# Running CRI-O on kubernetes cluster

## Switching runtime from docker to CRI-O

In standard docker kubernetes cluster, kubelet is running on each node as systemd service and is taking care of communication between runtime and api service.
It is reponsible for starting microservices pods (such as `kube-proxy`, `kubedns`, etc. - they can be different for various ways of deploying k8s) and user pods.
Configuration of kubelet determines which runtime is used and in what way.

Kubelet itself is executed in docker container (as we can see in `kubelet.service`), but, what is important, **it's not** a kubernetes pod (at least for now), 
so we can keep kubelet running inside container (as well as directly on the host), and regardless of this, run pods in chosen runtime.

Below, you can find an instruction how to switch one or more nodes on running kubernetes cluster from docker to CRI-O.

### Preparing crio

You must prepare and install `crio` on each node you would like to switch.
Besides the files installed by `make install install.config`, here's the list of files that must be provided:

| File path                                  | Description                 | Location                                                |
|--------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| `/etc/containers/policy.json`              | containers policy           | [Example](test/policy.json) stored in cri-o repository  |
| `/bin/runc`                                | `runc` or other OCI runtime | Can be build from sources `opencontainers/runc`         |
| `/opt/cni/bin/{flannel, bridge,...}`       | CNI plugins binaries        | Can be built from sources `containernetworking/plugins` |
| `/etc/cni/net.d/...`                       | CNI network config          | Example [here](contrib/cni)                             |

`crio` binary can be executed directly on host, inside the container or in any way.
However, recommended way is to set it as a systemd service.
Here's the example of unit file:

```
# cat /etc/systemd/system/crio.service
[Unit]
Description=CRI-O daemon
Documentation=https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cri-o

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/crio --runtime /bin/runc --log /root/crio.log --log-level debug
Restart=always
RestartSec=10s

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

### Preparing kubelet
At first, you need to stop kubelet service working on the node:
```
# systemctl stop kubelet
```
and stop all kubelet docker containers that are still runing.

```
# docker stop $(docker ps | grep k8s_ | awk '{print $1}')
```

We have to be sure that `kubelet.service` will start after `crio.service`.
It can be done by adding `crio.service` to `Wants=` section in `/etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service`:

```
# cat /etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service | grep Wants
Wants=docker.socket crio.service
```

If you'd like to change the way of starting kubelet (e.g. directly on host instead of docker container), you can change it here, but, as mentioned, it's not necessary.


Kubelet parameters are stored in `/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.env` file.
```
# cat /etc/kubernetes/kubelet.env | grep KUBELET_ARGS
KUBELET_ARGS="--pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests 
--pod-infra-container-image=gcr.io/google_containers/pause-amd64:3.0 
--cluster_dns=10.233.0.3 --cluster_domain=cluster.local 
--resolv-conf=/etc/resolv.conf --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/node-kubeconfig.yaml
--require-kubeconfig"
```

You need to add following parameters to `KUBELET_ARGS`:
* `--experimental-cri=true` - Use Container Runtime Interface. Will be true by default from kubernetes 1.6 release.
* `--container-runtime=remote` - Use remote runtime with provided socket.
* `--container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/crio/crio.sock` - Socket for remote runtime (default `crio` socket localization).
* `--runtime-request-timeout=10m` - Optional but useful. Some requests, especially pulling huge images, may take longer than default (2 minutes) and will cause an error. 

Kubelet is prepared now.

## Flannel network
If your cluster is using flannel network, your network configuration should be like:
```
# cat /etc/cni/net.d/10-mynet.conf
{
    "name": "mynet",
    "type": "flannel"
}
```
Then, kubelet will take parameters from `/run/flannel/subnet.env` - file generated by flannel kubelet microservice.

## Starting kubelet with CRI-O
Start crio first, then kubelet. If you created `crio` service:
```
# systemctl start crio
# systemctl start kubelet
```

You can follow the progress of preparing node using `kubectl get nodes` or `kubectl get pods --all-namespaces` on kubernetes master.
