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Admin only: All namespace operations require administrative privileges.

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Understanding namespaces

Namespaces are used for grouping and dedicating resources to specific Orka users or service accounts. All users have access to the orka-default namespace. Based on specific rolebindings, a user or a service account might also be able to access the resources within additional namespaces. Key concepts:
  • Resource isolation: VMs, nodes, and resources in one namespace are separate from other namespaces
  • Access control: Users and service accounts must be granted access to namespaces via rolebindings
  • Default namespace: All users have access to orka-default by default
  • Custom pods: Some namespaces can be configured to run custom Kubernetes resources instead of Orka VMs
All cluster namespaces must have the orka- prefix.

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Which namespace a command uses

The following commands pick their namespace in this order: vm, node, imagecache, registrycredential, rolebinding, and serviceaccount. In Orka 4.0, so do emulator, and rbac add-subject, list-subjects, and remove-subject with --role dev. The first one that’s set wins:
  1. The --namespace (-n) flag on the command.
  2. The ORKA_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE environment variable.
  3. The namespace set on the orka context in your kubeconfig.
  4. orka-default.
This applies to every user, not only admins. To make a namespace your default without passing --namespace every time, set the environment variable, for example in your shell profile:
You can also set the namespace on the orka context with kubectl config set-context orka --namespace=<NAMESPACE>, but orka user login and orka user set-token reset it to orka-default each time they run. Use the environment variable for a default that lasts. Because the environment variable takes precedence over the kubeconfig context, unset ORKA_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE if commands keep running in a namespace you didn’t expect.
orka upgrade service doesn’t follow this order. Its --namespace flag always defaults to orka-default, and it ignores the environment variable and the kubeconfig context.

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Creating namespaces

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orka namespace create

Create a new namespace with the specified name. Namespace name requirements:
  • Begins with the orka- prefix
  • Does not exceed 63 characters (including the prefix)
  • Consists of lowercase alphanumeric characters or dashes (-)
  • Ends with an alphanumeric character
  • Must be unique to the cluster
If --enable-custom-pods is set, creates a new namespace dedicated to running custom K8s resources (formerly sandboxing). Orka VMs cannot be deployed in that namespace. After creating a namespace:
  1. Move one or more nodes to the namespace to provide computational resources:
  1. Provide explicit access to users or service accounts:
Syntax:
Options:
Examples:

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Listing namespaces

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orka namespace list

List all namespaces for the Orka cluster. Use this command to check if one or more specific namespaces already exist. Syntax:
Options:
Examples:

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Deleting namespaces

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orka namespace delete

Delete the specified namespace. All VMs (or custom pods) must be removed and nodes must be moved out of the namespace before running this operation.
This is a destructive operation and cannot be undone. To restore a deleted namespace, re-create it, move the respective Orka nodes, and re-add the respective users to the respective role bindings.
Syntax:
Options:
Examples: