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CPU Pinning ​

CPU pinning gives each Counter-Strike server its own CPU cores, so other processes on the node don't interfere with it. Players get more consistent tick rates and lower latency.

Configuration ​

On the node, add the following configuration:

kubelet-arg:
  - "cpu-manager-policy=static"
  - "cpu-manager-reconcile-period=5s"
  - "system-reserved=cpu=1"

One core is held back for the node itself. Every other core can take a server, so an 8-core node fits 7 servers at the default of 1 CPU per server, or 3 at 2.

Applying Changes ​

After making the configuration changes, follow these steps to apply them:

  1. Remove the existing CPU manager state:

    bash
    rm /var/lib/kubelet/cpu_manager_state

  2. Restart the K3s agent service:

    bash
    systemctl restart k3s-agent

Nodes that reserve two cores ​

Nodes set up before this change also reserve kube-reserved=cpu=1, so an 8-core node fits 6 servers instead of 7, and the panel warns about it on the node. To free the extra core, run this as root on the node while it has no matches:

bash
sed -i '/kube-reserved/d' /etc/rancher/k3s/config.yaml && rm -f /var/lib/kubelet/cpu_manager_state && systemctl restart k3s-agent