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Operator Framework

The Operator Framework is an open source project that provides Kubernetes developer and runtime tools to help you speed up the creation of an Operator. The Operator Framework includes the following components:

  • Operator SDK: Allows developers to create Operators based on their expertise rather than having to understand the complexity of the Kubernetes API.
  • Operator Lifecycle Management: Ensures that all Operators (and their associated services) running throughout a Kubernetes cluster are installed, updated, and managed.
  • Operator Metering (coming soon): Allows Operators who provide specialised services to report on their usage.

Operator SDK

The SDK includes tools for creating, testing, and packaging Operators. Initially, the SDK enables the integration of an application's business logic (for example, how to scale, update, or backup) with the Kubernetes API to carry out those activities. Engineers will be able to make programmes smarter and have the user experience of cloud services with the SDK as time goes on. To avoid having to recreate the wheel, the SDK includes best practises and programming patterns that are shared between Operators.

Operator Lifecycle Manager

Operators must be deployed on a Kubernetes cluster once they have been constructed. The Operator Lifecycle Manager is a Kubernetes backplane that makes it easier to manage operators in a cluster. Administrators can use it to govern which Operators are available in which namespaces, as well as who can interact with live Operators. They can also manage an Operator's and their resources' overall lifecycles, such as triggering modifications to both an Operator and its resources.

Using a generic Operator, simple, stateless applications can take advantage of the Operator Framework's Lifecycle Management features without writing any code (for example, the Helm Operator). Complex and stateful applications, on the other hand, are where an Operator can shine. The Operator code's cloud-like capabilities can give a more advanced user experience by automating things like updates, backups, and scaling.

Operator Metering

The Operator Framework will feature the ability to metre application consumption in a future edition, which will be a Kubernetes first and give extensions for central IT departments to budget and software suppliers providing commercial software. Operator metering is intended to integrate with the cluster's CPU and memory reporting, as well as calculate IaaS cost and customizable metrics such as licencing.

We're working on Metering right now, and it'll be open-sourced and integrated into the Framework in the following months.

Operator Framework Benefits

If you're a part of the Kubernetes community, a builder, a consumer of apps, or just a Kubernetes user in general, the Operator Framework has a lot to offer.

For the benefit of builders and the community

When it comes to developing Kubernetes applications today, there is typically a high barrier to entry. There are numerous pre-existing dependencies and assumptions, many of which may necessitate technical knowledge and experience. Simultaneously, application users frequently do not want their services to be isolated across many IT footprints with different management capabilities (for example, departments with differing tools for auditing, notification, metering, and so on).

The Operator Framework intends to address these issues by bringing the Kubernetes community's expertise and knowledge together in a single project that, when used as a standard application format, can make it easier to design Kubernetes applications. We anticipate that by sharing this Framework with the community, an ecosystem of builders would be able to more easily design apps on Kubernetes using a common manner, as well as providing a standardised set of tools for building consistent applications.

Kubernetes users and application consumers

Consumers of hybrid cloud apps must maintain their applications up to date when new versions become available, both for security reasons and to manage the programmes' lifecycles and other requirements. The Operator Framework aids in the building of cloud-native applications that are easier to consume, update, and protect by addressing these user requirements.