Introducing the RavenDB Kubernetes Operator

We are thrilled to announce the official release of the RavenDB Kubernetes Operator.

As organizations increasingly adopt Kubernetes for their infrastructure, deploying complex stateful applications like databases presents significant challenges. Managing aspects such as certificates, persistent storage, and seamless upgrades can often become a bottleneck. This new release aims to bridge the gap between RavenDB's renowned ease of use and the powerful, declarative capabilities of Kubernetes.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, a Kubernetes Operator functions much like a dedicated Site Reliability Engineer (SRE). While Kubernetes excels at managing stateless applications, databases demand specialized knowledge for correct operation—for instance, ensuring not all nodes are upgraded simultaneously, or confirming leader stability before a restart.

The RavenDB Operator extends the Kubernetes API, allowing you to declaratively define your desired cluster state through a "Manifest." The Operator then diligently works in the background to ensure your infrastructure consistently matches this specified state.

Why This Matters

Historically, deploying a secure, clustered RavenDB instance on Kubernetes involved extensive manual configuration of StatefulSets, Services, and intricate TLS certificate chains.

With the RavenDB Kubernetes Operator, this complexity is significantly reduced. Deployments are now driven by a single custom resource: RavenDBCluster. You define the specifications, and the Operator manages the underlying complexities, guaranteeing fully reproducible, secure, and declarative deployments.

The Operator delivers several key benefits:

• Automated Security & Certificate Management: Whether utilizing Let's Encrypt or Self-Signed certificates, the Operator handles bootstrapping, distribution, and rotation automatically. For its internal webhook certificate, the Operator leverages cert-manager, as this component is not externally exposed.
• Safe Rolling Upgrades: Database upgrades are often daunting. The Operator meticulously orchestrates node-by-node upgrades, incorporating safety gates to verify cluster health and data integrity before proceeding to the next node. Should a safety gate fail, the upgrade process automatically pauses.
• Flexible External Access: Exposing databases outside the Kubernetes cluster can be a networking challenge. We've integrated dedicated support for AWS NLB, Azure Load Balancer, HAProxy, Traefik, and NGINX, providing production-ready access strategies right out of the box.
• Storage Orchestration: Gain declarative control over your data, log, and audit volumes, with support for local paths, AWS EBS, and Azure Disks.
• One-Click Deploy: Leverage our official Helm chart to rapidly provision a fully operational RavenDB cluster in mere minutes.

The RavenDB Kubernetes Operator is now available via Helm and is compatible with EKS, AKS, Kind, Minikube, and Kubeadm clusters.

We eagerly anticipate the innovative solutions you will build with RavenDB on Kubernetes!