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RBLN NPU Feature Discovery

The RBLN SDK offers NPU Feature Discovery, a tool that automatically generates Kubernetes node labels for Rebellions' NPUs present on a node. This functionality builds upon Kubernetes Node Feature Discovery to apply these labels effectively.

Deployment

Step 1: Prepare NPU Nodes

Follow the instructions outlined in the device plugin documentation to set up Kubernetes nodes with RBLN NPUs and ensure the RBLN Driver is installed.

Step 2: Deploy Kubernetes Node Feature Discovery

Ensure that Node Feature Discovery (NFD) is operational on all nodes you intend to label. The RBLN NPU Feature Discovery utilizes the local feature source, requiring the directory /etc/kubernetes/node-feature-discovery/features.d/ to be present on your nodes. This directory will be mounted to the RBLN NFD pods.

You can install NFD using one of the deployment methods detailed on this page, such as Kustomize, Helm, or Operator.

Step 3: Deploy RBLN NPU Feature Discovery

Deploy the RBLN NPU Feature Discovery as a DaemonSet pod on each node by executing the following command:

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$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rebellions-sw/rbln-npu-feature-discovery/main/deployments/static/npu-feature-discovery-daemonset.yaml

Note that the manifest includes a node affinity rule specified as feature.node.kubernetes.io/pci-1200_1eff.present, ensuring that the DaemonSet pods only run on nodes with a PCI device from the vendor ID 1eff (Rebellions). Adjust and utilize the manifest as needed.

Once both NFD and RBLN NPU Feature Discovery are deployed and running, NPU-related labels should appear on nodes equipped with NPUs. You can verify this with:

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$ kubectl get node <npu-node-name> -o yaml
apiVersion: v1
items:
- apiVersion: v1
  kind: Node
  metadata:
    ...
    labels:
      ...
      rebellions.ai/driver-version.full=1.2.92
      rebellions.ai/driver-version.major=1
      rebellions.ai/driver-version.minor=2
      rebellions.ai/driver-version.patch=92
      rebellions.ai/driver-version.revision=d01ab86
      rebellions.ai/npu.count=2
      rebellions.ai/npu.family=ATOM
      rebellions.ai/npu.present=true
      rebellions.ai/npu.product=RBLN-CA12
      ...

Generated Labels

The following table lists the labels produced by RBLN NPU Feature Discovery along with their descriptions.

Note

In Kubernetes, label values are always strings. The "Value Type" column indicates the type represented within the string format.

Label Name Value Type Meaning Examples
rebellions.ai/driver-version.full String Full semantic version of the RBLN driver 1.2.92
rebellions.ai/driver-version.major Integer Major component of the RBLN driver’s semantic version 1
rebellions.ai/driver-version.minor Integer Minor component of the RBLN driver’s semantic version 2
rebellions.ai/driver-version.patch Integer Patch component of the RBLN driver’s semantic version 92
rebellions.ai/driver-version.revision String Revision identifier of the RBLN driver d01ab86
rebellions.ai/npu.count Integer Number of NPUs on the node 2
rebellions.ai/npu.family String Architecture family of the NPU ATOM, REBEL
rebellions.ai/npu.present Boolean Indicates the presence of RBLN NPUs on the node true, false
rebellions.ai/npu.product String Product name of the NPU RBLN-CA22, RBLN-CR22