Runtime Configuration

A runtime configuration provides Elyra access to external resources, such as Kubeflow Pipelines or Apache Airflow for scalable pipeline execution.

You can manage runtime configurations using the JupyterLab UI or the Elyra CLI.

Prerequisites

A runtime configuration requires connectivity details for

  • A Kubeflow Pipelines deployment or an Apache Airflow deployment
  • S3-based Object Storage (e.g. Minio or IBM Cloud Object Storage)

Note: Elyra is only tested with Kubeflow v1.2.x and v1.3.x and Apache Airflow v1.10.x.

Managing runtime configurations using the JupyterLab UI

To create, edit, or delete runtime configurations using the UI select the Runtimes tab from the JupyterLab sidebar, or click the Runtimes button in the Pipeline Editor.

Access runtime configurations

Creating a runtime configuration

To create a runtime configuration:

  1. Select the Runtimes tab from the JupyterLab sidebar.
  2. Click + to add a new runtime configuration and choose the desired runtime configuration type, e.g. Kubeflow Pipelines or Apache Airflow. Create runtime configuration
  3. Provide a runtime configuration display name, an optional description, and tag the configuration to make it more easily discoverable.
  4. Enter the Kubeflow Pipelines or Apache Airflow deployment information. Refer to section Kubeflow Pipelines configuration settings or Apache Airflow configuration settings for details.
  5. Enter the Cloud Storage connectivity information. Refer to section Cloud Storage settings for details.
  6. Save the runtime configuration. The new entry is displayed in the list.
  7. Expand the entry and verify that you can access the Kubeflow Pipelines or Apache Airflow GUI and the Cloud Storage GUI using the displayed links. Access runtime configuration

Modifying a runtime configuration

To edit a runtime configuration:

  1. Select the Runtimes tab from the JupyterLab sidebar.
  2. Click the pencil next to the runtime configuration.

Deleting a runtime configuration

To delete a runtime configuration:

  1. Select the Runtimes tab from the JupyterLab sidebar.
  2. Click the trash can next to the runtime configuration.

Managing runtime configurations using the Elyra CLI

You can list, create, edit, or delete runtime configurations using the elyra-metadata CLI.

Listing runtime configurations

To list runtime configurations run

elyra-metadata list runtimes

The output lists for each runtime the name and the name of the associated JSON formatted metadata file, which is stored in the JupyterLab data directory in the metadata/runtimes subdirectory.

Available metadata instances for runtimes (includes invalid):

Schema   Instance  Resource  
------   --------  -------- 
kfp      my_kfp    /Users/jdoe/Library/Jupyter/metadata/runtimes/my_kfp.json

To format the output as JSON run elyra-metadata list runtimes --json. Note that the JSON export includes the content of the metadata files, not just their names.

Creating a runtime configuration

To create a runtime configuration for a Kubeflow Pipelines deployment:

elyra-metadata install runtimes \
       --display_name="My Kubeflow Pipelines Runtime" \
       --api_endpoint=https://kubernetes-service.ibm.com/pipeline \
       --auth_type="DEX_STATIC_PASSWORDS" \
       --api_username=username@email.com \
       --api_password=mypassword \
       --engine=Argo \
       --cos_endpoint=http://minio-service.kubeflow:9000 \
       --cos_username=minio \
       --cos_password=minio123 \
       --cos_bucket=test-bucket \
       --tags="['kfp', 'v1.0']" \
       --schema_name=kfp

Refer to the Kubeflow Pipelines Configuration settings section for an explanation of the parameters.

Modifying a runtime configuration

To edit a runtime configuration:

elyra-metadata install runtimes \
       --replace \
       --name="my_kubeflow_pipelines_runtime" \
       --display_name="My Kubeflow Pipelines Runtime" \
       --api_endpoint=https://kubernetes-service.ibm.com/pipeline \
       --auth_type="DEX_STATIC_PASSWORDS" \
       --api_username=username@email.com \
       --api_password=mynewpassword \
       --engine=Argo \
       --cos_endpoint=http://minio-service.kubeflow:9000 \
       --cos_username=minio \
       --cos_password=minio123 \
       --cos_bucket=test-bucket \
       --tags="['kfp', 'v1.1']" \
       --schema_name=kfp

Refer to the Kubeflow Pipelines Configuration settings section for an explanation of the parameters. Note that you must specify the --name parameter.

Deleting a runtime configuration

To delete a runtime configuration run the following command, replacing the configuration name as appropriate.

elyra-metadata remove runtimes --name=my_kubeflow_pipelines_runtime

Configuration settings

Common configuration settings

Configurations include the following common settings for all supported runtime types. The string in the headings below, which is enclosed in parentheses, denotes the CLI option name.

Name (display_name)

A user-friendly name for runtime configuration. This property is required.

Example: Kubeflow Pipelines dev environment

N/A (name)

A unique identifier for this configuration. A value is automatically generated from display_name.

Example: kubeflow_pipelines_dev_environment

Description (description)

Description for this runtime image configuration. This property is optional.

Example: Kubeflow Pipelines deployment in QA

Tags (tags)

Zero or more tags for this runtime configuration.

Example: ['test-env','airflow']

Kubeflow Pipelines configuration settings

This section defines the settings for the Kubeflow Pipelines deployment that you want to associate with this runtime configuration.

Kubeflow Pipelines API endpoint (api_endpoint)

The KubeFlow Pipelines API endpoint you want to utilize. This setting is required.

Example: https://kubernetes-service.ibm.com/pipeline

Kubeflow Pipelines user namespace (user_namespace)

The namespace used to run your pipeline in Kubeflow Pipelines. This setting is required if namespaces are defined in Kubeflow Pipelines. SEE NOTE.

Example: anonymous

Kubeflow authentication type (auth_type)

Authentication type Elyra uses to gain access to Kubeflow Pipelines. This setting is required. Supported types are:

  • No authentication (NO_AUTHENTICATION).
  • Kubernetes service account token (KUBERNETES_SERVICE _ACCOUNT_TOKEN). This authentication type is only supported if Elyra runs as a pod in Kubernetes, e.g. as a Kubeflow notebook server. You must configure a service account token in Kubernetes, as outlined here.
  • DEX configured for static password authentication (DEX_STATIC_PASSWORDS). This authentication requires a username and a password.
  • DEX configured for LDAP authentication (DEX_LDAP). This authentication requires a username and a password.
  • DEX (DEX_LEGACY). Use this type only if none of the other authentication types applies or if your Kubeflow deployment is not configured for any other listed type. This authentication requires a username and a password.

Kubeflow Pipelines API endpoint username (api_username)

A username is required for most authentication types. Refer to the Kubeflow authentication type setting for details.

Example: user@example.com

Kubeflow Pipelines API endpoint password (api_password)

A password is required for most authentication types. Refer to the Kubeflow authentication type setting for details.

Example: mypassword

Kubeflow Pipelines engine (engine)

The engine being used by Kubeflow Pipelines to run pipelines: Argo or Tekton. If you have access to the Kubernetes cluster where Kubeflow Pipelines is deployed, run these commands in a terminal window to determine the engine type.

# If this command completes successfully, the engine type is Argo.
kubectl describe configmap -n kubeflow workflow-controller-configmap

# If this command completes successfully, the engine type is Tekton.
kubectl describe configmap -n kubeflow kfp-tekton-config

The default is Argo.

Example: Argo

Apache Airflow configuration settings

This section defines the settings for the Apache Airflow deployment that you want to associate with this runtime configuration.

Apache Airflow UI endpoint (api_endpoint)

The Apache Airflow API endpoint you want to utilize. This setting is required.

Example: https://your-airflow-webserver:port

Apache Airflow user namespace (user_namespace)

The namespace used to run your DAG in Apache Airflow. The Kubernetes namespace must be configured with the correct permissions prior to use in Apache Airflow. This setting is Optional.

The default namespace is default.

Example: anonymous

GitHub API Endpoint (github_api_endpoint)

The GitHub (or GitHub Enterprise) API endpoint where the git client will attempt to connect. This setting is required. Keep the default https://api.github.com for github.com

Example: https://api.private.githubenterprise.com

GitHub DAG Repository (github_repo)

The GitHub repository that Apache Airflow utilizes to store DAGs. This setting is required and the repository must exist.

Example: user-or-org/dag-repo-name

GitHub DAG Repository Branch (github_branch)

The name of the branch in github_repo where DAGs are stored. This setting is required and the branch must exist.

Example: dag-branch

GitHub Personal Access Token (github_repo_token)

A GitHub personal access token with write access to the GitHub DAG Repository. This setting is required.

Example: 766f7c267519fee7c71d7f96bdf42e646dc65433

Cloud Storage settings

This section defines the settings for the cloud storage that you want to associate with this runtime configuration.

Cloud Object Storage endpoint (cos_endpoint)

This should be the URL address of your S3-compatible Object Storage. If running an Object Storage Service within a Kubernetes cluster (Minio), you can use the Kubernetes local DNS address. This setting is required.

Example: https://minio-service.kubeflow:9000

Cloud Object Storage Credentials Secret (cos_secret)

(Optional) Kubernetes secret that’s defined in the specified user namespace, containing the Cloud Object Storage username and password. If specified, this secret must exist on the Kubernetes cluster hosting your pipeline runtime in order to successfully execute pipelines. This setting is optional but is recommended for use in shared environments to avoid exposing a user’s Cloud Object Storage credentials.

Example: my-cos-secret

The following is an example of how your secret on the Kubernetes cluster hosting your runtime should be defined. The variable names defined under data, must be AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY followed by each respective value encoded in base64. Learn how to create, deploy, or configure Kubernetes Secrets.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: <cos_secret>
type: Opaque
data:
  AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: <BASE64_ENCODED_YOUR_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID>
  AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: <BASE64_ENCODED_YOUR_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY>

Cloud Object Storage username (cos_username)

Username used to access the Object Storage. This setting is required.

Example: minio

Cloud Object Storage password (cos_password)

Password for cos_username. This setting is required.

Example: minio123

Cloud Object Storage bucket name (cos_bucket)

Name of the bucket you want Elyra to store pipeline artifacts in. This setting is required. If the bucket doesn’t exist, it will be created. The specified bucket name must meet the naming conventions imposed by the Object Storage service.

Example: test-bucket

If using IBM Cloud Object Storage, you must generate a set of HMAC Credentials and grant that key at least Writer level privileges. Specify access_key_id and secret_access_key as cos_username and cos_password, respectively.

Verifying runtime configurations

The Elyra examples repository contains a basic pipeline that you can use to verify your runtime configurations:

  1. Launch JupyterLab.
  2. Clone https://github.com/elyra-ai/examples.git (Git > Clone A Repository) into the current working directory.
  3. In the File Browser navigate to examples/pipelines/setup_validation/ and follow the instructions in README.md. If your runtime configuration is correct and the target runtime environment configured correctly, the validation pipeline should run as is without any modifications.

Troubleshooting

I am seeing this error when using Elyra with Kubeflow Pipelines that is Dex enabled:

HTTP response body: {"error":"Validate experiment request failed.: Invalid input error: Invalid resource references for experiment. Expect one namespace type with owner relationship.
  • Ensure that you have logged into the Kubeflow Dex landing page (https://kubeflow.cluster:31380….) at least once with your credentials via the GUI. You should have been greeted with a dialog box and request to create a new namespace. Without this step complete, Elyra will not be able to create pipelines on the Kubeflow cluster.
  • Ensure you’ve configured Kubeflow Pipelines credentials and that they are correct. When using Dex, the api_username is typically your email address and user_namespace is your email shortname (e.g. elyra for elyra@email.org).