{"id":4563,"date":"2018-02-06T14:17:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T22:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/?p=4563"},"modified":"2025-06-13T19:28:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T02:28:26","slug":"introducing-couchbase-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/introducing-couchbase-operator\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Couchbase Operator: Running Couchbase Natively on Kubernetes and OpenShift Platform – Beta Announcement!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Couchbase Operator enables you to run Couchbase deployments natively on <\/span>Open Source Kubernetes<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Enterprise Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The goal of the Couchbase Operator is to fully manage one or more Couchbase deployments by removing operational complexities of running Couchbase by automating the management of common Couchbase tasks such as the configuration, creation, upgrade and scaling of Couchbase clusters. <\/span><\/p>\n

By reducing the complexity of running a Couchbase cluster, it lets you focus on the desired configuration and not worry about the details of manual deployment and lifecycle management.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What is Kubernetes Operator?<\/span><\/h2>\n

An Operator is an application-specific controller that extends the Kubernetes API to create, configure and manage instances of complex stateful applications on behalf of a Kubernetes user. It builds upon the basic <\/span>Kubernetes resource<\/span><\/a> and controller concepts, but also includes domain or application-specific knowledge to automate common tasks better managed by computers. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kubernetes Operators was introduced by the team at CoreOS and in their <\/span>announcement<\/span><\/a>, CoreOS suggested Operators as a means to more efficiently manage database infrastructure. <\/span><\/p>\n

How Does it Work?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Couchbase Operator extends the Kubernetes API by creating a Custom Resource Definition(CRD) and registering a Couchbase specific controller (the Operator) to manage Couchbase clusters. <\/span><\/p>\n

The CRD allows you to define a configuration describing what a Couchbase cluster should look like. For example, a configuration might define a cluster with three nodes, one bucket, and 8GB of memory for the data service. Once the configuration is loaded into Kubernetes, the configuration is passed to the custom Couchbase controller which takes actions to ensure a Couchbase cluster with the specified configuration is provisioned. <\/span><\/p>\n

The controller can also detect updates to the configuration and reacts to changes that occur in the cluster itself. Like all Kubernetes standard built-in resources, the Couchbase Operator doesn\u2019t just manage a single Couchbase cluster but multiple Couchbase clusters across an entire Kubernetes deployment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a sample configuration file for the <\/span>Couchbase Operator<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n

apiVersion: extensions\/v1beta1\r\nkind: Deployment\r\nmetadata:\r\n  name: couchbase-operator\r\n  namespace: default\r\nspec:\r\n  replicas: 1\r\n  template:\r\n    metadata:\r\n      labels:\r\n        name: couchbase-operator\r\n    spec:\r\n      containers:\r\n      - name: couchbase-operator\r\n        image: couchbase\/couchbase-operator:v1\r\n        env:\r\n        - name: MY_POD_NAMESPACE\r\n          valueFrom:\r\n            fieldRef:\r\n              fieldPath: metadata.namespace\r\n        - name: MY_POD_NAME\r\n          valueFrom:\r\n            fieldRef:\r\n              fieldPath: metadata.name\r\n        ports:\r\n          - name: readiness-port\r\n            containerPort: 8080\r\n        readinessProbe:\r\n          httpGet:\r\n            path: \/readyz\r\n            port: readiness-port\r\n          initialDelaySeconds: 3\r\n          periodSeconds: 3\r\n          failureThreshold: 19<\/pre>\n
And here is a sample configuration file for a <\/span>Couchbase cluster.<\/b><\/p>\n
apiVersion: couchbase.database.couchbase.com\/v1beta1\r\nkind: CouchbaseCluster\r\nmetadata:\r\n  name: cb-example\r\nspec:\r\n  baseImage: couchbase\/server\r\n  version: enterprise-5.0.1\r\n  authSecret: cb-example-auth\r\n  exposeAdminConsole: true\r\n  cluster:\r\n    dataServiceMemoryQuota: 256\r\n    indexServiceMemoryQuota: 256\r\n    searchServiceMemoryQuota: 256\r\n    indexStorageSetting: memory_optimized\r\n    autoFailoverTimeout: 30\r\n  buckets:\r\n    - name: default\r\n      type: couchbase\r\n      memoryQuota: 128\r\n      replicas: 1\r\n      ioPriority: high\r\n      evictionPolicy: fullEviction\r\n      conflictResolution: seqno\r\n      enableFlush: true\r\n      enableIndexReplica: false\r\n  servers:\r\n    - size: 3\r\n      name: all_services\r\n      services:\r\n        - data\r\n        - index\r\n        - query\r\n        - search\r\n      dataPath: \/opt\/couchbase\/var\/lib\/couchbase\/data\r\n      indexPath: \/opt\/couchbase\/var\/lib\/couchbase\/data<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
What\u2019s available in Beta?<\/span>
\nTo meet the goal of fully managing one or more Couchbase deployments on Kubernetes or OpenShift, this beta release comes with some of key capabilities:<\/span><\/p>\n