This page shows you how to configure your Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Autopilot deployments to request nodes that are backed by Arm architecture.
About Arm architecture in Autopilot
Autopilot clusters offer
compute classes
for workloads that have specific hardware requirements. Some of these compute
classes support multiple CPU architectures, such as amd64
and arm64
.
Use cases for Arm nodes
Nodes with Arm architecture offer more cost-efficient performance than similar x86 nodes. You should select Arm for your Autopilot workloads in situations such as the following:
- Your environment relies on Arm architecture for building and testing.
- You're developing applications for Android devices that run on Arm CPUs.
- You use multi-arch images and want to optimize costs while running your workloads.
Before you begin
Before you start, make sure you have performed the following tasks:
- Enable the Google Kubernetes Engine API. Enable Google Kubernetes Engine API
- If you want to use the Google Cloud CLI for this task,
install and then
initialize the
gcloud CLI. If you previously installed the gcloud CLI, get the latest
version by running
gcloud components update
.
- Review the requirements and limitations for Arm nodes.
- Ensure that you have quota for the C4A or Tau T2A Compute Engine machine types.
- Ensure that you have a Pod with a container image that's built for Arm architecture.
How to request Arm nodes in Autopilot
To tell Autopilot to run your Pods on Arm nodes, specify one of the following labels in a nodeSelector or node affinity rule:
kubernetes.io/arch: arm64
. GKE places Pods onT2A
machine types by default. IfT2A
machines are unavailable, GKE places Pods onC4A
machine types.cloud.google.com/machine-family: ARM_MACHINE_SERIES
: ReplaceARM_MACHINE_SERIES
with an Arm machine series likeC4A
orT2A
. GKE places Pods on the specified series.
By default, using either of the labels lets GKE place other Pods
on the same node if there's availability capacity on that node. To request a
dedicated node for each Pod, add the cloud.google.com/compute-class:
Performance
label to your manifest. For details, see Optimize
Autopilot Pod performance by choosing a machine
series.
Or, you can use the Scale-Out
label with the arm64
label to request T2A
.
You can also request Arm architecture for Spot Pods.
When you deploy your workload, Autopilot does the following:
- Automatically provisions Arm nodes to run your Pods.
- Automatically taints the new nodes to prevent non-Arm Pods from being scheduled on those nodes.
- Automatically adds a toleration to your Arm Pods to allow scheduling on the new nodes.
Example request for Arm architecture
The following example specifications show you how to use a node selector or a node affinity rule to request Arm architecture in Autopilot.
nodeSelector
The following example manifest shows you how to request Arm nodes in a nodeSelector:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-arm
spec:
replicas: 3
selector:
matchLabels:
app: nginx-arm
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: nginx-arm
spec:
nodeSelector:
cloud.google.com/compute-class: Performance
kubernetes.io/arch: arm64
containers:
- name: nginx-arm
image: nginx
resources:
requests:
cpu: 2000m
memory: 2Gi
nodeAffinity
You can use node affinity to request Arm nodes. You can also specify the type of node affinity to use:
requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution
: Must use the specified compute class and architecture.preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution
: Use the specified compute class and architecture on a best-effort basis. For example, if an existing x86 node is allocatable, GKE places your Pod on the x86 node instead of provisioning a new Arm node. Unless you're using a multi-arch image manifest, your Pod will crash. We strongly recommend that you explicitly request the specific architecture that you want.
The following example manifest requires the Performance
class and Arm
nodes:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-arm
spec:
replicas: 3
selector:
matchLabels:
app: nginx-arm
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: nginx-arm
spec:
terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 25
containers:
- name: nginx-arm
image: nginx
resources:
requests:
cpu: 2000m
memory: 2Gi
ephemeral-storage: 1Gi
affinity:
nodeAffinity:
requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
nodeSelectorTerms:
- matchExpressions:
- key: cloud.google.com/compute-class
operator: In
values:
- Performance
- key: kubernetes.io/arch
operator: In
values:
- arm64
Recommendations
- Build and use multi-arch images as part of your pipeline. Multi-arch images ensure that your Pods run even if they're placed on x86 nodes.
- Explicitly request architecture and compute classes in your workload manifests. If you don't, Autopilot uses the default architecture of the selected compute class, which might not be Arm.
Availability
You can deploy Autopilot workloads on Arm architecture in Google Cloud locations that support Arm architecture. For details, see Available regions and zones.
Troubleshooting
For common errors and troubleshooting information, refer to Troubleshooting Arm workloads.
What's next
- Learn more about Autopilot cluster architecture.
- Learn about the lifecycle of Pods.
- Learn about the available Autopilot compute classes.
- Read about the default, minimum, and maximum resource requests for each platform.