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Require shared PID namespace in CRI & plan rollout
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verb committed Jan 19, 2017
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Expand Up @@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ container setup that are not currently trackable as Pod constraints, e.g.,
filesystem setup, container image pulling, etc.*

A container in a PodSandbox maps to an application in the Pod Spec. For Linux
containers, they are expected to share at least network and IPC namespaces,
containers, they are expected to share at least network, PID and IPC namespaces,
with sharing more namespaces discussed in [#1615](https://issues.k8s.io/1615).


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70 changes: 0 additions & 70 deletions contributors/design-proposals/pod-pid-namespace-docker.md

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78 changes: 78 additions & 0 deletions contributors/design-proposals/pod-pid-namespace.md
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# Shared PID Namespace

Pods share namespaces where possible, but a requirement for sharing the PID
namespace has not been defined due to lack of support in Docker. Docker began
supporting a shared PID namespace in 1.12, and other Kubernetes runtimes (rkt,
cri-o, hyper) have already implemented a shared PID namespace.

This proposal defines a shared PID namespace as a requirement of the Container
Runtime Interface and links its rollout in Docker to that of the CRI.

## Motivation

Sharing a PID namespace is discussed in [#1615](https://issues.k8s.io/1615),
and enables:

1. signaling between containers, which is useful for side cars (e.g. for
signaling a daemon process after rotating logs).
2. easier troubleshooting of pods.
3. addressing [Docker's zombie problem][1] by reaping orphaned zombies in the
infra container.

## Goals and Non-Goals

Goals include:
- Changing default behavior in the Docker runtime as implemented by the CRI
- Making Docker behavior compatible with the other Kubernetes runtimes

Non-goals include:
- Creating an init solution that works for all runtimes
- Supporting isolated PID namespace indefinitely

## Modification to the Docker Runtime

We will modify the Docker implementation of the CRI to use a shared PID
namespace when running with a version of Docker >= 1.12. The legacy
`dockertools` implementation will not be changed.

Linking this change to the CRI means that Kubernetes users who care to test such
changes can test the combined changes at once. Users who do not care to test
such changes will be insulated by Kubernetes not recommending Docker >= 1.12
until after switching to the CRI.

Other changes that must be made to support this change:

1. Ensure all containers restart if the infra container responsible for the
PodSandbox dies. (Note: With Docker 1.12 if the source of the PID namespace
dies all containers sharing that namespace are killed as well.)
2. Modify the Infra container used by the Docker runtime to reap orphaned
zombies ([#36853](https://pr.k8s.io/36853)).

## Rollout Plan

SIG Node is planning to switch to the CRI as a default in 1.6, at which point
users with Docker >= 1.12 will be able to test Shared namespaces. Switching
back to isolated PID namespaces will require disabling the CRI.

At some point, say 1.7, SIG Node will remove support for disabling the CRI.
After this point users must roll back to a previous version of Kubernetes or
Docker to achieve PID namespace isolation. This is acceptable because:

* No one has been able to identify a concrete use case requiring isolated PID
namespaces.
* The lack of use cases means we can't justify the complexity required to make
PID namespace type configurable.
* Users will already be looking for issues due to the major version upgrade and
prepared for a rollback to the previous release.

Alternatively, we could create a flag in the kublet to disable shared PID
namespace, but this wouldn't be especially useful to users of a hosted
Kubernetes cluster.


[1]: https://blog.phusion.nl/2015/01/20/docker-and-the-pid-1-zombie-reaping-problem/


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