# Live walk: test the GPU Operator's plan on a throwaway cluster, 2026-10-10 **UNOFFICIAL/EXPERIMENTAL** This log records one run. It took the script the site ships for one Catalog base, NVIDIA's GPU Operator v26.7.1 `default`, and ran it against a new local cluster. The script carries out the install part of the base's plan: it creates the namespace, applies the CRDs first and waits for each, then applies the rest. This is a dated record of one run. It is not a Guide. Every line that starts with `$` is a command that was run, and the text under it is the output it printed. Times are UTC. ## Versions and setting - cub v0.8.7 with the installer plugin, in a home directory that holds no ConfigHub credentials. No account was used. - kind v0.31.0 with a node at Kubernetes v1.35.0, kubectl client v1.36.0, kustomize v5.8.1, Docker 29.4.0. - The cluster had one node and no GPUs. - The script was fetched from the live site and is byte-for-byte the file at `site/sh/nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1/default/try.sh` in this repository. - The scratch directory is written ``. The cluster had its own kubeconfig file there, so the machine's default kubeconfig was not touched. ## The answer in brief The script ran from start to finish in 8 seconds and exited 0. All eight CRDs were established before any other object was applied. The operator and the three node-feature-discovery workloads were running 47 seconds after the script ended. The ClusterPolicy reported `ready`. The operator created none of its GPU DaemonSets, because the cluster had no GPU nodes. ## Make the cluster ``` $ kind create cluster --name cwtest-1010-gpuop --kubeconfig /kubeconfig --wait 120s $ kubectl get nodes started 2026-10-10T20:34:36Z kubectl cluster-info --context kind-cwtest-1010-gpuop --kubeconfig /kubeconfig Thanks for using kind! 😊 NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION cwtest-1010-gpuop-control-plane Ready control-plane 22s v1.35.0 ``` ## Fetch the script and run it ``` $ curl -s -o try.sh https://confighub.github.io/helm-expt/site/sh/nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1/default/try.sh $ bash ./try.sh started 2026-10-10T20:35:11Z >> Pull the package and render the default base variant into ./nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default Wizard wrote /nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default/out/spec/selection.yaml and inputs.yaml Collector produced 2 fact(s) in /nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default/out/spec/facts.yaml Base: default; components: [] Namespace: gpu-operator Rendered 28 manifest(s) to /nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default/out/manifests Next: cub installer upload --work-dir /nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default --space >> Read what was rendered; nothing has touched the cluster yet clusterpolicy-cluster-policy.yaml clusterrole-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc.yaml clusterrole-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery.yaml clusterrole-gpu-operator.yaml clusterrolebinding-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc.yaml clusterrolebinding-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery.yaml clusterrolebinding-gpu-operator.yaml configmap-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master-conf.yaml configmap-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker-conf.yaml customresourcedefinition-clusterpolicies-nvidia-com.yaml customresourcedefinition-computedomaincliques-resource-nvidia-com.yaml customresourcedefinition-computedomains-resource-nvidia-com.yaml customresourcedefinition-gpuclusters-nvidia-com.yaml customresourcedefinition-nodefeaturegroups-nfd-k8s-sigs-io.yaml customresourcedefinition-nodefeaturerules-nfd-k8s-sigs-io.yaml customresourcedefinition-nodefeatures-nfd-k8s-sigs-io.yaml customresourcedefinition-nvidiadrivers-nvidia-com.yaml daemonset-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker.yaml deployment-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc.yaml deployment-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master.yaml deployment-gpu-operator-gpu-operator.yaml namespace-gpu-operator.yaml role-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker.yaml role-gpu-operator-gpu-operator.yaml rolebinding-gpu-operator-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker.yaml rolebinding-gpu-operator-gpu-operator.yaml serviceaccount-gpu-operator-gpu-operator.yaml serviceaccount-gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery.yaml >> Ensure the gpu-operator namespace exists namespace/gpu-operator created >> Check 8 CRDs included with this package customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomaincliques.resource.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomains.resource.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/gpuclusters.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturegroups.nfd.k8s-sigs.io serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturerules.nfd.k8s-sigs.io serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeatures.nfd.k8s-sigs.io serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nvidiadrivers.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomaincliques.resource.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomains.resource.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/gpuclusters.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturegroups.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturerules.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeatures.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nvidiadrivers.nvidia.com condition met >> Apply the rendered objects clusterpolicy.nvidia.com/cluster-policy created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created configmap/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master-conf created configmap/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker-conf created Warning: resource customresourcedefinitions/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com is missing the kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration annotation which is required by kubectl apply. kubectl apply should only be used on resources created declaratively by either kubectl create --save-config or kubectl apply. The missing annotation will be patched automatically. customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com configured ... (7 more warnings of the same kind cut, one for each of the other CRDs) customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomaincliques.resource.nvidia.com configured customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomains.resource.nvidia.com configured customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/gpuclusters.nvidia.com configured customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturegroups.nfd.k8s-sigs.io configured customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturerules.nfd.k8s-sigs.io configured customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeatures.nfd.k8s-sigs.io configured customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nvidiadrivers.nvidia.com configured daemonset.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker created deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc created deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master created deployment.apps/gpu-operator created namespace/gpu-operator configured role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker created role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created serviceaccount/gpu-operator created serviceaccount/node-feature-discovery created >> Done. The cluster received exactly the files in ./nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default/out, with the packaged lifecycle steps checked. [exit 0] finished 2026-10-10T20:35:19Z ``` ## Watch what the cluster did ``` started 2026-10-10T20:35:29Z $ kubectl -n gpu-operator rollout status deployment/gpu-operator --timeout=300s Waiting for deployment "gpu-operator" rollout to finish: 0 of 1 updated replicas are available... deployment "gpu-operator" successfully rolled out $ kubectl -n gpu-operator get deploy,ds NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE deployment.apps/gpu-operator 1/1 1 1 34s deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc 0/1 1 0 35s deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master 0/1 1 0 35s NAME DESIRED CURRENT READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE NODE SELECTOR AGE daemonset.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker 1 1 0 1 0 35s $ kubectl get clusterpolicy cluster-policy -o jsonpath=... ready Ready=True(NFDLabelsMissing) Error=False(Ready) $ kubectl get crd | grep -c nvidia.com\|nfd 8 $ kubectl -n gpu-operator get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE gpu-operator-7486b8b7d9-wwwrm 1/1 Running 0 34s gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc-d4887b8cf-rg8kq 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 34s gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master-74f7f6fc45-579t6 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 34s gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker-4b6pf 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 34s deployment "gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master" successfully rolled out daemon set "gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker" successfully rolled out $ kubectl -n gpu-operator get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE gpu-operator-7486b8b7d9-wwwrm 1/1 Running 0 47s gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc-d4887b8cf-rg8kq 1/1 Running 0 47s gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master-74f7f6fc45-579t6 1/1 Running 0 47s gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker-4b6pf 1/1 Running 0 47s $ clusterpolicy ready Ready=True(NFDLabelsMissing) Error=False(Ready) $ kubectl -n gpu-operator get ds NAME DESIRED CURRENT READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE NODE SELECTOR AGE gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker 1 1 1 1 1 48s observed 2026-10-10T20:36:06Z ``` The first look came 10 seconds after the script ended, while three images were still being pulled. The second look shows all four pods running. ## What went wrong in the first run 1. **The script applies the CRDs twice.** It first applies the packaged CRD file with server-side apply and waits. It then applies every rendered object with a plain `kubectl apply`, and the rendered objects include the same eight CRDs. Kubernetes prints one warning for each CRD about a missing `last-applied-configuration` annotation. Nothing failed. A reader will still wonder what the eight warnings mean. 2. **The closing line says more than the script did.** It ends with "with the packaged lifecycle steps checked". The script carried out the install steps. It did not run the Job the plan names for before an upgrade, or the Job it names for after a delete. ## The script was corrected, and run again Both faults above were fixed in the script generator the same day. The corrected script applies each CRD once, and its last lines say only what it did. It was run twice more, on a second throwaway cluster, with the system's bash 3.2. The first of the two runs was on the empty cluster. It printed no warning and exited 0 in 6 seconds. Its last line named the steps it had not run, in an earlier wording that also listed `pre-apply`. That was wrong, because the script does run the CRD step, and the wording was corrected before the second run. This is that first run from the namespace step on. ``` $ /bin/bash ./try.sh >> Ensure the gpu-operator namespace exists namespace/gpu-operator created >> Check 8 CRDs included with this package customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomaincliques.resource.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomains.resource.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/gpuclusters.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturegroups.nfd.k8s-sigs.io serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturerules.nfd.k8s-sigs.io serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeatures.nfd.k8s-sigs.io serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nvidiadrivers.nvidia.com serverside-applied customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomaincliques.resource.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomains.resource.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/gpuclusters.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturegroups.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturerules.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeatures.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nvidiadrivers.nvidia.com condition met >> Apply the rendered objects, except the CRDs already settled above clusterpolicy.nvidia.com/cluster-policy created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created configmap/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master-conf created configmap/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker-conf created daemonset.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker created deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc created deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master created deployment.apps/gpu-operator created namespace/gpu-operator configured role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker created role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator created serviceaccount/gpu-operator created serviceaccount/node-feature-discovery created >> Done. The cluster received the files in ./nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default/out. Its CRDs were settled first, from the package. >> Not run by this script: the pre-apply and pre-upgrade and pre-delete and post-delete steps of this base's plan. Those belong to an upgrade or a delete. [exit 0] finished 2026-10-10T21:31:56Z ``` The second run used the final script on the same cluster, where everything already existed. It left the eight CRDs alone, reported every other object unchanged, printed no warning and exited 0 in 5 seconds. ``` $ /bin/bash ./try.sh >> Ensure the gpu-operator namespace exists namespace/gpu-operator configured >> Check 8 CRDs included with this package >> The required CRDs already exist; leave them under their current owner customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/clusterpolicies.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomaincliques.resource.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/computedomains.resource.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/gpuclusters.nvidia.com condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturegroups.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeaturerules.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nodefeatures.nfd.k8s-sigs.io condition met customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/nvidiadrivers.nvidia.com condition met >> Apply the rendered objects, except the CRDs already settled above clusterpolicy.nvidia.com/cluster-policy unchanged clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc unchanged clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery unchanged clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator unchanged clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc unchanged clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery unchanged clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator unchanged configmap/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master-conf unchanged configmap/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker-conf unchanged daemonset.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker configured deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-gc configured deployment.apps/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-master configured deployment.apps/gpu-operator configured namespace/gpu-operator configured role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker unchanged role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator unchanged rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator-node-feature-discovery-worker unchanged rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/gpu-operator unchanged serviceaccount/gpu-operator unchanged serviceaccount/node-feature-discovery unchanged >> Done. The cluster received the files in ./nvidia-gpu-operator-v26-7-1-default/out. Its CRDs were settled first, from the package. >> Not run by this script: the pre-upgrade, pre-delete and post-delete steps of this base's plan. The entry page says who runs each one. [exit 0] finished 2026-10-10T21:34:45Z ``` After it, the four pods were running and the ClusterPolicy reported `ready`. The second cluster was deleted in the same way as the first. ## What the walk did not cover - No GPU. The ClusterPolicy's `Ready` condition carries the reason `NFDLabelsMissing`, and no driver, toolkit or device-plugin DaemonSet was created. - The upgrade and delete steps of the plan were not run. - One run, on one machine, with one node. - Only the `default` base of one version. The other bases of this chart have their own scripts, and they were not run here. - The plain-objects bundle was not used. The script renders the installer package locally. ## Clean-up ``` $ kind delete cluster --name cwtest-1010-gpuop --kubeconfig /kubeconfig Deleted nodes: ["cwtest-1010-gpuop-control-plane"] ``` No cluster or container with the walk's name remained, and the checksum of the machine's default kubeconfig was the same as before the walk.