Settings

The following is a list of advanced settings that you can use in Harvester. You can modify the settings.harvesterhci.io custom resource using both the Harvester UI and the kubectl command.

General Settings

additional-ca

Definition: Additional trusted CA certificates that enable Harvester to access external services.

caution

Changing this setting might cause single-node clusters to temporarily become unavailable or inaccessible.

Default value: None

Example:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
SOME-CA-CERTIFICATES
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

auto-disk-provision-paths [Experimental]

Definition: Setting that allows Harvester to automatically add disks that match the specified glob pattern as VM storage.

This setting only adds formatted disks that are mounted to the system. When specifying multiple patterns, separate values using commas.

caution

This setting is applied to all nodes in the cluster. All data in the storage devices will be destroyed.

Default value: None

Example:

The following example adds disks that match the glob pattern /dev/sd* or /dev/hd*:

/dev/sd*,/dev/hd*

auto-rotate-rke2-certs

Versions: v1.3.0 and later

Definition: Setting that allows you to automatically rotate certificates for RKE2 services. This setting is disabled by default.

Use the field expiringInHours to specify the validity period of each certificate (1 to 8759 hours). Harvester automatically replaces the certificate before the specified period ends.

For more information, see the Certificate Rotation section of the Rancher and RKE2 documentation.

Default value: {"enable":false,"expiringInHours":240}

Example:

{"enable":true,"expiringInHours":48}

backup-target

Definition: Custom backup target used to store VM backups.

For more information, see the Longhorn documentation.

Default value: None

Example:

{
  "type": "s3",
  "endpoint": "https://s3.endpoint.svc",
  "accessKeyId": "test-access-key-id",
  "secretAccessKey": "test-access-key",
  "bucketName": "test-bup",
  "bucketRegion": "us‑east‑2",
  "cert": "",
  "virtualHostedStyle": false
}

cluster-registration-url

Definition: URL used to import the Harvester cluster into Rancher for multi-cluster management.

When you configure this setting, a new pod called cattle-cluster-agent-* is created in the namespace cattle-system for registration purposes. This pod uses the container image rancher/rancher-agent:related-version, which is not packed into the Harvester ISO and is instead determined by Rancher. The related-version is usually the same as the Rancher version. For example, when you register Harvester to Rancher v2.7.9, the image is rancher/rancher-agent:v2.7.9. For more information, see Find the required assets for your Rancher version in the Rancher documentation.

Depending on your Harvester settings, the image is downloaded from either of the following locations:

• Harvester containerd-registry: You can configure a private registry for the Harvester cluster.
• Docker Hub (docker.io): This is the default option when you do not configure a private registry in Rancher.

Alternatively, you can obtain a copy of the image and manually upload it to all Harvester nodes.

Default value: None

Example:

https://172.16.0.1/v3/import/w6tp7dgwjj549l88pr7xmxb4x6m54v5kcplvhbp9vv2wzqrrjhrc7c_c-m-zxbbbck9.yaml

containerd-registry

Definition: Configuration of a private registry created for the Harvester cluster.

The value is stored in the registries.yaml file of each node (path: /etc/rancher/rke2/registries.yaml). For more information, see Containerd Registry Configuration in the RKE2 documentation.

For security purposes, Harvester automatically removes the username and password configured for the private registry after those credentials are stored in the registries.yaml file.

Example:

{
  "Mirrors": {
    "docker.io": {
      "Endpoints": ["https://myregistry.local:5000"],
      "Rewrites": null
    }
  },
  "Configs": {
    "myregistry.local:5000": {
      "Auth": {
        "Username": "testuser",
        "Password": "testpassword"
      },
      "TLS": {
        "InsecureSkipVerify": false
      }
    }
  }
}

csi-driver-config

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: Configuration necessary for using third-party CSI drivers installed in the Harvester cluster.

You must configure the following information before using features related to backups and snapshots:

• Provisioner for the installed third-party CSI driver
• volumeSnapshotClassName: Name of the VolumeSnapshotClass used to create volume snapshots or VM snapshots.
• backupVolumeSnapshotClassName: Name of the VolumeSnapshotClass used to create VM backups.

Default value:

{
  "driver.longhorn.io": {
    "volumeSnapshotClassName": "longhorn-snapshot",
    "backupVolumeSnapshotClassName": "longhorn"
  }
}

default-vm-termination-grace-period-seconds

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: Number of seconds Harvester waits before forcibly shutting down a VM that was stopped using the Harvester UI.

Harvester sends a graceful shutdown signal to any VM that is stopped using the Harvester UI. If the graceful shutdown process is not completed within the specified number of seconds, Harvester forcibly shuts down the VM.

Default value: 120

http-proxy

Definition: HTTP proxy used to access external services, including downloading of images and backup to S3 services.

caution

Changing this setting might cause single-node clusters to temporarily become unavailable or inaccessible.

Default value: {}

Supported options and values:

• Proxy URL for HTTP requests: "httpProxy": "http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port>"
• Proxy URL for HTTPS requests: "httpsProxy": "https://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port>"
• Comma-separated list of hostnames and/or CIDRs: "noProxy": "<hostname | CIDR>"

You must specify key information in the noProxy field if you configured the following options or settings:

Harvester appends necessary addresses to user-specified noProxy values (for example,localhost,127.0.0.1,0.0.0.0,10.0.0.0/8,longhorn-system,cattle-system,cattle-system.svc,harvester-system,.svc,.cluster.local). This ensures that internal traffic flows as expected.

Example:

{
  "httpProxy": "http://my.proxy",
  "httpsProxy": "https://my.proxy",
  "noProxy": "some.internal.svc,172.16.0.0/16"
}

log-level

Definition: Log level for the Harvester host.

Default value: info

Supported options and values:

• panic: Least verbose log level
• fatal
• error
• warn, warning
• info
• debug
• trace: Most verbose log level

Example:

debug

longhorn-v2-data-engine-enabled [Experimental]

Versions: v1.4.0 and later

Definition: Setting that enables and disables the Longhorn V2 Data Engine.

When set to true, Harvester automatically loads the kernel modules required by the Longhorn V2 Data Engine, and attempts to allocate 1024 × 2 MiB-sized huge pages (for example, 2 GiB of RAM) on all nodes.

Changing this setting automatically restarts RKE2 on all nodes but does not affect running virtual machine workloads.

tip

If you encounter error messages that include the phrase “not enough hugepages-2Mi capacity”, allow some time for the error to be resolved. If the error persists, reboot the affected nodes.

To disable the Longhorn V2 Data Engine on specific nodes (for example, nodes with less processing and memory resources), go to the Hosts screen and add the following label to the target nodes:

• label: node.longhorn.io/disable-v2-data-engine
• value: true

Default value: false

Example:

true

ntp-servers

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: NTP servers for time synchronization on Harvester nodes.

You can define NTP servers during installation and update the addresses after installation.

caution

Changes to the server address list are applied to all nodes.

Default value: “”

Example:

{
  "ntpServers": [
    "0.suse.pool.ntp.org",
    "1.suse.pool.ntp.org"
  ]
}

overcommit-config

Definition: Percentage of physical compute, memory, and storage resources that can be allocated for VM use.

Overcommitting is used to optimize physical resource allocation, particularly when VMs are not expected to fully consume the allocated resources most of the time. Setting values greater than 100% allows scheduling of multiple VMs even when physical resources are notionally fully allocated.

Default values: { "cpu":1600, "memory":150, "storage":200 }

With the default values, it would be possible to schedule the following:

• 16x the number of physical CPUs on a host
• 1.5x the amount of physical RAM on a host
• 2x the amount of physical storage in Longhorn

A VM that is configured to use 2 CPUs (equivalent to 2,000 milliCPU) can consume the full allocation as long as the resources are available. However, if the host is running heavy workloads and an overcommit value is set (for example, 1600%), Harvester only requests 125 milliCPU from the Kubernetes scheduler (2000/16 = 125 milliCPU).

Example:

{
  "cpu": 1000,
  "memory": 200,
  "storage": 300
}

release-download-url

Definition: URL for downloading the software required for upgrades.

Harvester retrieves the ISO URL and checksum value from the ${URL}/${VERSION}/version.yaml file that is accessible through the configured URL.

Default value: https://releases.rancher.com/harvester

Example (version.yaml):

apiVersion: harvesterhci.io/v1beta1
kind: Version
metadata:
  name: ${VERSION}
  namespace: harvester-system
spec:
  isoChecksum: ${ISO_CHECKSUM}
  isoURL: ${ISO_URL}

server-version

Definition: Version of Harvester that is installed on Harvester nodes.

Example:

v1.0.0-abcdef-head

ssl-certificates

Definition: SSL certificates for the Harvester UI and API.

caution

Changing this setting might cause single-node clusters to temporarily become unavailable or inaccessible.

Default value: {}

Example:

{
  "ca": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nSOME-CERTIFICATE-ENCODED-IN-PEM-FORMAT\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----",
  "publicCertificate": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nSOME-CERTIFICATE-ENCODED-IN-PEM-FORMAT\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----",
  "privateKey": "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nSOME-PRIVATE-KEY-ENCODED-IN-PEM-FORMAT\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
}

ssl-parameters

Definition: Enabled SSL/TLS protocols and ciphers of the Harvester UI and API.

important

If you misconfigure this setting and are unable to access the Harvester UI and API, see Troubleshooting.

Default value: None

Supported options and values:

• protocols: Enabled protocols.
• ciphers: Enabled ciphers.

For more information about the supported options, see ssl-protocols and ssl-ciphers in the Ingress-Nginx Controller documentation.

If you do not specify any values, Harvester uses TLSv1.2 and ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305.

Example:

{
  "protocols": "TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3",
  "ciphers": "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305"
}

storage-network

Definition: Segregated storage network for Longhorn traffic.

By default, Longhorn uses the management network, which is limited to a single interface and shared with cluster-wide workloads. If your implementation requires network segregation, you can use a storage network to isolate Longhorn in-cluster data traffic.

important

Shut down all VMs before configuring this setting.

Specify an IP range in the IPv4 CIDR format. The number of IPs must be four times the number of your cluster nodes.

Default value: “”

Example:

{
  "vlan": 100,
  "clusterNetwork": "storage",
  "range": "192.168.0.0/24"
}

support-bundle-image

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: Support bundle image, with various versions available in rancher/support-bundle-kit.

Default value: support-bundle-kit image that is packed into the Harvester ISO and is specific to each Harvester release.

Example:

In this example, the default image tag of the cluster is v0.0.25.

{
  "repository": "rancher/support-bundle-kit",
  "tag": "v0.0.25",
  "imagePullPolicy": "IfNotPresent"
}

Supported options and values:

The value is a JSON object literal that contains the following key-value pairs:

• repository: Name of the repository that stores the support bundle image.
• tag: Tag assigned to the support bundle image.
• imagePullPolicy: Pull policy of the support bundle image. The supported values are IfNotPresent, Always, and Never. For more information, see Image pull policy in the Kubernetes documentation.

Notes:

The CLI shows the following support-bundle-image setting object:

apiVersion: harvesterhci.io/v1beta1
default: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.25","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'  // default value, automatically set
kind: Setting
metadata:
  name: support-bundle-image
...
status: {}

After some time, a newer image tag (v0.0.36) is specified in the value field using the Harvester UI.

apiVersion: harvesterhci.io/v1beta1
default: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.25","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'
kind: Setting
metadata:
  name: support-bundle-image
...
status: {}
value: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.36","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'  // your setting value

Eventually, this cluster is upgraded and the object changes again.

apiVersion: harvesterhci.io/v1beta1
default: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.38","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'  // default value, automatically updated after upgrade
kind: Setting
metadata:
  name: support-bundle-image
...
status: {}
value: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.36","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'  // your setting value is kept unchanged

The value of tag in the value field is v0.0.36, while the value of tag in the default field is v0.0.38.

To clear the outdated setting and use the default image tag, run the following command, remove the value field, and save the changes.

$ kubectl edit settings.harvesterhci.io support-bundle-image

The object appears as follows after the value field is removed.

apiVersion: harvesterhci.io/v1beta1
default: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.38","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'
kind: Setting
metadata:
  name: support-bundle-image
...
status: {}

The Use the default value button on the Harvester UI can be used to copy the contents of the default field to the value field.

The object appears as follows after the changes are saved.

apiVersion: harvesterhci.io/v1beta1
default: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.38","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'  // default
kind: Setting
metadata:
  name: support-bundle-image
...
status: {}
value: '{"repository":"rancher/support-bundle-kit","tag":"v0.0.38","imagePullPolicy":"IfNotPresent"}'  // copied from default

When the cluster is upgraded in the future, the contents of the value field may become outdated again because the default image tag is likely to change.

note

• The value of tag in the default field is always based on the image that is packed into the Harvester ISO. This field is automatically updated whenever the cluster is upgraded.

• The default field is used when the value field is not set or is left empty. Harvester checks if the default image is stored in the cluster and is up-to-date.

• Configuring this setting is not required. If you decide to specify a different image tag in the value field, remember that this tag may become outdated when the cluster is upgraded.

• Use the command $ kubectl edit settings.harvesterhci.io support-bundle-image to clear the value field.

• The Use the default value button on the Harvester UI only copies the contents of the default field to the value field. You may use this to replace an outdated image tag, but the copied tag will eventually become outdated as well (when the cluster is upgraded and the default field is updated).

• If your cluster is in an air-gapped environment and you specified a non-default image tag in the value field, ensure that the image is available in the local containerd registry. Harvester is unable to generate a support bundle if the image is not available.

support-bundle-namespaces

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: Additional namespaces that you can use when generating a support bundle.

By default, the support bundle only collects resources from the following predefined namespaces:

• cattle-dashboards
• cattle-fleet-local-system
• cattle-fleet-system
• cattle-fleet-clusters-system
• cattle-monitoring-system
• fleet-local
• harvester-system
• local
• longhorn-system
• cattle-logging-system

Namespaces that you select are appended to the predefined namespaces list.

Default value: None

support-bundle-timeout

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: Number of minutes Harvester allows for the completion of the support bundle generation process.

The process is considered to have failed when the data collection and file packing tasks are not completed within the configured number of minutes. Harvester does not continue or retry support bundle generation processes that have timed out. When the value is 0, the timeout feature is disabled.

Default value: 10

support-bundle-expiration

Versions: v1.3.0 and later

Definition: Number of minutes Harvester waits before deleting a support bundle that has been packaged but not downloaded (either deliberately or unsuccessfully) or retained.

You can specify a value greater than or equal to 0. When the value is 0, Harvester uses the default value.

Default value: 30

support-bundle-node-collection-timeout

Versions: v1.3.1 and later

Definition: Number of minutes Harvester allows for collection of logs and configurations (Harvester) on the nodes for the support bundle.

If the collection process is not completed within the allotted time, Harvester still allows you to download the support bundle (without the uncollected data). You can specify a value greater than or equal to 0. When the value is 0, Harvester uses the default value.

Default value: 30

upgrade-checker-enabled

Definition: Setting that automatically checks for available Harvester upgrades.

Default value: true

Example:

false

upgrade-checker-url

Definition: URL used to check for available Harvester upgrades.

This setting can only be used if the upgrade-checker-enabled setting is set to true.

Default value: https://harvester-upgrade-responder.rancher.io/v1/checkupgrade

Example:

https://your.upgrade.checker-url/v99/checkupgrade

upgrade-config

Definition: Upgrade-related configuration.

Default value: {"imagePreloadOption":{"strategy":{"type":"sequential"}}, "restoreVM": false}

Supported options and fields:

• imagePreloadOption: Options for the image preloading phase.

  The full ISO contains the core operating system components and all required container images. Harvester can preload these container images to each node during installation and upgrades. When workloads are scheduled to management and worker nodes, the container images are ready to use.

• strategy: Image preload strategy.

• type: Type of image preload strategy.

  • sequential: Harvester preloads the container images from the target ISO to each node. This is the default option.

  • skip: Harvester does not preload the container images from the target ISO to each node. Do not use this option in production environments.

    important

    If you decide to use skip, ensure that the following requirements are met:

    • You have a private container registry that contains all required images.
    • Your cluster has high-speed internet access and is able to pull all images from Docker Hub when necessary.

    Note any potential internet service interruptions and how close you are to reaching your Docker Hub rate limit. Failure to download any of the required images may cause the upgrade to fail and may leave the cluster in a middle state.

  • parallel (experimental): Nodes preload images in batches. You can adjust this using the concurrency option.

• concurrency: Number of nodes that can simultaneously preload images. This option takes effect only when type is set to parallel.

  The default value is 0, which is equivalent to following the cluster’s node counts. Using 0 allows the system to dynamically follow the scale of the cluster. Values higher than the cluster’s node counts are treated as 0, while lower values are considered invalid and are rejected by Harvester.

  note

  Harvester deploys an upgrade-repo service on the cluster that serves as an HTTP server for nodes that need to preload the container images. When a concurrency value is set, each batch of nodes downloads the container images from this upgrade-repo in parallel. Because of this, you must consider the speed of the Harvester management network and the read speed of the default disk for Longhorn.

• restoreVM: Option that enables Harvester to automatically restore running VMs after a single-node cluster is upgraded. The default value is false, which causes all VMs to be stopped after the upgrade is completed. When set to true, Harvester restarts VMs that were running before the upgrade was started. VMs that were paused before the upgrade are not restarted.

Example:

{
  "imagePreloadOption": {
    "strategy": {
      "type": "parallel",
      "concurrency": 2
    }
  },
  "restoreVM": true
}

vip-pools

Versions: Deprecated as of v1.2.0 (Use IP pools instead.)

Definition: Global or namespace-specific IP address pools of the VIP by CIDR or IP range.

Default value: {}

Example:

{
  "default": "172.16.0.0/24,172.16.1.0/24",
  "demo": "172.16.2.50-172.16.2.100,172.16.2.150-172.16.3.200"
}

vm-force-reset-policy

Definition: Setting that allows you to force rescheduling of a VM when the node that it is running on becomes unavailable.

When the state of the node changes to Not Ready, the VM is force deleted and rescheduled to an available node after the configured number of seconds.

When the node becomes unavailable or is powered off, the VM only restarts and does not migrate.

Default value: {"enable":true, "period":300}

Example:

{
  "enable": "true",
  "period": 300
}

volume-snapshot-class

Definition: VolumeSnapshotClassName for the VolumeSnapshot and VolumeSnapshotContent when restoring a VM to a namespace that does not contain the source VM.

Default value: longhorn

Example:

longhorn

UI Settings

branding

Versions: v1.2.0 and later

Definition: Setting allows you to globally rebrand the Harvester UI by customizing the product name, logos, and color scheme.

Default value: Harvester

caution

Because this setting is part of the settings.management.cattle.io custom resource, you cannot configure any of the supported options (for example, Logo and Primary Color) using a Harvester configuration file.

Supported options and values:

• Private Label: Product name or other text that replaces “Harvester” in most locations on the Harvester UI.
• Logo: Logo image in the top-level navigation header. You must upload logos for both light and dark modes.
• Favicon: Small image displayed next to the page title in the browser tab.
• Primary Color: Main color used throughout the Harvester UI.
• Link Color: Color used for link text throughout the Harvester UI.

ui-index

Definition: HTML index location for the Harvester UI.

Default value: https://releases.rancher.com/harvester-ui/dashboard/latest/index.html

Example:

https://your.static.dashboard-ui/index.html

ui-path

Definition: Path that describes the location of index.html, which is used to access the Harvester UI.

ui-path serves as the entry point to the Harvester UI and is active only in the following situations:

• The value of ui-source is bundled.
• The value of ui-source is auto, but ui-index is unable to retrieve the HTML file.

Default value: /usr/share/harvester/harvester

Examples:

index.html is stored in a container in /home/samplefolder. The value of ui-source is bundled.

Scenario 1: The value of ui-path is /home/samplefolder. Whenever you access the Harvester UI, the content of /home/samplefolder/index.html is displayed.

Scenario 2: The value of ui-index points to a page that is unavailable or non-existent (for example, notexist-example.com/index.html). When you access the Harvester UI for the first time, the content of /home/samplefolder/index.html is displayed. However, if you modify the ui-index setting to use the default value and access the Harvester UI again, the content of /home/samplefolder/index.html is still displayed (even if the new ui-index value points to an available page). For more information, see Issue #6066.

ui-plugin-index

Definition: JavaScript address for the Harvester plugin (when accessing Harvester from Rancher).

Default value: https://releases.rancher.com/harvester-ui/plugin/harvester-latest/harvester-latest.umd.min.js

Example:

https://your.static.dashboard-ui/*.umd.min.js

ui-source

Definition: Setting that allows you to configure how to load the UI source.

Default value: auto

Supported values:

• auto: Automatically detects whether to use the bundled UI or not.
• external: Uses the external UI source.
• bundled: Uses the bundled UI source.

Example:

external