README.md

Kata Containers installation user guides

• Prerequisites
• Installing on a Linux System
  • Automatic Installation
  • Scripted Installation
  • Manual Installation
    • Supported Distributions
• Installing on a Cloud Service Platform
• Further information

Prerequisites

Kata Containers requires nested virtualization or bare metal. See the hardware requirements to see if your system is capable of running Kata Containers.

Installing on a Linux System

The following is an overview of the different installation methods available. All of these methods equally result in a system configured to run Kata Containers.

Installation method	Suggested for	Description	Packaged install	Distributions supported
Automatic	Quick start for new users	Run a single command to install a full system.	yes	see table
Manual	Self paced user install	Allows the user to read a brief document and exectute the specified commands step-by-step.	yes	see table
Scripted	Administrators	Generates an installation script which will result in a working system when executed.	yes	see table
Build from sources	Developers and hackers only	Allows power users who are comfortable building software from source to use the latest component versions. Not recommended for normal users.	no	any distro

Notes:

• The "Packaged install" column shows if the resulting installation uses your distribution's native package format (such as RPM or DEB).

• Power users who decide to build from sources should be aware of the implications of using an unpackaged system which will not be automatically updated as new releases are made available.

Automatic Installation

Use kata-manager to automatically install Kata packages.

Scripted Installation

Use kata-doc-to-script to generate installation scripts that can be reviewed before they are executed.

Manual Installation

Manual installation instructions are available for these distributions and document how to:

1. Add the Kata Containers repository to your distro package manager, and import the packages signing key.
2. Install the Kata Containers packages.
3. Install a supported container manager.
4. Configure the container manager to use kata-runtime as the default OCI runtime.

Notes on upgrading:

• If you are installing Kata Containers on a system that already has Clear Containers or runv installed, first read the upgrading document.

Notes on releases:

• This download server hosts the Kata Containers packages built by OBS for all the supported architectures. Packages are available for the latest and stable releases (more info here).

• The following guides apply to the latest Kata Containers release (a.k.a. master release).

• When choosing a stable release, replace all master occurrences in the URLs with a stable-x.y version available on the download server.

Notes on packages source verification:

• The Kata packages hosted on the download server are signed with GPG to ensure integrity and authenticity.

• The public key used to sign packages is available at this link; the fingerprint is 9FDC0CB6 3708CF80 3696E2DC D0B37B82 6063F3ED.

• Only trust the signing key and fingerprint listed in the previous bullet point. Do not disable GPG checks, otherwise packages source and authenticity is not guaranteed.

Supported Distributions

Distro specific installation instructions	Versions
CentOS	7
Fedora	27, 28
openSUSE	Leap (42.3)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	7
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)	SLES 12 SP3
Ubuntu	16.04, 18.04

Installing on a Cloud Service Platform

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Compute Engine (GCE)
• VEXXHOST OpenStack Cloud

Further information

• The upgrading document.
• The developer guide.
• The runtime documentation.