In this section, you’ll learn how to configure the K3s agent.

Throughout the K3s documentation, you will see some options that can be passed in as both command flags and environment variables. For help with passing in options, refer to How to Use Flags and Environment Variables.

Config

Flag Default Description
--config FILE, -c FILE ”/etc/rancher/k3s/config.yaml” Load configuration from FILE

Logging

Flag Default Environment Variable Description
--debug N/A K3S_DEBUG Turn on debug logs
-v value 0 N/A Number for the log level verbosity
--vmodule value N/A N/A Comma-separated list of pattern=N settings for file-filtered logging
--log value, -l value N/A N/A Log to file
--alsologtostderr N/A N/A Log to standard error as well as file (if set)

Cluster Options

Flag Environment Variable Description
--token value, -t value K3S_TOKEN Token to use for authentication
--token-file value K3S_TOKEN_FILE Token file to use for authentication
--server value, -s value K3S_URL Server to connect to

Data

Flag Default Description
--data-dir value, -d value ”/var/lib/rancher/k3s” Folder to hold state

Node

Flag Default Environment Variable Description
--node-name value N/A K3S_NODE_NAME Node name
--with-node-id N/A N/A Append id to node name
--node-label value N/A N/A Registering and starting kubelet with set of labels
--node-taint value N/A N/A Registering kubelet with set of taints
--image-credential-provider-bin-dir value ”/var/lib/rancher/credentialprovider/bin” N/A The path to the directory where credential provider plugin binaries are located
--image-credential-provider-config value ”/var/lib/rancher/credentialprovider/config.yaml” N/A The path to the credential provider plugin config file
--protect-kernel-defaults N/A N/A Kernel tuning behavior. If set, error if kernel tunables are different than kubelet defaults
--selinux N/A K3S_SELINUX Enable SELinux in containerd.
--lb-server-port value 6444 K3S_LB_SERVER_PORT Local port for supervisor client load-balancer. If the supervisor and apiserver are not colocated an additional port 1 less than this port will also be used for the apiserver client load-balancer.

Runtime

Flag Default Description
--docker N/A Use docker instead of containerd
--container-runtime-endpoint value N/A Disable embedded containerd and use alternative CRI implementation
--pause-image value “docker.io/rancher/pause:3.1” Customized pause image for containerd or docker sandbox
--snapshotter value overlayfs Override default containerd snapshotter
--private-registry value /etc/rancher/k3s/registries.yaml Private registry configuration file

Networking

Flag Environment Variable Description
--node-ip value, -i value N/A IP address to advertise for node
--node-external-ip value N/A External IP address to advertise for node
--resolv-conf value K3S_RESOLV_CONF Kubelet resolv.conf file
--flannel-iface value N/A Override default flannel interface
--flannel-conf value N/A Override default flannel config file

Note: if you wish to directly set the kubelet --resolv-conf value, use --kubelet-arg=resolv-conf=value instead. The k3s flag is only passed through to the kubelet if set to the path of a valid resolv.conf file.

Customized Flags

Flag Description
--kubelet-arg value Customized flag for kubelet process
--kube-proxy-arg value Customized flag for kube-proxy process

Experimental

Flag Description
--rootless Run rootless

Deprecated

Flag Environment Variable Description
--no-flannel N/A Use --flannel-backend=none
--cluster-secret value K3S_CLUSTER_SECRET Use --token

Node Labels and Taints for Agents

K3s agents can be configured with the options --node-label and --node-taint which adds a label and taint to the kubelet. The two options only add labels and/or taints at registration time, so they can only be added once and not changed after that again by running K3s commands.

Below is an example showing how to add labels and a taint:

     --node-label foo=bar \
     --node-label hello=world \
     --node-taint key1=value1:NoExecute

If you want to change node labels and taints after node registration you should use kubectl. Refer to the official Kubernetes documentation for details on how to add taints and node labels.

K3s Agent CLI Help

If an option appears in brackets below, for example [$K3S_URL], it means that the option can be passed in as an environment variable of that name.

NAME:
   k3s agent - Run node agent

USAGE:
   k3s agent [OPTIONS]

OPTIONS:
   --config FILE, -c FILE                     (config) Load configuration from FILE (default: "/etc/rancher/k3s/config.yaml") [$K3S_CONFIG_FILE]
   --debug                                    (logging) Turn on debug logs [$K3S_DEBUG]
   -v value                                   (logging) Number for the log level verbosity (default: 0)
   --vmodule value                            (logging) Comma-separated list of pattern=N settings for file-filtered logging
   --log value, -l value                      (logging) Log to file
   --alsologtostderr                          (logging) Log to standard error as well as file (if set)
   --token value, -t value                    (cluster) Token to use for authentication [$K3S_TOKEN]
   --token-file value                         (cluster) Token file to use for authentication [$K3S_TOKEN_FILE]
   --server value, -s value                   (cluster) Server to connect to [$K3S_URL]
   --data-dir value, -d value                 (agent/data) Folder to hold state (default: "/var/lib/rancher/k3s")
   --node-name value                          (agent/node) Node name [$K3S_NODE_NAME]
   --with-node-id                             (agent/node) Append id to node name
   --node-label value                         (agent/node) Registering and starting kubelet with set of labels
   --node-taint value                         (agent/node) Registering kubelet with set of taints
   --image-credential-provider-bin-dir value  (agent/node) The path to the directory where credential provider plugin binaries are located (default: "/var/lib/rancher/credentialprovider/bin")
   --image-credential-provider-config value   (agent/node) The path to the credential provider plugin config file (default: "/var/lib/rancher/credentialprovider/config.yaml")
   --docker                                   (agent/runtime) Use docker instead of containerd
   --container-runtime-endpoint value         (agent/runtime) Disable embedded containerd and use alternative CRI implementation
   --pause-image value                        (agent/runtime) Customized pause image for containerd or docker sandbox (default: "rancher/mirrored-pause:3.6")
   --snapshotter value                        (agent/runtime) Override default containerd snapshotter (default: "overlayfs")
   --private-registry value                   (agent/runtime) Private registry configuration file (default: "/etc/rancher/k3s/registries.yaml")
   --node-ip value, -i value                  (agent/networking) IPv4/IPv6 addresses to advertise for node
   --node-external-ip value                   (agent/networking) IPv4/IPv6 external IP addresses to advertise for node
   --resolv-conf value                        (agent/networking) Kubelet resolv.conf file [$K3S_RESOLV_CONF]
   --flannel-iface value                      (agent/networking) Override default flannel interface
   --flannel-conf value                       (agent/networking) Override default flannel config file
   --kubelet-arg value                        (agent/flags) Customized flag for kubelet process
   --kube-proxy-arg value                     (agent/flags) Customized flag for kube-proxy process
   --protect-kernel-defaults                  (agent/node) Kernel tuning behavior. If set, error if kernel tunables are different than kubelet defaults.
   --rootless                                 (experimental) Run rootless
   --selinux                                  (agent/node) Enable SELinux in containerd [$K3S_SELINUX]
   --lb-server-port value                     (agent/node) Local port for supervisor client load-balancer. If the supervisor and apiserver are not colocated an additional port 1 less than this port will also be used for the apiserver client load-balancer. (default: 6444) [$K3S_LB_SERVER_PORT]
   --no-flannel                               (deprecated) use --flannel-backend=none
   --cluster-secret value                     (deprecated) use --token [$K3S_CLUSTER_SECRET]