Quickstart for Helm-based Operators

A simple set of instructions to set up and run a Helm-based operator.

This guide walks through an example of building a simple nginx-operator powered by Helm using tools and libraries provided by the Operator SDK.

Prerequisites

• Go through the installation guide.
• User authorized with cluster-admin permissions.

Steps

1. Create a project directory for your project and initialize the project:

mkdir nginx-operator
cd nginx-operator
operator-sdk init --domain example.com --plugins helm

1. Create a simple nginx API using Helm’s built-in chart boilerplate (from helm create):

operator-sdk create api --group demo --version v1alpha1 --kind Nginx

1. Use the built-in Makefile targets to build and push your operator. Make sure to define IMG when you call make:

export OPERATOR_IMG="quay.io/example/nginx-operator:v0.0.1"
make docker-build docker-push IMG=$OPERATOR_IMG

OLM deployment

1. Install OLM:

operator-sdk olm install

1. Bundle your operator and push the bundle image:

make bundle IMG=$OPERATOR_IMG
# Note the "-bundle" component in the image name below.
export BUNDLE_IMG="quay.io/example/nginx-operator-bundle:v0.0.1"
make bundle-build BUNDLE_IMG=$BUNDLE_IMG
make docker-push IMG=$BUNDLE_IMG

1. Run your bundle:

operator-sdk run bundle $BUNDLE_IMG

1. Create a sample Nginx custom resource:

$ kubectl apply -f config/samples/demo_v1alpha1_nginx.yaml
nginx.demo.example.com/nginx-sample created

1. Uninstall the operator:

operator-sdk cleanup nginx-operator

Direct deployment

1. Deploy your operator:

make deploy IMG=$OPERATOR_IMG

1. Create a sample Nginx custom resource:

$ kubectl apply -f config/samples/demo_v1alpha1_nginx.yaml
nginx.demo.example.com/nginx-sample created

1. Uninstall the operator:

make undeploy

Next Steps

Read the full tutorial for an in-depth walkthough of building a Helm operator.

Last modified January 13, 2021: Align tutorial imports with test samples (#4393) (4209b568)