Real-time AI Model Serving for Games with Kubernetes Agones

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Agones is an open-source, multiplayer game server hosting platform built on top of Kubernetes. It simplifies the process of deploying, running, scaling, and managing dedicated game server processes in the cloud. To set up real-time AI model serving for games using Kubernetes and Agones, we need to define the necessary Kubernetes resources and configure Agones to run within a Kubernetes cluster.

Below, you will find a complete program that sets up a Kubernetes cluster, deploys Agones on that cluster, and then configures a basic game server that could be extended to serve AI models in real-time within your game servers.

Firstly, the program sets up an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster by defining a `ManagedCluster` resource. Azure Kubernetes Service is chosen for its managed service capabilities, removing much of the overhead of cluster configuration and maintenance, allowing you to focus on deploying your game servers.

Next, we deploy Agones to the AKS cluster using a Helm chart. Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that allows you to define, install, and upgrade even the most complex Kubernetes applications. The Agones Helm chart sets up all the necessary resources to get Agones running.

Finally, we create a `GameServer` custom resource, which is defined by the Agones project to provision and manage game servers within the cluster. Although this example does not include the specific configuration for AI model serving, this is where you would integrate your AI models by including them within the game server container or by setting up additional services that the game servers can communicate with to perform real-time predictions.

Please note that proper security configurations, scaling policies, and AI model serving integration need to be considered based on the use-case and are not covered in this basic setup.

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_azure_native as azure_native
from pulumi_kubernetes import Provider, helm
from pulumi_kubernetes.rbac.v1 import ClusterRoleBinding
from pulumi_kubernetes.core.v1 import Namespace
from pulumi_kubernetes.apiextensions import CustomResource

# Create an AKS cluster
aks_cluster = azure_native.containerservice.ManagedCluster(
    "aksCluster",
    resource_group_name="myResourceGroup",
    identity=azure_native.containerservice.ManagedClusterIdentityArgs(
        type="SystemAssigned",
    ),
    agent_pool_profiles=[azure_native.containerservice.ManagedClusterAgentPoolProfileArgs(
        count=3,
        vm_size="Standard_DS2_v2",
        name="agentpool",
    )],
    dns_prefix="myakscluster",
    location="eastus",
)

# Set up a Kubernetes provider using the credentials from the AKS cluster
k8s_provider = Provider(
    "k8sProvider",
    kubeconfig=aks_cluster.kube_config_raw,
)

# Create a namespace for Agones on the cluster
agones_namespace = Namespace(
    "agonesNamespace",
    metadata={"name": "agones-system"},
    opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(provider=k8s_provider),
)

# Bind a cluster role to the Agones system
agones_cluster_role_binding = ClusterRoleBinding(
    "agonesClusterRoleBinding",
    metadata={"name": "agones-cluster-role-binding", "namespace": agones_namespace.metadata["name"]},
    role_ref={"apiGroup": "rbac.authorization.k8s.io", "kind": "ClusterRole", "name": "cluster-admin"},
    subjects=[{"kind": "ServiceAccount", "name": "default", "namespace": agones_namespace.metadata["name"]}],
    opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(provider=k8s_provider),
)

# Install Agones using the Helm chart
agones_helm_chart = helm.v3.Chart(
    "agones",
    helm.v3.ChartOpts(
        chart="agones",
        version="1.17.0", # Specify the Agones version that fits your needs.
        fetch_opts=helm.v3.FetchOpts(
            repo="https://agones.dev/chart/stable",
        ),
        namespace=agones_namespace.metadata["name"],
    ),
    opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(provider=k8s_provider),
)

# Define a simple GameServer specification using Agones
game_server = CustomResource(
    "gameServer",
    api_version="agones.dev/v1",
    kind="GameServer",
    metadata={"name": "simple-game-server", "namespace": agones_namespace.metadata["name"]},
    spec={
        "ports": [{"containerPort": 7654, "name": "default"}],
        "template": {
            "spec": {
                "containers": [
                    {
                        "name": "simple-game-container",
                        "image": "gcr.io/agones-images/simple-game-server:0.1",
                    }
                ]
            }
        },
    },
    opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(provider=k8s_provider, depends_on=[agones_helm_chart]),
)

# Export the Kubernetes config
pulumi.export("kubeconfig", aks_cluster.kube_config_raw)

# Export the public IP address of the game server (if needed)
# pulumi.export("game_server_ip", game_server.status.address.public)
```

This program creates a Kubernetes cluster using AKS and sets up Agones on it, along with a simple game server. To integrate AI model serving, you would expand the game server container or add additional containers to the game server pods that serve your AI models.

Remember to replace `"myResourceGroup"` with the name of the resource group where you'd like your AKS cluster to be, and `"eastus"` with the Azure region you intend to use. The AKS cluster is configured with `SystemAssigned` managed identity and the default Service Principal is replaced by a managed identity. For your specific use case, consider configuring node pools, networking, and security according to your requirements.

Ensure that you have the Pulumi CLI installed, the Azure provider configured, and the Kubernetes SDK installed to apply this Pulumi program.