NVCF Self-Managed Stack Operations

Operational guide for matching NVCF control-plane and compute-plane Helmfile bundles.

Instructions

Use this skill for install, upgrade, or teardown work in matching nvcf-self-managed-stack and nvcf-compute-plane-stack bundles; keep Helmfile values and CLI profile handoffs separate. For functionType: "LLM", read LLM Function Enablement.

Prerequisites

Ask for the extracted nvcf-self-managed-stack path. For split installation, also require the matching-version nvcf-compute-plane-stack path. Verify both:

ls <control-plane-stack>/helmfile.d/ <control-plane-stack>/environments/ <control-plane-stack>/secrets/ <control-plane-stack>/global.yaml.gotmpl
ls <compute-plane-stack>/helmfile.d/ <compute-plane-stack>/environments/ <compute-plane-stack>/global.yaml.gotmpl

If either directory is missing, download matching bundle versions from NGC:

ngc registry resource download-version <org>/nvcf-self-managed-stack:<version>
ngc registry resource download-version <org>/nvcf-compute-plane-stack:<version>

Control-plane commands below assume the control-plane bundle root. Split-flow commands and root substitution are in Split Compute-Plane Installation.

Before You Start

Verify tooling and context before any operation:

helmfile --version   # Must be 1.1.x (1.2.0 removed sequential mode)
helm version         # Must be >= 3.12
helm plugin list     # Must include helm-diff >= 3.11
kubectl version      # Client must be within 1 minor version of cluster

Control-plane commands run from the extracted nvcf-self-managed-stack/ root:

cd path/to/nvcf-self-managed-stack
ls helmfile.d/ environments/ secrets/ global.yaml.gotmpl

Identify the environment from environments/<name>.yaml and secrets/<name>-secrets.yaml; for EKS, use the canonical CSP End-to-End Example.

How Values Flow

Understanding value precedence prevents the most common configuration mistakes.

environments/base.yaml          (defaults)
    -> merged with
environments/<env>.yaml         (your overrides)
    -> consumed by
global.yaml.gotmpl              (Go template, constructs per-chart values)
    -> consumed by
secrets/<env>-secrets.yaml      (sensitive values)
    -> overridden by
release inline values: blocks   (highest precedence)

Critical: global.yaml.gotmpl only passes through specific keys to each chart (image registries, node selectors, storage, replica counts). Setting an arbitrary chart value in the environment file will be silently ignored if global.yaml.gotmpl does not propagate it.

To override arbitrary chart values, use a helmfile release values: block. See Overriding Helm Chart Values.

Clean Installation

1. Create namespaces and image pull secrets (if using a private registry)

for ns in cassandra-system nats-system nvcf api-keys ess sis vault-system cert-manager; do
  kubectl create namespace "$ns" --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
done

# Only if pulling from a private registry (e.g., NGC nvcr.io)
export NGC_API_KEY="<your-key>"
for ns in cassandra-system nats-system nvcf api-keys ess sis vault-system cert-manager; do
  kubectl create secret docker-registry nvcr-creds \
    --docker-server=nvcr.io \
    --docker-username='$oauthtoken' \
    --docker-password="$NGC_API_KEY" \
    --namespace="$ns" \
    --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
done

If using pull secrets, you must also configure each helmfile release to reference them. See Image Pull Secrets.

2. Authenticate helm to your chart registry

Both docker login AND helm registry login are required for NGC. Helmfile uses helm (not docker) to pull OCI charts, so the helm credential store must be authenticated separately.

# NGC -- both commands are required
docker login nvcr.io -u '$oauthtoken' -p "$NGC_API_KEY"
helm registry login nvcr.io -u '$oauthtoken' -p "$NGC_API_KEY"

# ECR
aws ecr get-login-password --region <region> | \
  helm registry login --username AWS --password-stdin <account>.dkr.ecr.<region>.amazonaws.com

Note: helm registry login keeps only the last login per host (multi-org gotcha). The stack and the caches span several NGC orgs that need different keys, but they all live under the one host nvcr.io. A second helm registry login nvcr.io (or docker login) with a different key silently overwrites the first, so pulls for the first org then fail with a misleading 403 Access Denied (not a 401: the auth succeeded, it's the wrong-org key). If you pull charts/images from more than one org, either re-run the login with the correct key immediately before each pull, or pass --username '$oauthtoken' --password <key> per helm pull invocation instead of relying on the stored login. (Pulling everything from a single registry mirror avoids this entirely.)

2b. (Recommended) Pull from a registry the cluster authenticates to automatically

If you mirror the NVCF images into a registry that the cluster can pull from without an explicit image pull secret (for example, a registry where the node or workload identity is granted pull access automatically), point the stack at it and skip the credential steps above.

1. Point the stack at the mirror in environments/<env>.yaml:

   global:
     image:
       registry: <your-registry>            # e.g. registry.example.com
       repository: <mirror-sub-path>
     helm:
       sources:                              # only if you also mirrored the helm charts
         registry: <your-registry>
         repository: <mirror-sub-path>
   

   The manifest has a mix of OCI and non-OCI artifacts, so convert non-OCI charts before mirroring. Container images (nvcr.io/...) are already OCI and mirror as-is. Some Helm charts, though, are published to an https:// Helm repository (for example helm.ngc.nvidia.com). Those are not OCI and cannot be resolved by global.helm.sources (OCI) or mirrored directly. Before pointing the stack at your mirror, convert each https:// chart to OCI: helm repo add/helm pull the .tgz, then helm push <chart>.tgz oci://<your-registry>/<mirror-sub-path>. Only OCI charts can live under global.helm.sources.

2. Skip the credential steps above. When the cluster authenticates to the registry automatically (the node or workload identity has pull access), the pull needs no Kubernetes secret, so you do not need: the per-namespace nvcr-pull-secret from step 1 (still create the namespaces, just not the secret), the global.imagePullSecrets entry, or the docker login/helm registry login nvcr.io from step 2.

   One residual credential: nvcf-api still validates the user function image at function create via the account registry credential, so that credential must point at whichever registry holds the user image (set it to your mirror if the image is mirrored there).

3. Set the route domain

global.domain sets the hostname suffix for routes such as api.<domain>. It does not configure the Gateway or its load balancer. Query the exact existing Gateway:

GATEWAY_ADDRESS=$(kubectl get gateway <gateway-name> -n <gateway-namespace> -o jsonpath='{.status.addresses[0].value}')
test -n "$GATEWAY_ADDRESS"

The address may be a hostname or IP. Cloud provider and Gateway configuration determine the load balancer type and address format. The self-managed stack does not select either.

For temporary testing without DNS, use a stable reserved suffix such as global.domain: "nvcf.test", connect to GATEWAY_ADDRESS, and send Host: api.nvcf.test. For production, use your base DNS domain and point its route records to GATEWAY_ADDRESS. If the endpoint later changes, keep global.domain stable and update only DNS or the client destination. See Example 4 in examples.md.

4. Preview and deploy

HELMFILE_ENV=<env-name> helmfile template   # Preview rendered manifests
HELMFILE_ENV=<env-name> helmfile sync       # Deploy

Set BOTH Cassandra passwords in the secrets file. The secrets file documents DEFAULT_CASSANDRA_PASSWORD, but the cassandra chart has a second credential, cassandra.serviceRolePassword, that defaults to ch@ng3m3. If you set only DEFAULT_CASSANDRA_PASSWORD, the service role keeps that default and every DB-backed service crash-loops with Bad credentials once it tries to authenticate. Set cassandra.serviceRolePassword to the same value as DEFAULT_CASSANDRA_PASSWORD.

5. Deployment phases

Helmfile deploys in order with dependencies:

Monitor in a separate terminal:

kubectl get pods -A -w

6. Enable Vanity Gateway (optional)

Vanity Gateway is disabled by default and is only needed for customer-facing hostnames or path mappings in front of the standard NVCF API and invocation routes. It is available only in stack packages that include the Vanity Gateway addon. If the extracted stack package does not contain a vanity-gateway release and vanityGateway route values, skip these commands and use a newer stack package that includes them.

If the stack package includes the addon, enable it in environments/<env-name>.yaml:

addons:
  vanityGateway:
    enabled: true
    mappingConfig: {}

The default route host is vanity.<domain> and the backend is vanity-gateway.nvcf:8080. Put deployment-specific host and path mappings under addons.vanityGateway.mappingConfig. If you need custom vanity hosts instead of vanity.<domain>, use the route hostname overrides supported by the stack package and create matching DNS records.

After confirming the package includes the vanity-gateway release, preview and apply the service and route:

HELMFILE_ENV=<env-name> helmfile --selector name=vanity-gateway template
HELMFILE_ENV=<env-name> helmfile --selector name=vanity-gateway sync
HELMFILE_ENV=<env-name> helmfile --selector release-group=ingress sync

Verify the route only when the addon is present and enabled:

kubectl get deploy,svc -n nvcf -l app.kubernetes.io/name=vanity-gateway
kubectl get httproute -A | grep -i vanity
curl -H "Host: vanity.<domain>" "http://<gateway-address>/health"

Do not enable Vanity Gateway for standard API, API Keys, invocation, LLM invocation, or gRPC traffic. Those routes are provided by the base gateway routes.

7. Install the separate compute-plane stack

The control-plane stack does not install compute-plane components. After it is healthy, choose exactly one compute-plane handoff:

• Helmfile values flow: author separate environment files, then register and install with the compute-plane Makefile.
• CLI profile flow: use the profile generated by the CLI control-plane install, then run the complete CLI register and install commands.

Do not mix these handoffs. Follow Split Compute-Plane Installation for commands, EKS routing, pull secrets, verification, and teardown order.

Clean Teardown

Destroy every compute plane before the control plane, using the teardown for the same handoff; see Split Compute-Plane Installation.

Scope: Only destroy releases managed by this control-plane helmfile stack. The NVCF releases are: nats, openbao-server, cassandra, api-keys, sis, api, invocation-service, grpc-proxy, ess-api, notary-service, optional vanity-gateway, admin-issuer-proxy, and ingress; cert-manager is included only when certManager.enabled: true. The control-plane namespace inventory also includes cert-manager, but default namespace cleanup preserves it. Namespace preservation does not preserve the Helm release. External cert-manager must use certManager.enabled: false; otherwise Helmfile treats the release as stack-managed. Do not delete other helm releases or namespaces on the cluster.

Before control-plane destroy, identify whether cert-manager is external. For an external installation, require effective certManager.enabled: false and abort if it is true. For an intended stack-managed release with effective certManager.enabled: true, verify matching stack Helm release metadata and abort on missing or mismatched evidence. Preserve the namespace by default; only plan its removal after verifying namespace provenance and getting explicit confirmation.

Standard teardown

Run from inside the nvcf-self-managed-stack/ directory:

HELMFILE_ENV=<env-name> helmfile destroy

Delete namespaces

for ns in cassandra-system nats-system nvcf api-keys ess sis vault-system; do
  kubectl delete namespace "$ns" --ignore-not-found
done

Verify clean

kubectl get ns | grep -E '(cassandra|nats|vault|nvcf|api-keys|ess|sis)'
# Should return empty

Overriding Helm Chart Values

Environment file (limited)

Works only for keys that global.yaml.gotmpl propagates (e.g., cassandra.replicaCount, global.storageClass, global.image).

Release values block (any chart value)

Edit the release in helmfile.d/*.yaml.gotmpl and add a values: block. In the examples below, <private-values> refers to the secrets/ directory at the helmfile stack root.

- name: cassandra
  version: 0.8.0
  condition: cassandra.enabled
  namespace: cassandra-system
  <<: *dependency
  values:
    - ../global.yaml.gotmpl
    - ../<private-values>/{{ requiredEnv "HELMFILE_ENV" }}-secrets.yaml
    - cassandra:
        resources:
          limits:
            cpu: "8"
            memory: 8192Mi
          requests:
            cpu: "2"
            memory: 4096Mi

YAML merge gotcha: When a release uses <<: *dependency or inherit, specifying values: replaces the template's values list. You must re-include global.yaml.gotmpl and the secrets file.

Preview and apply a single release

HELMFILE_ENV=<env> helmfile --selector name=cassandra template  # Preview
HELMFILE_ENV=<env> helmfile --selector name=cassandra sync      # Apply

Image Pull Secrets

There are three distinct credential types. Do not conflate them, and mind the format rule below (two of them fail even with the correct key if the format is wrong):

Note: the account-bootstrap cred and the sidecar secret are NOT a dockerconfigjson. The secrets template ships the placeholder REPLACE_WITH_BASE64_DOCKER_CREDENTIAL, which reads as "base64 of a dockerconfigjson." It isn't. Both values are consumed as a raw docker auth string: nvcf-api takes the value verbatim and drops it into the auth field of the dockerconfig it builds. So the value must be base64("$oauthtoken:<key>"), e.g. printf '$oauthtoken:%s' "$KEY" | openssl base64 -A, not base64(<dockerconfigjson>).

• Wrong account-bootstrap value: function create returns 400 "must be base64 encoded username:password format".
• Wrong sidecar value: every worker's sidecar pull gets a malformed credential and 403s, regardless of which key is inside. The symptom looks like a bad or wrong-org key, but the key is fine and the encoding is the bug. To repair an already-installed stack without a full re-sync:

  AUTH=$(printf '$oauthtoken:%s' "$KEY" | openssl base64 -A)
  bao kv put services/nvcf-api/kv/sidecars/image-pull-secret secret="$AUTH"
  # if NVIDIA Cloud Tasks is enabled, repeat for services/nvct-api/kv/sidecars/image-pull-secret
  kubectl rollout restart -n nvcf deploy/nvcf-api   # picks up the new sidecar cred
  

Note (multi-org): when pulling from NGC (not a mirror), the user function image and the platform sidecars often live in different nvcr.io orgs, each needing a different key, so the account-bootstrap cred (function image) and the sidecar secret (sidecars) are frequently two different keys. Mirroring everything into a single registry the cluster authenticates to automatically collapses this to one credential path.

Configuring with Kyverno (recommended)

Use a Kyverno mutating admission policy to automatically inject imagePullSecrets into all pods in NVCF namespaces. This works uniformly for all charts -- no per-chart configuration or helmfile modifications needed.

# 1. Install Kyverno
helm repo add kyverno https://kyverno.github.io/kyverno/
helm repo update
helm install kyverno kyverno/kyverno -n kyverno --create-namespace

# 2. Create pull secret in each namespace
export NGC_API_KEY="<your-key>"
for ns in cassandra-system nats-system nvcf api-keys ess sis vault-system cert-manager; do
  kubectl create secret docker-registry nvcr-pull-secret \
    --docker-server=nvcr.io \
    --docker-username='$oauthtoken' \
    --docker-password="$NGC_API_KEY" \
    --namespace="$ns" \
    --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
done

# 3. Apply the Kyverno ClusterPolicy
kubectl apply -f kyverno-imagepullsecret-policy.yaml

The policy mutates every pod at admission time, adding imagePullSecrets: [{name: nvcr-pull-secret}]. Verify with:

kubectl get pod -n <namespace> <pod-name> -o jsonpath='{.spec.imagePullSecrets}'
# Should show: [{"name":"nvcr-pull-secret"}]

Not needed if using a CSP built-in credential helper (e.g., ECR with IAM node roles).

For the Kyverno policy YAML and pull secret creation script, see references/pull-secrets.md.

Debugging

Quick status check

kubectl get pods -A -o wide                        # All pods
helm list -A                                        # All helm releases
kubectl get events -n <ns> --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'  # Recent events

Common failure patterns

Verify the account bootstrap ran

The default account is created by a post-install hook on the api release (job/nvcf-api-account-bootstrap in nvcf). Because it is a post-install hook, it only fires on a successful api install. If that install failed and you repaired it with live patches (rather than a clean re-sync), the hook never runs, no account is created, and every subsequent function/account call returns a cryptic 404 Unknown client_id with nothing obviously wrong in the running pods.

Verify it ran after the first sync:

kubectl get job -n nvcf nvcf-api-account-bootstrap \
  -o jsonpath='{.status.succeeded}'   # expect 1

If the job is absent or 0, re-run it by re-syncing the api release so the hook fires again (delete the prior job first if it lingers in a completed/failed state and blocks the hook):

kubectl delete job -n nvcf nvcf-api-account-bootstrap --ignore-not-found
HELMFILE_ENV=<env> helmfile --selector name=api sync
kubectl logs -n nvcf job/nvcf-api-account-bootstrap   # confirm the account was created

Additional Resources

• Installation: examples.md, the CSP End-to-End Example, and split compute-plane workflows
• Operations: Helmfile structure, pull secrets, and debugging

After deployment, use the nvcf-self-managed-cli skill to create functions, create tasks, manage API keys, and invoke endpoints.