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apiserver/ARCHITECTURE.md

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apiserver Architecture

1. Server Composition

The kube-apiserver binary is not one server, but a server chain of three distinct GenericAPIServer instances: the core Kubernetes API, API extensions (CRDs), and the aggregation layer.

This composition is managed by a layered configuration system, starting with command-line flags parsed by options structs (e.g., RecommendedOptions in pkg/server/options), which populate a Config object that is then used to instantiate the GenericAPIServer instances. The construction of this delegation chain can be found in the CreateServerChain function in cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go.

graph TD
    subgraph Incoming Request
        direction LR
        A[User/Client] --> B{/apis/apps/v1/deployments};
    end

    subgraph kube-apiserver process
        direction LR
        B --> C[Aggregator Server];
        C -- Not an APIService --> D[Kube API Server];
        D -- Handles Request --> E[REST Storage];
        C -- Is an APIService --> F[Proxy to Extension API Server];
        D -- Not a Core API --> G[API Extensions Server];
        G -- Handles CRD --> E;
    end

  1. Aggregator Server (kube-aggregator):

    • Purpose: Handles the apiregistration.k8s.io API and acts as a reverse proxy for extension API servers. This functionality was designed to allow third-party APIs to be "aggregated" into the main Kubernetes API server seamlessly.
    • Mechanism: It watches APIService objects. When a request arrives (e.g., for /apis/mycompany.com/v1/myresources), it checks if an APIService has "claimed" that path. If so, it uses a ServiceResolver to find the IP of the backing Service and proxies the request.
    • Delegation: If no APIService matches, it delegates the request to the next server in the chain.

  2. Kube API Server (Core):

    • Purpose: Serves all the built-in Kubernetes APIs (core/v1, apps/v1, etc.).
    • Mechanism: This is the main server, configured with all the core REST storage strategies.
    • Delegation: If a request is for a path that is not a core API (e.g., for a CRD), it delegates the request to the next server in the chain.

  3. API Extensions Server (apiextensions-apiserver):

    • Purpose: Handles the apiextensions.k8s.io API, which manages CustomResourceDefinition objects. The evolution of CRDs from a simple extension mechanism to a feature-rich system with validation, versioning, and defaulting is documented in a series of KEPs, starting with the graduation to GA in Kubernetes v1.16.
    • Mechanism: When a CRD is created, this server dynamically creates and installs a new REST storage handler for the new resource, making it immediately available.
    • Delegation: It is the end of the chain. If it cannot handle a request, a 404 Not Found is returned.

2. Handler Chain

Every request flows through a standard chain of HTTP handlers (filters). The request body is not deserialized until it has passed authentication and authorization. The default handler chain is constructed by the DefaultBuildHandlerChain function in staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go.

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client
    participant Handler Chain
    participant Authentication
    participant Authorization
    participant Priority and Fairness
    participant Admission Control
    participant REST Endpoint

    Client->>Handler Chain: Request
    Handler Chain->>Authentication: Authenticate
    Authentication-->>Handler Chain: User Info
    Handler Chain->>Authorization: Authorize
    Authorization-->>Handler Chain: Allowed/Denied
    Handler Chain->>Priority and Fairness: Classify & Queue
    Priority and Fairness-->>Handler Chain: Proceed
    Handler Chain->>Admission Control: Mutate & Validate
    Admission Control-->>Handler Chain: Object OK
    Handler Chain->>REST Endpoint: Handle
    REST Endpoint-->>Handler Chain: Response
    Handler Chain-->>Client: Response

The handler chain consists of the following stages:

  1. Authentication (pkg/authentication): This filter identifies the user. The system is pluggable and composed of multiple authenticators (e.g., client certs, bearer tokens, OIDC). The identity of the user is determined by the first authenticator in the chain that successfully identifies the user.
  2. Authorization (pkg/authorization): This filter checks if the user is permitted to perform the action. This system is also pluggable and composed of multiple authorizers (e.g., RBAC, Node, Webhook). Each authorizer may respond with either allow, deny, or no opinion. If the response is no opinion, the request is passed to the next authorizer in the chain.
  3. Priority and Fairness (pkg/util/flowcontrol): This subsystem manages request concurrency, classifying requests into FlowSchemas and PriorityLevels to prevent overload. This feature was introduced to prevent high traffic from overwhelming the API server and to ensure that critical cluster operations are not starved.
  4. Admission Control (pkg/admission): This is the primary mechanism for policy enforcement. It is only at this stage that the request body is deserialized into an object. It is a chain of plugins that can mutate or validate an object. The built-in Pod Security admission controller is a key example of this, enforcing Pod Security Standards at the namespace level.
  5. REST Endpoint Handling (pkg/endpoints): The request is finally dispatched to the appropriate REST handler, which is installed by the APIInstaller.

3. API Group Registration

The high-level steps for introducing an API are:

  1. Define Types: Create or modify the Go structs in the types.go file for the API group.
  2. Generate Code: Use the code generators provided by the Kubernetes project to create the required boilerplate methods for deep-copy, conversion, and defaulting.
  3. Implement the Strategy: Write the custom business logic and validation for the resource in its Strategy object.
  4. Register and Install: Create the APIGroupInfo struct, bundling the Scheme and the Strategy-configured storage, and pass it to the GenericAPIServer's InstallAPIGroup method.

The API Group Registry

The runtime.Scheme acts as a central registry for an API group's type information. A single Scheme object is created for each API group and is responsible for the following key capabilities:

  • Type Registration and Mapping: The Scheme's primary role is to map a GroupVersionKind (GVK) to its corresponding Go type and back. This process also relies on the deepcopy-gen tool to create DeepCopy() methods for each type, which is critical for ensuring that objects returned from caches are never modified directly.

  • API Conversion: The Scheme stores the conversion functions that translate objects between different API versions. These functions are typically generated by the conversion-gen tool and enable the hub-and-spoke model.

  • Defaulting: The Scheme registers defaulting functions that populate optional fields in an object. These are usually generated by the defaulter-gen tool.

  • Declarative Validation: The Scheme can store and execute code-generated validation functions, providing a baseline level of validation. This is distinct from the primary, handwritten business logic validation, which is handled by the Strategy object.

The APIGroupInfo Struct and Strategy Object

With a populated Scheme, the API group is registered with the GenericAPIServer by bundling the Scheme with the storage backend and versioning information into an APIGroupInfo struct.

graph TD
    subgraph Server Configuration
        A[APIGroupInfo for apps v1];
        A --> B{Scheme: Knows Deployment v1};
        A --> C{Storage: deployments RESTStorage};
        A --> D{Version Priority: v1, v1beta1};
    end

    subgraph RESTStorage Implementation
        C --> E[genericregistry.Store];
        E --> F[etcd client];
        E --> G[Deployment Strategy];
    end

    subgraph Server Runtime
        H[GenericAPIServer] -- InstallAPIGroup --> I[APIInstaller];
        I -- Uses --> A;
        I --> J{Register /apis/apps/v1/deployments};
        J --> K[HTTP Handler];
        K -- On Request --> C;
    end

The registration process follows these steps:

  1. APIGroupInfo Construction: For each API group, an APIGroupInfo struct is created, which contains the populated Scheme, a map of resources to their storage implementations, and an ordered list of Version Priority.

  2. REST Storage Instantiation: For each resource, a genericregistry.Store is created. It is configured with a resource-specific Strategy object that contains the core business logic (e.g., handwritten validation).

  3. API Group Installation: The GenericAPIServer's InstallAPIGroup method takes the APIGroupInfo and uses an APIInstaller to expose the resources as HTTP endpoints.

4. Watch Cache

To handle the high volume of watch requests from controllers without overwhelming etcd, the apiserver uses a watch cache. The implementation can be found in staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/.

  • Initialization: The cacher first performs a LIST to get the current state of all objects and a ResourceVersion for that point-in-time. It then starts a WATCH from that version to ensure a consistent stream of events.
  • Serving from Cache: Most list and watch requests are served from this in-memory cache, which dramatically reduces the load on etcd. Consistent reads are also served from the cache. This is achieved by first fetching the revision number of the latest write from etcd. The server then ensures the cache is at least that recent—waiting for it to refresh if necessary—before serving the request.
  • Fallback to Storage: If a client request cannot be served from the cache's buffer, the request "falls through" to the underlying etcd storage.
  • Bookmarks: The cacher uses bookmark events to track the latest ResourceVersion for unchanged objects. This prevents the cache's ResourceVersion from becoming too old, which avoids the need for expensive relist operations from etcd when the objects have not been modified.

5. Conflict Resolution

  • Optimistic Concurrency via resourceVersion: Clients are expected to perform updates using a read-modify-write workflow. The apiserver uses the resourceVersion field of every object to enforce optimistic concurrency. When a client submits an update (PUT or PATCH), it must provide the resourceVersion of the object it based its modifications on. If the resourceVersion on the server does not match, the server rejects the request with a 409 Conflict error. This forces the client to re-read the object, resolve the conflict, and resubmit with the new resourceVersion.
  • Server-Side Apply: A declarative, "intent-based" patch. The server maintains a managedFields section in the object's metadata to track which "manager" (e.g., a controller) owns each field. This allows multiple actors to manage different parts of the same object without overwriting each other's changes.

6. Discovery and OpenAPI

Apiservers serve the /apis discovery endpoints and the /openapi/v2 and /openapi/v3 specifications. The generation of the OpenAPI specification is a multi-stage process.

  • openapi-gen: This tool reflects on Go structs, reads godoc comments, and looks at validation struct tags to generate a map of all API definitions.
  • zz_generated.openapi.go: The output is a large Go file containing a GetOpenAPIDefinitions function.
  • Runtime: The GenericAPIServer calls this generated function to build the final OpenAPI JSON spec that it serves to clients.

7. Security & Observability

  • Audit (pkg/audit): The apiserver has a policy-driven event logging pipeline. The audit policy controls what is logged and at which stage of a request.
  • Security:
    • mTLS: The primary authentication mechanism for system components.
    • Service Account Token Issuance: The kube-apiserver acts as an OIDC provider, issuing and validating JWTs for ServiceAccounts.

8. Streaming Protocols

  • Websockets: The apiserver uses websockets to upgrade HTTP connections for interactive, streaming protocols like exec, attach, and port-forward. The UpgradeAwareProxyHandler manages this process.