Deployment and usage

Table of contents

1. Image variants
   1. Full
   2. Minimal
2. Deployment options
   1. Operator
   2. Deployment with kustomize
   3. Deployment with Helm
   4. Build your own
3. Usage
   1. NFD-Master
   2. NFD-Worker
   3. NFD-Topology-Updater
   4. Communication security with TLS
4. Worker configuration
5. Using node labels
6. Uninstallation
   1. Operator was used for deployment
   2. Manual
   3. Removing feature labels

Image variants

NFD currently offers two variants of the container image. The "full" variant is currently deployed by default. Released container images are available for x86_64 and Arm64 architectures.

Full

This image is based on debian:buster-slim and contains a full Linux system for running shell-based nfd-worker hooks and doing live debugging and diagnosis of the NFD images.

Minimal

This is a minimal image based on gcr.io/distroless/base and only supports running statically linked binaries.

The container image tag has suffix -minimal (e.g. k8s.gcr.io/nfd/node-feature-discovery:v0.11.3-minimal)

Deployment options

Operator

Deployment using the Node Feature Discovery Operator is recommended to be done via operatorhub.io.

1. You need to have OLM installed. If you don't, take a look at the latest release for detailed instructions.

2. Install the operator:

   kubectl create -f https://operatorhub.io/install/nfd-operator.yaml
   

3. Create NodeFeatureDiscovery object (in nfd namespace here):

   cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Namespace
   metadata:
     name: nfd
   ---
   apiVersion: nfd.kubernetes.io/v1
   kind: NodeFeatureDiscovery
   metadata:
     name: my-nfd-deployment
     namespace: nfd
   spec:
     operand:
       image: k8s.gcr.io/nfd/node-feature-discovery:v0.11.3
       imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
   EOF
   

In order to deploy the minimal image you need to use

  image: k8s.gcr.io/nfd/node-feature-discovery:v0.11.3-minimal

in the NodeFeatureDiscovery object above.

Deployment with kustomize

This requires kubectl v1.21 or later. The kustomize overlays provided in the repo can be used directly:

kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/default?ref=v0.11.3

This will required RBAC rules and deploy nfd-master (as a deployment) and nfd-worker (as daemonset) in the node-feature-discovery namespace.

NOTE: nfd-topology-updater is not deployed as part of the default overlay. Please refer to the Master Worker Topologyupdater and Topologyupdater below.

Alternatively you can clone the repository and customize the deployment by creating your own overlays. For example, to deploy the minimal image. See kustomize for more information about managing deployment configurations.

Default overlays

The NFD repository hosts a set of overlays for different usages and deployment scenarios under deployment/overlays

• default: default deployment of nfd-worker as a daemonset, described above
• default-combined see Master-worker pod below
• default-job: see Worker one-shot below
• master-worker-topologyupdater: see Master Worker Topologyupdater below
• topologyupdater: see Topology Updater below
• prune: clean up the cluster after uninstallation, see Removing feature labels
• samples/cert-manager: an example for supplementing the default deployment with cert-manager for TLS authentication, see Automated TLS certificate management using cert-manager for details
• samples/custom-rules: an example for spicing up the default deployment with a separately managed configmap of custom labeling rules, see Custom feature source for more information about custom node labels

Master-worker pod

You can also run nfd-master and nfd-worker inside the same pod

kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/default-combined?ref=v0.11.3

This creates a DaemonSet that runs nfd-worker and nfd-master in the same Pod. In this case no nfd-master is run on the master node(s), but, the worker nodes are able to label themselves which may be desirable e.g. in single-node setups.

NOTE: nfd-topology-updater is not deployed by the default-combined overlay. To enable nfd-topology-updater in this scenario,the users must customize the deployment themselves.

Worker one-shot

Feature discovery can alternatively be configured as a one-shot job. The default-job overlay may be used to achieve this:

NUM_NODES=$(kubectl get no -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}' | wc -w)
kubectl kustomize https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/default-job?ref=v0.11.3 | \
    sed s"/NUM_NODES/$NUM_NODES/" | \
    kubectl apply -f -

The example above launches as many jobs as there are non-master nodes. Note that this approach does not guarantee running once on every node. For example, tainted, non-ready nodes or some other reasons in Job scheduling may cause some node(s) will run extra job instance(s) to satisfy the request.

Master Worker Topologyupdater

NFD Master, NFD worker and NFD Topologyupdater can be configured to be deployed as separate pods. The master-worker-topologyupdater overlay may be used to achieve this:

kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/master-worker-topologyupdater?ref=v0.11.3

Topologyupdater

In order to deploy just NFD master and NFD Topologyupdater (without nfd-worker) use the topologyupdater overlay:

kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/topologyupdater?ref=v0.11.3

NFD Topologyupdater can be configured along with the default overlay (which deploys NFD worker and NFD master) where all the software components are deployed as separate pods. The topologyupdater overlay may be used along with default overlay to achieve this:

kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/default?ref=v0.11.3
kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/topologyupdater?ref=v0.11.3

Deployment with Helm

Node Feature Discovery Helm chart allow to easily deploy and manage NFD.

Prerequisites

Helm package manager should be installed.

Deployment

To install the latest stable version:

export NFD_NS=node-feature-discovery
helm repo add nfd https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/node-feature-discovery/charts
helm repo update
helm install nfd/node-feature-discovery --namespace $NFD_NS --create-namespace --generate-name

To install the latest development version you need to clone the NFD Git repository and install from there.

git clone https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/
cd node-feature-discovery/deployment/helm
export NFD_NS=node-feature-discovery
helm install node-feature-discovery ./node-feature-discovery/ --namespace $NFD_NS --create-namespace

See the configuration section below for instructions how to alter the deployment parameters.

In order to deploy the minimal image you need to override the image tag:

helm install node-feature-discovery ./node-feature-discovery/ --set image.tag=v0.11.3-minimal --namespace $NFD_NS --create-namespace

Configuration

You can override values from values.yaml and provide a file with custom values:

export NFD_NS=node-feature-discovery
helm install nfd/node-feature-discovery -f <path/to/custom/values.yaml> --namespace $NFD_NS --create-namespace

To specify each parameter separately you can provide them to helm install command:

export NFD_NS=node-feature-discovery
helm install nfd/node-feature-discovery --set nameOverride=NFDinstance --set master.replicaCount=2 --namespace $NFD_NS --create-namespace

Uninstalling the chart

To uninstall the node-feature-discovery deployment:

export NFD_NS=node-feature-discovery
helm uninstall node-feature-discovery --namespace $NFD_NS

The command removes all the Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the release.

Chart parameters

In order to tailor the deployment of the Node Feature Discovery to your cluster needs We have introduced the following Chart parameters.

General parameters

Master pod parameters

Worker pod parameters

Topology updater parameters

Build your own

If you want to use the latest development version (master branch) you need to build your own custom image. See the Developer Guide for instructions how to build images and deploy them on your cluster.

Usage

NFD-Master

NFD-Master runs as a deployment (with a replica count of 1), by default it prefers running on the cluster's master nodes but will run on worker nodes if no master nodes are found.

For High Availability, you should simply increase the replica count of the deployment object. You should also look into adding inter-pod affinity to prevent masters from running on the same node. However note that inter-pod affinity is costly and is not recommended in bigger clusters.

NFD-Master listens for connections from nfd-worker(s) and connects to the Kubernetes API server to add node labels advertised by them.

If you have RBAC authorization enabled (as is the default e.g. with clusters initialized with kubeadm) you need to configure the appropriate ClusterRoles, ClusterRoleBindings and a ServiceAccount in order for NFD to create node labels. The provided template will configure these for you.

NFD-Worker

NFD-Worker is preferably run as a Kubernetes DaemonSet. This assures re-labeling on regular intervals capturing changes in the system configuration and makes sure that new nodes are labeled as they are added to the cluster. Worker connects to the nfd-master service to advertise hardware features.

When run as a daemonset, nodes are re-labeled at an default interval of 60s. This can be changed by using the core.sleepInterval config option (or -sleep-interval command line flag).

The worker configuration file is watched and re-read on every change which provides a simple mechanism of dynamic run-time reconfiguration. See worker configuration for more details.

NFD-Topology-Updater

NFD-Topology-Updater is preferably run as a Kubernetes DaemonSet. This assures re-examination (and CR updates) on regular intervals capturing changes in the allocated resources and hence the allocatable resources on a per zone basis. It makes sure that more CR instances are created as new nodes get added to the cluster. Topology-Updater connects to the nfd-master service to create CR instances corresponding to nodes.

When run as a daemonset, nodes are re-examined for the allocated resources (to determine the information of the allocatable resources on a per zone basis where a zone can be a NUMA node) at an interval specified using the -sleep-interval option. The default sleep interval is set to 60s which is the the value when no -sleep-interval is specified.

Communication security with TLS

NFD supports mutual TLS authentication between the nfd-master and nfd-worker instances. That is, nfd-worker and nfd-master both verify that the other end presents a valid certificate.

TLS authentication is enabled by specifying -ca-file, -key-file and -cert-file args, on both the nfd-master and nfd-worker instances. The template specs provided with NFD contain (commented out) example configuration for enabling TLS authentication.

The Common Name (CN) of the nfd-master certificate must match the DNS name of the nfd-master Service of the cluster. By default, nfd-master only check that the nfd-worker has been signed by the specified root certificate (-ca-file).

Additional hardening can be enabled by specifying -verify-node-name in nfd-master args, in which case nfd-master verifies that the NodeName presented by nfd-worker matches the Common Name (CN) or a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) of its certificate. Note that -verify-node-name complicates certificate management and is not yet supported in the helm or kustomize deployment methods.

Automated TLS certificate management using cert-manager

cert-manager can be used to automate certificate management between nfd-master and the nfd-worker pods.

The NFD source code repository contains an example kustomize overlay and helm chart that can be used to deploy NFD with cert-manager supplied certificates enabled.

To install cert-manager itself can be done as easily as this, below, or you can refer to their documentation for other installation methods such as the helm chart they provide.

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.6.1/cert-manager.yaml

To use the kustomize overlay to install node-feature-discovery with TLS enabled, you may use the following:

kubectl apply -k deployment/overlays/samples/cert-manager

To make use of the helm chart, override values.yaml to enable both the tls.enabled and tls.certManager options. Note that if you do not enable tls.certManager, helm will successfully install the application, but deployment will wait until certificates are manually created, as demonstrated below.

See the sample installation commands in the Helm Deployment and Configuration sections above for how to either override individual values, or provide a yaml file with which to override default values.

Manual TLS certificate management

If you do not with to make use of cert-manager, the certificates can be manually created and stored as secrets within the NFD namespace.

Create a CA certificate

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout ca.key -nodes \
        -subj "/CN=nfd-ca" -days 10000 -out ca.crt

Create a common openssl config file.

cat <<EOF > nfd-common.conf
[ req ]
default_bits = 4096
prompt = no
default_md = sha256
req_extensions = req_ext
distinguished_name = dn

[ dn ]
C = XX
ST = some-state
L = some-city
O = some-company
OU = node-feature-discovery

[ req_ext ]
subjectAltName = @alt_names

[ v3_ext ]
authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid,issuer:always
basicConstraints=CA:FALSE
keyUsage=keyEncipherment,dataEncipherment
extendedKeyUsage=serverAuth,clientAuth
subjectAltName=@alt_names
EOF

Now, create the nfd-master certificate.

cat <<EOF > nfd-master.conf
.include nfd-common.conf

[ dn ]
CN = nfd-master

[ alt_names ]
DNS.1 = nfd-master
DNS.2 = nfd-master.node-feature-discovery.svc.cluster.local
DNS.3 = localhost
EOF

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout nfd-master.key -nodes -out nfd-master.csr -config nfd-master.conf

Create certificates for nfd-worker and nfd-topology-updater

cat <<EOF > nfd-worker.conf
.include nfd-common.conf

[ dn ]
CN = nfd-worker

[ alt_names ]
DNS.1 = nfd-worker
DNS.2 = nfd-worker.node-feature-discovery.svc.cluster.local
EOF

# Config for topology updater is identical except for the DN and alt_names
sed -e 's/worker/topology-updater/g' < nfd-worker.conf > nfd-topology-updater.conf

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout nfd-worker.key -nodes -out nfd-worker.csr -config nfd-worker.conf
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout nfd-topology-updater.key -nodes -out nfd-topology-updater.csr -config nfd-topology-updater.conf

Now, sign the certificates with the CA created earlier.

for cert in nfd-master nfd-worker nfd-topology-updater; do
  echo signing $cert
  openssl x509 -req -in $cert.csr -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key \
    -CAcreateserial -out $cert.crt -days 10000 \
    -extensions v3_ext -extfile $cert.conf
done

Finally, turn these certificates into secrets.

for cert in nfd-master nfd-worker nfd-topology-updater; do
  echo creating secret for $cert in node-feature-discovery namespace
  cat <<EOF | kubectl create -n node-feature-discovery -f -
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
type: kubernetes.io/tls
metadata:
  name: ${cert}-cert
data:
  ca.crt: $( cat ca.crt | base64 -w 0 )
  tls.crt: $( cat $cert.crt | base64 -w 0 )
  tls.key: $( cat $cert.key | base64 -w 0 )
EOF

done

Worker configuration

NFD-Worker supports dynamic configuration through a configuration file. The default location is /etc/kubernetes/node-feature-discovery/nfd-worker.conf, but, this can be changed by specifying the-config command line flag. Configuration file is re-read whenever it is modified which makes run-time re-configuration of nfd-worker straightforward.

Worker configuration file is read inside the container, and thus, Volumes and VolumeMounts are needed to make your configuration available for NFD. The preferred method is to use a ConfigMap which provides easy deployment and re-configurability.

The provided nfd-worker deployment templates create an empty configmap and mount it inside the nfd-worker containers. In kustomize deployments, configuration can be edited with:

kubectl -n ${NFD_NS} edit configmap nfd-worker-conf

In Helm deployments, Worker pod parameter worker.config can be used to edit the respective configuration.

See nfd-worker configuration file reference for more details. The (empty-by-default) example config contains all available configuration options and can be used as a reference for creating creating a configuration.

Configuration options can also be specified via the -options command line flag, in which case no mounts need to be used. The same format as in the config file must be used, i.e. JSON (or YAML). For example:

-options='{"sources": { "pci": { "deviceClassWhitelist": ["12"] } } }'

Configuration options specified from the command line will override those read from the config file.

Using node labels

Nodes with specific features can be targeted using the nodeSelector field. The following example shows how to target nodes with Intel TurboBoost enabled.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  labels:
    env: test
  name: golang-test
spec:
  containers:
    - image: golang
      name: go1
  nodeSelector:
    feature.node.kubernetes.io/cpu-pstate.turbo: 'true'

For more details on targeting nodes, see node selection.

Uninstallation

Operator was used for deployment

If you followed the deployment instructions above you can simply do:

kubectl -n nfd delete NodeFeatureDiscovery my-nfd-deployment

Optionally, you can also remove the namespace:

kubectl delete ns nfd

See the node-feature-discovery-operator and OLM project documentation for instructions for uninstalling the operator and operator lifecycle manager, respectively.

Manual

Simplest way is to invoke kubectl delete on the deployment files you used. Beware that this will also delete the namespace that NFD is running in. For example, in case the default deployment from the repo was used:

kubectl delete -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/default?ref=v0.11.3

Alternatively you can delete create objects one-by-one, depending on the type of deployment, for example:

NFD_NS=node-feature-discovery
kubectl -n $NFD_NS delete ds nfd-worker
kubectl -n $NFD_NS delete deploy nfd-master
kubectl -n $NFD_NS delete svc nfd-master
kubectl -n $NFD_NS delete sa nfd-master
kubectl delete clusterrole nfd-master
kubectl delete clusterrolebinding nfd-master

Removing feature labels

NFD-Master has a special -prune command line flag for removing all nfd-related node labels, annotations and extended resources from the cluster.

kubectl apply -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/prune?ref=v0.11.3
kubectl -n node-feature-discovery wait job.batch/nfd-master --for=condition=complete && \
    kubectl delete -k https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/node-feature-discovery/deployment/overlays/prune?ref=v0.11.3

NOTE: You must run prune before removing the RBAC rules (serviceaccount, clusterrole and clusterrolebinding).