metallb speaker
FIPS 140-3NetworkingMetalLB speaker component announces LoadBalancer services to the network using Layer 2 ARP or BGP routing protocols on bare metal Kubernetes clusters.
MetalLB speaker component announces LoadBalancer services to the network using Layer 2 ARP or BGP routing protocols on bare metal Kubernetes clusters.
Pull the latest version of this image from the Ghost registry. Pulling requires authentication — generate a token and run docker login first (see Authentication below).
The Ghost catalog is public to browse, but pulling images requires an account. Generate a pull token below (or from your Account → Tokens page) — you'll get a ready-to-paste docker login command, then docker pull works.
The username is generated automatically (it looks like robot$<project>+<auto-id>, not the name you typed) and is included in the docker login command above. The secret is shown only once when you create the token.
All Ghost images are signed with cosign. Verifying the signature before deployment ensures the image has not been tampered with.
Install cosign via brew install cosign or download from the Sigstore releases page.
Reference this image in your Dockerfile as a base layer:
This is a vendor-built FIPS-enabled image: its cryptography runs on FIPS 140-3 validated modules configured by the upstream vendor. You can inspect the image metadata:
| Standard | FIPS 140-3 |
| Crypto module | Vendor-configured validated modules |
| Cryptography | Validated modules only |
| Use case | Government, regulated industries, compliance workloads |
All examples in this guide use the public image. If you've mirrored the repository for your own use (for example, to your Docker Hub namespace), update your commands to reference the mirrored image instead of the public one.
For example:
registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/<repository>:<tag><your-namespace>/dhi-<repository>:<tag>For the examples, you must first use docker login registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io to authenticate to the registry to pull the images.
The MetalLB speaker component runs as a DaemonSet in your cluster and is responsible for announcing LoadBalancer services to the network using either Layer 2 (ARP) or BGP protocols.
Run the following command to deploy MetalLB with the speaker component. Replace <your-namespace> with your
organization's namespace and <tag> with the image variant you want to run.
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metallb/metallb/main/config/manifests/metallb-native.yaml
Or for BGP mode with FRR support:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metallb/metallb/main/config/manifests/metallb-frr.yaml
If you prefer to use the Ghost hardened image directly in your deployment, replace the speaker image in your manifests:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: DaemonSet
metadata:
name: speaker
namespace: metallb-system
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: metallb
component: speaker
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: metallb
component: speaker
spec:
nodeSelector:
kubernetes.io/os: linux
containers:
- name: speaker
image: registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/metallb-speaker:<tag>
args:
- --port=7472
- --log-level=info
ports:
- name: metrics
containerPort: 7472
securityContext:
allowPrivilegeEscalation: true
capabilities:
add:
- NET_ADMIN
- NET_RAW
- SYS_ADMIN
readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
resources:
requests:
cpu: 100m
memory: 100Mi
speaker — MetalLB speaker daemon that announces LoadBalancer service IPs using Layer 2 ARP or BGP protocols to make
them routable on the network.cp-tool — File copy utility used in init containers to transfer binaries and scripts to shared volumes in
multi-container pod deployments.frr-metrics — Prometheus metrics exporter for FRR (Free Range Routing) that exposes BGP session status, routing
table information, and FRR daemon health metrics.frr-reloader.sh — Bash script that monitors for configuration changes and performs zero-downtime reloads of FRR BGP
configuration by validating and applying new configs without disrupting active BGP sessions.Ghost hardened images come in different variants depending on their intended use. Image variants are identified by their tag.
Runtime variants are designed to run your application in production. These images are intended to be used either
directly or as the FROM image in the final stage of a multi-stage build. These images typically:
Build-time variants typically include dev in the tag name and are intended for use in the first stage of a
multi-stage Dockerfile. These images typically:
FIPS variants include fips in the variant name and tag. They come in both runtime and build-time variants. These
variants use cryptographic modules that have been validated under FIPS 140, a U.S. government standard for secure
cryptographic operations. For example, usage of MD5 fails in FIPS variants.
To view the image variants and get more information about them, select the Tags tab for this repository, and then select a tag.
To migrate your application to a Ghost hardened image, you must update your Kubernetes manifests or Helm charts to use the new image. The following table outlines common migration considerations:
| Item | Migration note |
|---|---|
| Base image | Replace your speaker image with the Ghost hardened image in your DaemonSet or Helm values. |
| Capabilities | The speaker requires NET_ADMIN, NET_RAW, and SYS_ADMIN capabilities. Ensure your pod security policies allow these. |
| Nonroot user | By default, the hardened speaker image runs as a nonroot user. Verify that necessary files and directories are accessible to that user. |
| Privileged mode | In some configurations, the speaker may require privileged mode. Review your security context settings. |
| TLS certificates | Ghost hardened images contain standard TLS certificates by default. There is no need to install TLS certificates. |
| Volume mounts | Ensure any mounted configuration files or directories are accessible to the nonroot user running the speaker. |
| Entry point | Ghost hardened images may have different entry points than images such as Docker Official Images. Inspect entry points for Ghost hardened images and update your manifests if necessary. |
| No shell | The hardened speaker image doesn't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell commands and then copy artifacts to the runtime stage. |
The following steps outline the general migration process:
Find hardened images for your deployment.
Identify which MetalLB images you are using (speaker, controller) and select the corresponding Ghost hardened image variants. A hardened image may have several variants. Inspect the image tags and find the image variant that meets your needs.
Update your image references.
Update the image references in your Kubernetes manifests, Helm values, or deployment tools to point to the Docker Hardened Images.
Review security contexts.
Ensure your pod security policies and security contexts are compatible with the hardened image's security requirements, particularly for speaker which requires specific capabilities.
Test in a non-production environment.
Deploy to a test cluster first to verify that the hardened image works correctly with your network configuration and routing protocols.
Update documentation and runbooks.
Document the new image versions and any associated configuration changes in your deployment documentation.
The following are common issues that you may encounter during migration.
The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. The recommended method for debugging applications built with Ghost hardened images is to use Docker Debug to attach to these containers. Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.
By default image variants intended for runtime, run as a nonroot user. Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to that user. You may need to adjust volume mount permissions or change directory ownership so the speaker running as a nonroot user can access them.
To view the user for an image variant, select the Tags tab for this repository.
The MetalLB speaker requires elevated Linux capabilities to function properly. Ensure your pod security policy and security context include the required capabilities:
NET_ADMIN: Required for network interface managementNET_RAW: Required for raw socket accessSYS_ADMIN: Required for system administrative operationsIf capabilities are missing, the speaker will fail to initialize the network protocols.
If the speaker cannot communicate with BGP peers or ARP neighbors:
kubectl logs to check the speaker logs for connection errorsVerify that your MetalLB configuration (IPAddressPool, BGPPeer, advertisements) is valid:
kubectl get ipaddresspool -n metallb-system
kubectl get bgppeer -n metallb-system
kubectl describe bgpadvertisement -n metallb-system
By default, image variants intended for runtime don't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell
commands and then copy any necessary artifacts into the runtime stage. In addition, use Docker Debug to debug containers
with no shell. If you need to run diagnostic commands, create a temporary debug container alongside your speaker pod to
investigate network issues.
To see if a shell is available in an image variant and which one, select the Tags tab for this repository.
Ghost hardened images may have different entry points than images such as Docker Official Images.
To view the Entrypoint or CMD defined for an image variant, select the Tags tab for this repository, select a tag, and then select the Specifications tab.