KubeRay integration with Volcano#

Volcano is a batch scheduling system built on Kubernetes. It provides a suite of mechanisms (gang scheduling, job queues, fair scheduling policies) currently missing from Kubernetes that are commonly required by many classes of batch and elastic workloads. KubeRay’s Volcano integration enables more efficient scheduling of Ray pods in multi-tenant Kubernetes environments.

Setup#

Step 1: Create a Kubernetes cluster with KinD#

Run the following command in a terminal:

kind create cluster

Step 2: Install Volcano#

You need to successfully install Volcano on your Kubernetes cluster before enabling Volcano integration with KubeRay. See Quick Start Guide for Volcano installation instructions.

Step 3: Install the KubeRay Operator with batch scheduling#

Deploy the KubeRay Operator with the --enable-batch-scheduler flag to enable Volcano batch scheduling support.

When installing KubeRay Operator using Helm, you should use one of these two options:

  • Set batchScheduler.enabled to true in your values.yaml file:

# values.yaml file
batchScheduler:
    enabled: true
  • Pass the --set batchScheduler.enabled=true flag when running on the command line:

# Install the Helm chart with --enable-batch-scheduler flag set to true 
helm install kuberay-operator kuberay/kuberay-operator --version 1.0.0 --set batchScheduler.enabled=true

Step 4: Install a RayCluster with the Volcano scheduler#

The RayCluster custom resource must include the ray.io/scheduler-name: volcano label to submit the cluster Pods to Volcano for scheduling.

# Path: kuberay/ray-operator/config/samples
# Includes label `ray.io/scheduler-name: volcano` in the metadata.labels
curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ray-project/kuberay/v1.0.0/ray-operator/config/samples/ray-cluster.volcano-scheduler.yaml
kubectl apply -f ray-cluster.volcano-scheduler.yaml

# Check the RayCluster
kubectl get pod -l ray.io/cluster=test-cluster-0
# NAME                                 READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
# test-cluster-0-head-jj9bg            1/1     Running   0          36s

You can also be provide the following labels in the RayCluster metadata:

  • ray.io/priority-class-name: The cluster priority class as defined by Kubernetes

    • This label only works after you create a PriorityClass resource

    • labels:
        ray.io/scheduler-name: volcano
        ray.io/priority-class-name: <replace with correct PriorityClass resource name>
      
  • volcano.sh/queue-name: The Volcano queue name the cluster submits to.

    • This label only works after you create a Queue resource

    • labels:
        ray.io/scheduler-name: volcano
        volcano.sh/queue-name: <replace with correct Queue resource name>
      

If autoscaling is enabled, minReplicas is used for gang scheduling, otherwise the desired replicas is used.

Step 5: Use Volcano for batch scheduling#

For guidance, see examples.

Example#

Before going through the example, remove any running Ray Clusters to ensure a successful run through of the example below.

kubectl delete raycluster --all

Gang scheduling#

This example walks through how gang scheduling works with Volcano and KubeRay.

First, create a queue with a capacity of 4 CPUs and 6Gi of RAM:

kubectl create -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: scheduling.volcano.sh/v1beta1
kind: Queue
metadata:
  name: kuberay-test-queue
spec:
  weight: 1
  capability:
    cpu: 4
    memory: 6Gi
EOF

The weight in the definition above indicates the relative weight of a queue in a cluster resource division. Use this parameter in cases where the total capability of all the queues in your cluster exceeds the total available resources, forcing the queues to share among themselves. Queues with higher weight are allocated a proportionally larger share of the total resources.

The capability is a hard constraint on the maximum resources the queue supports at any given time. You can update it as needed to allow more or fewer workloads to run at a time.

Next, create a RayCluster with a head node (1 CPU + 2Gi of RAM) and two workers (1 CPU + 1Gi of RAM each), for a total of 3 CPU and 4Gi of RAM:

# Path: kuberay/ray-operator/config/samples
# Includes  the `ray.io/scheduler-name: volcano` and `volcano.sh/queue-name: kuberay-test-queue` labels in the metadata.labels
curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ray-project/kuberay/v1.0.0/ray-operator/config/samples/ray-cluster.volcano-scheduler-queue.yaml
kubectl apply -f ray-cluster.volcano-scheduler-queue.yaml

Because the queue has a capacity of 4 CPU and 6Gi of RAM, this resource should schedule successfully without any issues. You can verify this by checking the status of the cluster’s Volcano PodGroup to see that the phase is Running and the last status is Scheduled:

kubectl get podgroup ray-test-cluster-0-pg -o yaml

# apiVersion: scheduling.volcano.sh/v1beta1
# kind: PodGroup
# metadata:
#   creationTimestamp: "2022-12-01T04:43:30Z"
#   generation: 2
#   name: ray-test-cluster-0-pg
#   namespace: test
#   ownerReferences:
#   - apiVersion: ray.io/v1alpha1
#     blockOwnerDeletion: true
#     controller: true
#     kind: RayCluster
#     name: test-cluster-0
#     uid: 7979b169-f0b0-42b7-8031-daef522d25cf
#   resourceVersion: "4427347"
#   uid: 78902d3d-b490-47eb-ba12-d6f8b721a579
# spec:
#   minMember: 3
#   minResources:
#     cpu: "3"
#     memory: 4Gi
#   queue: kuberay-test-queue
# status:
#   conditions:
#   - lastTransitionTime: "2022-12-01T04:43:31Z"
#     reason: tasks in the gang are ready to be scheduled
#     status: "True"
#     transitionID: f89f3062-ebd7-486b-8763-18ccdba1d585
#     type: Scheduled
#   phase: Running

Check the status of the queue to see 1 running job:

kubectl get queue kuberay-test-queue -o yaml

# apiVersion: scheduling.volcano.sh/v1beta1
# kind: Queue
# metadata:
#   creationTimestamp: "2022-12-01T04:43:21Z"
#   generation: 1
#   name: kuberay-test-queue
#   resourceVersion: "4427348"
#   uid: a6c4f9df-d58c-4da8-8a58-e01c93eca45a
# spec:
#   capability:
#     cpu: 4
#     memory: 6Gi
#   reclaimable: true
#   weight: 1
# status:
#   reservation: {}
#   running: 1
#   state: Open

Next, add an additional RayCluster with the same configuration of head and worker nodes, but with a different name:

# Path: kuberay/ray-operator/config/samples
# Includes the `ray.io/scheduler-name: volcano` and `volcano.sh/queue-name: kuberay-test-queue` labels in the metadata.labels
# Replaces the name to test-cluster-1
sed 's/test-cluster-0/test-cluster-1/' ray-cluster.volcano-scheduler-queue.yaml | kubectl apply -f-

Check the status of its PodGroup to see that its phase is Pending and the last status is Unschedulable:

kubectl get podgroup ray-test-cluster-1-pg -o yaml

# apiVersion: scheduling.volcano.sh/v1beta1
# kind: PodGroup
# metadata:
#   creationTimestamp: "2022-12-01T04:48:18Z"
#   generation: 2
#   name: ray-test-cluster-1-pg
#   namespace: test
#   ownerReferences:
#   - apiVersion: ray.io/v1alpha1
#     blockOwnerDeletion: true
#     controller: true
#     kind: RayCluster
#     name: test-cluster-1
#     uid: b3cf83dc-ef3a-4bb1-9c42-7d2a39c53358
#   resourceVersion: "4427976"
#   uid: 9087dd08-8f48-4592-a62e-21e9345b0872
# spec:
#   minMember: 3
#   minResources:
#     cpu: "3"
#     memory: 4Gi
#   queue: kuberay-test-queue
# status:
#   conditions:
#   - lastTransitionTime: "2022-12-01T04:48:19Z"
#     message: '3/3 tasks in gang unschedulable: pod group is not ready, 3 Pending,
#       3 minAvailable; Pending: 3 Undetermined'
#     reason: NotEnoughResources
#     status: "True"
#     transitionID: 3956b64f-fc52-4779-831e-d379648eecfc
#     type: Unschedulable
#   phase: Pending

Because the new cluster requires more CPU and RAM than our queue allows, even though one of the pods would fit in the remaining 1 CPU and 2Gi of RAM, none of the cluster’s pods are placed until there is enough room for all the pods. Without using Volcano for gang scheduling in this way, one of the pods would ordinarily be placed, leading to the cluster being partially allocated, and some jobs (like Horovod training) being stuck waiting for resources to become available.

See the effect this has on scheduling the pods for our new RayCluster, which are listed as Pending:

kubectl get pods

# NAME                                            READY   STATUS         RESTARTS   AGE
# test-cluster-0-worker-worker-ddfbz              1/1     Running        0          7m
# test-cluster-0-head-vst5j                       1/1     Running        0          7m
# test-cluster-0-worker-worker-57pc7              1/1     Running        0          6m59s
# test-cluster-1-worker-worker-6tzf7              0/1     Pending        0          2m12s
# test-cluster-1-head-6668q                       0/1     Pending        0          2m12s
# test-cluster-1-worker-worker-n5g8k              0/1     Pending        0          2m12s

Look at the pod details to see that Volcano cannot schedule the gang:

kubectl describe pod test-cluster-1-head-6668q | tail -n 3

# Type     Reason            Age   From     Message
# ----     ------            ----  ----     -------
# Warning  FailedScheduling  4m5s  volcano  3/3 tasks in gang unschedulable: pod group is not ready, 3 Pending, 3 minAvailable; Pending: 3 Undetermined

Delete the first RayCluster to make space in the queue:

kubectl delete raycluster test-cluster-0

The PodGroup for the second cluster changed to the Running state, because enough resources are now available to schedule the entire set of pods:

kubectl get podgroup ray-test-cluster-1-pg -o yaml

# apiVersion: scheduling.volcano.sh/v1beta1
# kind: PodGroup
# metadata:
#   creationTimestamp: "2022-12-01T04:48:18Z"
#   generation: 9
#   name: ray-test-cluster-1-pg
#   namespace: test
#   ownerReferences:
#   - apiVersion: ray.io/v1alpha1
#     blockOwnerDeletion: true
#     controller: true
#     kind: RayCluster
#     name: test-cluster-1
#     uid: b3cf83dc-ef3a-4bb1-9c42-7d2a39c53358
#   resourceVersion: "4428864"
#   uid: 9087dd08-8f48-4592-a62e-21e9345b0872
# spec:
#   minMember: 3
#   minResources:
#     cpu: "3"
#     memory: 4Gi
#   queue: kuberay-test-queue
# status:
#   conditions:
#   - lastTransitionTime: "2022-12-01T04:54:04Z"
#     message: '3/3 tasks in gang unschedulable: pod group is not ready, 3 Pending,
#       3 minAvailable; Pending: 3 Undetermined'
#     reason: NotEnoughResources
#     status: "True"
#     transitionID: db90bbf0-6845-441b-8992-d0e85f78db77
#     type: Unschedulable
#   - lastTransitionTime: "2022-12-01T04:55:10Z"
#     reason: tasks in the gang are ready to be scheduled
#     status: "True"
#     transitionID: 72bbf1b3-d501-4528-a59d-479504f3eaf5
#     type: Scheduled
#   phase: Running
#   running: 3

Check the pods again to see that the second cluster is now up and running:

kubectl get pods

# NAME                                            READY   STATUS         RESTARTS   AGE
# test-cluster-1-worker-worker-n5g8k              1/1     Running        0          9m4s
# test-cluster-1-head-6668q                       1/1     Running        0          9m4s
# test-cluster-1-worker-worker-6tzf7              1/1     Running        0          9m4s

Finally, clean up the remaining cluster and queue:

kubectl delete raycluster test-cluster-1
kubectl delete queue kuberay-test-queue