Deploy Azure IoT Edge on Kubernetes (preview)

⚠️ Deprecation notice

This preview integration of IoT Edge 1.x and Kubernetes will not be made generally available, and is no longer supported. The recommended way to run IoT Edge 1.x on Kubernetes is noted in the product's official docs

This example demostrates how you can use Kubernetes resources in an IoT Edge workload deployment manifest. It requires a Kubernetes cluster with Helm initialized and kubectl installed as noted in the prerequisites. You'll also be using VS Code with Azure IoT tools to work with the edge workload (deployment) manifest.

Setup steps

1. As needed, follow the steps to register an IoT Edge device. Take note of the device connection string.

2. Set up VS Code and tools, associate with IoT Hub from the previous step.

3. Follow steps, or a subset as needed, to install edge deployment into the cluster.

   For simplicity, this tutorial doesn't specify a persistent store for iotedged during install. However, for any serious/PoC deployment, follow the best practice example shown in step 6 of iotedged failure resilience tutorial.

   
   # Create K8s namespace
   kubectl create ns resources
   
   # Install IoT Edge CRD, if not already installed
   helm install --repo https://edgek8s.blob.core.windows.net/staging edge-crd edge-kubernetes-crd
   
   # Store the device connection string a variable
   export connStr=replace-with-device-connection-string-from-step-1
   
   # Install the edge workload into the cluster namespace
   helm install --repo https://edgek8s.blob.core.windows.net/staging resources-example edge-kubernetes \
     --namespace resources \
     --set "provisioning.deviceConnectionString=$connStr"
   
   

4. In the Visual Studio Code command palette (View menu -> Command Palette...), search for and select Azure IoT Edge: New IoT Edge Solution. Follow the prompts and use the following values to create your solution:

   Field	Value
   Select folder	Choose the location on your development machine for VS Code to create the solution files.
   Provide a solution name	Enter a descriptive name for your solution or accept the default EdgeSolution.
   Select module template	Choose Empty solution.

   You'll be making updates to deployment.template.json (see navigation pane on the left) to configure the edgeHub module to use K8s configmaps.

5. Add the Kubernetes resources in the createOptions section of the edgeHub module in deployment.template.json using Kubernetes extended createOptions feature.

   {
     "$schema-template": "2.0.0",
     "modulesContent": {
       "$edgeAgent": {
         "properties.desired": {
           "schemaVersion": "1.0",
           "runtime": {
             "type": "docker",
             "settings": {
               "minDockerVersion": "v1.25",
               "loggingOptions": "",
               "registryCredentials": {}
             }
           },
           "systemModules": {
             "edgeAgent": {
               "type": "docker",
               "settings": {
                 "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/azureiotedge-agent:1.0",
                 "createOptions": {}
               }
             },
             "edgeHub": {
               "type": "docker",
               "status": "running",
               "restartPolicy": "always",
               "settings": {
                 "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/azureiotedge-hub:1.0",
                 "createOptions": {
                   "HostConfig": {
                     "PortBindings": {
                       "5671/tcp": [{
                         "HostPort": "5671"
                       }],
                       "8883/tcp": [{
                         "HostPort": "8883"
                       }],
                       "443/tcp": [{
                         "HostPort": "443"
                       }]
                     }
                   },
   +               "k8s-experimental": {
   +                 "resources": {
   +                   "limits": {
   +                     "memory": "128Mi",
   +                     "cpu": "500m",
   +                     "hardware-vendor.example/foo": 2
   +                   },
   +                   "requests": {
   +                     "memory": "64Mi",
   +                     "cpu": "250m",
   +                     "hardware-vendor.example/foo": 2
   +                   }
   +                 }
   +               }
                 }
               }
             }
           },
           "modules": {}
         }
       },
       "$edgeHub": {
         "properties.desired": {
           "schemaVersion": "1.0",
           "routes": {},
           "storeAndForwardConfiguration": {
             "timeToLiveSecs": 7200
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   Resource requirements API reference has details on allowed values.

   🗒

   We've used edgeHub as an example here, however you can specify K8s extended createOptions for any module in the edge deployment.

6. Generate the workload deployment config by right-clicking the deployment.template.json in the left navigation pane and selecting Generate IoT Edge Deployment Manifest. This will generate the minified deployment.amd64.json under the config directory.

7. Update the configuration for the device by right-clicking deployment.amd64.json and selecting Create Deployment for Single Device. In the displayed list, choose the device created in step 1 to complete the operation.

8. In a few seconds, you'll see a new edgeHub pod instantiated with the resources defined deployment manifest.

   
   # Get pod names
   kubectl get pods -n resources
   
   # Save edgehub pod name in env var
   export ehname=replace-with-edgehub-pod-name
   
   # Describe pod spec to see resource requests
   kubectl describe pod --namespace=resources $ehname
   
   

Cleanup

# Cleanup
helm del resources-example -n resources && \
kubectl delete ns resources

...will remove all the Kubernetes resources deployed as part of the edge deployment in this example (IoT Edge CRD will not be deleted).