. Then add your new provider under the others in the
vkubelet/provider.go
file.
// Provider contains the methods required to implement a virtual-kubelet provider.
type Provider interface {
// CreatePod takes a Kubernetes Pod and deploys it within the provider.
CreatePod(pod *v1.Pod) error
// UpdatePod takes a Kubernetes Pod and updates it within the provider.
UpdatePod(pod *v1.Pod) error
// DeletePod takes a Kubernetes Pod and deletes it from the provider.
DeletePod(pod *v1.Pod) error
// GetPod retrieves a pod by name from the provider (can be cached).
GetPod(namespace, name string) (*v1.Pod, error)
// GetPodStatus retrievesthe status of a pod by name from the provider.
GetPodStatus(namespace, name string) (*v1.PodStatus, error)
// GetPods retrieves a list of all pods running on the provider (can be cached).
GetPods() ([]*v1.Pod, error)
// Capacity returns a resource list with the capacity constraints of the provider.
Capacity() v1.ResourceList
// NodeConditions returns a list of conditions (Ready, OutOfDisk, etc), which is polled periodically to update the node status
// within Kubernetes.
NodeConditions() []v1.NodeCondition
// OperatingSystem returns the operating system the provider is for.
OperatingSystem() string
}
Testing
Running the unit tests locally is as simple as make test
.
Testing the Azure Provider Client
The unit tests for the azure
provider require a credentials.json
file exist in the root of this directory or that you have AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION
set to a credentials file.
You can generate this file by following the instructions listed in the README for that package.
Known quirks and workarounds
Missing Load Balancer IP addresses for services
When Virtual Kubelet is installed on a cluster, I cannot create external-IPs for a Service
Kubernetes 1.9 introduces a new flag, ServiceNodeExclusion
, for the control plane's Controller Manager. Enabling this flag in the Controller Manager's manifest allows Kubernetes to exclude Virtual Kubelet nodes from being added to Load Balancer pools, allowing you to create public facing services with external IPs without issue.
Workaround
Cluster requirements: Kubernetes 1.9 or above
Enable the ServiceNodeExclusion flag, by modifying the Controller Manager manifest and adding --feature-gates=ServiceNodeExclusion=true
to the command line arguments.
Contributing
Virtual Kubelet follows the CNCF Code of Conduct. Sign the CNCF CLA to be able to make Pull Requests to this repo.