Operator Lifecycle Management (DoK Day EU 2022) // Julian Fischer

Data on Kubernetes Community

https://go.dok.community/slack

https://dok.community/

From the DoK Day EU 2022 (https://youtu.be/Xi-h4XNd5tE)

The ability to extend Kubernetes with Custom Resource Definitions and respective controllers has led to the OperatorSDK, which became the de facto standard for data service automation on Kubernetes. There are countless operator implementations available, and new operators are being released on a daily basis. Organizations managing hundreds of Kubernetes clusters for dozens of developer teams are also challenged to manage the lifecycle of hundreds of Kubernetes operators. The goal is to keep the operational overhead to a minimum.

In this talk, a closer look into the lifecycle of operators will be presented. With an understanding of how operators evolve, it becomes clear what challenges during operator upgrades. A brief overview of lifecycle management tools such as Helm, OLM, and Carvel is presented in this context. In particular, it will be discussed whether these tools can help, which restrictions apply and where further development would be desirable. At the end of this talk, you will know what operator lifecycle management is about, what its challenges are, and which tools may be used to reduce operational friction.

Julian Fischer, CEO of anynines, has dedicated his career to the automation of software operations. In more than fifteen years, he has built several application platforms. He has been using Kubernetes, Cloud Foundry, and BOSH in recent years. Within platform automation, Julian has a strong focus on data service automation at scale.