#Install HAMi Ascend Device Plugin

Install Alauda Build of HAMi Ascend Device Plugin when Ascend devices must be exposed through HAMi-managed whole-card allocation, hard slicing, or soft slicing. It is delivered as an Operator Bundle and managed through a HAMiAscendDevicePlugin custom resource. Do not substitute a standalone DaemonSet installation for this ACP-managed component.

#Before you begin

• Install Alauda Build of HAMi and enable Enable Ascend in its cluster plugin form.
• Install Alauda Build of NPU Operator v26.6.0 and prepare the Ascend driver, runtime, RuntimeClass, and node health through the Ascend NPU vendor base documentation.
• Confirm the supported HAMi and HAMi Ascend Device Plugin combination in Versions and Components.
• Label each target node with ascend=on unless the installed product configuration uses a different value.
• Complete Switch the Ascend Device Plugin Owner and confirm that the native Ascend Device Plugin has stopped before creating the HAMiAscendDevicePlugin instance. Do not edit the generated NPUClusterPolicy or DaemonSet.
• Confirm that the ascend RuntimeClass exists. Every HAMi-managed Ascend workload must set runtimeClassName: ascend.

Apply the default node label when it matches the installed product configuration:

kubectl label node <ascend-node> ascend=on --overwrite

NPU Operator remains installed for HAMi-managed Ascend allocation. Keep its Driver, OCI Runtime, ascend RuntimeClass, and any required Exporter components running; disable only its native Device Plugin through the owner-switch procedure.

#Install the Operator Bundle

1. Retrieve Alauda Build of HAMi Ascend Device Plugin from Customer Portal and upload the Operator Bundle to ACP.

2. In ACP, open Administrator -> Marketplace -> OperatorHub, switch to the target cluster, and install Alauda Build of HAMi Ascend Device Plugin.

3. Check the OLM resources. If the Subscription uses manual approval, review and approve the generated InstallPlan.

   kubectl get subscription,csv,installplan -A \
     | grep hami-ascend-device-plugin

   The ClusterServiceVersion must reach Succeeded before you continue.

4. Create the HAMiAscendDevicePlugin instance from the product form. Complete Namespace and the other required settings described in Configure the instance before creating it. Then verify the instance in the selected namespace:

   kubectl -n <hami-namespace> get \
     hamiascenddeviceplugin.hami.io hami-ascend-device-plugin -o yaml

#Configure the instance

Review the following settings before creating the instance. Keep the defaults only when they match the target nodes and existing platform-owned resources.

Set Ascend Driver Host Path according to the driver deployment:

• Host Driver: /usr/local/Ascend/driver
• Alauda OS Runtime Driver: /run/ascend/driver

Before creating the instance, decide whether each target node will serve whole-card workloads, hard slicing, or soft slicing. Whole-card requests do not depend on the partial-memory node mode. For hard or soft slicing in the v1.4.0 Alauda delivery, set the intended per-node value through spec.nodeConfig; do not rely on spec.hamiVnpuCore.enabled alone while the instance reuses the HAMi-owned ConfigMap.

Use Configure Ascend Slicing Mode for the complete mode mapping, YAML update, vDeviceCount guidance, rollout command, and result interpretation. Use the whole-card or hard- and soft-slice pages for workload requests.

#Verify the installation

1. Check that HAMi, the device configuration, and the HAMiAscendDevicePlugin resource use the same namespace. Replace <hami-namespace> with the configured namespace; the default is kube-system:

   kubectl -n <hami-namespace> get configmap hami-scheduler-device
   kubectl -n <hami-namespace> get hamiadp hami-ascend-device-plugin -o yaml

2. Check the operator and DaemonSet:

   kubectl get csv -A | grep hami-ascend-device-plugin
   kubectl -n <hami-namespace> get ds hami-ascend-device-plugin -o wide
   kubectl -n <hami-namespace> get pods -o wide | grep hami-ascend-device-plugin

3. Confirm that only the selected device-plugin owner is Ready on the target nodes:

   kubectl get ds -A -o wide \
     | grep -E 'ascend-device-plugin|hami-ascend-device-plugin'

4. Confirm the actual resource names exposed by the installed package:

   kubectl get node <ascend-node> -o jsonpath='{.status.allocatable}'

Continue only when the node reports the expected HAMi-managed Ascend resources.

For an installation intended for soft slicing, run the effective-mode and scheduler-configuration checks in Configure Ascend Slicing Mode. Continue only when the target node reports hami-vnpu-core=true and the installed configuration contains the model-specific count and memory mappings. Use an optional core key only when that model declares resourceCoreName.

5. For each representative workload, verify the runtime and device access:

   kubectl -n <namespace> get pod <pod-name> \
     -o jsonpath='{.spec.runtimeClassName}{"\n"}'

   The RuntimeClass must be ascend. Run npu-smi info and a device-memory or inference workload to confirm that the Pod can use the assigned device. Use the whole-card manifest or hard- and soft-slice manifests for this check.

#Next steps

• Verify the complete installation
• Configure Ascend slicing mode
• Switch the Ascend Device Plugin owner
• HAMi on Ascend NPU
• HAMi on Ascend vNPU
• Troubleshooting