$ mkdir -p $HOME/projects/memcached-operator
Operator developers can take advantage of Ansible support in the Operator SDK to build an example Ansible-based Operator for Memcached, a distributed key-value store, and manage its lifecycle. This tutorial walks through the following process:
Create a Memcached deployment
Ensure that the deployment size is the same as specified by the Memcached
custom resource (CR) spec
Update the Memcached
CR status using the status writer with the names of the memcached
pods
The Red Hat-supported version of the Operator SDK CLI tool, including the related scaffolding and testing tools for Operator projects, is deprecated and is planned to be removed in a future release of OpenShift Container Platform. Red Hat will provide bug fixes and support for this feature during the current release lifecycle, but this feature will no longer receive enhancements and will be removed from future OpenShift Container Platform releases. The Red Hat-supported version of the Operator SDK is not recommended for creating new Operator projects. Operator authors with existing Operator projects can use the version of the Operator SDK CLI tool released with OpenShift Container Platform 4.17 to maintain their projects and create Operator releases targeting newer versions of OpenShift Container Platform. The following related base images for Operator projects are not deprecated. The runtime functionality and configuration APIs for these base images are still supported for bug fixes and for addressing CVEs.
For the most recent list of major functionality that has been deprecated or removed within OpenShift Container Platform, refer to the Deprecated and removed features section of the OpenShift Container Platform release notes. For information about the unsupported, community-maintained, version of the Operator SDK, see Operator SDK (Operator Framework). |
This process is accomplished by using two centerpieces of the Operator Framework:
The operator-sdk
CLI tool and controller-runtime
library API
Installation, upgrade, and role-based access control (RBAC) of Operators on a cluster
This tutorial goes into greater detail than Getting started with Operator SDK for Ansible-based Operators. |
Operator SDK CLI installed
OpenShift CLI (oc
) 4.17+ installed
Ansible 2.15.0
Ansible Runner 2.3.3+
Python 3.9+
Logged into an OpenShift Container Platform 4.17 cluster with oc
with an account that has cluster-admin
permissions
To allow the cluster to pull the image, the repository where you push your image must be set as public, or you must configure an image pull secret
Use the Operator SDK CLI to create a project called memcached-operator
.
Create a directory for the project:
$ mkdir -p $HOME/projects/memcached-operator
Change to the directory:
$ cd $HOME/projects/memcached-operator
Run the operator-sdk init
command
with the ansible
plugin
to initialize the project:
$ operator-sdk init \
--plugins=ansible \
--domain=example.com
Among the files generated by the operator-sdk init
command is a Kubebuilder PROJECT
file. Subsequent operator-sdk
commands, as well as help
output, that are run from the project root read this file and are aware that the project type is Ansible. For example:
domain: example.com
layout:
- ansible.sdk.operatorframework.io/v1
plugins:
manifests.sdk.operatorframework.io/v2: {}
scorecard.sdk.operatorframework.io/v2: {}
sdk.x-openshift.io/v1: {}
projectName: memcached-operator
version: "3"
Use the Operator SDK CLI to create a Memcached API.
Run the following command to create an API with group cache
, version, v1
, and kind Memcached
:
$ operator-sdk create api \
--group cache \
--version v1 \
--kind Memcached \
--generate-role (1)
1 | Generates an Ansible role for the API. |
After creating the API, your Operator project updates with the following structure:
Includes a sample Memcached
resource
Program that reconciles the state of the cluster to the desired state by using:
A reconciler, either an Ansible role or playbook
A watches.yaml
file, which connects the Memcached
resource to the memcached
Ansible role
Update your Operator project to provide the reconcile logic, in the form of an Ansible role, which runs every time a Memcached
resource is created, updated, or deleted.
Update the roles/memcached/tasks/main.yml
file with the following structure:
---
- name: start memcached
k8s:
definition:
kind: Deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
metadata:
name: '{{ ansible_operator_meta.name }}-memcached'
namespace: '{{ ansible_operator_meta.namespace }}'
spec:
replicas: "{{size}}"
selector:
matchLabels:
app: memcached
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: memcached
spec:
containers:
- name: memcached
command:
- memcached
- -m=64
- -o
- modern
- -v
image: "docker.io/memcached:1.4.36-alpine"
ports:
- containerPort: 11211
This memcached
role ensures a memcached
deployment exist and sets the deployment size.
Set default values for variables used in your Ansible role by editing the roles/memcached/defaults/main.yml
file:
---
# defaults file for Memcached
size: 1
Update the Memcached
sample resource in the config/samples/cache_v1_memcached.yaml
file with the following structure:
apiVersion: cache.example.com/v1
kind: Memcached
metadata:
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/name: memcached
app.kubernetes.io/instance: memcached-sample
app.kubernetes.io/part-of: memcached-operator
app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kustomize
app.kubernetes.io/created-by: memcached-operator
name: memcached-sample
spec:
size: 3
The key-value pairs in the custom resource (CR) spec are passed to Ansible as extra variables.
The names of all variables in the You can disable this case conversion by setting the |
Operator authors can develop Operators that support network proxies. Cluster administrators configure proxy support for the environment variables that are handled by Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM). To support proxied clusters, your Operator must inspect the environment for the following standard proxy variables and pass the values to Operands:
HTTP_proxy
HTTPS_proxy
NO_proxy
This tutorial uses |
A cluster with cluster-wide egress proxy enabled.
Add the environment variables to the deployment by updating the roles/memcached/tasks/main.yml
file with the following:
...
env:
- name: HTTP_proxy
value: '{{ lookup("env", "HTTP_proxy") | default("", True) }}'
- name: http_proxy
value: '{{ lookup("env", "HTTP_proxy") | default("", True) }}'
...
Set the environment variable on the Operator deployment by adding the following to the config/manager/manager.yaml
file:
containers:
- args:
- --leader-elect
- --leader-election-id=ansible-proxy-demo
image: controller:latest
name: manager
env:
- name: "HTTP_proxy"
value: "http_proxy_test"
There are three ways you can use the Operator SDK CLI to build and run your Operator:
Run locally outside the cluster as a Go program.
Run as a deployment on the cluster.
Bundle your Operator and use Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) to deploy on the cluster.
You can run your Operator project as a Go program outside of the cluster. This is useful for development purposes to speed up deployment and testing.
Run the following command to install the custom resource definitions (CRDs) in the cluster configured in your ~/.kube/config
file and run the Operator locally:
$ make install run
...
{"level":"info","ts":1612589622.7888272,"logger":"ansible-controller","msg":"Watching resource","Options.Group":"cache.example.com","Options.Version":"v1","Options.Kind":"Memcached"}
{"level":"info","ts":1612589622.7897573,"logger":"proxy","msg":"Starting to serve","Address":"127.0.0.1:8888"}
{"level":"info","ts":1612589622.789971,"logger":"controller-runtime.manager","msg":"starting metrics server","path":"/metrics"}
{"level":"info","ts":1612589622.7899997,"logger":"controller-runtime.manager.controller.memcached-controller","msg":"Starting EventSource","source":"kind source: cache.example.com/v1, Kind=Memcached"}
{"level":"info","ts":1612589622.8904517,"logger":"controller-runtime.manager.controller.memcached-controller","msg":"Starting Controller"}
{"level":"info","ts":1612589622.8905244,"logger":"controller-runtime.manager.controller.memcached-controller","msg":"Starting workers","worker count":8}
You can run your Operator project as a deployment on your cluster.
Run the following make
commands to build and push the Operator image. Modify the IMG
argument in the following steps to reference a repository that you have access to. You can obtain an account for storing containers at repository sites such as Quay.io.
Build the image:
$ make docker-build IMG=<registry>/<user>/<image_name>:<tag>
The Dockerfile generated by the SDK for the Operator explicitly references |
Push the image to a repository:
$ make docker-push IMG=<registry>/<user>/<image_name>:<tag>
The name and tag of the image, for example |
Run the following command to deploy the Operator:
$ make deploy IMG=<registry>/<user>/<image_name>:<tag>
By default, this command creates a namespace with the name of your Operator project in the form <project_name>-system
and is used for the deployment. This command also installs the RBAC manifests from config/rbac
.
Run the following command to verify that the Operator is running:
$ oc get deployment -n <project_name>-system
NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE
<project_name>-controller-manager 1/1 1 1 8m
The Operator bundle format is the default packaging method for Operator SDK and Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM). You can get your Operator ready for use on OLM by using the Operator SDK to build and push your Operator project as a bundle image.
Operator SDK CLI installed on a development workstation
OpenShift CLI (oc
) v4.17+ installed
Operator project initialized by using the Operator SDK
Run the following make
commands in your Operator project directory to build and push your Operator image. Modify the IMG
argument in the following steps to reference a repository that you have access to. You can obtain an account for storing containers at repository sites such as Quay.io.
Build the image:
$ make docker-build IMG=<registry>/<user>/<operator_image_name>:<tag>
The Dockerfile generated by the SDK for the Operator explicitly references |
Push the image to a repository:
$ make docker-push IMG=<registry>/<user>/<operator_image_name>:<tag>
Create your Operator bundle manifest by running the make bundle
command, which invokes several commands, including the Operator SDK generate bundle
and bundle validate
subcommands:
$ make bundle IMG=<registry>/<user>/<operator_image_name>:<tag>
Bundle manifests for an Operator describe how to display, create, and manage an application. The make bundle
command creates the following files and directories in your Operator project:
A bundle manifests directory named bundle/manifests
that contains a ClusterServiceVersion
object
A bundle metadata directory named bundle/metadata
All custom resource definitions (CRDs) in a config/crd
directory
A Dockerfile bundle.Dockerfile
These files are then automatically validated by using operator-sdk bundle validate
to ensure the on-disk bundle representation is correct.
Build and push your bundle image by running the following commands. OLM consumes Operator bundles using an index image, which reference one or more bundle images.
Build the bundle image. Set BUNDLE_IMG
with the details for the registry, user namespace, and image tag where you intend to push the image:
$ make bundle-build BUNDLE_IMG=<registry>/<user>/<bundle_image_name>:<tag>
Push the bundle image:
$ docker push <registry>/<user>/<bundle_image_name>:<tag>
Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) helps you to install, update, and manage the lifecycle of Operators and their associated services on a Kubernetes cluster. OLM is installed by default on OpenShift Container Platform and runs as a Kubernetes extension so that you can use the web console and the OpenShift CLI (oc
) for all Operator lifecycle management functions without any additional tools.
The Operator bundle format is the default packaging method for Operator SDK and OLM. You can use the Operator SDK to quickly run a bundle image on OLM to ensure that it runs properly.
Operator SDK CLI installed on a development workstation
Operator bundle image built and pushed to a registry
OLM installed on a Kubernetes-based cluster (v1.16.0 or later if you use apiextensions.k8s.io/v1
CRDs, for example OpenShift Container Platform 4.17)
Logged in to the cluster with oc
using an account with cluster-admin
permissions
Enter the following command to run the Operator on the cluster:
$ operator-sdk run bundle \(1)
-n <namespace> \(2)
<registry>/<user>/<bundle_image_name>:<tag> (3)
1 | The run bundle command creates a valid file-based catalog and installs the Operator bundle on your cluster using OLM. |
2 | Optional: By default, the command installs the Operator in the currently active project in your ~/.kube/config file. You can add the -n flag to set a different namespace scope for the installation. |
3 | If you do not specify an image, the command uses quay.io/operator-framework/opm:latest as the default index image. If you specify an image, the command uses the bundle image itself as the index image. |
As of OpenShift Container Platform 4.11, the |
This command performs the following actions:
Create an index image referencing your bundle image. The index image is opaque and ephemeral, but accurately reflects how a bundle would be added to a catalog in production.
Create a catalog source that points to your new index image, which enables OperatorHub to discover your Operator.
Deploy your Operator to your cluster by creating an OperatorGroup
, Subscription
, InstallPlan
, and all other required resources, including RBAC.
After your Operator is installed, you can test it by creating a custom resource (CR) that is now provided on the cluster by the Operator.
Example Memcached Operator, which provides the Memcached
CR, installed on a cluster
Change to the namespace where your Operator is installed. For example, if you deployed the Operator using the make deploy
command:
$ oc project memcached-operator-system
Edit the sample Memcached
CR manifest at config/samples/cache_v1_memcached.yaml
to contain the following specification:
apiVersion: cache.example.com/v1
kind: Memcached
metadata:
name: memcached-sample
...
spec:
...
size: 3
Create the CR:
$ oc apply -f config/samples/cache_v1_memcached.yaml
Ensure that the Memcached
Operator creates the deployment for the sample CR with the correct size:
$ oc get deployments
NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE
memcached-operator-controller-manager 1/1 1 1 8m
memcached-sample 3/3 3 3 1m
Check the pods and CR status to confirm the status is updated with the Memcached pod names.
Check the pods:
$ oc get pods
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
memcached-sample-6fd7c98d8-7dqdr 1/1 Running 0 1m
memcached-sample-6fd7c98d8-g5k7v 1/1 Running 0 1m
memcached-sample-6fd7c98d8-m7vn7 1/1 Running 0 1m
Check the CR status:
$ oc get memcached/memcached-sample -o yaml
apiVersion: cache.example.com/v1
kind: Memcached
metadata:
...
name: memcached-sample
...
spec:
size: 3
status:
nodes:
- memcached-sample-6fd7c98d8-7dqdr
- memcached-sample-6fd7c98d8-g5k7v
- memcached-sample-6fd7c98d8-m7vn7
Update the deployment size.
Update config/samples/cache_v1_memcached.yaml
file to change the spec.size
field in the Memcached
CR from 3
to 5
:
$ oc patch memcached memcached-sample \
-p '{"spec":{"size": 5}}' \
--type=merge
Confirm that the Operator changes the deployment size:
$ oc get deployments
NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE
memcached-operator-controller-manager 1/1 1 1 10m
memcached-sample 5/5 5 5 3m
Delete the CR by running the following command:
$ oc delete -f config/samples/cache_v1_memcached.yaml
Clean up the resources that have been created as part of this tutorial.
If you used the make deploy
command to test the Operator, run the following command:
$ make undeploy
If you used the operator-sdk run bundle
command to test the Operator, run the following command:
$ operator-sdk cleanup <project_name>
See Project layout for Ansible-based Operators to learn about the directory structures created by the Operator SDK.
If a cluster-wide egress proxy is configured, cluster administrators can override the proxy settings or inject a custom CA certificate for specific Operators running on Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).