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Assign CPU Resources to Containers and Pods

This page shows how to assign a CPU request and a CPU limit to a Container. A Container is guaranteed to have as much CPU as it requests, but is not allowed to use more CPU than its limit.

Before you begin

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:

Each node in your cluster must have at least 1 cpu.

A few of the steps on this page require that the Heapster service is running in your cluster. But if you don’t have Heapster running, you can do most of the steps, and it won’t be a problem if you skip the Heapster steps.

To see whether the Heapster service is running, enter this command:

kubectl get services --namespace=kube-system

If the heapster service is running, it shows in the output:

NAMESPACE    NAME      CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP  PORT(S)  AGE
kube-system  heapster  10.11.240.9   <none>       80/TCP   6d

Create a namespace

Create a namespace so that the resources you create in this exercise are isolated from the rest of your cluster.

kubectl create namespace cpu-example

Specify a CPU request and a CPU limit

To specify a CPU request for a Container, include the resources:requests field in the Container’s resource manifest. To specify a CPU limit, include resources:limits.

In this exercise, you create a Pod that has one Container. The Container has a CPU request of 0.5 cpu and a CPU limit of 1 cpu. Here’s the configuration file for the Pod:

cpu-request-limit.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: cpu-demo
spec:
  containers:
  - name: cpu-demo-ctr
    image: vish/stress
    resources:
      limits:
        cpu: "1"
      requests:
        cpu: "0.5"
    args:
    - -cpus
    - "2"

In the configuration file, the args section provides arguments for the Container when it starts. The -cpus "2" argument tells the Container to attempt to use 2 cpus.

Create the Pod:

kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/cpu-request-limit.yaml --namespace=cpu-example

Verify that the Pod’s Container is running:

kubectl get pod cpu-demo --namespace=cpu-example

View detailed information about the Pod:

kubectl get pod cpu-demo --output=yaml --namespace=cpu-example

The output shows that the one Container in the Pod has a CPU request of 500 millicpu and a CPU limit of 1 cpu.

resources:
  limits:
    cpu: "1"
  requests:
    cpu: 500m

Start a proxy so that you can call the heapster service:

kubectl proxy

In another command window, get the CPU usage rate from the heapster service:

curl http://localhost:8001/api/v1/proxy/namespaces/kube-system/services/heapster/api/v1/model/namespaces/cpu-example/pods/cpu-demo/metrics/cpu/usage_rate

The output shows that the Pod is using 974 millicpu, which is just a bit less than the limit of 1 cpu specified in the Pod’s configuration file.

{
 "timestamp": "2017-06-22T18:48:00Z",
 "value": 974
}

Recall that by setting -cpu "2", you configured the Container to attempt to use 2 cpus. But the Container is only being allowed to use about 1 cpu. The Container’s CPU use is being throttled, because the Container is attempting to use more CPU resources than its limit.

Note: There’s another possible explanation for the CPU throttling. The Node might not have enough CPU resources available. Recall that the prerequisites for this exercise require that each of your Nodes has at least 1 cpu. If your Container is running on a Node that has only 1 cpu, the Container cannot use more than 1 cpu regardless of the CPU limit specified for the Container.

CPU units

The CPU resource is measured in cpu units. One cpu, in Kubernetes, is equivalent to:

Fractional values are allowed. A Container that requests 0.5 cpu is guaranteed half as much CPU as a Container that requests 1 cpu. You can use the suffix m to mean milli. For example 100m cpu, 100 millicpu, and 0.1 cpu are all the same. Precision finer than 1m is not allowed.

CPU is always requested as an absolute quantity, never as a relative quantity; 0.1 is the same amount of CPU on a single-core, dual-core, or 48-core machine.

Delete your Pod:

kubectl delete pod cpu-demo --namespace=cpu-example

Specify a CPU request that is too big for your Nodes

CPU requests and limits are associated with Containers, but it is useful to think of a Pod as having a CPU request and limit. The CPU request for a Pod is the sum of the CPU requests for all the Containers in the Pod. Likewise, the CPU limit for a Pod is the sum of the CPU limits for all the Containers in the Pod.

Pod scheduling is based on requests. A Pod is scheduled to run on a Node only if the Node has enough CPU resources available to satisfy the Pod’s CPU request.

In this exercise, you create a Pod that has a CPU request so big that it exceeds the capacity of any Node in your cluster. Here is the configuration file for a Pod that has one Container. The Container requests 100 cpu, which is likely to exceed the capacity of any Node in your cluster.

cpu-request-limit-2.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: cpu-demo-2
spec:
  containers:
  - name: cpu-demo-ctr-2
    image: vish/stress
    resources:
      limits:
        cpu: "100"
      requests:
        cpu: "100"
    args:
    - -cpus
    - "2"

Create the Pod:

kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/cpu-request-limit-2.yaml --namespace=cpu-example

View the Pod’s status:

kubectl get pod cpu-demo-2 --namespace=cpu-example

The output shows that the Pod’s status is Pending. That is, the Pod has not been scheduled to run on any Node, and it will remain in the Pending state indefinitely:

kubectl get pod cpu-demo-2 --namespace=cpu-example
NAME         READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
cpu-demo-2   0/1       Pending   0          7m

View detailed information about the Pod, including events:

kubectl describe pod cpu-demo-2 --namespace=cpu-example

The output shows that the Container cannot be scheduled because of insufficient CPU resources on the Nodes:

Events:
  Reason			Message
  ------			-------
  FailedScheduling	No nodes are available that match all of the following predicates:: Insufficient cpu (3).

Delete your Pod:

kubectl delete pod cpu-demo-2 --namespace=cpu-example

If you don’t specify a CPU limit

If you don’t specify a CPU limit for a Container, then one of these situations applies:

Motivation for CPU requests and limits

By configuring the CPU requests and limits of the Containers that run in your cluster, you can make efficient use of the CPU resources available on your cluster’s Nodes. By keeping a Pod’s CPU request low, you give the Pod a good chance of being scheduled. By having a CPU limit that is greater than the CPU request, you accomplish two things:

Clean up

Delete your namespace:

kubectl delete namespace cpu-example

What’s next

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