Platforms
The cluster underneath Racora is a pluggable platform. The network layer (the charts,
the two controllers, the CU planes, the Intelligence Plane, the core provider) is identical
on every platform; what differs is how the cluster is obtained, how the RAN payload is
delivered, how the node contract is implemented on the
hosts, and how much an uninstall may remove. install-racora.sh selects the platform from
INSTALL_RACORA_PLATFORM, validates the host or cluster against it, and hands off to the
platform's module; the chart never branches on the platform, it only takes the platform's
values overlay. Where the cluster layer sits in the whole is
Racora Architecture.
k3s (default) | kubernetes | |
|---|---|---|
| Installs the cluster | yes: an unmodified upstream k3s release, mirrored and checksum-verified | no: attaches to your kube-context |
| Payload delivery | a k3s HelmChart resource rendered at install time from the released chart package | helm upgrade --install of the OCI chart |
| CRD owner | the installer, out-of-band (crds.enabled=false): the cell and subscriber APIs exist before the release | the helm release (crds.enabled=true) |
RuntimeClass/nvidia | k3s registers it when the NVIDIA toolkit is present (create=false) | the chart creates it (create=true), or the GPU Operator |
| Placement of the CU planes, the core and the controllers | controlPlanePin: true (the k3s server is schedulable) | controlPlanePin: false and your nodeSelector |
| Host provisioning (RT kernel, isolated cores, TuneD, UHD, GPU, PTP) | the installer's self-driving provisioner (INSTALL_RACORA_PROVISION) | INSTALL_RACORA_MODE=provision-rf on each host, then your cluster tooling joins it |
| Node labels | at registration, via /etc/rancher/k3s/config.yaml.d/ | platforms/kubernetes/label-node.sh |
sctp module | the installer, on the control node and every joined node | you, on every node |
| The core provider's host units | the installer, rendered on k3s.service and recorded for the uninstall | you, rendered on kubelet.service |
| Default StorageClass | k3s local-path | yours |
| Grafana exposure | NodePort 30300 | NodePort or port-forward |
| Workers | INSTALL_RACORA_MODE=node (provision, then join) | your cluster tooling |
| Upgrade | re-run the installer on the control node | helm upgrade |
| Uninstall scopes | cluster by default (Racora installed it); host; ran on the control node | ran only |
| Offline | INSTALL_RACORA_ARTIFACT_PATH bundle | your registry mirror and global.systemDefaultRegistry |
Which platform and mode combinations the installer accepts is the installer reference. Bringing another platform to Racora is Extending Racora.