[Clusterlint](https://github.com/digitalocean/clusterlint) flags issues with workloads deployed in a cluster. These issues might cause workload downtime during maintenance or upgrade to a new Kubernetes version, and could complicate the maintenance or upgrade itself. ## Default Namespace - Name: `default-namespace` - Groups: `basic` Namespaces are a way to limit the scope of the resources that subsets of users within a team can create. While a default namespace is created for every Kubernetes cluster, we don't recommend adding all created resources into the default namespace because of the risk of privilege escalation, resource name collisions, latency in operations as resources scale up, and mismanagement of Kubernetes objects. Having namespaces lets you enable resource quotas can be enabled to track node, CPU and memory usage for individual teams. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Defining resources with no namespace, which adds them to the default. apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: mypod labels: name: mypod spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx:1.17.0 ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Explicitly specify a namespace in the object config apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: mypod namespace: test labels: name: mypod spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx:1.17.0 ``` ## Latest Tag - Name: `latest-tag` - Groups: `basic` We don't recommend using container images with the `latest` tag or not specifying a tag in the image (which defaults to `latest`), as this leads to confusion around the version of image used. Pods get rescheduled often as conditions inside a cluster change, and upon a reschedule, you may find that the images' versions have changed to use the latest release, which can break the application and make it difficult to debug errors. Instead, update segments of the application individually using images pinned to specific versions. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Not specifying an image tag, or using "latest" spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx - name: redis image: redis:latest ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Explicitly specify a tag or digest spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx:1.17.0 - name: redis image: redis@sha256:dca057ffa2337682333a3aba69cc0e7809819b3cd7fc78f3741d9de8c2a4f08b ``` ## CronJob Concurrency - Name: `cronjob-concurrency` - Groups: `basic` We do not recommend having a `concurrencyPolicy` of `Allow` for CronJob resources. If a CronJob-managed Pod does not execute to completion within the expected window, it is possible that multiple Pods pile up over time, leading to several Pods stuck in a pending state and possible resource contention. Instead, prefer `Forbid`, which skips execution of a new job if the previous job has not exited, or `Replace`, which replaces the still-running job with a new job if it has not yet exited. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Having a concurrency policy of Allow apiVersion: batch/v1beta1 kind: CronJob metadata: name: mycron spec: concurrencyPolicy: Allow ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Having a concurrency policy of Forbid or Replace apiVersion: batch/v1beta1 kind: CronJob metadata: name: mycron spec: concurrencyPolicy: Replace ``` ## Privileged Containers - Name: `privileged-containers` - Groups: `security` Use the `privileged` mode for trusted containers only. Because the privileged mode allows container processes to access the host, malicious containers can extensively damage the host and bring down services on the cluster. If you need to run containers in privileged mode, test the container before using it in production. For more information about the risks of running containers in privileged mode, please refer to the [Kubernetes security context documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/security-context/). ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Using privileged mode instead of granting capabilities when it's not necessary spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx securityContext: privileged: true ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Explicitly add only the needed capabilities to the container spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx securityContext: capabilities: add: - NET_ADMIN ``` ## Run As Non-Root - Name: `run-as-non-root` - Groups: `security` If containers within a pod are allowed to run with the process ID (PID) `0`, then the host can be subjected to malicious activity. We recommend using a user identifier (UID) other than `0` in your container image for running applications. You can also enforce this in the Kubernetes pod configuration as shown below. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Doing nothing to prevent containers from running under UID 0 spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Ensure containers do not run as root spec: securityContext: runAsNonRoot: true containers: - name: mypod image: nginx ``` ## Fully Qualified Image - Name: `fully-qualified-image` - Groups: `basic` Docker is the most popular runtime for Kubernetes. However, Kubernetes supports other container runtimes as well, such as containerd and CRI-O. If the registry is not prepended to the image name, docker assumes `docker.io` and pulls it from Docker Hub. However, the other runtimes will result in errors while pulling images. To maintain portability, we recommend using a fully qualified image name. If the underlying runtime is changed and the object configs are deployed to a new cluster, having fully qualified image names ensures that the applications don't break. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Failing to specify the registry in the image name spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx:1.17.0 ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Provide the registry name in the image spec: containers: - name: mypod image: docker.io/nginx:1.17.0 ``` ## Node Name Selector - Name: `node-name-pod-selector` - Groups: `doks` On upgrade of a cluster on DOKS, the worker nodes' hostname changes. So, if a user's pod spec relies on the hostname to schedule pods on specific nodes, pod scheduling will fail after the upgrade. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Using a raw DigitalOcean resource name in the nodeSelector apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: nginx labels: env: test spec: containers: - name: nginx image: nginx nodeSelector: kubernetes.io/hostname: pool-y25ag12r1-xxxx ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Use the DOKS-specific node pool label apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: nginx labels: env: test spec: containers: - name: nginx image: nginx nodeSelector: doks.digitalocean.com/node-pool: pool-y25ag12r1 ``` ## Admission Controller Webhook - Name: `admission-controller-webhook` - Groups: `basic` Admission control webhooks can disrupt normal cluster operations. Specifically, this happens when an admission control webhook: * targets a service that does not exist, * targets a service in a namespace that does not exist. ### Example ```yaml # Error: Configure a webhook pointing at a service that does not exist apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration metadata: name: sample-webhook.example.com webhooks: - name: sample-webhook.example.com rules: - apiGroups: - "" apiVersions: - v1 operations: - CREATE resources: - pods scope: "Namespaced" clientConfig: service: namespace: webhook name: missing-webhook-server path: /pods admissionReviewVersions: - v1beta1 timeoutSeconds: 1 failurePolicy: Fail ``` ### How to Fix Point the webhook at the correct service. ```yaml apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration metadata: name: sample-webhook.example.com webhooks: - name: sample-webhook.example.com rules: - apiGroups: - "" apiVersions: - v1 operations: - CREATE resources: - pods scope: "Namespaced" clientConfig: service: namespace: webhook name: webhook-server path: /pods admissionReviewVersions: - v1beta1 timeoutSeconds: 1 failurePolicy: Fail namespaceSelector: matchExpressions: - key: "skip-webhooks" operator: "DoesNotExist" ``` ## Admission Controller Webhook Replacement - Name: `admission-controller-webhook-replacement` - Groups: `doks` Admission control webhooks can disrupt upgrade and node replacement operations by preventing system components from starting. Specifically, this happens when an admission control webhook: * has failurePolicy set to Fail, * targets a service other than the Kubernetes apiserver, and * applies to both kube-system and the namespace of the targeted service. * has rules applicable to `v1`, `apps/v1`, `apps/v1beta1` or `apps/v1beta2` resources. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Configure a webhook with a failurePolicy set to "Fail" apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration metadata: name: sample-webhook.example.com webhooks: - name: sample-webhook.example.com rules: - apiGroups: - "*" apiVersions: - "*" operations: - CREATE resources: - pods scope: "Namespaced" clientConfig: service: namespace: webhook name: webhook-server path: /pods admissionReviewVersions: - v1beta1 timeoutSeconds: 1 failurePolicy: Fail ``` ### How to Fix There are a few options: 1. Use the `Ignore` `failurePolicy`. 2. Use an apiserver extension as your webhook service. 3. Explicitly exclude the kube-system namespace. 4. Explicitly exclude the webhook service's namespace. 5. Explicitly include the resource api group and version in the rules. If you have configured webhooks for CRDs, we recommend that you explicitly specify the rules instead of generally applying them to all resources. ```yaml # Recommended: Exclude objects in the `webhook` namespace by explicitly specifying a namespaceSelector. apiVersion: v1 kind: Namespace metadata: name: webhook labels: skip-webhooks: "yes" --- apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration metadata: name: sample-webhook.example.com webhooks: - name: sample-webhook.example.com rules: - apiGroups: - "" apiVersions: - v1 operations: - CREATE resources: - pods scope: "Namespaced" clientConfig: service: namespace: webhook name: webhook-server path: /pods admissionReviewVersions: - v1beta1 timeoutSeconds: 1 failurePolicy: Fail namespaceSelector: matchExpressions: - key: "skip-webhooks" operator: "DoesNotExist" ``` ## Admission Controller Webhook Timeout - Name: `admission-controller-webhook-timeout` - Groups: `doks` Admission control webhook timeouts can block upgrades, when the API call times out, due to an incorrectly configured TimeoutSeconds value. Since webhooks inherently add to API latency, we must stay within the recommended range in order for API requests to be successful. Specifically, this happens when an admission control webhook does not respond within 30 seconds. ### Example ```yaml # Error: Configure a webhook with a TimeoutSeconds value greater than 30 seconds. apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration metadata: name: sample-webhook.example.com webhooks: - name: sample-webhook.example.com rules: - apiGroups: - "" apiVersions: - v1 operations: - CREATE resources: - pods scope: "Namespaced" clientConfig: service: namespace: webhook name: webhook-server path: /pods admissionReviewVersions: - v1beta1 timeoutSeconds: 60 ``` ### How to Fix Set the TimeoutSeconds value to anything within the 1 to 30 second range. ```yaml apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration metadata: name: sample-webhook.example.com webhooks: - name: sample-webhook.example.com rules: - apiGroups: - "" apiVersions: - v1 operations: - CREATE resources: - pods scope: "Namespaced" clientConfig: service: namespace: webhook name: webhook-server path: /pods admissionReviewVersions: - v1beta1 timeoutSeconds: 10 ``` ## Pod State - Name: `pod-state` - Groups: `workload-health` This checks for unhealthy pods in a cluster. This check is not run by default. Specify a group name or a check name to run this check. ## HostPath Volume - Name: `hostpath-volume` - Groups: `basic` Using `hostPath` volumes is best avoided because: - Pods with an identical configuration (such as those created from a `podTemplate`) intended to behave identically to one another regardless of their deployment will in fact behave differently from node to node due to differences in the files present on the nodes themselves. - Resource-aware scheduling is not be able to account for resources used by a `hostPath` volume. - The files created on the hosts are only writable by root; you will need to run your process as root in a privileged container or modify the file permissions on the host to be able to write to a `hostPath` volume. For more details about `hostPath` volumes, please refer to [the Kubernetes documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/storage/volumes/#hostpath) ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Using a hostPath volume apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: test-pd spec: containers: - image: docker.io/nginx:1.17.0 name: test-container volumeMounts: - mountPath: /test-pd name: test-volume volumes: - name: test-volume hostPath: path: /data type: Directory ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Use other volume sources. See https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/storage/volumes/ apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: test-pd spec: containers: - image: docker.io/nginx:1.17.0 name: test-container volumeMounts: - mountPath: /test-pd name: test-volume volumes: - name: test-volume cephfs: monitors: - 10.16.154.78:6789 user: admin secretFile: "/etc/ceph/admin.secret" readOnly: true ``` ## Unused Persistent Volume - Name: `unused-pv` - Groups: `basic` This check reports all the persistent volumes in the cluster that are not claimed by a `PersistentVolumeClaim` (PVC) in any namespace. You can clean up the cluster based on this information and there will be fewer objects to manage. ### How to Fix ```bash kubectl delete pv ``` ## Unused Persistent Volume Claims - Name: `unused-pvc` - Groups: `basic` This check reports all the PVCs in the cluster that are not referenced by pods in the respective namespaces. You can clean up the cluster based on this information. ### How to Fix ```bash kubectl delete pvc ``` ## Unused Config Maps - Name: `unused-config-map` - Groups: `basic` This check reports all the config maps in the cluster that are not referenced by pods in the respective namespaces. You can clean up the cluster based on this information. ### How to Fix ```bash kubectl delete configmap ``` ## Unused Secrets - Name: `unused-secret` - Groups: `basic` This check reports all the secret names in the cluster that are not referenced by pods in the respective namespaces. You can clean up the cluster based on this information. ### How to Fix ```bash kubectl delete secret ``` ## Resource Requests and Limits - Name: `resource-requirements` - Groups: `basic` When you specify resource limits for containers, the scheduler can make better decisions about which nodes to place pods on, and handle contention for resources on a node in a specified manner. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Scheduling pods without specifying any resource limits apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: test spec: containers: - image: docker.io/nginx:1.17.0 name: test-container ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Specify resource requests and limits apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: test-pd spec: containers: - image: docker.io/nginx:1.17.0 name: test-container resources: limits: cpu: 102m requests: cpu: 102m ``` ## Bare Pods - Name: `bare-pods` - Groups: `basic` When the node that a pod is running on reboots or fails, the pod is terminated and will not be restarted. However, a job will create new pods to replace terminated ones. For this reason, we recommend that you use a job, deployment, or `StatefulSet` rather than a bare pod, even if your application requires only a single pod. ### Example ```yaml # Not recommended: Deploying a bare pod without any deployment parameters apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: mypod namespace: test labels: name: mypod spec: containers: - name: mypod image: nginx:1.17.0 ``` ### How to Fix ```yaml # Recommended: Configure pods as part of a deployment, job, or StatefulSet apiVersion: apps/v1 kind: Deployment metadata: name: nginx-deployment namespace: test labels: app: nginx spec: replicas: 1 selector: matchLabels: app: nginx template: metadata: labels: app: nginx spec: containers: - name: nginx image: nginx:1.7.9 ``` ## Node Labels and Taints - Name: `node-labels-and-taints` - Groups: `doks` When a DOKS cluster is upgraded, all worker nodes are replaced, and replacement nodes do not retain any custom labels or taints that were previously set by the user on the nodes. This check reports any labels or taints that will be lost on upgrade. DOKS provides persistent node pool labels. Adding a custom label to a node pool will ensure that the label is propagated to the worker nodes in the node pool after replacement or upgrade. ### How to Fix ```bash kubectl label node - kubectl taint node - ``` Note the trailing `-` on the key; this causes `kubectl` to delete the label or taint.