Infrastructure · Software component

Accelerator Operator

Software componentInfrastructureInfrastructurearc:AcceleratorOperator

A cluster controller that automates deployment, upgrade and lifecycle of the per-node accelerator software stack (driver, container runtime hooks, device plugin, telemetry exporter, node labeling) as managed operands.

Responsibility. Manages the lifecycle of accelerator software on cluster nodes.

Also known as: GPU Operator, NVIDIA GPU Operator

Direct neighbourhood (hover for relationship types)

Relationships

deployed on structural

Container Orchestrator Ref4.07

orchestrates control

Design guidance

SHOULD be installed before deploying GPU workloads and validated with a sample GPU pod.
SHOULD run with RBAC and restricted privileges, with drivers regularly updated for security patches.

Classification

Patterns: Kubernetes operator patternDaemonSet node agentsContainerized driver deployment
Technologies: NVIDIA GPU OperatorHelm
Quality attributes: Maintainability (ISO/IEC 25010)Reliability (ISO/IEC 25010 | NIST AI RMF: valid and reliable)
Risks mitigated: Manual per-node driver installation drift

Sources

Ch7.6: T. Nguyen, "Multi-Instance GPU," in Mastering Agentic AI Systems: Guide for the NVIDIA NCP-AAI Exam, 1st ed. 2026, ch. 7.6. ISBN: 9798244538229.
Ref4.07: NVIDIA, "About the NVIDIA GPU Operator," NVIDIA GPU Operator Documentation. Accessed: Sep. 27, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/cloud-native/gpu-operator/latest/index.html