---
layout: docs
page_title: 'Drivers: Rkt'
description: The rkt task driver is used to run application containers using rkt.
---

~> **Deprecation Warning!**
Nomad introduced the rkt driver in version 0.2.0. The rkt project had some
early adoption; in recent times user adoption has trended away from rkt towards
other projects. Project activity has declined and there are unpatched CVEs.
The project has been [archived by the CNCF](https://github.com/rkt/rkt/issues/4004#issuecomment-507358362)

Nomad 0.11 converted the rkt driver to an external driver. We will not prioritize features
or pull requests that affect the rkt driver. The external driver is available as an [open source
repository](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad-driver-rkt) for community ownership.

# Rkt Driver

Name: `rkt`

The `rkt` driver provides an interface for using rkt for running
application containers.

## Task Configuration

```hcl
task "webservice" {
  driver = "rkt"

  config {
    image = "redis:7"
  }
}
```

The `rkt` driver supports the following configuration in the job spec:

- `image` - The image to run. May be specified by name, hash, ACI address
  or docker registry.

  ```hcl
  config {
    image = "https://hub.docker.internal/redis:7"
  }
  ```

- `command` - (Optional) A command to execute on the ACI.

  ```hcl
  config {
    command = "my-command"
  }
  ```

- `args` - (Optional) A list of arguments to the optional `command`. References
  to environment variables or any [interpretable Nomad
  variables](/nomad/docs/runtime/interpolation) will be interpreted before
  launching the task.

  ```hcl
  config {
    args = [
      "-bind", "${NOMAD_PORT_http}",
      "${nomad.datacenter}",
      "${MY_ENV}",
      "${meta.foo}",
    ]
  }
  ```

- `trust_prefix` - (Optional) The trust prefix to be passed to rkt. Must be
  reachable from the box running the nomad agent. If not specified, the image is
  run with `--insecure-options=all`.

- `insecure_options` - (Optional) List of insecure options for rkt. Consult `rkt --help`
  for list of supported values. This list overrides the `--insecure-options=all` default when
  no `trust_prefix` is provided in the job config, which can be effectively used to enforce
  secure runs, using `insecure_options = ["none"]` option.

  ```hcl
  config {
    image = "example.com/image:1.0"
    insecure_options = ["image", "tls", "ondisk"]
  }
  ```

- `dns_servers` - (Optional) A list of DNS servers to be used in the container.
  Alternatively a list containing just `host` or `none`. `host` uses the host's
  `resolv.conf` while `none` forces use of the image's name resolution configuration.

- `dns_search_domains` - (Optional) A list of DNS search domains to be used in
  the containers.

- `net` - (Optional) A list of networks to be used by the containers

- `port_map` - (Optional) A key/value map of ports used by the container. The
  value is the port name specified in the image manifest file. When running
  Docker images with rkt the port names will be of the form `${PORT}-tcp`. See
  [networking](#networking) below for more details.

  ```hcl
  port_map {
    # If running a Docker image that exposes port 8080
    app = "8080-tcp"
  }
  ```

* `debug` - (Optional) Enable rkt command debug option.

* `no_overlay` - (Optional) When enabled, will use `--no-overlay=true` flag for 'rkt run'.
  Useful when running jobs on older systems affected by https://github.com/rkt/rkt/issues/1922

* `volumes` - (Optional) A list of `host_path:container_path[:readOnly]` strings to bind
  host paths to container paths.
  Mount is done read-write by default; an optional third parameter `readOnly` can be provided
  to make it read-only.

  ```hcl
  config {
    volumes = ["/path/on/host:/path/in/container", "/readonly/path/on/host:/path/in/container:readOnly"]
  }
  ```

* `group` - (Optional) Specifies the group that will run the task. Sets the
  `--group` flag and overrides the group specified by the image. The
  [`user`][user] may be specified at the task level.

## Networking

The `rkt` can specify `--net` and `--port` for the rkt client. Hence, there are two ways to use host ports by
using `--net=host` or `--port=PORT` with your network.

Example:

```hcl
task "redis" {
	# Use rkt to run the task.
	driver = "rkt"

	config {
		# Use docker image with port defined
		image = "docker://redis:latest"
		port_map {
			app = "6379-tcp"
		}
	}

	service {
		port = "app"
	}

	resources {
		network {
			port "app" {
			  static = 12345
			}
		}
	}
}
```

### Allocating Ports

You can allocate ports to your task using the port syntax described on the
[networking page](/nomad/docs/job-specification/network).

When you use port allocation, the image manifest needs to declare public ports and host has configured network.
For more information, please refer to [rkt Networking](https://coreos.com/rkt/docs/latest/networking/overview).

## Client Requirements

The `rkt` driver requires the following:

- The Nomad client agent to be running as the root user.
- rkt to be installed and in your system's `$PATH`.
- The `trust_prefix` must be accessible by the node running Nomad. This can be an
  internal source, private to your cluster, but it must be reachable by the client
  over HTTP.

## Plugin Options

- `volumes_enabled` - Defaults to `true`. Allows tasks to bind host paths
  (`volumes`) inside their container. Binding relative paths is always allowed
  and will be resolved relative to the allocation's directory.

## Client Configuration

~> Note: client configuration options will soon be deprecated. Please use [plugin options][plugin-options] instead. See the [plugin block][plugin-block] documentation for more information.

The `rkt` driver has the following [client configuration
options](/nomad/docs/configuration/client#options):

- `rkt.volumes.enabled` - Defaults to `true`. Allows tasks to bind host paths
  (`volumes`) inside their container. Binding relative paths is always allowed
  and will be resolved relative to the allocation's directory.

## Client Attributes

The `rkt` driver will set the following client attributes:

- `driver.rkt` - Set to `1` if rkt is found on the host node. Nomad determines
  this by executing `rkt version` on the host and parsing the output
- `driver.rkt.version` - Version of `rkt` e.g.: `1.27.0`. Note that the minimum required
  version is `1.27.0`
- `driver.rkt.appc.version` - Version of `appc` that `rkt` is using e.g.: `1.1.0`

Here is an example of using these properties in a job file:

```hcl
job "docs" {
  # Only run this job where the rkt version is higher than 0.8.
  constraint {
    attribute = "${driver.rkt.version}"
    operator  = ">"
    value     = "1.2"
  }
}
```

## Resource Isolation

This driver supports CPU and memory isolation by delegating to `rkt`. Network
isolation is not supported as of now.

[user]: /nomad/docs/job-specification/task#user
[plugin-options]: #plugin-options
[plugin-block]: /nomad/docs/configuration/plugin
