Allow Privileged Containers in Kubernetes on Google Container (GKE)

Question

I am using a Kubernetes cluster deployed through Google Container Engine (GKE) from the Google Cloud Developer's Console, cluster version 0.19.3. I would like to run a privileged container, like in the Kubernetes NFS Server example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: nfs-server
  labels:
    role: nfs-server
spec:
  containers:
    - name: nfs-server
      image: jsafrane/nfs-data
      ports:
        - name: nfs
          containerPort: 2049
      securityContext:
        privileged: true

Since the default Google Container Engine configuration does not allow privileged containers, the Kubernetes API imediately returns the following error:

Error from server: Pod "nfs-server" is invalid: spec.containers[0].securityContext.privileged: forbidden '<*>(0xc20a027396)true'

How can I allow privileged containers in my Google Container Engine cluster?

Answer 1

Update: Privileged mode is now enabled by default starting with the 1.1 release of Kubernetes which is now available in Google Container Engine.

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Running privileged containers (including the NFS server in that example) isn't currently possible in Google Container Engine. We are looking at ways to solve this (adding a flag when creating your cluster to allow privileged containers; making privileged containers part of admission control; etc). For now, if you need to run privileged containers you'll need to launch your own cluster using the GCE provider.