Node groups

Configure node groups with custom instance types, enable cost optimization with smart instance selection, and manage compute capacity

Node groups are collections of compute instances that run your workloads. Porter provides flexible options for managing compute resources, including custom node groups for specialized workloads and cost optimization features.

Default Node Groups

Porter provisions three node groups by default:

Node Group	Purpose	Autoscaling
System	Kubernetes system workloads	Fixed
Monitoring	Observability stack (metrics, logs)	Fixed
Application	Your application workloads	Enabled (1 node minimum)

The application node group autoscales based on demand. You can customize instance types, node counts, and scaling limits for all node groups.

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Changing Instance Types

You can modify the instance type for any node group from the Infrastructure settings.

1. Navigate to Infrastructure

   From your Porter dashboard, click on the Infrastructure tab in the left sidebar.

2. Select your cluster

   Click on Overview to view your cluster configuration and node groups.

3. Configure the node group

   Expand the node group dropdown (e.g., Default node group) to see the following settings:

   Setting	Description
   Machine type	The underlying instance for nodes. Options vary by cloud provider.
   Maximum nodes	Upper limit for autoscaling under high load
   Minimum nodes	Lower limit for autoscaling under low load
   Disk size	Storage capacity for each node (default: 50GB)

4. Update

   Select the appropriate Machine type from the dropdown, then scroll to the bottom and click Update.

Instance Type Pricing

AWS Instance Types

Azure Instance Types

GCP Instance Types

Why is my instance type not available?

Instance types may not be available if:

• The instance is not available in your cluster’s region (cloud providers release new instances on a phased, region-by-region basis)
• The instance type hasn’t been validated by Porter for compatibility

If you need a specific instance type that isn’t listed, contact us through the dashboard chat bot.

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Creating a Custom Node Group

Create custom node groups for specialized workloads like GPU processing, high-memory applications, or isolated environments.

1. Navigate to Infrastructure

   From your Porter dashboard, click on the Infrastructure tab in the left sidebar.

2. Select your cluster

   Click on Cluster to view your cluster configuration and node groups.

3. Add a node group

   Click Add an additional node group to open the configuration panel.

4. Configure the node group

   Choose between two configuration approaches:

   Cost Optimization

   Cost optimization automatically selects the most cost-effective instance types for your workloads. Any cluster provisioned in AWS will default to cost optimized node groups.

   Set your maximum CPU cores limit to prevent unexpected scaling. This caps infrastructure costs while allowing flexibility in instance selection.

   Limitations

   The following configurations should use fixed instance types instead:

   • GPU instances (e.g., instances with NVIDIA GPUs)
   • Spot instances
   • Instances in public subnets
   • Instances with specialized hardware requirements

   Fixed Instance Type

   Fixed node groups use a specific instance type. Applications scheduled on this group run only on the exact instance type you specify.

   This gives you precise control but may result in over-provisioning if configured incorrectly.

   Configure:

   Setting	Description
   Instance type	The machine type for nodes in this group
   Minimum nodes	Minimum number of nodes (set to 0 for scale-to-zero)
   Maximum nodes	Upper limit for autoscaling

   For GPU workloads, select instances with GPU support:

   • AWS: g4dn.xlarge, p3.2xlarge
   • Azure: Standard_NC4as_T4_v3
   • GCP: g2-standard-4

   Health Checks Required: For production applications on cost-optimized node groups, configure proper health checks. This ensures applications can be safely rescheduled as nodes are reshuffled.

5. Save and apply

   Click Save to create the node group. Porter provisions the new nodes, which may take a few minutes.

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GKE Workload Identity (GCP)

For node groups on GKE clusters, you can opt individual node pools into Workload Identity. When enabled, the GKE metadata server runs on the node pool so pods scheduled there can impersonate a GCP IAM service account at runtime — without mounting service account keys.

Enable this on any node group whose workloads need to call GCP APIs (for example, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, or Pub/Sub) using a GCP service account connection.

1. Edit the node group

   From your Porter dashboard, navigate to Infrastructure → your GKE cluster, and expand the node group you want to enable Workload Identity on.

2. Toggle Enable Workload Identity

   Switch on Enable Workload Identity. The toggle appears only for GCP clusters.

3. Update

   Scroll to the bottom and click Update. GKE applies the change to the node pool. Existing pods on the pool restart as nodes are rolled.

Leave Workload Identity disabled on node groups whose workloads don’t need GCP API access. The metadata server adds a small amount of overhead per node and exposes additional metadata endpoints to pods on the pool.

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Assigning Workloads to Node Groups

Once your custom node group is created, assign applications to run on it:

1. Navigate to your application in the Porter dashboard
2. Go to the Services tab
3. Click the service you want to assign
4. Under General, find the Node group selector
5. Select your custom node group from the dropdown
6. Save and redeploy your application

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Deleting a Node Group

Ensure no workloads are scheduled on the node group before deleting. Workloads will be disrupted if their node group is removed.

To remove a custom node group:

1. Migrate any workloads running on the node group to another node group
2. Navigate to Infrastructure → Cluster
3. Find the node group you want to delete
4. Click the delete icon and confirm