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Kubernetes operator for air-gapped instances

Introduction​

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to deploy the W&B Platform in air-gapped customer-managed environments.

Use an internal repository or registry to host the Helm charts and container images. Run all commands in a shell console with proper access to the Kubernetes cluster.

You could utilize similar commands in any continuous delivery tooling that you use to deploy Kubernetes applications.

Step 1: Prerequisites​

Before starting, make sure your environment meets the following requirements:

  • Kubernetes version >= 1.28
  • Helm version >= 3
  • Access to an internal container registry with the required W&B images
  • Access to an internal Helm repository for W&B Helm charts

Step 2: Prepare internal container registry​

Before proceeding with the deployment, you must ensure that the following container images are available in your internal container registry:

  • docker.io/wandb/controller
  • docker.io/wandb/local
  • docker.io/wandb/console
  • docker.io/bitnami/redis
  • docker.io/otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib
  • quay.io/prometheus/prometheus
  • quay.io/prometheus-operator/prometheus-config-reloader

These images are critical for the successful deployment of W&B components.

WSM tool​

Installation​

Install the WSM tool by executing the following command:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wandb/wsm/main/install.sh | bash

The script downloads the binary to the folder in which you executed the script. To move it to another folder, execute:

sudo mv wsm /usr/local/bin

Alternatively, download WSM from the W&B managed wandb/wsm GitHub repository at https://github.com/wandb/wsm. See the wandb/wsm release notes for the latest release.

note

WSM requires a functioning Docker installation.

List images and their versions​

To get an up to date list of image versions, execute:

wsm list

The output looks similar to the following:

wsm list
:package: Starting the process to list all images required for deployment...
Operator Images:
  wandb/controller:1.16.1
W&B Images:
  wandb/local:0.62.2
  docker.io/bitnami/redis:7.2.4-debian-12-r9
  quay.io/prometheus-operator/prometheus-config-reloader:v0.67.0
  quay.io/prometheus/prometheus:v2.47.0
  otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib:0.97.0
  wandb/console:2.13.1
Here are the images required to deploy W&B. Ensure these images are available in your internal container registry and update the values.yaml accordingly.

Download images​

To download all images in the latest versions, execute:

wsm download

The output looks similar to the following:

wsm download
Downloading operator helm chart
Downloading wandb helm chart
✓ wandb/controller:1.16.1
✓ docker.io/bitnami/redis:7.2.4-debian-12-r9
✓ otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib:0.97.0
✓ quay.io/prometheus-operator/prometheus-config-reloader:v0.67.0
✓ wandb/console:2.13.1
✓ quay.io/prometheus/prometheus:v2.47.0

  Done! Installed 7 packages.

The images get downloaded to a folder named "bundle":

ls bundle/images/

docker.io/
otel/
quay.io/
wandb/

The folder contains a tgz file for each image.

Step 3: Prepare internal Helm chart repository​

Along with the container images, you also must ensure that the following Helm charts are available in your internal Helm Chart repository. The WSM tool introduced in the last step can also download the Helm charts. Alternatively, download them here:

The operator chart is used to deploy the W&B Operator, or the Controller Manager. While the platform chart is used to deploy the W&B Platform using the values configured in the custom resource definition (CRD).

Step 4: Set up Helm repository​

Now, configure the Helm repository to pull the W&B Helm charts from your internal repository. Run the following commands to add and update the Helm repository:

helm repo add local-repo https://charts.yourdomain.com
helm repo update

Step 5: Install the Kubernetes operator​

The W&B Kubernetes operator, also known as the controller manager, is responsible for managing the W&B platform components. To install it in an air-gapped environment, you must configure it to use your internal container registry.

To do so, you must override the default image settings to use your internal container registry and set the key airgapped: true to indicate the expected deployment type. Update the values.yaml file as shown below:

image:
  repository: registry.yourdomain.com/library/controller
  tag: 1.13.3
airgapped: true

Replace the tag with the version that is available in your internal registry.

Execute the following to install the operator:

helm upgrade --install operator wandb/operator -n wandb --create-namespace -f values.yaml

You can find all supported values in the official Kubernetes operator repository.

Step 6: Configure W&B Custom Resource Definition​

After installing the W&B Kubernetes operator, you must configure the Custom Resource Definition (CRD) to point to your internal Helm repository and container registry.

This configuration ensures that the Kubernetes operators uses your internal registry and repository are when it deploys the required components of the W&B platform.

Below is an example of how to configure the CRD. Save it as wandb.yaml.

apiVersion: apps.wandb.com/v1
kind: WeightsAndBiases
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: wandb
    app.kubernetes.io/name: weightsandbiases
  name: wandb
  namespace: default

spec:
  chart:
    url: http://charts.yourdomain.com
    name: operator-wandb
    version: 0.18.0

  values:
    global:
      host: https://wandb.yourdomain.com
      license: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      bucket:
        accessKey: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        secretKey: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        name: s3.yourdomain.com:port #Ex.: s3.yourdomain.com:9000
        path: bucket_name
        provider: s3
        region: us-east-1
      mysql:
        database: wandb
        host: mysql.home.lab
        password: password
        port: 3306
        user: wandb
    
    # Ensre it's set to use your own MySQL
    mysql:
      install: false

    app:
      image:
        repository: registry.yourdomain.com/local
        tag: 0.59.2

    console:
      image:
        repository: registry.yourdomain.com/console
        tag: 2.12.2

    ingress:
      annotations:
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: 64m
      class: nginx

To deploy the W&B platform, the Kubernetes Operator uses the operator-wandb chart from your internal repository and use the values from your CRD to configure the Helm chart.

Replace all tags/versions with the versions that are available in your internal registry.

More information on creating the preceding configuration file can be found here.

Step 7: Deploy the W&B platform​

Finally, after setting up the Kubernetes operator and the CRD, deploy the W&B platform using the following command:

kubectl apply -f wandb.yaml

Troubleshooting and FAQ​

Refer to the below frequently asked questions (FAQs) and troubleshooting tips during the deployment process:

There is another ingress class. Can that class be used?
Yes, you can configure your ingress class by modifying the ingress settings in values.yaml.

The certificate bundle has more than one certificate. Would that work?
You must split the certificates into multiple entries in the customCACerts section of values.yaml.

How do you prevent the Kubernetes operator from applying unattended updates. Is that possible?
You can turn off auto-updates from the W&B console. Reach out to your W&B team for any questions on the supported versions. Also, note that W&B supports platform versions released in last 6 months. W&B recommends performing periodic upgrades.

Does the deployment work if the environment has no connection to public repositories?
As long as you have enabled the airgapped: true configuration, the Kubernetes operator does not attempt to reach public repositories. The Kubernetes operator attempts to use your internal resources.

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