Host Device

Direct passthrough to host network devices, with no virtualization layer. Each pod gets exclusive access to a physical NIC. Minimal CPU overhead — best for legacy HPC codes, specialized protocols, and DPDK applications. Works with both Ethernet and InfiniBand fabrics.

• Network Operator Helm chart installed (see Installation).

• l8k binary on your PATH.

• One or more Mellanox NICs per node not used by the host.

            

            
l8k generate --user-config ./cluster-config.yaml \
    --deployment-type host_device --multirail \
    --save-deployment-files ./deployments
        

Add --fabric ethernet or --fabric infiniband if you need to constrain the fabric explicitly.

• Deployment Profiles — decision matrix

• Generate Workflow — generation details

• Configuration Reference — hostdev config section