Glossary

Dictionary for the cluster administrator.

Who is this page for?

When managing a cluster, you come across the terms Kubernetes (CSI, PV, PVC), networking (CNI, Cilium), monitoring and Shturval platforms. This page contains brief definitions. For platform, provider, and IAM installation terms, see Platform Administrator’s Glossary.


Platform architecture

TermDefinition
Management ClusterThe cluster where the Shturval platform is deployed. ClusterManager, shturval-backend, shturval-frontend and other management components work here. The platform administrator works with this cluster.
Client ClusterA cluster created through an application hosting platform. The cluster administrator manages the client cluster (nodes, services, backups, etc.).

Nodes and configuration

TermDefinition
CAPI (Cluster API)Kubernetes standard for cluster lifecycle management. The platform uses for nodes: Machine, MachineDeployment, InfraMachineTemplate.
MachineA CAPI resource that describes a cluster node. Created by CAPI controllers when adding nodes.
MachineDeploymentA CAPI resource that manages the Machine group. Analogous to Deployment for nodes: sets the desired number of nodes and a template.
InfraMachineTemplateCAPI template for creating node infrastructure resources. Examples: VSphereMachineTemplate, OVirtMachineTemplate - depend on the provider.
Control Plane (CP)Cluster management nodes. Launch the API server, etcd, scheduler, controller-manager.
WorkerNodes for hosting applications. Kubelet, CNI, CSI work.
Infra WorkerA group of Worker nodes for system services (monitoring, logging, Ingress).
NCI (NodeConfigItem)Platform object for applying configuration to nodes (sysctl, NTP, Container Runtime, packages, etc.). The shturval-node-config operator applies settings by selector. More details: Node Configuration (NCI).
MHC (MachineHealthCheck)CAPI resource for automatic recovery of non-working nodes (replacement of Machine in case of failure).
Cluster AutoscalerComponent for automatic scaling of node groups based on load. See Node Scaling.
CordonBlocking the scheduling of new pods on a node without stopping those already running.
DrainSafely evict pods from a node before servicing or deleting.
Node ConditionsNode states in Kubernetes (Ready, MemoryPressure, DiskPressure, etc.). See Conditions reference.
Hybrid ClusterA cluster with nodes of different providers or infrastructure types. See Hybrid Clusters.
etcdKubernetes distributed key-value storage. Stores the state of the cluster.
etcdhelperPlatform utility for backup and recovery etcd.

Workloads and scheduling

TermDefinition
ResourceQuotaLimit on total resource consumption (CPU, memory, objects) in the namespace. See Resource Quotas and LimitRanges.
LimitRangeDefault limits and acceptable ranges for pods and PVCs in namespace (applies to new objects).
TaintA label on a node that restricts scheduling of pods without an appropriate Toleration.
TolerationThe permission in the pod specification is to be scheduled on nodes with the specified Taint.
AffinityRules for node preference (nodeAffinity) or placement relative to other pods (podAffinity / podAntiAffinity). More details: Taints, Tolerations and Affinity.
HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler)Automatically changes the number of Deployment or StatefulSet replicas based on CPU, Memory, or custom metrics. See HPA on deployment.
VPA (Vertical Pod Autoscaler)Automatically selects container CPU/Memory requests and limits from historical usage. In the platform, VPA is configured for Deployment and StatefulSet. See VPA on deployment.

Storage

TermDefinition
CSI (Container Storage Interface)Standard Kubernetes interface for working with volumes. Providers: vSphere, oVirt, NFS, Ceph, OpenStack.
StorageClassStorage class - template for dynamic storage for creating volumes. Defines provisioner and parameters.
PV (PersistentVolume)Volume resource in the cluster. Associates a volume with physical storage.
PVC (PersistentVolumeClaim)Request for volume from the pod. Binds to a PV or creates it via StorageClass.
VolumeSnapshotVolume snapshot. Created through CSI. Used for cloning or restoration.
VolumeSnapshotClassClass for creating snapshots (analogous to StorageClass for VolumeSnapshot).
RWO, RWX, ROXVolume access modes: ReadWriteOnce (single node), ReadWriteMany, ReadOnlyMany.
VeleroBackup and recovery tool for Kubernetes clusters. In the platform there is a service shturval-backup.
BackupStorageLocationVelero resource: connecting S3-compatible storage for backups.
ScheduleVelero resource: automatic backup schedule.

Network

TermDefinition
CNI (Container Network Interface)Kubernetes standard for network plugins. Cilium is the main CNI in the platform.
CiliumCNI plugin based on eBPF. Provides network, Network Policies, observability.
CiliumNetworkPolicyCilium network policy for filtering traffic between pods (Ingress/Egress).
MultusCNI for multiple network interfaces in a pod (additional networks).
SR-IOVTechnology of hardware virtualization of network cards. Used for high-performance networks.
WhereaboutsCNI plugin for assigning IP from a pool (IPAM). Used with Multus.
IngressA mechanism for accessing cluster services from outside via HTTP/HTTPS. In the platform - Ingress Controller (often Nginx).
Egress GatewayCilium predictive outgoing IP mechanism for traffic from the cluster. See Egress Gateway.

Services and certificates

TermDefinition
ShturvalServiceConfig (SSC)Description of the platform system service (chart, parameters).
ShturvalServicePatch (SSP)Patch for SSC — overrides customvalues to customize the service.
ShturvalUpdateCustom resource that starts a Kubernetes version update in the cluster, up to version 2.15.
ShturvalUpdateChannelChannel of available versions for an update, up to version 2.15. More details: platform administrator glossary.
ClusterConfigCluster configuration in the management cluster.
InfrastructureProviderProvider instance metadata: VM templates and Kubernetes versions.
cert-managerKubernetes operator for managing TLS certificates.
ClusterIssuerCluster-level cert-manager resource. Defines the source of certificates (ACME, CA).
ACMEAutomatic certificate acquisition protocol (Let’s Encrypt, corporate ACME).
TLS (Transport Layer Security)Encryption protocol for secure connections (HTTPS, LDAPS).

Alerting and notifications

TermDefinition
vmalert (VM Alert)Component for evaluating alerting rules by metrics (PromQL).
AlertmanagerRouting and delivery of notifications (Email, Telegram, Webhook, etc.).
VMRuleCustom alert rule resource (metrics or logs). Predefined rules are with the postfix system.
VMAlertA resource that links the VMRule to a data source (VictoriaMetrics or VictoriaLogs).

Monitoring and logging

TermDefinition
Victoria MetricsMetrics system (analogous to Prometheus). vminsert, VMSingle, VMAlertManager - components.
VictoriaLogsLog storage system in the platform. An instance for each cluster is deployed in the management cluster - VLSingle; collection - shturval-log-collector.
VLogsBrief designation of the VictoriaLogs log subsystem in the GUI and documentation.
GrafanaMetric visualization tool. In the cluster GUI, access is through the Statistics button on the dashboard.

Access

TermDefinition
Cluster PermissionsRBAC rights in Kubernetes (API groups, resources, verbs), assigned to a cluster or namespace. See Cluster Access Control.
RBACRole-Based Access Control is a model for roles and bindings in Kubernetes.

Glossaries of other sections

SectionDescription
Platform Administrator GlossaryTerms on installation, providers, mirror, IAM
Developer’s GlossaryApplication Delivery Terms, GitOps, Argo CD
Security GlossaryTerms on policies, scanning, auditing