Talos Linux

Talos Linux is an immutable, minimal OS designed specifically for Kubernetes. Version 1.12.4 is deployed.

Configuration

Talos configuration is managed through talhelper and Jinja2 templates.

File Locations

Path	Purpose
templates/config/talos/talconfig.yaml.j2	Main Talos config template
talos/patches/global/	Patches applied to all nodes
talos/patches/controller/	Controller-specific patches
talos/patches/worker/	Worker-specific patches
talos/patches/vm-node/	KubeVirt VM node patches
talos/patches/${hostname}/	Per-node patches
talos/clusterconfig/	Generated configs (gitignored)

Patch System

Talos uses a layered patch system. Patches are applied in order:

1. Global patches (all nodes)
2. Role-specific patches (controller or worker)
3. VM-node patches (KubeVirt nodes)
4. Per-hostname patches

Common Operations

Generate Config

task talos:generate-config

Apply Config to a Node

task talos:apply-node IP=10.10.10.10 MODE=auto

Mode options: auto, no-reboot, reboot, staged

Upgrade Talos Version

task talos:upgrade-node IP=10.10.10.10

Tip

Update talosVersion in talenv.yaml before upgrading.

Upgrade Kubernetes Version

task talos:upgrade-k8s

Reset Cluster

Danger

This destroys the entire cluster. Repeated resets may trigger rate limits from DockerHub or Let's Encrypt.

task talos:reset

Adding a New Node

1. Boot the new node with Talos in maintenance mode

2. Get disk and MAC address info:

   talosctl get disks -n <ip> --insecure
   talosctl get links -n <ip> --insecure
   

3. Add the node to talconfig.yaml

4. Generate and apply:

   task talos:generate-config
   task talos:apply-node IP=<new-ip>
   

The node joins automatically and begins accepting workloads.

Debugging

# Check cluster membership
talosctl get members --nodes <ip> --insecure

# View node logs
talosctl logs --nodes <ip> --insecure

# Check node services
talosctl services --nodes <ip>