Add a Spot connector

Add a Harness Spot Elastigroup connector.

This topic describes how to connect Harness with your Spot cloud.

Install the Harness Delegate

The Harness Delegate is a service you run in your local network or VPC to connect Harness with your artifact repos, Spot infrastructure, and any other providers needed for deployments.

Expand the following section to learn how to install the Harness Delegate.

Use the delegate installation wizard

1. In your Harness project, select Project Setup.

2. Select Delegates.

3. Select Install a Delegate.

4. Follow the delegate installation wizard.

Use this delegate installation wizard video to guide you through the process.

Use the terminal

The Harness Delegate is a lightweight worker process that is installed on your infrastructure and communicates only via outbound HTTP/HTTPS to the Harness Platform. This enables the Harness Platform to leverage the delegate to execute the CI/CD and other tasks on your behalf, without any of your secrets leaving your network.

You can install the Harness Delegate on either Docker or Kubernetes.

Install the default Harness Delegate

Create a new delegate token

You can install delegates from the Account, Project, or Org scope. In this example, we'll create a new token in the Account scope.

To create a new delegate token, do the following:

1. In Harness, select Account Settings, then select Account Resources. The Account Resources page opens.

2. Select Delegates. The Delegates list page opens.

3. Select the Tokens tab, then select +New Token. The New Token dialog opens.

4. Enter a token name, for example firstdeltoken.

5. Select Apply. Harness generates a new token for you.

6. Select Copy to copy and store the token in a temporary file.

   You will provide this token as an input parameter in the next installation step. The delegate will use this token to authenticate with the Harness Platform.

Get your Harness account ID

Along with the delegate token, you will also need to provide your Harness accountId as an input parameter during delegate installation. This accountId is present in every Harness URL. For example, in the following URL:

https://app.harness.io/ng/#/account/6_vVHzo9Qeu9fXvj-AcQCb/settings/overview

6_vVHzo9Qeu9fXvj-AcQCb is the accountId.

NOTE

When you install a delegate via the Harness UI, several dependencies in this topic are prefilled for your convenience. This topic explains where to find the required information for CLI-based installation.

For more information, go to View account info and subscribe to downtime alerts.

PrerequisiteEnsure that you have access to a Kubernetes cluster. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will use minikube.Install minikubeOn Windowschoco install minikubeFor Chocolatey installation instructions, go to Installing Chocolatey in the Chocolatey documentation.For additional options to install minikube on Windows, go to minikube start in the minikube documentation.On macOS:brew install minikubeFor Homebrew installation instructions, go to Installation in the Homebrew documentation.Now start minikube with the following config.minikube start --memory 4g --cpus 4Validate that you have kubectl access to your cluster.kubectl get pods -ANow that you have access to a Kubernetes cluster, you can install the delegate using any of the options below.Install the Helm chartAs a prerequisite, you must have Helm v3 installed on the machine from which you connect to your Kubernetes cluster.You can now install the delegate using the delegate Helm chart. First, add the harness-delegate Helm chart repo to your local Helm registry.helm repo add harness-delegate https://app.harness.io/storage/harness-download/delegate-helm-chart/helm repo updatehelm search repo harness-delegateWe will use the harness-delegate/harness-delegate-ng chart in this tutorial.NAME CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTIONharness-delegate/harness-delegate-ng 1.0.8 1.16.0 A Helm chart for deploying harness-delegateNow we are ready to install the delegate. The following example installs/upgrades firstk8sdel delegate (which is a Kubernetes workload) in the harness-delegate-ng namespace using the harness-delegate/harness-delegate-ng Helm chart.You can install delegates from the Account, Project, or Org scope. In this example, we'll install a delegate in the Account scope.To install a delegate, do the following:In Harness, select Account Settings, then select Account Resources. The Account Resources page opens.Select Delegates. The Delegates list page opens.Select New Delegate. The New Delegate dialog opens.Under Select where you want to install your Delegate, select Kubernetes.Under Install your Delegate, select Helm Chart.Copy the helm upgrade command.The command uses the default values.yaml file located in the delegate Helm chart GitHub repo. To make persistent changes to one or more values, you can download and update the values.yaml file according to your requirements. Once you have updated the file, you can use it by running the upgrade command below. helm upgrade -i firstk8sdel --namespace harness-delegate-ng --create-namespace \ harness-delegate/harness-delegate-ng \ -f values.yaml \ --set delegateName=firstk8sdel \ --set accountId=PUT_YOUR_HARNESS_ACCOUNTID_HERE \ --set delegateToken=PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_TOKEN_HERE \ --set managerEndpoint=PUT_YOUR_MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT_HERE \ --set delegateDockerImage=harness/delegate:yy.mm.verno \ --set replicas=1 --set upgrader.enabled=trueNOTETo install a Helm delegate for Harness Self-Managed Enterprise Edition in an air-gapped environment, you must pass your certificate when you add the Helm repo.helm repo add harness-delegate --ca-file <.PEM_FILE_PATH> <HELM_CHART_URL_FROM_UI>For more information on requirements for air-gapped environments, go to Install in an air-gapped environment.Run the command.Create main.tf fileHarness uses a Terraform module for the Kubernetes delegate. This module uses the standard Terraform Helm provider to install the Helm chart onto a Kubernetes cluster whose config by default is stored in the same machine at the ~/.kube/config path. Copy the following into a main.tf file stored on a machine from which you want to install your delegate.module "delegate" { source = "harness/harness-delegate/kubernetes" version = "0.1.8" account_id = "PUT_YOUR_HARNESS_ACCOUNTID_HERE" delegate_token = "PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_TOKEN_HERE" delegate_name = "firstk8sdel" namespace = "harness-delegate-ng" manager_endpoint = "PUT_YOUR_MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT_HERE" delegate_image = "harness/delegate:yy.mm.verno" replicas = 1 upgrader_enabled = false # Additional optional values to pass to the helm chart values = yamlencode({ javaOpts: "-Xms64M" })}provider "helm" { kubernetes { config_path = "~/.kube/config" }}Now replace the variables in the file with your Harness account ID and delegate token values. Replace PUT_YOUR_MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT_HERE with the Harness Manager Endpoint noted below. For Harness SaaS accounts, you can find your Harness Cluster Location on the Account Overview page under the Account Settings section of the left navigation.Run Terraform init, plan, and applyInitialize Terraform. This downloads the Terraform Helm provider to your machine.terraform initRun the following step to view the changes Terraform is going to make on your behalf.terraform planFinally, run this step to make Terraform install the Kubernetes delegate using the Helm provider.terraform applyWhen prompted by Terraform if you want to continue with the apply step, type yes, and then you will see output similar to the following.helm_release.delegate: Creating...helm_release.delegate: Still creating... [10s elapsed]helm_release.delegate: Still creating... [20s elapsed]helm_release.delegate: Still creating... [30s elapsed]helm_release.delegate: Still creating... [40s elapsed]helm_release.delegate: Still creating... [50s elapsed]helm_release.delegate: Still creating... [1m0s elapsed]helm_release.delegate: Creation complete after 1m0s [id=firstk8sdel]Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.Download a Kubernetes manifest templatecurl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/harness/delegate-kubernetes-manifest/main/harness-delegate.yamlReplace variables in the templateOpen the harness-delegate.yaml file in a text editor and replace PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME_HERE, PUT_YOUR_HARNESS_ACCOUNTID_HERE, and PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_TOKEN_HERE with your delegate name (for example, firstk8sdel), Harness accountId, and delegate token values, respectively.Replace the PUT_YOUR_MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT_HERE variable with the Harness Manager Endpoint noted below. For Harness SaaS accounts, you can find your Harness Cluster Location on the Account Overview page under the Account Settings section of the left navigation.Apply the Kubernetes manifestkubectl apply -f harness-delegate.yamlPrerequisitesEnsure that you have the Docker runtime installed on your host. If not, use one of the following options to install Docker:Docker for MacDocker for CentOSDocker for UbuntuDocker for DebianDocker for WindowsInstall on DockerYou can install delegates from the Account, Project, or Org scope. In this example, we'll install a delegate in the Project scope.To install a delegate, do the following:In Harness, select your project, then select Project Settings.Under Project-level resources, select Delegates.Select Install a Delegate to open the New Delegate dialog.Under Select where you want to install your Delegate, select Docker.Under Install your Delegate, enter a Delegate Name.Copy the docker run command.docker run --cpus=1 --memory=2g \ -e DELEGATE_NAME=docker-delegate \ -e NEXT_GEN="true" \ -e DELEGATE_TYPE="DOCKER" \ -e ACCOUNT_ID=YOUR_HARNESS_ACCOUNTID_ \ -e DELEGATE_TOKEN=YOUR_DELEGATE_TOKEN \ -e DELEGATE_TAGS="" \ -e MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT=YOUR_MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT \ harness/delegate:yy.mm.vernoThe docker run command doesn't allow you to select the delegate token. You can replace the token in the command with another token if required.Steps 6 and 7 are optional when installing a delegate using the CLI flow.(Optional) Replace the YOUR_MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT_HERE variable with the Harness Manager Endpoint noted below. For Harness SaaS accounts, to find your Harness cluster location, select Account Settings, and then select Overview. In Account Overview, look in Account Settings. It is listed next to Harness Cluster Hosting Account.For more information, go to View account info and subscribe to downtime alerts.For Harness CDCE, the endpoint varies based on the Docker vs. Helm installation options.Run the command.

Ephemeral Storage in Delegate Helm Charts

To manage temporary disk space efficiently, you can configure ephemeral storage for the Harness Delegate using Helm charts. This guide walks you through defining custom volumes and applying the configuration during Helm installation.

The setup is cloud-agnostic and works across providers by adjusting the storage class as needed.

1. Create a values.yaml file and add the following configuration to it.

      custom_mounts:
      - mountPath: "/scratch"
         name: scratch-volume
   
      custom_volumes:
      - name: scratch-volume
         ephemeral:
            volumeClaimTemplate:
            metadata:
               labels:
                  type: <YOUR-TYPE-REFERENCE>
            spec:
               accessModes: [ "ReadWriteOnce" ]
               storageClassName: "<YOUR-STORAGE-CLASS>"
               resources:
                  requests:
                  storage: <STORAGE-SIZE>

   Before proceeding with installation, ensure a suitable StorageClass exists in your cluster. This is required for provisioning ephemeral volumes as defined in your values.yaml.

   You can check the available storage classes using:

   kubectl get storageclass

   If your cluster doesn’t have a suitable StorageClass, you can create one using:

   kubectl apply -f storage-class.yaml

   Example storage-class.yaml:

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
   name: <YOUR-STORAGE-CLASS-NAME>
   provisioner: <YOUR-STORAGE-PROVISIONER>  # e.g., kubernetes.io/aws-ebs, pd.csi.storage.gke.io
   parameters:
   type: <YOUR-VOLUME-TYPE>               # e.g., gp2 for AWS
   reclaimPolicy: <YOUR-RECLAIM-POLICY>     # e.g., Retain or Delete
   volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer

   After creating the StorageClass, configure it in the Helm chart by setting: --set persistence.storageClass=<YOUR-STORAGE-CLASS-NAME>

2. Install the Helm chart using the example below, which applies the configuration from values.yaml file we created earlier:

      helm upgrade -i <YOUR-DELEGATE-NAME> --namespace harness-delegate-ng --create-namespace \
      harness-delegate/harness-delegate-ng \
      --set delegateName=<YOUR-DELEGATE-NAME> \
      --set accountId=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
      --set delegateToken=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
      --set managerEndpoint=https://<YOUR-URL>.harness.io \
      --set delegateDockerImage=us-west1-docker.pkg.dev/gar-setup/docker/delegate:<DELEGATE-TAG-VERSION> \
      --set replicas=1 --set upgrader.enabled=true \
      -f values.yaml

3. Verify that the ephemeral storage has been mounted correctly by inspecting the pod’s volume mounts.

   • Get the Pod Name

     kubectl get pods -n harness-delegate-ng

     Output:

     NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
     delegate-ephemeral-storage            1/1     Running   0          2m

   • Describe the Pod

     kubectl describe pod delegate-ephemeral-storage -n harness-delegate-ng

     Look for the similar section below in your output

     Volumes:
     scratch-volume:
        Type:       PersistentVolumeClaim (a reference to a PVC)
        ClaimName:  scratch-volume-delegate-ephemeral-storage
        ReadOnly:   false
     
     Mounts:
     /scratch from scratch-volume (rw)

     This confirms that your ephemeral volume (scratch-volume) is mounted to /scratch in the pod.

   IMPORTANT NOTE:

   Ephemeral storage is automatically deleted when the pod is terminated, and a new volume is created when a new pod starts. This ensures the storage is tied to the pod’s lifecycle and is not persistent.

Deploy using a custom role

During delegate installation, you have the option to deploy using a custom role. To use a custom role, you must edit the delegate YAML file.

Harness supports the following custom roles:

• cluster-admin

• cluster-viewer

• namespace-admin

• custom cluster roles

To deploy using a custom cluster role, do the following:

1. Open the delegate YAML file in your text editor.

2. Add the custom cluster role to the roleRef field in the delegate YAML.

   ---
   apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1beta1
   kind: ClusterRoleBinding
   metadata:
     name: harness-delegate-cluster-admin
   subjects:
     - kind: ServiceAccount
       name: default
       namespace: harness-delegate-ng
   roleRef:
     kind: ClusterRole
     name: cluster-admin
     apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
   ---

   In this example, the cluster-admin role is defined.

3. Save the delegate YAML file.

Verify delegate connectivity

Select Continue. After the health checks pass, your delegate is available for you to use. Select Done and verify your new delegate is listed.

Helm chart & Terraform Helm provider

Kubernetes manifest

Docker

You can now route communication to external systems in Harness connectors and pipelines by selecting this delegate via a delegate selector.

Troubleshooting

The delegate installer provides troubleshooting information for each installation process. If the delegate cannot be verified, select Troubleshoot for steps you can use to resolve the problem. This section includes the same information.

Harness asks for feedback after the troubleshooting steps. You are asked, Did the delegate come up?

If the steps did not resolve the problem, select No, and use the form to describe the issue. You'll also find links to Harness Support and to Delegate docs.

Use the following steps to troubleshoot your installation of the delegate using Helm.Verify that Helm is correctly installed:Check for Helm:helmAnd then check for the installed version of Helm:helm versionIf you receive the message Error: rendered manifests contain a resource that already exists..., delete the existing namespace, and retry the Helm upgrade command to deploy the delegate.For further instructions on troubleshooting your Helm installation, go to Helm troubleshooting guide.Check the status of the delegate on your cluster:kubectl describe pods -n <NAMESPACE>If the pod did not start, check the delegate logs:kubectl logs -f <DELEGATE_NAME> -n <NAMESPACE>If the state of the delegate pod is CrashLoopBackOff, check your allocation of compute resources (CPU and memory) to the cluster. A state of CrashLoopBackOff indicates insufficient Kubernetes cluster resources.If the delegate pod is not healthy, use the kubectl describe command to get more information:kubectl describe <POD_NAME> -n <NAMESPACE>Use the following steps to troubleshoot your installation of the delegate using Terraform.Verify that Terraform is correctly installed:terraform -versionFor further instructions on troubleshooting your installation of Terraform, go to the Terraform troubleshooting guide.Check the status of the delegate on your cluster:kubectl describe pods -n <namespace>If the pod did not start, check the delegate logs:kubectl logs -f <DELEGATE_NAME> -n <NAMESPACE>If the state of the delegate pod is CrashLoopBackOff, check your allocation of compute resources (CPU and memory) to the cluster. A state of CrashLoopBackOff indicates insufficient Kubernetes cluster resources.If the delegate pod is not healthy, use the kubectl describe command to get more information:kubectl describe <POD_NAME> -n <NAMESPACE>Use the following steps to troubleshoot your installation of the delegate using Kubernetes.Check the status of the delegate on your cluster:kubectl describe pods -n <NAMESPACE>If the pod did not start, check the delegate logs:kubectl logs -f <DELEGATE_NAME> -n <NAMESPACE>If the state of the delegate pod is CrashLoopBackOff, check your allocation of compute resources (CPU and memory) to the cluster. A state of CrashLoopBackOff indicates insufficient Kubernetes cluster resources.If the delegate pod is not healthy, use the kubectl describe command to get more information:kubectl describe <POD_NAME> -n <NAMESPACE>Use the following steps to troubleshoot your installation of the delegate using Docker:Check the status of the delegate on your cluster:docker container ls -aIf the pod is not running, check the delegate logs:docker container logs <DELEGATE_NAME> -fRestart the delegate container. To stop the container:docker container stop <DELEGATE_NAME>To start the container:docker container start <DELEGATE_NAME>Make sure the container has sufficient CPU and memory resources. If not, remove the older containers:docker container rm [container id]

To learn more, watch the Delegate overview video.

Add the Spot Elastigroup cloud provider

You can connect Harness to a Spot Elastigroup cloud provider by adding a Harness Spot connector.

YAML

Here's a Spot Elastigroup connector YAML sample:

connector:
  name: spotinst-conn
  identifier: spotinstconn
  description: ""
  orgIdentifier: Ng_Pipelines_K8s_Organisations
  projectIdentifier: DoNotDelete_IvanBalan
  type: Spot
  spec:
    credential:
      type: PermanentTokenConfig
      spec:
        spotAccountId: act-a12b12cd
        apiTokenRef: spotapitoken
    executeOnDelegate: true

API

Create a connector using Connector API.

curl -i -X POST \
  'https://app.harness.io/gateway/ng/api/connectors?accountIdentifier=string&branch=string&repoIdentifier=string&rootFolder=string&filePath=string&commitMsg=string&isNewBranch=false&baseBranch=string&connectorRef=string&storeType=INLINE&repoName=string' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE' \
  -d '{
    "connector": {
      "name": "string",
      "identifier": "string",
      "description": "string",
      "orgIdentifier": "string",
      "projectIdentifier": "string",
      "tags": {
        "property1": "string",
        "property2": "string"
      },
      "type": "K8sCluster",
      "spec": {
        "connectorType": "string"
      }
    }
  }'

To connect to a Spot Elastigroup cloud provider using Spot's API, go to Spot API authentication.

Terraform

For the Terraform Provider resource, go to harness_platform_connector_spot.

# Create Spot connector using permanent token and spot account Id as plain text <a href="#create-spot-connector-using-permanent-token-and-spot-account-id-as-plain-text" id="create-spot-connector-using-permanent-token-and-spot-account-id-as-plain-text"></a>

resource "harness_platform_connector_spot" "spot" {
  identifier  = "example_spot_cloud_provider"
  name        = "Example spot cloud provider"
  description = "description of spot connector"
  tags        = ["foo:bar"]
  permanent_token {
    spot_account_id    = "<my-account-id>"
    api_token_ref      = "account.TEST_spot_api_token"
    delegate_selectors = ["harness-delegate"]
  }
}


# Create Spot connector using permanent token and spot account Id as secret <a href="#create-spot-connector-using-permanent-token-and-spot-account-id-as-secret" id="create-spot-connector-using-permanent-token-and-spot-account-id-as-secret"></a>

resource "harness_platform_connector_spot" "spot" {
  identifier  = "example_spot_cloud_provider"
  name        = "Example spot cloud provider"
  description = "description of spot connector"
  tags        = ["foo:bar"]
  permanent_token {
    spot_account_id_ref = "account.TEST_spot_account_id"
    api_token_ref       = "account.TEST_spot_api_token"
    delegate_selectors  = ["harness-delegate"]
  }
}

# Add connectivity mode by providing execute_on_delegate value. Default is to execute on Delegate <a href="#add-connectivity-mode-by-providing-executeondelegate-value-default-is-to-execute-on-delegate" id="add-connectivity-mode-by-providing-executeondelegate-value-default-is-to-execute-on-delegate"></a>

resource "harness_platform_connector_spot" "spot" {
  identifier  = "example_spot_cloud_provider"
  name        = "Example spot cloud provider"
  description = "description of spot connector"
  tags        = ["foo:bar"]
  permanent_token {
    spot_account_id     = "<my-account-id>"
    api_token_ref       = "account.TEST_spot_api_token"
    delegate_selectors  = ["harness-delegate"]
    execute_on_delegate = false
  }
}

Harness Manager

Perform the following steps to add a Spot connector in Harness Manager.

1. Open a Harness project.

2. In Project Setup, select Connectors, then select New Connector.

3. In Cloud Providers, select Spot. The Spot connector settings appear.

4. Enter a connector name, enter an optional description and tag, and then select Continue.

   Harness automatically creates an Id for the connector. The Id is based on the connector's name.

5. In Authentication, select one of the following options.

   • Plaintext - Enter the Spot Account Id and API Token. For API token, you can either create a new secret or use an existing one.

   • Encrypted - You can create or select a secret for your Spot account Id and API token.

6. Select Continue.

7. In Connect to the provider, select Connect through a Harness Delegate, and then select Continue.

   We don't recommend using the Connect through Harness Platform option here because you'll need a delegate later when deploying to your Spot cloud. Typically, the Connect through Harness Platform option is a quick way to make connections without having to use delegates.

8. In Set Up Delegates, select the Connect using Delegates with the following Tags option and enter the name of the delegate you created earlier.

9. Select Save and Continue.

10. Once the test connection succeeds, select Finish.

The connector now appears in the Connectors list.