OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes service provides you Kubernetes clusters without the hassle of installing or operating them.
During the day-to-day life of your cluster, you may want to dynamically adjust the size of your cluster to accommodate to your workloads. The cluster autoscaler simplifies the task by scaling up or down your OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes cluster to meet the demand of your workloads.
The cluster auto-scaler feature is currently available in beta. We expect it to reach General Availability (including support in OVHcloud Control Panel) by Summer 2021.
Before you begin
This tutorial assumes that you already have a working OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes cluster, and some basic knowledge of how to operate it. If you want to know more on those topics, please look at the OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes Service Quickstart.
It also assumes that you have read the Using the cluster autoscaler guide.
Enabling the autoscaling on the node pool
The easiest way to enable the autoscaler is using the Kubernetes API, for example using kubectl.
As explained in the How nodes and node pools work guide, in your OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes cluster, nodes are grouped in node pools (groups of nodes sharing the same configuration).
Autoscale is configured on a node pool basis, i.e. you don’t enable autoscaling on a full cluster, you enable it for one or more of your node pools.
You can activate the autoscaler on several node pools, each of which can have a different type of instance as well as different min and max nodes number limits.
When you create your cluster, you can bootstrap a default node pool in it, and you can add others in the Public Cloud section of the OVHcloud Manager or directly using the Kubernetes API.
To list node pools, you can use:
# kubectl get nodepools
In my case I have one node pool in my cluster, called nodepool-b2-7, with 3 B2-7 nodes:
# kubectl get nodepools
NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED MONTHLY BILLED ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE [...]
nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 false false false 3 3 3 3 [...]
As you can see, the AUTO SCALED field is set to false. Let’s see why by looking at the node pool description.
You can then get the description of the node pool in YAML format using:
# kubectl get nodepools <your_nodepool_name> -o yaml
For my example cluster:
# kubectl get nodepools nodepool-b2-7 -o yaml
apiVersion: kube.cloud.ovh.com/v1alpha1
kind: NodePool
metadata:
[...]
name: nodepool-b2-7
resourceVersion: "22315717368"
selfLink: /apis/kube.cloud.ovh.com/v1alpha1/nodepools/nodepool-b2-7
uid: de606632-3948-46c0-ba91-e34a6de6a1aa
spec:
antiAffinity: false
autoscale: false
desiredNodes: 3
flavor: b2-7
maxNodes: 100
minNodes: 0
monthlyBilled: false
[...]
status:
availableNodes: 3
conditions:
[...]
currentNodes: 3
observedGeneration: 2
upToDateNodes: 3
In the spec section you can see that the autoscale parameter is set to false. In order to enable the autoscaler, you need to patch the node pool to set this field to true. Set also desiredNodes to 1, minNodes to 1 and maxNodes to 3, to be sure that we begin only with one active node and that we can grow the node pool up to 3 nodes.
# kubectl patch nodepool <your_nodepool_name> --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"autoscale": true, "desiredNodes": 1, "minNodes": 0, "maxNodes": 3}}'
As you can see in my example, patching the node pool definition enables the autoscaler:
# kubectl patch nodepool nodepool-b2-7 --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"autoscale": true}}' nodepool.kube.cloud.ovh.com/nodepool-b2-7 patched # kubectl get nodepools NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED [...] ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true [...] false 1 1 1 1 0 3
Now we can begin to deploy a test workload on the cluster.
Deploying a test workload
In order to test the autoscaler, we propose you to install a Prime Numbers Deployment that deploys several instances of Prime Numbers pods. The Prime Numbers pod simply calculates prime numbers in the most performance ineffective way: by dividing every positive integer number by all the lower positive integers. It’s a CPU intensive operation, but it uses a minimal amount of memory.
The Prime Numbers pod is a small NodeJS programs. The main script, on index.js, is a Express server that launches a worker thread were the prime number calculation is done outside the event loop.
Create a prime-number.yaml manifest for the Prime Numbers deployment:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: prime-numbers
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
run: prime-numbers
replicas: 3
template:
metadata:
labels:
run: prime-numbers
spec:
containers:
- name: prime-numbers
image: lostinbrittany/ovhcloud-k8s-autoscaling-demo_prime-numbers:0.0.1
resources:
limits:
cpu: 300m
memory: 30Mi
requests:
cpu: 150m
memory: 15Mi
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
As you can see, we will begin by deploying 3 replicas of the pod. Each replica consumes 150m CPU (0.150 CPUs), and we are using B2-7 instances, with 2000m CPU (2 CPU cores). In the tutorial we will increase the number of replicas to 12 then to 24, to see how the autoscaler grows up the node pool to 2 then to 3 nodes.
Deploy the Prime Numbers deployment:
# kubectl apply -f prime-number.yaml
In my example cluster, we deploy the simple workload, and we verify that we still have only one node in the cluster.
# kubectl apply -f manifests/prime-numbers.yaml deployment.apps/prime-numbers created # kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-4rn58 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 7s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-lvqv7 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 7s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wmm7r 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 7s # And after a moment, the three pods are running. # kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-4rn58 1/1 Running 0 92s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-lvqv7 1/1 Running 0 92s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wmm7r 1/1 Running 0 92s # kubectl get nodepools NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED [...] ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true [...] false 1 1 1 1 0 3
Scaling up the workload
Now we can patch the Prime Numbers deployement to augment the replicas to 12, that should be enough to activate the scaling up of the node pool.
# kubectl patch deployment prime-numbers --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"replicas": 12}}'
# kubectl patch deployment prime-numbers --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"replicas": 12}}' deployment.apps/prime-numbers patched # kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-2gmgh 0/1 Pending 0 22s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-6spmf 1/1 Running 0 12m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-87xc6 1/1 Running 0 4m57s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-bv2sx 1/1 Running 0 4m57s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-gmxjc 1/1 Running 0 4m57s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jm8mc 0/1 Pending 0 22s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jss9r 1/1 Running 0 4m57s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-pw4f9 1/1 Running 0 22s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sb9vz 1/1 Running 0 4m57s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-tltb8 1/1 Running 0 12m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-vbzjw 1/1 Running 0 12m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wj9cf 0/1 Pending 0 22s
As you can see then with kubectl get nodepools, the autoscaler detects capacity has been reached and asks for a new node:
# kubectl get nodepools
NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED [...] ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX
nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true [...] false 2 1 1 1 0 3
And in a few moments, the new node is created and active, and all the pods are running:
# kubectl get nodepools NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED [...] ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true [...] false 2 2 2 2 0 3 # kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-2gmgh 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-6spmf 1/1 Running 0 16m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-87xc6 1/1 Running 0 9m9s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-bv2sx 1/1 Running 0 9m9s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-gmxjc 1/1 Running 0 9m9s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-j9wrx 1/1 Running 0 116s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jm8mc 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jss9r 1/1 Running 0 9m9s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sb9vz 1/1 Running 0 9m9s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-tltb8 1/1 Running 0 16m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-vbzjw 1/1 Running 0 16m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wj9cf 1/1 Running 0 4m34s
The scaling-up works as intended!
If now we re-patch the deployment to have 24 replicas:
# kubectl patch deployment prime-numbers --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"replicas": 24}}'
The autoscaler will detect nodes in Pending and add a third node:
# kubectl patch deployment prime-numbers --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"replicas": 24}}' deployment.apps/prime-numbers patched ~/git/docs-perso/Kubernetes$ kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-2gmgh 1/1 Running 0 9m48s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-5d9hg 1/1 Running 0 37s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-6spmf 1/1 Running 0 22m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-76h5b 0/1 Pending 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-7xdqv 1/1 Running 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-86gcp 1/1 Running 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-87xc6 1/1 Running 0 14m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-8v6xr 0/1 Pending 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-8xzqm 0/1 Pending 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-bv2sx 1/1 Running 0 14m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-f6snc 0/1 Pending 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-gmxjc 1/1 Running 0 14m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-j9wrx 1/1 Running 0 7m10s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jm8mc 1/1 Running 0 9m48s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jss9r 1/1 Running 0 14m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-p6kb4 1/1 Running 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-qtv8k 1/1 Running 0 37s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sb9vz 1/1 Running 0 14m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sn296 0/1 Pending 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-tltb8 1/1 Running 0 22m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-vbzjw 1/1 Running 0 22m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wj9cf 1/1 Running 0 9m48s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wtlpd 0/1 Pending 0 36s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-z5h49 1/1 Running 0 37s # kubectl get nodepools NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED MONTHLY BILLED ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX AGE nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true false false 3 2 2 2 0 3 64d # kubectl get nodepools NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED MONTHLY BILLED ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX AGE nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true false false 3 3 2 3 0 3 64d # kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-2gmgh 1/1 Running 0 13m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-5d9hg 1/1 Running 0 4m35s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-6spmf 1/1 Running 0 26m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-76h5b 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-7xdqv 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-86gcp 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-87xc6 1/1 Running 0 18m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-8v6xr 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-8xzqm 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-bv2sx 1/1 Running 0 18m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-f6snc 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-gmxjc 1/1 Running 0 18m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-j9wrx 1/1 Running 0 11m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jm8mc 1/1 Running 0 13m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-jss9r 1/1 Running 0 18m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-p6kb4 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-qtv8k 1/1 Running 0 4m35s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sb9vz 1/1 Running 0 18m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sn296 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-tltb8 1/1 Running 0 26m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-vbzjw 1/1 Running 0 26m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wj9cf 1/1 Running 0 13m prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-wtlpd 1/1 Running 0 4m34s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-z5h49 1/1 Running 0 4m35s
Scaling down
Let’s patch the deployment again to go back to 3 replicas:
# kubectl patch deployment prime-numbers --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"replicas": 3}}'
In a few moments, only three pods will remain:
# kubectl patch deployment prime-numbers --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"replicas": 3}}' deployment.apps/prime-numbers patched # kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-8v6xr 1/1 Running 0 8m3s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-8xzqm 1/1 Running 0 8m3s prime-numbers-5ffd8d7b84-sn296 1/1 Running 0 8m3s
The autoscaler will detect that the nodes are under the value scale-down-utilization-threshold parameter (the node utilization level, defined as sum of requested resources divided by capacity, below which a node can be considered for scale down, by default 0.5), and marks the nodes 2 and 3 as unneeded.
After some minutes according to the value of scale-down-unneeded-time (parameter that sets how long a node should be unneeded before it is eligible for scale down, 10 minutes by default), the node will be deleted and the cluster will be scaled down.
After 10 minutes we are back to 2 nodes:
# kubectl get nodepools
NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED MONTHLY BILLED ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX AGE
nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true false false 3 2 2 2 0 3 64d
And 10 minutes later, we have only one node:
# kubectl get nodepools
NAME FLAVOR AUTO SCALED MONTHLY BILLED ANTI AFFINITY DESIRED CURRENT UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE MIN MAX AGE
nodepool-b2-7 b2-7 true false false 1 1 1 1 0 3 64d
Cleaning up
To clean up your cluster, simply delete your prime-numbers deployment:
# kubectl delete -f manifests/prime-numbers.yaml
# kubectl delete -f manifests/prime-numbers.yaml
deployment.apps "prime-numbers" deleted
Conclusion
In this tutorial we have seen how to enable the autoscaler on a node pool on your OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes cluster, and how to use an example workload to test how it works.
Go further
To have an overview of OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes service, you can go to the OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes page.