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Inject Information into Pods Using a PodPreset

You can use a PodPreset object to inject information like secrets, volume mounts, and environment variables etc into pods at creation time. This task shows some examples on using the PodPreset resource.

Before you begin

Get an overview of PodPresets at Understanding Pod Presets.

You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using Minikube, or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:

To check the version, enter kubectl version.

Simple Pod Spec Example

This is a simple example to show how a Pod spec is modified by the Pod Preset.

podpreset/preset.yaml 
apiVersion: settings.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: PodPreset
metadata:
  name: allow-database
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  env:
    - name: DB_PORT
      value: "6379"
  volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /cache
      name: cache-volume
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Create the PodPreset:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/podpreset/preset.yaml

Examine the created PodPreset:

kubectl get podpreset
NAME             AGE
allow-database   1m

The new PodPreset will act upon any pod that has label role: frontend.

podpreset/pod.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Create a pod:

kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/examples/podpreset/pod.yaml

List the running Pods:

kubectl get pods
NAME      READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
website   1/1       Running   0          4m

Pod spec after admission controller:

podpreset/merged.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
  annotations:
    podpreset.admission.kubernetes.io/podpreset-allow-database: "resource version"
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /cache
          name: cache-volume
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
      env:
        - name: DB_PORT
          value: "6379"
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}

To see above output, run the following command:

kubectl get pod website -o yaml

Pod Spec with ConfigMap Example

This is an example to show how a Pod spec is modified by the Pod Preset that defines a ConfigMap for Environment Variables.

User submitted pod spec:

podpreset/pod.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80

User submitted ConfigMap:

podpreset/configmap.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: etcd-env-config
data:
  number_of_members: "1"
  initial_cluster_state: new
  initial_cluster_token: DUMMY_ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER_TOKEN
  discovery_token: DUMMY_ETCD_DISCOVERY_TOKEN
  discovery_url: http://etcd_discovery:2379
  etcdctl_peers: http://etcd:2379
  duplicate_key: FROM_CONFIG_MAP
  REPLACE_ME: "a value"

Example Pod Preset:

podpreset/allow-db.yaml 
apiVersion: settings.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: PodPreset
metadata:
  name: allow-database
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  env:
    - name: DB_PORT
      value: "6379"
    - name: duplicate_key
      value: FROM_ENV
    - name: expansion
      value: $(REPLACE_ME)
  envFrom:
    - configMapRef:
        name: etcd-env-config
  volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /cache
      name: cache-volume
    - mountPath: /etc/app/config.json
      readOnly: true
      name: secret-volume
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}
    - name: secret-volume
      secret:
        secretName: config-details

Pod spec after admission controller:

podpreset/allow-db-merged.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
  annotations:
    podpreset.admission.kubernetes.io/podpreset-allow-database: "resource version"
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /cache
          name: cache-volume
        - mountPath: /etc/app/config.json
          readOnly: true
          name: secret-volume
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
      env:
        - name: DB_PORT
          value: "6379"
        - name: duplicate_key
          value: FROM_ENV
        - name: expansion
          value: $(REPLACE_ME)
      envFrom:
        - configMapRef:
            name: etcd-env-config
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}
    - name: secret-volume
      secret:
        secretName: config-details

ReplicaSet with Pod Spec Example

The following example shows that only the pod spec is modified by the Pod Preset.

User submitted ReplicaSet:

podpreset/replicaset.yaml 
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: ReplicaSet
metadata:
  name: frontend
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
    matchExpressions:
      - {key: role, operator: In, values: [frontend]}
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: guestbook
        role: frontend
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: php-redis
        image: gcr.io/google_samples/gb-frontend:v3
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 100Mi
        env:
          - name: GET_HOSTS_FROM
            value: dns
        ports:
          - containerPort: 80

Example Pod Preset:

podpreset/preset.yaml 
apiVersion: settings.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: PodPreset
metadata:
  name: allow-database
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  env:
    - name: DB_PORT
      value: "6379"
  volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /cache
      name: cache-volume
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Pod spec after admission controller:

Note that the ReplicaSet spec was not changed, users have to check individual pods to validate that the PodPreset has been applied.

podpreset/replicaset-merged.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: frontend
  labels:
    app: guestbook
    role: frontend
  annotations:
    podpreset.admission.kubernetes.io/podpreset-allow-database: "resource version"
spec:
  containers:
  - name: php-redis
    image: gcr.io/google_samples/gb-frontend:v3
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: 100m
        memory: 100Mi
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /cache
      name: cache-volume
    env:
    - name: GET_HOSTS_FROM
      value: dns
    - name: DB_PORT
      value: "6379"
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80
  volumes:
  - name: cache-volume
    emptyDir: {}

Multiple PodPreset Example

This is an example to show how a Pod spec is modified by multiple Pod Injection Policies.

User submitted pod spec:

podpreset/pod.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Example Pod Preset:

podpreset/preset.yaml 
apiVersion: settings.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: PodPreset
metadata:
  name: allow-database
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  env:
    - name: DB_PORT
      value: "6379"
  volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /cache
      name: cache-volume
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Another Pod Preset:

podpreset/proxy.yaml 
apiVersion: settings.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: PodPreset
metadata:
  name: proxy
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /etc/proxy/configs
      name: proxy-volume
  volumes:
    - name: proxy-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Pod spec after admission controller:

podpreset/multi-merged.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
  annotations:
    podpreset.admission.kubernetes.io/podpreset-allow-database: "resource version"
    podpreset.admission.kubernetes.io/podpreset-proxy: "resource version"
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /cache
          name: cache-volume
        - mountPath: /etc/proxy/configs
          name: proxy-volume
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
      env:
        - name: DB_PORT
          value: "6379"
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}
    - name: proxy-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Conflict Example

This is an example to show how a Pod spec is not modified by the Pod Preset when there is a conflict.

User submitted pod spec:

podpreset/conflict-pod.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /cache
          name: cache-volume
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Example Pod Preset:

podpreset/conflict-preset.yaml 
apiVersion: settings.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: PodPreset
metadata:
  name: allow-database
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  env:
    - name: DB_PORT
      value: "6379"
  volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /cache
      name: other-volume
  volumes:
    - name: other-volume
      emptyDir: {}

Pod spec after admission controller will not change because of the conflict:

podpreset/conflict-pod.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: website
  labels:
    app: website
    role: frontend
spec:
  containers:
    - name: website
      image: nginx
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /cache
          name: cache-volume
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
  volumes:
    - name: cache-volume
      emptyDir: {}

If we run kubectl describe... we can see the event:

kubectl describe ...
....
Events:
  FirstSeen             LastSeen            Count   From                    SubobjectPath               Reason      Message
  Tue, 07 Feb 2017 16:56:12 -0700   Tue, 07 Feb 2017 16:56:12 -0700 1   {podpreset.admission.kubernetes.io/podpreset-allow-database }    conflict  Conflict on pod preset. Duplicate mountPath /cache.

Deleting a Pod Preset

Once you don’t need a pod preset anymore, you can delete it with kubectl:

kubectl delete podpreset allow-database
podpreset "allow-database" deleted

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