NATS Controllers for Kubernetes (NACK)

JetStream Controller

The JetStream controllers allows you to manage NATS JetStream Streams and Consumers via K8S CRDs.

Getting started

First, we'll need to NATS cluster that has enabled JetStream. You can install one as follows:

# Creates cluster of NATS Servers that are not JetStream enabled
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/k8s/master/nats-server/simple-nats.yml

# Creates NATS Server with JetStream enabled as a leafnode connection
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/k8s/master/nats-server/nats-js-leaf.yml

Now install the JetStream CRDs and Controller:

$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/nack/main/deploy/crds.yml
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/streams.jetstream.nats.io configured
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/consumers.jetstream.nats.io configured
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/streamtemplates.jetstream.nats.io configured

$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/nack/main/deploy/rbac.yml
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/nack/main/deploy/deployment.yml

Installing with Helm

You can also use Helm to install:

helm repo add nats https://nats-io.github.io/k8s/helm/charts/
helm install nats nats/nats --set nats.image=synadia/nats-server:nightly --set=nats.jetstream.enabled=true
helm install nack nats/nack --set=jetstream.nats.url=nats://nats:4222

Creating Streams and Consumers

Let's create a a stream and a couple of consumers:

---
apiVersion: jetstream.nats.io/v1beta1
kind: Stream
metadata:
  name: mystream
spec:
  name: mystream
  subjects: ["orders.*"]
  storage: memory
  maxAge: 1h
---
apiVersion: jetstream.nats.io/v1beta1
kind: Consumer
metadata:
  name: my-push-consumer
spec:
  streamName: mystream
  durableName: my-push-consumer
  deliverSubject: my-push-consumer.orders
  deliverPolicy: last
  ackPolicy: none
  replayPolicy: instant
---
apiVersion: jetstream.nats.io/v1beta1
kind: Consumer
metadata:
  name: my-pull-consumer
spec:
  streamName: mystream
  durableName: my-pull-consumer
  deliverPolicy: all
  filterSubject: orders.received
  maxDeliver: 20
  ackPolicy: explicit

# Create a stream.
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/nack/main/deploy/examples/stream.yml

# Check if it was successfully created.
$ kubectl get streams
NAME       STATE     STREAM NAME   SUBJECTS
mystream   Created   mystream      [orders.*]

# Create a push-based consumer
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/nack/main/deploy/examples/consumer_push.yml

# Create a pull based consumer
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nats-io/nack/main/deploy/examples/consumer_pull.yml

# Check if they were successfully created.
$ kubectl get consumers
NAME               STATE     STREAM     CONSUMER           ACK POLICY
my-pull-consumer   Created   mystream   my-pull-consumer   explicit
my-push-consumer   Created   mystream   my-push-consumer   none

# If you end up in an Errored state, run kubectl describe for more info.
#     kubectl describe streams mystream
#     kubectl describe consumers my-pull-consumer

Now we're ready to use Streams and Consumers. Let's start off with writing some data into mystream.

# Run nats-box that includes the NATS management utilities, and exec into it.
$ kubectl apply -f https://nats-io.github.io/k8s/tools/nats-box.yml
$ kubectl exec -it nats-box -- /bin/sh -l

# Publish a couple of messages from nats-box
nats-box:~$ nats context save jetstream -s nats://nats:4222
nats-box:~$ nats context select jetstream

nats-box:~$ nats pub orders.received "order 1"
nats-box:~$ nats pub orders.received "order 2"

First, we'll read the data using a pull-based consumer.

From the above my-pull-consumer Consumer CRD, we have set the filterSubject of orders.received. You can double check with the following command:

$ kubectl get consumer my-pull-consumer -o jsonpath={.spec.filterSubject}
orders.received

So that's the subject my-pull-consumer will pull messages from.

# Pull first message.
nats-box:~$ nats consumer next mystream my-pull-consumer
--- subject: orders.received / delivered: 1 / stream seq: 1 / consumer seq: 1

order 1

Acknowledged message

# Pull next message.
nats-box:~$ nats consumer next mystream my-pull-consumer
--- subject: orders.received / delivered: 1 / stream seq: 2 / consumer seq: 2

order 2

Acknowledged message

Next, let's read data using a push-based consumer.

From the above my-push-consumer Consumer CRD, we have set the deliverSubject of my-push-consumer.orders, as you can confirm with the following command:

$ kubectl get consumer my-push-consumer -o jsonpath={.spec.deliverSubject}
my-push-consumer.orders

So pushed messages will arrive on that subject. This time all messages arrive automatically.

nats-box:~$ nats sub my-push-consumer.orders
17:57:24 Subscribing on my-push-consumer.orders
[#1] Received JetStream message: consumer: mystream > my-push-consumer / subject: orders.received /
delivered: 1 / consumer seq: 1 / stream seq: 1 / ack: false
order 1

[#2] Received JetStream message: consumer: mystream > my-push-consumer / subject: orders.received /
delivered: 1 / consumer seq: 2 / stream seq: 2 / ack: false
order 2

Local Development

# First, build the jetstream controller.
make jetstream-controller

# Next, run the controller like this
./jetstream-controller -kubeconfig ~/.kube/config -s nats://localhost:4222

# Pro tip: jetstream-controller uses klog just like kubectl or kube-apiserver.
# This means you can change the verbosity of logs with the -v flag.
#
# For example, this prints raw HTTP requests and responses.
#     ./jetstream-controller -v=10

# You'll probably want to start a local Jetstream-enabled NATS server, unless
# you use a public one.
nats-server -DV -js

Build Docker image

make jetstream-controller-docker jetstreamVersion=1.2.3

NATS Server Config Reloader

This is a sidecar that you can use to automatically reload your NATS Server configuration file.

Installing with Helm

For more information see the Chart repo.

helm repo add nats https://nats-io.github.io/k8s/helm/charts/
helm install my-nats nats/nats

Configuring

reloader:
  enabled: true
  image: natsio/nats-server-config-reloader:0.6.0
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

Local Development

# First, build the config reloader.
make nats-server-config-reloader

# Next, run the reloader like this
./nats-server-config-reloader

Build Docker image

make nats-server-config-reloader-docker configReloaderVersion=1.2.3

NATS Boot Config

Installing with Helm

For more information see the Chart repo.

helm repo add nats https://nats-io.github.io/k8s/helm/charts/
helm install my-nats nats/nats

Configuring

bootconfig:
  image: natsio/nats-boot-config:0.5.2
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

Local Development

# First, build the project.
make nats-boot-config

# Next, run the project like this
./nats-boot-config

Build Docker image

make nats-boot-config-docker bootConfigVersion=1.2.3