USB Package

USB package enables USB peripherals to be connected to the container-based applications. This package registers USB peripherals to the Intel® Open Edge Platform clusters as Kubernetes resources, which container-based applications can occupy.

Note

This package is only for container-based application. To connect the USB peripherals to VM-based applications, Virtualization Package with USB configurations is required. For more information, see the Virtualization package document.

The USB package contains the following component:

• usb-device-plugin: The plugin registers the USB peripherals as Kubernetes resources with Akri.

For more information, refer to:

• Akri official documentation

• Akri Github

Configuration Options

The usb-device-plugin requires a list of USB peripheral information including vendor and product IDs. When deploying the USB package, there is a usbList field in the Override Profile Values > usb-device-plugin.

usbList: "" // example - "wifi-dongle;0bda;0811,gsm-dongle;0bda;2838"

The usbList can have multiple USB information tuples with , separator. Each USB information tuple consists of resource name, product ID (PID), and vendor ID (VID) with ; separator.

For example, there are two USB peripherals - WiFi dongle with PID 0bda / VID 0811 and GSM dongle with PID 0bda/VID 2838. Then, usbList field should have usbList: “wifi-dongle;0bda;0811,gsm-dongle;0bda;2838”, where wifi-dongle and gsm-dongle are the resource name for each USB peripherals. Those USB peripherals will be registered as Kubernetes resources with resource ID akri.io/wifi-dongle and resource ID akri.io/gsm-dongle. The number of resources for both USB peripherals is just 1 for each.

Sometimes, the edge cluster can have multiple USB peripherals which have the same PID and VID. In that case, usbList must have just one USB information tuple to cover the USB peripherals having the same PID and VID. For example, there are four USB peripherals - three WiFi dongles with same PID 0bda / VID 0811 and one GSM dongle with PID 0bda/VID 2838. Then, usbList field should have usbList: “wifi-dongle;0bda;0811,gsm-dongle;0bda;2838”, where wifi-dongle and gsm-dongle are the resource name for each USB peripherals. Those USB peripherals will be registered as Kubernetes resources with resource ID akri.io/wifi-dongle and resource ID akri.io/gsm-dongle. As the WiFi dongles are identified with the same USB information tuple, the available Kubernetes resources akri.io/wifi-dongle are three. On the other hand, the Kubernetes resource akri.io/gsm-dongle is just one.

Attach USB Peripherals to Container-based Applications

In the Kubernetes resource files creating Kubernetes pod such as Deployment, StatefulSet, and so on,`requests` and limits in resources section must have the Kubernetes USB peripherals resource IDs and the number of requested resources.

resources:
  limits:
    <USB resource IDs>: <number of USB resources>
    <USB resource IDs>: <number of USB resources>
    <USB resource IDs>: <number of USB resources>
  requests:
    <USB resource IDs>: <number of USB resources>
    <USB resource IDs>: <number of USB resources>
    <USB resource IDs>: <number of USB resources>

// example to connect one GSM dongle and three WiFi dongles with resource ID akri.io/gsm-dongle and akri.io/wifi-dongle, respectively.
resources:
  limits:
    akri.io/gsm-dongle: 1
    akri.io/wifi-dongle: 3
  requests:
    akri.io/gsm-dongle: 1
    akri.io/wifi-dongle: 3

Attach USB Peripherals to VM-based Applications

To connect USB peripherals to the VM-based applications, see Virtualization package section. The USB package is only for the container-based applications.