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Introduction to Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) in Kubernetes

In the previous blog, we reviewed the limitations of Kubernetes GPU scheduling. These often result in:

  1. Resource fragmentation – large portions of GPU memory remain idle and unusable.
  2. Topology blindness – multi-GPU workloads may be scheduled suboptimally.
  3. Cost explosion – teams overprovision GPUs to work around scheduling inefficiencies.

In this post, we’ll look at how a new GA feature in Kubernetes v1.34 — Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) — aims to solve these problems and transform GPU scheduling in Kubernetes.

How is DRA different?

DRA introduces a Kubernetes-native way to request, allocate, and share hardware resources across Pods.

For accelerators like GPUs, DRA allows device vendors and cluster administrators to define device classes (e.g., types of GPUs). Workload owners can then request devices with specific configurations from those classes.

Once requested, Kubernetes handles Pod scheduling, node placement, and device assignment automatically. This eliminates the manual coordination between admins and app operators that exists today.

DRA Terminology

If you’ve used StorageClass, PersistentVolumeClaim, and PersistentVolume for dynamic storage provisioning, DRA will feel familiar. Here are the core concepts:

DeviceClass

Defines a category of devices (e.g., GPUs).

  • For NVIDIA GPUs, a default DeviceClass (gpu.nvidia.com) is provided.
  • Administrators can also create custom DeviceClasses for specific configurations.

ResourceSlice

Represents available devices on a node.

  • The NVIDIA DRA driver running on each node automatically creates ResourceSlices.
  • The scheduler uses these slices to decide which devices to allocate to Pods.

ResourceClaim

Think of this as a ticket to specific hardware.

  • Pods reference a ResourceClaim to request devices from a DeviceClass.
  • Multiple Pods can share the same claim if the device supports sharing.

ResourceClaimTemplate

Think of this as a blueprint for generating new resource claims.

  • Each Pod gets its own ResourceClaim automatically when using a template.
  • Useful when workloads need dedicated (not shared) devices.

Typical Workflow for DRA

flowchart LR
  %% Cluster Admin and Workload Admin for DRA
  classDef step fill:#fff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,rx:12,ry:12,color:#111;
  classDef note fill:#fff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,rx:20,ry:20,color:#111;

  A[Install DRA drivers<br/>Cluster Admin]:::step --> B[Create DeviceClasses<br/>Cluster Admin]:::step

  %% Branch
  B --> C[Create ResourceClaim<br/>Workload Admin<br/>Pods share the device]:::step
  B --> D[Create ResourceClaimTemplate<br/>Workload Admin<br/>Pods get separate devices]:::step

  %% Converge
  C --> E([Add claim to Pod requests]):::note
  D --> E

  %% Final step
  E --> F[Deploy workload<br/>Workload Admin]:::step

Cluster Admins

  1. Install DRA drivers in the cluster.
  2. Define DeviceClasses to categorize devices.

Note

Some device vendors provide default DeviceClasses out-of-the-box.

Workload Admins

  1. Create ResourceClaims or ResourceClaimTemplates.
  2. Reference them in workload manifests.
  3. Deploy workloads as usual.

When workloads are deployed, Kubernetes performs these steps:

Step 1

If a workload references a ResourceClaimTemplate, Kubernetes generates a fresh ResourceClaim for each Pod (e.g., every replica).

Step 2

The scheduler matches ResourceClaims to available devices in ResourceSlices, then places Pods on nodes that can satisfy the claims.

Step 3

On the selected node, kubelet invokes the DRA driver to attach the allocated devices to the Pod.

In a ResourceClaim, multiple Pods share one device. In a ResourceClaimTemplate, each Pod gets its own device.

ResourceClaims vs ResourceClaimTemplate

Both approaches let Pods request devices, but the behavior differs:

ResourceClaim (Manual) ResourceClaimTemplate (Automatic)
Created manually and referenced in workloads Kubernetes generates claims automatically
Multiple Pods can share the same allocated device Each Pod gets its own allocated device
Lifecycle independent of Pods Lifecycle tied to the Pod (deleted when Pod terminates)

Best practice

  • Use ResourceClaim when multiple Pods can share the same device (e.g., inference).
  • Use ResourceClaimTemplate when each Pod needs its own device (e.g., distributed training).

Example YAML Manifests

Now, let us review what the declarative YAML spec for ResouceClaim and ResourceClaimTemplate look like with some examples.

Manual ResourceClaim

In this example, multiple Pods can reference shared-gpu-claim and share the allocated GPU.

apiVersion: resource.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: ResourceClaim
metadata:
  name: shared-gpu-claim
spec:
  devices:
    requests:
      - deviceClassName: gpu.nvidia.com
        selectors:
          - key: memory
            operator: Gt
            values: ["16000"]   # Request GPU with >16GB memory
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: inference-pod
spec:
  resourceClaims:
    - name: gpu
      source:
        resourceClaimName: shared-gpu-claim
  containers:
    - name: app
      image: my-inference-image
      resources:
        claims:
          - name: gpu

Automatic ResourceClaimTemplate

In the example below, Kubernetes automatically creates a new ResourceClaim for each replica in the Deployment. Each Pod gets a dedicated GPU.

apiVersion: resource.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: ResourceClaimTemplate
metadata:
  name: training-gpu-template
spec:
  spec:
    devices:
      requests:
        - deviceClassName: gpu.nvidia.com
          selectors:
            - key: memory
              operator: Gt
              values: ["24000"]   # Request GPU with >24GB memory
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: training-job
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: trainer
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: trainer
    spec:
      resourceClaims:
        - name: gpu
          source:
            resourceClaimTemplateName: training-gpu-template
      containers:
        - name: trainer
          image: my-training-image
          resources:
            claims:
              - name: gpu

Conclusion

Today, GPU allocation in Kubernetes often requires manual coordination between cluster admins and workload admins. Workloads fail unless admins carefully match requests with available devices using node selectors — essentially, an anti-pattern that breaks Kubernetes’ declarative scheduling model.

DRA restores Kubernetes’ core promise

Users should not need to know about node labels, GPU models, or device topology.

  • Kubernetes takes full responsibility for device scheduling.
  • Cluster admins centralize device configuration with DeviceClasses.
  • Workload admins simply declare what they need, and Kubernetes handles the rest.

In the next blog, we’ll walk through how to configure, deploy, and use DRA with NVIDIA GPUs step by step.