243 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
243 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Exposing Pod Information to Containers Using a DownwardApiVolumeFile
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---
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{% capture overview %}
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This page shows how a Pod can use a DownwardAPIVolumeFile to expose information
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about itself to Containers running in the Pod. A DownwardAPIVolumeFile can expose
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Pod fields and Container fields.
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{% endcapture %}
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{% capture prerequisites %}
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{% include task-tutorial-prereqs.md %}
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{% endcapture %}
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{% capture steps %}
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## The Downward API
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There are two ways to expose Pod and Container fields to a running Container:
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* [Environment variables](/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/environment-variable-expose-pod-information/)
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* DownwardAPIVolumeFiles
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Together, these two ways of exposing Pod and Container fields are called the
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*Downward API*.
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## Storing Pod fields
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In this exercise, you create a Pod that has one Container.
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Here is the configuration file for the Pod:
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{% include code.html language="yaml" file="dapi-volume.yaml" ghlink="/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/dapi-volume.yaml" %}
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In the configuration file, you can see that the Pod has a `downwardAPI` Volume,
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and the Container mounts the Volume at `/etc`.
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Look at the `items` array under `downwardAPI`. Each element of the array is a
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[DownwardAPIVolumeFile](/docs/resources-reference/v1.5/#downwardapivolumefile-v1).
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The first element specifies that the value of the Pod's
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`metadata.labels` field should be stored in a file named `labels`.
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The second element specifies that the value of the Pod's `annotations`
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field should be stored in a file named `annotations`.
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**Note**: The fields in this example are Pod fields. They are not
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fields of the Container in the Pod.
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Create the Pod:
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```shell
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kubectl create -f http://k8s.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/dapi-volume.yaml
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```
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Verify that Container in the Pod is running:
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```shell
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kubectl get pods
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```
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View the Container's logs:
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```shell
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kubectl logs kubernetes-downwardapi-volume-example
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```
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The output shows the contents of the `labels` file and the `annotations` file:
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```shell
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cluster="test-cluster1"
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rack="rack-22"
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zone="us-est-coast"
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build="two"
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builder="john-doe"
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```
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Get a shell into the Container that is running in your Pod:
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```
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kubectl exec -it kubernetes-downwardapi-volume-example -- sh
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```
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In your shell, view the `labels` file:
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```shell
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/# cat /etc/labels
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```
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The output shows that all of the Pod's labels have been written
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to the `labels` file:
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```shell
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cluster="test-cluster1"
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rack="rack-22"
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zone="us-est-coast"
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```
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Similarly, view the `annotations` file:
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```shell
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/# cat /etc/annotations
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```
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View the files in the `/etc` directory:
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```shell
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/# ls -laR /etc
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```
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In the output, you can see that the `labels` and `annotations` files
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are in a temporary subdirectory: in this example,
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`..2982_06_02_21_47_53.299460680`. In the `/etc` directory, `..data` is
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a symbolic link to the temporary subdirectory. Also in the `/etc` directory,
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`labels` and `annotations` are symbolic links.
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```
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drwxr-xr-x ... Feb 6 21:47 ..2982_06_02_21_47_53.299460680
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lrwxrwxrwx ... Feb 6 21:47 ..data -> ..2982_06_02_21_47_53.299460680
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lrwxrwxrwx ... Feb 6 21:47 annotations -> ..data/annotations
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lrwxrwxrwx ... Feb 6 21:47 labels -> ..data/labels
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/etc/..2982_06_02_21_47_53.299460680:
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total 8
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-rw-r--r-- ... Feb 6 21:47 annotations
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-rw-r--r-- ... Feb 6 21:47 labels
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```
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Using symbolic links enables dynamic atomic refresh of the metadata; updates are
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written to a new temporary directory, and the `..data` symlink is updated
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atomically using
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[rename(2)](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/rename.2.html).
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Exit the shell:
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```shell
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/# exit
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```
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## Storing Container fields
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The preceding exercise, you stored Pod fields in a DownwardAPIVolumeFile.
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In this next exercise, you store Container fields. Here is the configuration
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file for a Pod that has one Container:
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{% include code.html language="yaml" file="dapi-volume-resources.yaml" ghlink="/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/dapi-volume-resources.yaml" %}
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In the configuration file, you can see that the Pod has a `downwardAPI` Volume,
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and the Container mounts the Volume at `/etc`.
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Look at the `items` array under `downwardAPI`. Each element of the array is a
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DownwardAPIVolumeFile.
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The first element specifies that in the Container named `client-container`,
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the value of the `limits.cpu` field
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`metadata.labels` field should be stored in a file named `cpu_limit`.
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Create the Pod:
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```shell
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kubectl create -f http://k8s.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/dapi-volume-resources.yaml
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```
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Get a shell into the Container that is running in your Pod:
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```
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kubectl exec -it kubernetes-downwardapi-volume-example-2 -- sh
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```
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In your shell, view the `cpu_limit` file:
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```shell
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/# cat /etc/cpu_limit
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```
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You can use similar commands to view the `cpu_request`, `mem_limit` and
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`mem_request` files.
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{% endcapture %}
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{% capture discussion %}
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## Capabilities of the Downward API
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The following information is available to Containers through environment
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variables and DownwardAPIVolumeFiles:
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* The node’s name
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* The Pod’s name
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* The Pod’s namespace
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* The Pod’s IP address
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* The Pod’s service account name
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* A Container’s CPU limit
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* A container’s CPU request
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* A Container’s memory limit
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* A Container’s memory request
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In addition, the following information is available through
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DownwardAPIVolumeFiles.
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* The Pod's labels
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* The Pod's annotations
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**Note**: If CPU and memory limits are not specified for a Container, the
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Downward API defaults to the node allocatable value for CPU and memory.
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## Projecting keys to specific paths and file permissions
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You can project keys to specific paths and specific permissions on a per-file
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basis. For more information, see
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[Secrets](/docs/user-guide/secrets/).
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## Motivation for the Downward API
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It is sometimes useful for a Container to have information about itself, without
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being overly coupled to Kubernetes. The Downward API allows containers to consume
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information about themselves or the cluster without using the Kubernetes client
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or API server.
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An example is an existing application that assumes a particular well-known
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environment variable holds a unique identifier. One possibility is to wrap the
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application, but that is tedious and error prone, and it violates the goal of low
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coupling. A better option would be to use the Pod's name as an identifier, and
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inject the Pod's name into the well-known environment variable.
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{% endcapture %}
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{% capture whatsnext %}
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* [PodSpec](/docs/resources-reference/v1.5/#podspec-v1)
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* [Volume](/docs/resources-reference/v1.5/#volume-v1)
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* [DownwardAPIVolumeSource](/docs/resources-reference/v1.5/#downwardapivolumesource-v1)
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* [DownwardAPIVolumeFile](/docs/resources-reference/v1.5/#downwardapivolumefile-v1)
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* [ResourceFieldSelector](/docs/resources-reference/v1.5/#resourcefieldselector-v1)
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{% endcapture %}
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{% include templates/task.md %}
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