KubeVirt VM Outage Scenario - Kraken

Detailed implementation of the KubeVirt VM Outage Scenario in Kraken

KubeVirt VM Outage Scenario in Kraken

The kubevirt_vm_outage scenario in Kraken enables users to simulate VM-level disruptions by deleting a Virtual Machine Instance (VMI) to test resilience and recovery capabilities.

Implementation

This scenario is implemented in Kraken’s core repository, with the following key functionality:

Finding and validating the target VMI
Deleting the VMI using the KubeVirt API
Monitoring the recovery process
Implementing fallback recovery if needed

Usage

You can use this scenario in your Kraken configuration file as follows:

scenarios:
  - name: "kubevirt vm outage"
    scenario: kubevirt_vm_outage
    parameters:
      vm_name: <my-application-vm>
      namespace: <vm-workloads>
      timeout: 60

Detailed Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default	Example Values
vm_name	The name of the VMI to delete	Yes	N/A	“database-vm”, “web-server-vm”
namespace	The namespace where the VMI is located	No	“default”	“openshift-cnv”, “vm-workloads”
timeout	How long to wait (in seconds) for VMI to become running before attempting recovery	No	60	30, 120, 300

Execution Flow

When executed, the scenario follows this process:

Initialization: Validates KubeVirt is installed and configures the KubeVirt client
VMI Validation: Checks if the target VMI exists and is in Running state
State Preservation: Saves the initial state of the VMI
Chaos Injection: Deletes the VMI using the KubeVirt API
Wait for Running: Waits for VMI to become running again, up to the timeout specified
Recovery Monitoring: Checks if the VMI is automatically restored
Manual Recovery: If automatic recovery doesn’t occur, manually recreates the VMI
Validation: Confirms the VMI is running correctly

Sample Configuration

Here’s an example configuration for using the kubevirt_vm_outage scenario:

scenarios:
  - name: "kubevirt outage test"
    scenario: kubevirt_vm_outage
    parameters:
      vm_name: my-vm
      namespace: kubevirt
      duration: 60

For multiple VMs in different namespaces:

scenarios:
  - name: "kubevirt outage test - app VM"
    scenario: kubevirt_vm_outage
    parameters:
      vm_name: app-vm
      namespace: application
      duration: 120
  
  - name: "kubevirt outage test - database VM"
    scenario: kubevirt_vm_outage
    parameters:
      vm_name: db-vm
      namespace: database
      duration: 180

Combining with Other Scenarios

For more comprehensive testing, you can combine this scenario with other Kraken scenarios in the list of chaos_scenarios in the config file:

kraken:
    kubeconfig_path: ~/.kube/config                     # Path to kubeconfig
    ...
    chaos_scenarios:
        - hog_scenarios:
            - scenarios/kube/cpu-hog.yml
        -  kubevirt_vm_outage:
               - scenarios/kubevirt/kubevirt-vm-outage.yaml

Last modified August 12, 2025: ordering krkn pages (0b80282)