Customize Pod Configuration

Ververica Platform lets you define custom Kubernetes settings for the pods that run your Flink jobs. You can attach labels, annotations, and volume mounts that apply to all pods in a deployment, and use full Kubernetes pod templates to configure JobManager and TaskManager pods independently. For example, you can add sidecar containers for logging, monitoring, or security proxies.

Pod-level customization is configured through the deployment YAML under spec.template.spec.kubernetes.

Overview

Two mechanisms are available:

Mechanism	YAML path	Scope
Shared pod settings	kubernetes.pods	All pods (JobManager and TaskManager)
Per-component pod templates	kubernetes.jobManagerPodTemplate and kubernetes.taskManagerPodTemplate	JobManager or TaskManager pods individually

Use shared pod settings for labels, annotations, and volume mounts you want on every pod. Use pod templates for full Kubernetes pod spec customization, including sidecar containers, init containers, and per-component labels.

Configure Shared Pod Settings

Settings under kubernetes.pods apply to all pods created by the deployment.

Labels

Attach Kubernetes labels to all Flink pods. Labels are useful for monitoring selectors, network policies, and cost allocation.

kubernetes:
  pods:
    labels:
      team: data-engineering
      env: production

note

The kubectl commands on this page require the deployment to be in a running state. If the deployment has not been started, no pods exist and the commands return no results.

To verify that labels are applied:

kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> get pod \
  -l deploymentName=<DEPLOYMENT_NAME> \
  --show-labels

Annotations

Attach Kubernetes annotations to all Flink pods. Annotations are commonly used for Prometheus scraping configuration, sidecar injectors such as Istio or Vault, and tooling metadata.

kubernetes:
  pods:
    annotations:
      monitoring.example.com/scrape: "true"

To verify that annotations are applied:

kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> describe pod \
  -l deploymentName=<DEPLOYMENT_NAME>,component=jobmanager

Volume Mounts

Mount additional volumes into all Flink pods. Each entry defines both the volume and the mount point.

kubernetes:
  pods:
    volumeMounts:
      - name: shared-data
        volume:
          name: shared-data
          emptyDir: {}
        volumeMount:
          name: shared-data
          mountPath: /opt/flink/shared-data

To verify that volumes are mounted:

kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> describe pod \
  -l deploymentName=<DEPLOYMENT_NAME>,component=jobmanager \
  | grep -A4 "shared-data"

Configure Per-Component Pod Templates

kubernetes.jobManagerPodTemplate and kubernetes.taskManagerPodTemplate accept a full Kubernetes pod spec. Use these fields to configure the JobManager and TaskManager pods independently.

Component-Specific Labels

Apply labels to one component only:

kubernetes:
  jobManagerPodTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        role: jobmanager-custom
  taskManagerPodTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        role: taskmanager-custom

Sidecar Containers

Add sidecar containers to run alongside the Flink process. Sidecars are useful for log shippers, monitoring agents, and security proxies, without requiring changes to the Flink image.

note

The image field is required for each sidecar container.

kubernetes:
  jobManagerPodTemplate:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: monitoring-sidecar
          image: nginx:alpine
          env:
            - name: MONITORING_TARGET
              value: jobmanager
  taskManagerPodTemplate:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: monitoring-sidecar
          image: nginx:alpine
          env:
            - name: MONITORING_TARGET
              value: taskmanager

To verify that sidecar containers are running:

# Check that both containers are ready (2/2)
kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> get pods \
  -l deploymentName=<DEPLOYMENT_NAME>

# Inspect the sidecar on the JobManager pod
kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> describe pod \
  -l deploymentName=<DEPLOYMENT_NAME>,component=jobmanager \
  | grep -A10 "monitoring-sidecar:"

# Inspect the sidecar on the TaskManager pod
kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> describe pod \
  -l deploymentName=<DEPLOYMENT_NAME>,component=taskmanager \
  | grep -A10 "monitoring-sidecar:"

Complete Configuration Example

The following YAML shows all supported pod customization options combined under spec.template.spec.kubernetes:

spec:
  template:
    spec:
      kubernetes:
        pods:
          labels:
            team: data-engineering
            env: production
          annotations:
            monitoring.example.com/purpose: my-flink-job
          volumeMounts:
            - name: shared-data
              volume:
                name: shared-data
                emptyDir: {}
              volumeMount:
                name: shared-data
                mountPath: /opt/flink/shared-data

        jobManagerPodTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              role: jobmanager-custom
          spec:
            containers:
              - name: monitoring-sidecar
                image: nginx:alpine
                env:
                  - name: MONITORING_TARGET
                    value: jobmanager

        taskManagerPodTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              role: taskmanager-custom
          spec:
            containers:
              - name: monitoring-sidecar
                image: nginx:alpine
                env:
                  - name: MONITORING_TARGET
                    value: taskmanager

Known Limitations

warning

The following fields are accepted by the API at the kubernetes.pods level but are not reliably applied at runtime. Do not use them until this behavior is resolved.

Field	YAML path	Status	Workaround
securityContext	kubernetes.pods	Behavior unconfirmed	Use jobManagerPodTemplate.spec.securityContext or taskManagerPodTemplate.spec.securityContext
nodeSelector	kubernetes.pods	Silently fails	Use node affinity rules instead
env	kubernetes.pods	Accepted but not applied	Set environment variables in sidecar containers using the pod template
imagePullSecrets	kubernetes.pods	Silently ignored	Use jobManagerPodTemplate.spec.imagePullSecrets or taskManagerPodTemplate.spec.imagePullSecrets