• thockin title: Building and Running cloud-controller-manager

Kubernetes version 1.6 contains a new binary called as cloud-controller-manager. cloud-controller-manager is a daemon that embeds cloud-specific control loops in Kubernetes. These cloud-specific control loops were originally in the kube-controller-manager. However, cloud providers move at a different pace and schedule compared to the Kubernetes project, and abstracting the provider-specific code to the cloud-controller-manager binary allows cloud provider vendors to evolve independently from the core Kubernetes code.

The cloud-controller-manager can be linked to any cloud provider that satisifies the cloudprovider.Interface. In future Kubernetes releases, cloud vendors should link code that satisfies the above interface to the cloud-controller-manager project and compile cloud-controller-manager for their own clouds. Cloud providers would also be responsible for maintaining and evolving their code.

  • TOC {:toc}

Building cloud-controller-manager for your cloud

To build cloud-controller-manager for your cloud, follow these steps:

  • Write a cloudprovider that satisfies the cloudprovider.Interface.
  • Link the cloudprovider to cloud-controller-manager

The methods in cloudprovider.Interface are self-explanatory. All of the existing providers satisfy this interface. If your cloud is already a part of the existing providers, you do not need to write a new provider; you can proceed directly with linking your cloud provider to the cloud-controller-manager.

Once your code is ready, you must import that code into cloud-controller-manager. See the rancher cloud sample for a reference example. The import step in the sample is the only step required to link your cloud provider to the cloud-controller-manager.

Running cloud-controller-manager

To run cloud-controller-manager, add it to your existing Kubernetes cluster as a Master component. All other master components except kube-controller-manager can be run without any changes.

The kube-controller-manager should not run any cloud-specific controllers, since the cloud-controller-manager takes over this responsibility. To prevent the kube-controller-manager from running cloud-specific controllers, you must set the --cloud-provider flag in kube-controller-manager to external.