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Understanding Orka Nodes

Orka nodes are the physical Mac hardware in your cluster that provide compute resources for running VMs. Each node can host multiple VMs based on its available CPU, memory, and storage resources. Node Types:
  • Intel nodes (amd64): Mac Pro, Mac mini (Intel), iMac Pro
  • Apple Silicon nodes (arm64): Mac mini (M1/M2/M3), Mac Studio
Key Concepts:
  • Namespaces: Nodes belong to a namespace and provide resources only to VMs in that namespace
  • Node Affinity: Tags can be applied to nodes to control which nodes VMs are deployed to
  • Resource Management: Nodes have limited CPU, memory, and storage that is shared among VMs
If --namespace is not set, node commands operate in the orka-default namespace.

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Listing Nodes

orka3 node list Show basic or extended information about Orka nodes. Based on the specified output, the command returns information ranging from available resources and status to node IP and architecture. Syntax: 
orka3 node list [NODE_NAME_1 [NODE_NAME_2 ...]] [--namespace TARGET_NAMESPACE] [--output wide|json] [flags]
Options: 
-h, --help               Display help for list
-o, --output string      (Optional) Output format: table (default)|wide|json
-n, --namespace string   (Optional) Namespace scope (default "orka-default")
Examples: 
# List all Orka nodes in the 'orka-default' namespace
orka3 node list

# List all nodes (extended table)
orka3 node list --output wide

# List all nodes in a specific namespace (basic table)
orka3 node list --namespace orka-test

# List all nodes in a specific namespace (extended table)
orka3 node list --namespace orka-test --output wide

# Show basic information about a specific node
orka3 node list mini-1

# Show detailed information about a specific node
orka3 node list mini-1 --output wide

# Show basic information about multiple nodes
orka3 node list mini-1 mini-2

# Show detailed information about multiple nodes
orka3 node list mini-1 mini-2 --output wide

# Print information in JSON format
orka3 node list --output json

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Node Tagging for Affinity

Node affinity indicates that the tagged node is preferred for the deployment of VMs with the same tag. Orka first attempts to deploy on any nodes with the respective tag, before moving to the remaining nodes in the environment. Orka attempts to deploy on other nodes only if the VM setting to require a tag is no. Admin Only: Node tagging and untagging require administrative privileges. orka3 node tag Tag the specified Orka node for targeted VM deployment (set node affinity). Tag Requirements:
  • Does not exceed 63 characters
  • Consists of alphanumeric characters, dashes (-), underscores (_), or periods (.)
  • Begins and ends with an alphanumeric character
  • Set only one tag at a time (run the command separately for each tag)
To list the tags applied to a node, run: 
orka3 node list NAME [--namespace NAMESPACE] --output wide
Syntax: 
orka3 node tag NODE_NAME TAG [--namespace TARGET_NAMESPACE] [flags]
Options: 
-h, --help               Display help for tag
-n, --namespace string   (Optional) Namespace scope (default "orka-default")
Examples: 
# Tag a node in the 'orka-default' namespace
orka3 node tag mini-1 jenkins

# Tag a node in a specific namespace
orka3 node tag mini-1 --namespace orka-test jenkins

# Check if the tag was applied as expected
orka3 node list mini-1 --output wide
orka3 node untag Untag the specified Orka node for targeted VM deployment (remove node affinity). Remove only one tag at a time (run the command separately for each tag). Syntax: 
orka3 node untag NODE_NAME TAG [--namespace TARGET_NAMESPACE] [flags]
Options: 
-h, --help               Display help for untag
-n, --namespace string   (Optional) Namespace scope (default "orka-default")
Examples: 
# Remove a tag from a node
orka3 node untag mini-1 my-tag

# Remove a tag from a node in a specific namespace
orka3 node untag mini-1 --namespace orka-test my-tag

# Check if the tag was removed as expected
orka3 node list mini-1 --output wide

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Moving Nodes Between Namespaces

orka3 node namespace Move Orka nodes across namespaces. This is also known as node dedication. Admin Only: Moving nodes between namespaces requires administrative privileges. After creating a new namespace, move one or more nodes to the namespace to provide it with computational resources. Syntax: 
orka3 node namespace NODE [--namespace CURRENT_NAMESPACE] TARGET_NAMESPACE [flags]
Options: 
-h, --help               Display help for namespace
-n, --namespace string   (Optional) Current namespace scope (default "orka-default")
Examples: 
# Move a node from 'orka-default' to 'orka-test'
orka3 node namespace mini-1 orka-test

# Move a node from 'orka-test' to 'orka-production'
orka3 node namespace mini-1 --namespace orka-test orka-production

# Move a node back to 'orka-default'
orka3 node namespace mini-1 --namespace orka-production orka-default