Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The Kubernetes Resource Model (KRM) has transformed cloud-native application orchestration, but its potential for network automation is just beginning to be explored. This tutorial introduces KRM basics, demonstrating how to build custom resources, implement reconciler patterns, and develop automation workflows for network devices. By combining declarative principles with event-driven controllers, attendees will learn to automate complex configurations, handle unmanaged states, and integrate seamlessly with tools like SDCIO for multivendor devices.
The tutorial includes two hands-on labs: The first explores the evolution of a traffic generator deployment using Kubernetes, progressing from basic manifests to Helm, and finally CRDs with custom reconcilers, integrated with Containerlab. The second focuses on SDCIO, a ready-to-use open-source KRM framework for managing YANG schemas, device states, deviations, and APIs for network automation and vendor interoperability.
Lab can be accessed at github.com/cloud-native-everything/nanog93-krm-tutorial and get started with github codespaces.
The Kubernetes Resource Model (KRM) has transformed cloud-native application orchestration, but its potential for network automation is just beginning to be explored. This tutorial introduces KRM basics, demonstrating how to build custom resources, implement reconciler patterns, and develop automation workflows for network devices. By combining declarative principles with event-driven controllers, attendees will learn to automate complex configurations, handle unmanaged states, and integrate seamlessly with tools like SDCIO for multivendor devices.
The tutorial includes two hands-on labs: The first explores the evolution of a traffic generator deployment using Kubernetes, progressing from basic manifests to Helm, and finally CRDs with custom reconcilers, integrated with Containerlab. The second focuses on SDCIO, a ready-to-use open-source KRM framework for managing YANG schemas, device states, deviations, and APIs for network automation and vendor interoperability.
Lab can be accessed at github.com/cloud-native-everything/nanog93-krm-tutorial and get started with github codespaces.
