Add feature gate for kubelet plugin watcher

pkg/features/kube_features.go

@@ -304,6 +304,13 @@ const (
 	// Allow subpath environment variable substitution
 	// Only applicable if the VolumeSubpath feature is also enabled
 	VolumeSubpathEnvExpansion utilfeature.Feature = "VolumeSubpathEnvExpansion"
+
+	// owner: @vikaschoudhary16
+	// alpha: v1.11
+	//
+	//
+	// Enable probe based plugin watcher utility for discovering Kubelet plugins
+	KubeletPluginsWatcher utilfeature.Feature = "KubeletPluginsWatcher"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -356,6 +363,7 @@ var defaultKubernetesFeatureGates = map[utilfeature.Feature]utilfeature.FeatureS
 	BalanceAttachedNodeVolumes:                  {Default: false, PreRelease: utilfeature.Alpha},
 	DynamicProvisioningScheduling:               {Default: false, PreRelease: utilfeature.Alpha},
 	VolumeSubpathEnvExpansion:                   {Default: false, PreRelease: utilfeature.Alpha},
+	KubeletPluginsWatcher:                       {Default: false, PreRelease: utilfeature.Alpha},
 
 	// inherited features from generic apiserver, relisted here to get a conflict if it is changed
 	// unintentionally on either side:

pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go

@@ -540,6 +540,7 @@ func NewMainKubelet(kubeCfg *kubeletconfiginternal.KubeletConfiguration,
 		experimentalHostUserNamespaceDefaulting: utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.ExperimentalHostUserNamespaceDefaultingGate),
 		keepTerminatedPodVolumes:                keepTerminatedPodVolumes,
 		nodeStatusMaxImages:                     nodeStatusMaxImages,
+		enablePluginsWatcher:                    utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.KubeletPluginsWatcher),
 	}
 
 	if klet.cloud != nil {
@@ -1172,6 +1173,9 @@ type Kubelet struct {
 
 	// This flag sets a maximum number of images to report in the node status.
 	nodeStatusMaxImages int32
+
+	//  This flag indicates that kubelet should start plugin watcher utility server for discovering Kubelet plugins
+	enablePluginsWatcher bool
 }
 
 func allGlobalUnicastIPs() ([]net.IP, error) {
@@ -1285,10 +1289,11 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) initializeModules() error {
 			glog.Errorf("Failed to create directory %q: %v", ContainerLogsDir, err)
 		}
 	}
-
-	// Start the plugin watcher
-	if err := kl.pluginWatcher.Start(); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to start Plugin Watcher. err: %v", err)
+	if kl.enablePluginsWatcher {
+		// Start the plugin watcher
+		if err := kl.pluginWatcher.Start(); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start Plugin Watcher. err: %v", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Start the image manager.