Akka.NET Management and Service Discovery

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Deploying Akka.NET clusters to Kubernetes or cloud environments
Replacing static seed nodes with dynamic service discovery
Configuring cluster bootstrap for auto-formation
Setting up health endpoints for load balancers
Integrating with Azure Table Storage, Kubernetes API, or config-based discovery

Reference Files

discovery-providers.md: Config, Kubernetes, and Azure discovery setup with full code and deployment YAML
configuration-reference.md: Strongly-typed configuration model classes

Overview

Akka.Management provides HTTP endpoints for cluster management and integrates with Akka.Cluster.Bootstrap to enable dynamic cluster formation using service discovery instead of static seed nodes.

Why Use Akka.Management?

Approach	Pros	Cons
Static Seed Nodes	Simple, no dependencies	Doesn't scale, requires known IPs
Akka.Management	Dynamic discovery, scales to N nodes	More configuration, external dependencies

Use static seed nodes for: Development, single-node deployments, fixed infrastructure.

Use Akka.Management for: Kubernetes, auto-scaling groups, dynamic environments, production clusters.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Cluster Bootstrap                         │
│  ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐     │
│  │  Node 1     │    │  Node 2     │    │  Node 3     │     │
│  │             │    │             │    │             │     │
│  │ Management  │◄──►│ Management  │◄──►│ Management  │     │
│  │ HTTP :8558  │    │ HTTP :8558  │    │ HTTP :8558  │     │
│  └──────┬──────┘    └──────┬──────┘    └──────┬──────┘     │
│         │                  │                  │             │
│         └──────────────────┼──────────────────┘             │
│                            │                                │
│                    ┌───────▼───────┐                        │
│                    │   Discovery   │                        │
│                    │   Provider    │                        │
│                    └───────────────┘                        │
│                            │                                │
└────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
              ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
              │              │              │
        ┌─────▼─────┐ ┌──────▼─────┐ ┌─────▼──────┐
        │ Kubernetes│ │   Azure    │ │   Config   │
        │    API    │ │   Tables   │ │   (HOCON)  │
        └───────────┘ └────────────┘ └────────────┘

Required NuGet Packages

<ItemGroup>
  <!-- Core management -->
  <PackageReference Include="Akka.Management" />
  <PackageReference Include="Akka.Management.Cluster.Bootstrap" />

  <!-- Choose ONE discovery provider -->
  <PackageReference Include="Akka.Discovery.KubernetesApi" />    <!-- For Kubernetes -->
  <PackageReference Include="Akka.Discovery.Azure" />            <!-- For Azure -->
  <PackageReference Include="Akka.Discovery.Config.Hosting" />   <!-- For static config -->
</ItemGroup>

Akka.Hosting Configuration

Basic Setup with Mode Selection

public static class AkkaConfiguration
{
    public static IServiceCollection ConfigureAkka(
        this IServiceCollection services,
        Action<AkkaConfigurationBuilder, IServiceProvider>? additionalConfig = null)
    {
        services.AddOptions<AkkaSettings>()
            .BindConfiguration("AkkaSettings")
            .ValidateDataAnnotations()
            .ValidateOnStart();

        return services.AddAkka("MySystem", (builder, sp) =>
        {
            var settings = sp.GetRequiredService<IOptions<AkkaSettings>>().Value;
            var configuration = sp.GetRequiredService<IConfiguration>();

            ConfigureNetwork(builder, settings, configuration);
            ConfigureHealthChecks(builder);

            additionalConfig?.Invoke(builder, sp);
        });
    }

    private static void ConfigureNetwork(
        AkkaConfigurationBuilder builder,
        AkkaSettings settings,
        IConfiguration configuration)
    {
        if (settings.ExecutionMode == AkkaExecutionMode.LocalTest)
            return;

        builder.WithRemoting(settings.RemoteOptions);

        if (settings.ClusterBootstrapOptions.Enabled)
            ConfigureAkkaManagement(builder, settings, configuration);
        else
            builder.WithClustering(settings.ClusterOptions);
    }
}

Akka.Management Configuration

private static void ConfigureAkkaManagement(
    AkkaConfigurationBuilder builder,
    AkkaSettings settings,
    IConfiguration configuration)
{
    var mgmtOptions = settings.AkkaManagementOptions;
    var bootstrapOptions = settings.ClusterBootstrapOptions;

    // IMPORTANT: Clear seed nodes when using Akka.Management
    settings.ClusterOptions.SeedNodes = [];

    builder
        .WithClustering(settings.ClusterOptions)
        .WithAkkaManagement(setup =>
        {
            setup.Http.HostName = mgmtOptions.HostName;
            setup.Http.Port = mgmtOptions.Port;
            setup.Http.BindHostName = "0.0.0.0";
            setup.Http.BindPort = mgmtOptions.Port;
        })
        .WithClusterBootstrap(options =>
        {
            options.ContactPointDiscovery.ServiceName = bootstrapOptions.ServiceName;
            options.ContactPointDiscovery.PortName = bootstrapOptions.PortName;
            options.ContactPointDiscovery.RequiredContactPointsNr = bootstrapOptions.RequiredContactPointsNr;
            options.ContactPointDiscovery.Interval = bootstrapOptions.ContactPointProbingInterval;
            options.ContactPointDiscovery.StableMargin = bootstrapOptions.StableMargin;
            options.ContactPointDiscovery.ContactWithAllContactPoints = bootstrapOptions.ContactWithAllContactPoints;
            options.ContactPoint.FilterOnFallbackPort = bootstrapOptions.FilterOnFallbackPort;
            options.ContactPoint.ProbeInterval = bootstrapOptions.BootstrapperDiscoveryPingInterval;
        });

    // Configure the discovery provider
    ConfigureDiscovery(builder, settings, configuration);
}

See discovery-providers.md for complete Config, Kubernetes, and Azure discovery setup code.

See configuration-reference.md for the full strongly-typed configuration model classes.

Health Endpoints

Akka.Management exposes health endpoints for load balancers and orchestrators:

Endpoint	Purpose	Returns 200 When
`/alive`	Liveness	ActorSystem is running
`/ready`	Readiness	Cluster member is Up
`/cluster/members`	Debug	Returns cluster membership

ASP.NET Core Health Check Integration

// Register Akka health checks
builder.Services.AddHealthChecks();

// In Akka configuration
builder
    .WithActorSystemLivenessCheck()     // Adds "akka-liveness" health check
    .WithAkkaClusterReadinessCheck();   // Adds "akka-cluster-readiness" health check

// Map endpoints
app.MapHealthChecks("/health/live", new HealthCheckOptions
{
    Predicate = check => check.Tags.Contains("liveness")
});

app.MapHealthChecks("/health/ready", new HealthCheckOptions
{
    Predicate = check => check.Tags.Contains("readiness")
});

Troubleshooting

Cluster Won't Form

Symptoms: Nodes stay as separate single-node clusters.

Checklist:

All nodes use same ServiceName
RequiredContactPointsNr matches actual replica count
Discovery provider is configured correctly
Network allows traffic on management port (8558)
For Kubernetes: RBAC permissions are set

Split Brain

Symptoms: Multiple clusters form instead of one.

Solutions:

Set ContactWithAllContactPoints = true
Increase StableMargin for slower environments
For Aspire: Set FilterOnFallbackPort = false (dynamic ports)
For Kubernetes: Set FilterOnFallbackPort = true (fixed ports)

Azure Discovery Issues

Symptoms: Nodes can't find each other via Azure Tables.

Checklist:

Connection string is valid
Storage account allows table operations
All nodes use same ServiceName
Firewall allows access to Azure Storage

Aspire Integration

For detailed Aspire-specific patterns, see the akka-net-aspire-configuration skill.

Quick reference for Aspire:

// In AppHost
appBuilder
    .WithEndpoint(name: "remote", protocol: ProtocolType.Tcp,
        env: "AkkaSettings__RemoteOptions__Port")
    .WithEndpoint(name: "management", protocol: ProtocolType.Tcp,
        env: "AkkaSettings__AkkaManagementOptions__Port")
    .WithEnvironment("AkkaSettings__ClusterBootstrapOptions__Enabled", "true")
    .WithEnvironment("AkkaSettings__ClusterBootstrapOptions__DiscoveryMethod", "AzureTableStorage")
    .WithEnvironment("AkkaSettings__ClusterBootstrapOptions__FilterOnFallbackPort", "false");

Summary: When to Use What

Scenario	Discovery Method	FilterOnFallbackPort
Local development (single node)	None (use seed nodes)	N/A
Aspire multi-node	AzureTableStorage	`false`
Kubernetes	Kubernetes	`true`
Azure VMs/VMSS	AzureTableStorage	`true`
Fixed infrastructure	Config	`true`
AWS ECS/EC2	AWS discovery plugins	`true`