KernelChaos API

API reference for KernelChaos CRD

KernelChaos allows you to inject faults into the Linux kernel to simulate kernel-level failures such as memory allocation failures, page allocation failures, and bio failures.

API Version and Kind

apiVersion: chaos-mesh.org/v1alpha1
kind: KernelChaos

Metadata

Standard Kubernetes object metadata.

metadata.name · string · required

Name of the KernelChaos resource.

metadata.namespace · string

Namespace of the KernelChaos resource. Defaults to default.

Spec Fields

spec · KernelChaosSpec · required

Defines the behavior of the kernel chaos experiment.

KernelChaosSpec

selector · ContainerSelector · required

Selector for targeting containers. See ContainerSelector in Common Types.

Inherits all fields from ContainerSelector (inline), including:

• Pod selection criteria
• Mode (one/all/fixed/fixed-percent/random-max-percent)
• Value (for fixed modes)
• Container names

failKernRequest · FailKernRequest · required

Defines the kernel injection conditions.

Show FailKernRequest

failtype · int32 · required

Indicates what to fail. Valid values:

• 0 - slab allocation (should_failslab)
• 1 - page allocation (should_fail_alloc_page)
• 2 - bio (should_fail_bio)

Minimum: 0

Maximum: 2

Learn more at:

• Linux Kernel Fault Injection
• BCC inject examples

headers · []string

Kernel headers you need. For example: ["linux/mmzone.h", "linux/blkdev.h"]

callchain · []Frame

Special call chain to target, such as:

ext4_mount
  -> mount_subtree
     -> ...
        -> should_failslab

Can include predicates and parameters. If empty, will fail at any call chain with slab alloc (e.g., kmalloc).

See bpfki examples for more details.

probability · uint32 · default: "0"

Probability of failure (0-100). For example, set to 1 for 1% failure rate.

Minimum: 0

Maximum: 100

times · uint32 · default: "0"

Maximum number of times to inject the failure.

Minimum: 0

Show Frame

funcname · string

Function name from kernel source or /proc/kallsyms, such as ext4_mount.

parameters · string

Used with predicate. For example, to inject slab error in d_alloc_parallel(struct dentry *parent, const struct qstr *name) with a special name “bananas”, set to:

struct dentry *parent, const struct qstr *name

predicate · string

Predicate to access frame arguments. Following the parameters example above, set to:

STRNCMP(name->name, "bananas", 8)

This makes injection only occur for this specific condition.

duration · *string

Duration of the chaos action.

A duration string with format like "300ms", "1.5h", or "2h45m".

Valid time units: ns, us (µs), ms, s, m, h

remoteCluster · string

Name of the remote cluster where the chaos will be deployed. If not specified, chaos is applied to the local cluster.

Status Fields

status · KernelChaosStatus

Current status of the chaos experiment.

KernelChaosStatus

conditions · []ChaosCondition

Current global conditions. See ChaosStatus in Common Types.

experiment · ExperimentStatus

Last known experiment state including desired phase and container records.

Example

apiVersion: chaos-mesh.org/v1alpha1
kind: KernelChaos
metadata:
  name: kernel-slab-error
  namespace: chaos-mesh
spec:
  mode: one
  selector:
    namespaces:
      - default
    labelSelectors:
      app: nginx
  failKernRequest:
    failtype: 0
    headers:
      - "linux/mmzone.h"
    probability: 10
    times: 100
  duration: "30s"