Configuring calicoctl - Kubernetes datastore

This document covers the configuration options for calicoctl when using the Kubernetes API as a datastore.

Note

This is an experimental feature. If running Calico on Kubernetes with the etcdv2 datastore, see the etcdv2 configuration document instead. For more information on running with the Kubernetes datastore, see the installation guide

There are two ways to configure calicoctl with your Kubernetes API details: configuration file or environment variables.

Configuration file

By default calicoctl looks for a configuration file at /etc/calico/calicoctl.cfg.

The file location may be overridden using the --config option on commands that required datastore access.

The config file is a yaml or json document in the following format:

apiVersion: v1
kind: calicoApiConfig
metadata:
spec:
  datastoreType: "kubernetes"
  kubeconfig: "/path/to/kubeconfig"
  ...

See table below for details on the Kubernetes API specific fields that may be included in the spec section.

If the file exists, then it must be valid and readable by calicoctl. If the file does not exist, calicoctl will read access details from the environment variables.

Environment variables

If you are not using a config file to specify your access information, calicoctl will check a particular set of environment variables.

See the table below for details on the Kubernetes specific environment variables.

Note that if neither file nor environment variables are set, calicoctl defaults to using etcdv2 as the datastore with a single endpoint of http://127.0.0.1:2379.

Complete list of Kubernetes API connection configuration

Spec field Environment Description Examples
datastoreType DATASTORE_TYPE Indicates the datastore to use (required for kubernetes as the default is etcdv2) kubernetes
kubeconfig KUBECONFIG When using the kubernetes datastore, the location of a kubeconfig file to use. /path/to/kube/config
k8sAPIEndpoint K8S_API_ENDPOINT Location of the Kubernetes API. Not required if using kubeconfig. https://kubernetes-api:443
k8sCertFile K8S_CERT_FILE Location of a client certificate for accessing the Kubernetes API. /path/to/cert
k8sKeyFile K8S_KEY_FILE Location of a client key for accessing the Kubernetes API. /path/to/key
k8sCAFile K8S_CA_FILE Location of a CA for accessing the Kubernetes API. /path/to/ca
k8sToken K8S_TOKEN Token to be used for accessing the Kubernetes API.  

Note that all environment variables may also be prefixed with “CALICO_”, for example “CALICO_DATASTORE_TYPE” and “CALICO_KUBECONFIG” etc. may also be used. This is useful if the non-prefixed names clash with existing environment variables defined on your system

Examples

Example configuration file

apiVersion: v1
kind: calicoApiConfig
metadata:
spec:
  datastoreType: "kubernetes"
  kubeconfig: "/path/to/.kube/config"

Example using environment variables

$ export DATASTORE_TYPE=kubernetes 
$ export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config 
$ calicoctl get workloadendpoints

And using CALICO_ prefixed names:

$ export CALICO_DATASTORE_TYPE=kubernetes 
$ export CALICO_KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config 
$ calicoctl get workloadendpoints