Kubernetes annotations and labels
This page provides a complete list of all the annotations you can specify when you run Kuma in Kubernetes mode.
Labels
kuma.io/sidecar-injection
Enable or disable sidecar injection.
Example
Used on the namespace it will inject the sidecar in all pods created in the namespace:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
name: default
labels:
kuma.io/sidecar-injection: enabled
[...]
Used on a deployment using pod template it will inject the sidecar in all pods managed by this deployment:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: my-deployment
spec:
template:
metadata:
labels:
kuma.io/sidecar-injection: enabled
[...]
Labeling pods or deployments will take precedence on the namespace annotation.
kuma.io/mesh
Associate Pods with a particular Mesh. Label value must be the name of a Mesh resource.
Example
It can be used on an entire namespace:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
name: default
labels:
kuma.io/mesh: default
[...]
It can be used on a pod:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: backend
labels:
kuma.io/mesh: default
[...]
Labeling pods or deployments will take precedence on the namespace annotation.
kuma.io/system-namespace
This label is used to indicate the Namespace that Kuma stores its secrets in. It’s automatically set on the Namespace the Helm chart is installed into by a Job started by Helm.
Annotations
kuma.io/gateway
Lets you specify the Pod should run in gateway mode. Inbound listeners are not generated.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: gateway
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: gateway
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: gateway
annotations:
kuma.io/gateway: enabled
[...]
kuma.io/ingress
Marks the Pod as the Zone Ingress. Needed for multizone communication – provides the entry point for traffic from other zones.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: zone-ingress
annotations:
kuma.io/ingress: enabled
[...]
kuma.io/ingress-public-address
Specifies the public address for Ingress. If not provided, Kuma picks the address from the Ingress Service.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: zone-ingress
annotations:
kuma.io/ingress: enabled
kuma.io/ingress-public-address: custom-address.com
[...]
kuma.io/ingress-public-port
Specifies the public port for Ingress. If not provided, Kuma picks the port from the Ingress Service.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: zone-ingress
annotations:
kuma.io/ingress: enabled
kuma.io/ingress-public-port: "1234"
[...]
kuma.io/direct-access-services
Defines a comma-separated list of Services that can be accessed directly.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/direct-access-services: test-app_playground_svc_80,test-app_playground_svc_443
kuma.io/transparent-proxying: enabled
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-inbound-port: [...]
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-outbound-port: [...]
When you provide this annotation, Kuma generates a listener for each IP address and redirects traffic through a direct-access
cluster that’s configured to encrypt connections.
These listeners are needed because transparent proxy and mTLS assume a single IP per cluster (for example, the ClusterIP of a Kubernetes Service). If you pass requests to direct IP addresses, Envoy considers them unknown destinations and manages them in passthrough mode – which means they’re not encrypted with mTLS. The direct-access
cluster enables encryption anyway.
WARNING: You should specify this annotation only if you really need it. Generating listeners for every endpoint makes the xDS snapshot very large.
kuma.io/application-probe-proxy-port
Specifies the port on which “Application Probe Proxy” listens. Application Probe Proxy coverts HTTPGet
, TCPSocket
and gRPC
probes in the pod to HTTPGet
probes and converts back to their original types before sending to the application when actual probe requests are received.
Application Probe Proxy by default listens on port 9001
and it suppresses the “Virtual Probes” feature. By setting it to 0
, you can disable this feature and activate “Virtual Probes” unless it’s also disabled.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/application-probe-proxy-port: "9001"
[...]
kuma.io/virtual-probes
Enables automatic converting of HttpGet probes to virtual probes. The virtual probe is served on a sub-path of the insecure port specified with kuma.io/virtual-probes-port
– for example, :8080/health/readiness
-> :9000/8080/health/readiness
, where 9000
is the value of the kuma.io/virtual-probes-port
annotation.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/virtual-probes: enabled
kuma.io/virtual-probes-port: "9000"
[...]
kuma.io/virtual-probes-port
Specifies the insecure port for listening on virtual probes.
kuma.io/sidecar-env-vars
Semicolon (;
) separated list of environment variables for the Kuma sidecar.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/sidecar-env-vars: TEST1=1;TEST2=2
kuma.io/container-patches
Specifies the list of names of ContainerPatch
resources to be applied on
kuma-init
and kuma-sidecar
containers.
More information about how to use ContainerPatch
you can find at
Custom Container Configuration.
Example
It can be used on a resource describing workload (i.e. Deployment
, DaemonSet
or Pod
):
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
namespace: kuma-system
name: example
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
app: example
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: example
annotations:
kuma.io/container-patches: container-patch-1,container-patch-2
spec: [...]
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/port
Lets you override the Mesh
-wide default port that Prometheus should scrape metrics from.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/port: "1234"
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/path
Lets you override the Mesh
-wide default path that Prometheus should scrape metrics from.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/path: "/custom-metrics"
kuma.io/builtindns
Tells the sidecar to use its builtin DNS server.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/builtindns: enabled
kuma.io/builtindnsport
Port the builtin DNS server should listen on for DNS queries.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/builtindns: enabled
kuma.io/builtindnsport: "15053"
kuma.io/ignore
A boolean to mark a resource as ignored by Kuma. It currently only works for services. This is useful when transitioning to Kuma or to temporarily ignore some entities.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/ignore: "true"
traffic.kuma.io/exclude-inbound-ports
List of inbound ports to exclude from traffic interception by the Kuma sidecar.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
traffic.kuma.io/exclude-inbound-ports: "1234,1235"
traffic.kuma.io/exclude-outbound-ports
List of outbound ports to exclude from traffic interception by the Kuma sidecar.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
traffic.kuma.io/exclude-outbound-ports: "1234,1235"
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-experimental-engine
Enable or disable experimental transparent proxy engine on Pod.
Default is disabled
.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-experimental-engine: enabled
kuma.io/envoy-admin-port
Specifies the port for Envoy Admin API. If not set, default admin port 9901 will be used.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/envoy-admin-port: "8801"
kuma.io/envoy-log-level
Specifies the log level for Envoy system logs to enable. The available log levels are trace
, debug
, info
, warning/warn
, error
, critical
, off
. The default is info
.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/envoy-log-level: "warning"
kuma.io/envoy-component-log-level
Specifies the log level for Envoy system logs to enable by components. See ALL_LOGGER_IDS
in logger.h from Envoy source for a list of available components.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/envoy-component-log-level: "upstream:debug,connection:trace"
kuma.io/service-account-token-volume
Volume (specified in the pod spec) containing a service account token for Kuma to inject into the sidecar.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/service-account-token-volume: "token-vol"
spec:
automountServiceAccountToken: false
serviceAccount: example
containers:
- image: busybox
name: busybox
volumes:
- name: token-vol
projected:
sources:
- serviceAccountToken:
expirationSeconds: 7200
path: token
audience: "https://kubernetes.default.svc"
- configMap:
items:
- key: ca.crt
path: ca.crt
name: kube-root-ca.crt
- downwardAPI:
items:
- fieldRef:
apiVersion: v1
fieldPath: metadata.namespace
path: namespace
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-reachable-services
A comma separated list of kuma.io/service
to indicate which services this communicates with.
For more details see the reachable services docs.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: example-app
namespace: kuma-example
spec:
...
template:
metadata:
...
annotations:
# a comma separated list of kuma.io/service values
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-reachable-services: "redis_kuma-demo_svc_6379,elastic_kuma-demo_svc_9200"
spec:
containers:
...
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf
When transparent proxy is installed with ebpf mode, you can disable it for particular workloads if necessary.
For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: example-app
namespace: kuma-example
spec:
[...]
template:
metadata:
[...]
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf: disabled
spec:
containers:
[...]
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-bpf-fs-path
Path to BPF FS if different than default (/sys/fs/bpf
)
For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: example-app
namespace: kuma-example
spec:
[...]
template:
metadata:
[...]
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-bpf-fs-path: /custom/bpffs/path
spec:
containers:
[...]
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-cgroup-path
cgroup2 path if different than default (/sys/fs/cgroup
)
For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: example-app
namespace: kuma-example
spec:
[...]
template:
metadata:
[...]
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-cgroup-path: /custom/cgroup2/path
spec:
containers:
[...]
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-programs-source-path
Custom path for ebpf programs to be loaded when installing transparent proxy
For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: example-app
namespace: kuma-example
spec:
[...]
template:
metadata:
[...]
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-programs-source-path: /custom/ebpf/programs/source/path
spec:
containers:
[...]
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-tc-attach-iface
Name of the network interface which should be used to attach to it TC-related eBPF programs. By default Kuma will use first, non-loopback interface it’ll find.
For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs.
Example
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: example-app
namespace: kuma-example
spec:
[...]
template:
metadata:
[...]
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-tc-attach-iface: eth3
spec:
containers:
[...]
kuma.io/wait-for-dataplane-ready
Define if you want the kuma-sidecar container to wait for the dataplane to be ready before starting app container. Read relevant Data plane on Kubernetes section for more information.
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-<name>-enabled
Define if kuma-dp
should scrape metrics from the application that has been defined in the Mesh
configuration. Default value: true
. For more details see the applications metrics docs
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-app-enabled: "false"
spec: ...
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-<name>-path
Define path, which kuma-dp
sidecar has to scrape for prometheus metrics. Default value: /metrics
. For more details see the applications metrics docs
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-app-path: "/stats"
spec: ...
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-<name>-port
Define port, which kuma-dp
sidecar has to scrape for prometheus metrics. For more details see the applications metrics docs
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-app-port: "1234"
spec: ...
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-inbound-v6-port
Define the port to use for IPv6 traffic. To turn off IPv6 set this to 0.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/transparent-proxying-inbound-v6-port: "0"
spec: ...
kuma.io/sidecar-drain-time
Allows specifying drain time of Kuma DP sidecar. The default value is 30s.
The default could be changed using the control-plane configuration or KUMA_RUNTIME_KUBERNETES_INJECTOR_SIDECAR_CONTAINER_DRAIN_TIME
env.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/sidecar-drain-time: "10s"
spec: ...
kuma.io/init-first
Allows specifying that the Kuma init container should run first (ahead of any other init containers).
The default is false
if omitted. Setting this to true
may be desirable for security, as it would prevent network access for other init containers. The order is not guaranteed, as other mutating admission webhooks may further manipulate this ordering.
Example
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: example
annotations:
kuma.io/init-first: "true"
spec: ...