l8k: Validate

PREREQUISITE: Read ../k8s-launch-kit-shared/SKILL.md for install paths, global flags, and exit codes.

Verify that a previously generated and deployed NVIDIA networking deployment is correctly applied and matches the selected Network Operator release.

What it checks

1. Network Operator Helm release version. Reads the chart's appVersion from any release Secret named sh.helm.release.v1.<release>.v<N> whose release name contains "network-operator", in the operator namespace. Compares with the version expected by networkOperator.selectedRelease in cluster-config.yaml (looked up in l8k's embedded release catalog).
2. Manifest presence. Every YAML manifest under --deployment-files (skipping any file with "example" in its name) is fetched from the cluster via client.Get. Each manifest is reported FOUND, MISSING, or ERROR.
3. Connectivity matrix. By default, l8k validate applies the generated example DaemonSet, waits for ready pods, and runs source-bound icmp, rping, and ib_write_bw tests. The default mode is strict.

Exit code is non-zero (4) on any missing manifest, version mismatch, or gating connectivity failure. Version checks soft-skip when prerequisites are absent — no cluster-config.yaml, no Helm release Secret, etc.

Usage

l8k validate [--user-config <PATH>] [--deployment-files <DIR>] [--kubeconfig <PATH>]

Flags

Connectivity Modes

• quick: all same-rail node pairs plus one non-gating cross-rail canary per source-rail/destination-rail mapping.
• full: every source rail × every destination rail × every ordered pod pair; cross-rail results are reported but do not gate pass/fail.
• strict: full matrix. Cross-rail gates by profile.routing: source-based must succeed, destination-based must stay isolated.

All checks are source-bound. ICMP uses ping -I <src-iface>, rping uses -I <src-ip>, and ib_write_bw uses --bind_source_ip <src-ip>.

Examples

# Defaults: ./cluster-config.yaml + ./deployment, $KUBECONFIG
l8k validate

# Explicit paths
l8k validate --user-config ./cluster-config.yaml \
  --deployment-files ./deployment \
  --kubeconfig ~/.kube/config

# Agent mode (single JSON object on stdout, logs on stderr)
l8k validate --output json 2>/dev/null | jq '.summary'

Output

Text mode prints a short report:

Network Operator release
  selectedRelease: 26.4
  expected version: v26.4.0-beta.6
  deployed: network-operator (chart=26.4.0-beta.6 app=v26.4.0-beta.6 rev=3 status=deployed)
  result: MATCH

Manifests
  [FOUND] NicClusterPolicy/nic-cluster-policy in (cluster-scoped)
  [FOUND] NicNodePolicy/nicnodepolicy-h100 in (cluster-scoped)
  [MISSING] SriovNetwork/sriov-network-rail-0 in default — not found in cluster
  ...

Summary: 12 manifests, 1 missing/error; version: match

JSON mode (--output json) emits one object with versionCheck, manifests, and summary fields.

When this skill activates

Trigger phrases include: "validate my deployment", "is my cluster correct", "are all the manifests applied", "does the chart version match", "did the deploy succeed", or any discrepancy claim about expected vs deployed state.

See Also

• k8s-launch-kit-deploy — apply manifests
• k8s-launch-kit-troubleshoot — investigate failures uncovered by validate
• k8s-launch-kit-shared — global flags and exit codes