- Prerequisites
- Installing on a Linux System
- Installing on a Cloud Service Platform
- Further information
Kata Containers requires nested virtualization or bare metal. See the hardware requirements to see if your system is capable of running Kata Containers.
The following is an overview of the different installation methods available. All of these methods equally result in a system configured to run Kata Containers.
| Installation method | Suggested for | Description | Packaged install | Distributions supported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic | Quick start for new users | Run a single command to install a full system. | yes | see table |
| Manual | Self paced user install | Allows the user to read a brief document and exectute the specified commands step-by-step. | yes | see table |
| Scripted | Administrators | Generates an installation script which will result in a working system when executed. | yes | see table |
| Build from sources | Developers and hackers only | Allows power users who are comfortable building software from source to use the latest component versions. Not recommended for normal users. | no | any distro |
| Using snap | Users and Administrators | Easy to install and automatic updates | yes | any distro that supports snapd |
Notes:
The "Packaged install" column shows if the resulting installation uses your distribution's native package format (such as RPM or DEB).
Power users who decide to build from sources should be aware of the implications of using an unpackaged system which will not be automatically updated as new releases are made available.
Use kata-manager to automatically install Kata packages.
Use kata-doc-to-script to generate installation scripts that can be reviewed before they are executed.
Manual installation instructions are available for these distributions and document how to:
- Add the Kata Containers repository to your distro package manager, and import the packages signing key.
- Install the Kata Containers packages.
- Install a supported container manager.
- Configure the container manager to use
kata-runtimeas the default OCI runtime. Or, for Kata Containers 1.5.0 or above, configure theio.containerd.kata.v2to be the runtime shim (see containerd runtime v2 (shim API) and How to use Kata Containers and CRI (containerd plugin) with Kubernetes).
Notes on upgrading:
- If you are installing Kata Containers on a system that already has Clear Containers or
runvinstalled, first read the upgrading document.
Notes on releases:
This download server hosts the Kata Containers packages built by OBS for all the supported architectures. Packages are available for the latest and stable releases (more info here).
The following guides apply to the latest Kata Containers release (a.k.a.
masterrelease).When choosing a stable release, replace all
masteroccurrences in the URLs with astable-x.yversion available on the download server.
Notes on packages source verification:
The Kata packages hosted on the download server are signed with GPG to ensure integrity and authenticity.
The public key used to sign packages is available at this link; the fingerprint is
9FDC0CB6 3708CF80 3696E2DC D0B37B82 6063F3ED.Only trust the signing key and fingerprint listed in the previous bullet point. Do not disable GPG checks, otherwise packages source and authenticity is not guaranteed.
Use snap to install Kata Containers from snapcraft.io.
| Distro specific installation instructions | Versions |
|---|---|
| CentOS | 7 |
| Debian | 9 |
| Fedora | 27, 28 |
| openSUSE | Leap (42.3) |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | 7 |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) | SLES 12 SP3 |
| Ubuntu | 16.04, 18.04 |
- The upgrading document.
- The developer guide.
- The runtime documentation.