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Enable managed services on a Kube-DC installation

As a platform operator, use this procedure to install the managed services control plane and publish selected service plans. New Kube-DC installations enable managed services when the installer has verified expandable storage and an explicit capacity budget. Existing installations enable them through their per-cluster Fleet overlay. The Fleet starter carries the services hub, the catalog for PostgreSQL, Kafka, Valkey, MySQL, MariaDB, ClickHouse and Forgejo, and their operator trees. Enable only the families that you qualify on the target cluster.

Before you begin​

Check these prerequisites:

  • A working Kube-DC installation with a Fleet repository and Flux.
  • A compatible services release with reviewed hub, runner, and catalog pins.
  • Storage roles, capacity budgets, and connectivity for the selected plans.
  • The native operators required by the selected families.
  • A reachable HTTPS backup endpoint for plans that require object storage.

What an installation offers​

The catalog defines the available services. A family component supplies its class, bundle, and plans. The provider selects components for each installation and publishes only qualified plans. With all six database and messaging families selected, the catalog offers 12 Development and Production plans; Forgejo has its own plan. See Publish the catalog.

Operations differ by family. Every published Development and Production plan supports compute resize and storage expansion within its bounds. Read the plan's spec.operations.allowed and status.tunables for the supported inputs. Valkey supports archive recovery on backup-enabled plans. Kafka exports metadata without message data. Do not infer operation support from a plan's name or tier.

Turn it on​

1. Pins​

In clusters/<name>/cluster-config.env. The release values come from the starter's bootstrap/release-pins.env; the rest describe this cluster.

SERVICES_CHART_VERSION=<services-release>
SERVICES_HUB_TAG=<hub-tag>
SERVICES_RUNNER_TAG=<runner-tag>
SERVICES_RUNNER_IMAGE=<runner-image>

# This cluster's identity as a services site.
SERVICES_CELL_ID=cell-<name>
SERVICES_RUNNER_SELF=true
SERVICES_DATAPLANE_NAME=<name>-platform

# What this cluster offers and what it may consume. There are no defaults:
# a cluster that has not decided should fail the render, not inherit
# somebody else's decision.
SERVICES_FAMILIES=[postgresql, valkey]
SERVICES_UNMANAGED_OPERATORS=[postgresql]
SERVICES_STORAGE_BUDGETS={rbd-vm: 100Gi}
SERVICES_STORAGE_ROLES={database: rbd-vm}
SERVICES_EGRESS_PROBE_URLS=[https://ghcr.io/v2/]

# PostgreSQL specifics, if you offer it.
SERVICES_PG_OPERATOR_VERSION=1.29.2
SERVICES_PG_STORAGE_CLASSES=[rbd-vm]

Replace the release and image placeholders with the reviewed release pins. Replace <name> with the installation identifier. These are Fleet values, not shell commands.

SERVICES_STORAGE_ROLES maps logical storage roles to local classes. A published plan asks for the database role, not a class name, because class names differ between installations. Map the role to a class that supports volume expansion.

2. The hub​

clusters/<name>/services.yaml, path ./platform/kube-dc-services, with components: [components/self-data-plane] when the cluster hosts its own data plane, which it does when SERVICES_RUNNER_SELF=true. That component creates the ServiceAccount the hub acts as on this cluster, its token, the scoped read-only ClusterRole and the binding, and tells the hub that this plane is itself. Nothing has to be applied by hand.

Use the Fleet services Kustomization as a template. Review its namespace, substitutions, dependencies, and selected components for the target installation.

3. The catalog​

clusters/<name>/services-catalog.yaml, path ./platform/kube-dc-services-catalog, dependsOn: services. Select components/data-plane plus one component per family you offer, and components/shared-service-plans for the published Development/Production pairs:

  components:
    - components/data-plane
    - components/valkey
    - components/shared-service-plans

prune: false on both Kustomizations, always: removing a file must never delete a class or plan that a running instance still references.

4. Family operators​

A family whose engine needs a cluster-wide operator gets its own opt-in Flux Kustomization, and the family must be listed in SERVICES_UNMANAGED_OPERATORS so the bundle attests the operator's version and never installs a second copy.

FamilyTreePin
PostgreSQLinfrastructure/cnpgCNPG_VERSION
MySQLplatform/mysql-operatorMYSQL_OPERATOR_CHART_VERSION
MariaDBplatform/mariadb-operatorMARIADB_OPERATOR_VERSION
ClickHouseplatform/clickhouse-operatorCLICKHOUSE_OPERATOR_CHART_VERSION
Valkeyplatform/valkey-operatorVALKEY_OPERATOR_CHART_VERSION
Kafkaplatform/strimzi-operatorSTRIMZI_OPERATOR_CHART_VERSION

Selecting a family component without its operator gives you a bundle that never becomes ready and placements that are refused with "family bundle not ready".

5. Verify the installation​

kubectl get servicedataplane <name>-platform \
  -o jsonpath='{.status.ready}{"\n"}{range .status.bundles[*]}{.family}{"\t"}{.ready}{"\t"}{.message}{"\n"}{end}'

Every bundle must be ready. does not pin a runner version means SERVICES_RUNNER_TAG rendered empty. rollout pending is the ordinary window between the hub rolling out and the catalog applying, and clears by itself.

Then create a test service and connect an application through a binding. Test the operations and recovery paths that the plan offers before publication. Verify deletion and retained resources after the test.

What tenants see in the console​

The console shows managed services to every organization of the installation by default. The following variables in cluster-config.env control visibility. The chart renders them into the console runtime configuration:

# Managed services in the tenant console. The default is every organization;
# list organizations instead to run a pilot. The runtime configuration controls visibility.
KUBE_DC_UI_MANAGED_SERVICES_ALL_ORGANIZATIONS=true
KUBE_DC_UI_MANAGED_SERVICES_ORGANIZATIONS=[]

A tenant's console lists exactly the classes whose plans are published for the cluster and not annotated services.kube-dc.com/console: disabled; the creation sheet groups the plans of a class into Dev, Production and HA tiers. See Publish the catalog.

Check a deployment without rebuilding the cluster​

Use the same read-only release gate after installation and after a services upgrade:

kube-dc bootstrap --repo FLEET_REPO services verify CLUSTER \
  --kubeconfig ADMIN_KUBECONFIG

Replace FLEET_REPO, CLUSTER, and ADMIN_KUBECONFIG with the repository, cluster overlay name, and administrator kubeconfig. The command pins that kubeconfig's context and checks cluster/cell identity, the Ready services chart and hub digest, the completed runner image rollout, current-generation classes and plans, six family bundles, egress, placements, and console publication. Add --greenfield for a new installation; it also requires the starter's legacy plans to be disabled. It does not read signing-key Secrets.

For deployment testing, reuse the previously qualified family lifecycle matrix when adapter code and plan inputs are unchanged. Render the starter and target overlay, run this gate, then perform one disposable backup/restore and deletion smoke. Test changed adapters or plan inputs separately. This checks an existing cluster; the fresh-install harness still qualifies RKE2, Flux ordering and first-install prerequisites on a clean host.

Upgrade a family operator on one cluster​

Operator, chart and catalog bundle pins must describe the same version. For ClickHouse, select all three values in that cluster's cluster-config.env:

CLICKHOUSE_OPERATOR_CHART_VERSION=CHART_VERSION
CLICKHOUSE_OPERATOR_IMAGE_TAG=OPERATOR_VERSION@sha256:OPERATOR_DIGEST
CLICKHOUSE_METRICS_IMAGE_TAG=OPERATOR_VERSION@sha256:METRICS_DIGEST

Replace the placeholders with a compatible chart and verified image digests. The chart version also updates the ClickHouse catalog bundle's operator attestation. Other clusters retain their own pins. This upgrades the operator; engine and Keeper versions remain selected by service plans.

Operator 0.27.4 removes k8s_secret_password_sha256_hex. Services source f280b84 and the combined v0.9.1-rc9-clickhouse.20261002.3 artifacts implement namespace-local valueFrom.secretKeyRef and a credential marker that rolls server Pods after Secret changes. Stage operator 0.27.4 passed both credential roles on every replica, explicit previous-password refusal, compute resize, volume expansion, RestoreToNew, and retained source data and PVC identities. Evidence is in the ClickHouse migration checkpoint. Stage, Cloud and the starter candidate now pin .4, which preserves that migration and fixes the user-visible status during Keeper loss. The Cloud fault checkpoint records member replacement, Keeper unavailability, automatic data-preserving recovery and confirmed cleanup. These candidate pins do not promote the stable CLI/starter release.

For an existing installation, use this order:

  1. Deploy the reviewed compatible hub and runner before changing the operator. Confirm the running digests and the completed rollout.
  2. Confirm existing CHIs use exact-owned namespace-local Secret selectors. The resource guard converts those references on apply and retains the credential marker through signed revision replay.
  3. Select the operator chart, operator image and metrics image together. Verify the operator and current-generation catalog bundle.
  4. Qualify credential rotation on every replica: the new password must work and the previous password must receive an explicit authentication failure. Check data markers and PVC identities before publication.

The published plans continue to select ClickHouse and Keeper 25.8.2. An operator upgrade does not upgrade database engines. Keep a cluster on its qualified operator pins until its migration gate passes.

Before pushing, render and record the target catalog's changed bundle pin:

bash scripts/services-catalog-render-test.sh --update CLUSTER

Review and commit the overlay, shared-template changes if needed, and platform/kube-dc-services-catalog/revisions.lock together. Wait for the operator HelmRelease and services catalog to become Ready, run bootstrap services verify, and qualify a disposable service. Existing instances keep their pinned catalog revision; use the reviewed catalog adoption procedure when their bundle inputs need to move.

The same principle applies to MySQL: change MYSQL_OPERATOR_CHART_VERSION, MYSQL_OPERATOR_VERSION, and MYSQL_OPERATOR_IMAGE_DIGEST together. A version must exist in the operator's published chart repository before selecting it.

Upgrade the services control plane​

The hub, the runner and the catalog are one release. The catalog in the fleet tree describes the adapters the released runner compiles, and a class whose blueprint digest does not match the running hub stops being Verified. New placements are refused while existing services keep their pinned revision.

So move SERVICES_CHART_VERSION, SERVICES_HUB_TAG, SERVICES_RUNNER_TAG and SERVICES_RUNNER_IMAGE in one commit, and let the catalog follow in the same commit. dependsOn: services orders the two applies.

If you hold a cluster on an older services release while the fleet tree moves on, set suspend: true on its services-catalog Kustomization and un-suspend it in the same commit that moves its pins. Nothing running is affected while it is suspended.

Not offering managed services​

Create neither services.yaml nor services-catalog.yaml. Neither platform/kube-dc-services nor platform/kube-dc-services-catalog is listed in platform/kustomization.yaml, so no cluster gets them by being a cluster. The SERVICES_* pins a new cluster inherits from the starter stay inert.