TargetSource

Dynamic target discovery from external sources

The TargetSource resource enables dynamic discovery of network devices from external sources. The operator automatically creates, updates, and deletes Target resources based on discovered devices.

Discovery Sources

TargetSource supports multiple discovery backends:

Source	Description
`http`	Fetch targets from an HTTP endpoint
`consul`	Discover targets from Consul service registry
`configMap`	Read targets from a Kubernetes ConfigMap
`podSelector`	Create targets from Kubernetes Pods
`serviceSelector`	Create targets from Kubernetes Services

HTTP Discovery

Discover targets from an HTTP endpoint that returns a JSON list of targets:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: http-discovery
spec:
  http:
    url: http://inventory-service:8080/targets
  labels:
    source: inventory

The HTTP endpoint should return a JSON array of target objects.

Consul Discovery

Discover targets from Consul service registry:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: consul-discovery
spec:
  consul:
    url: http://consul:8500
  labels:
    source: consul
    datacenter: dc1

ConfigMap Discovery

Read targets from a Kubernetes ConfigMap:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: configmap-targets
spec:
  configMap: network-devices
  labels:
    source: configmap

The ConfigMap should contain target definitions in a structured format.

Kubernetes Pod Discovery

Create targets from Kubernetes Pods matching a label selector:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: pod-discovery
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app: network-simulator
      gnmi: enabled
  labels:
    source: kubernetes
    type: simulator

This is useful for:

Containerized network simulators
Virtual network functions (VNFs)
Development/testing environments

Kubernetes Service Discovery

Create targets from Kubernetes Services matching a label selector:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: service-discovery
spec:
  serviceSelector:
    matchLabels:
      protocol: gnmi
  labels:
    source: kubernetes

Label Inheritance

Labels defined in the TargetSource.spec.labels field are applied to all discovered targets:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: datacenter-a
spec:
  consul:
    url: http://consul-dc-a:8500
  labels:
    datacenter: dc-a
    environment: production
    source: consul

All targets discovered from this source will have:

datacenter: dc-a
environment: production
source: consul

This enables using label selectors in Pipelines to select targets by their discovery source.

Status

The TargetSource status shows discovery state:

status:
  status: Synced
  targetsCount: 42
  lastSync: "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"

Field	Description
`status`	Current sync status (Synced, Error, Pending)
`targetsCount`	Number of targets discovered
`lastSync`	Timestamp of last successful sync

Example: Multi-Source Discovery

Combine multiple TargetSources for different environments:

# Production devices from Consul
apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: prod-consul
spec:
  consul:
    url: http://consul-prod:8500
  labels:
    environment: production
    source: consul
---
# Lab devices from ConfigMap
apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: lab-devices
spec:
  configMap: lab-network-devices
  labels:
    environment: lab
    source: configmap
---
# Simulator pods
apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TargetSource
metadata:
  name: simulators
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app: srlinux
  labels:
    environment: dev
    source: kubernetes

Then use label selectors in your Pipeline:

apiVersion: operator.gnmic.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Pipeline
metadata:
  name: production-telemetry
spec:
  clusterRef: prod-cluster
  enabled: true
  targetSelectors:
    - matchLabels:
        environment: production
  # ... subscriptions, outputs

Lifecycle

Target Creation

When a TargetSource discovers a new device:

A new Target resource is created
Labels from spec.labels are applied
Owner reference is set to the TargetSource

Target Updates

When a discovered device’s properties change:

The corresponding Target is updated
Clusters using that target are reconciled

Target Deletion

When a device is no longer discovered:

The Target resource is deleted
Clusters stop collecting from that target

TargetSource Deletion

When a TargetSource is deleted:

All Targets owned by it are deleted (via owner references)
Clusters are reconciled to remove those targets