What is Operator (Kubernetes)?
A Kubernetes controller that automates the management of complex stateful applications.
A Kubernetes Operator is a method of packaging, deploying, and managing a Kubernetes application using custom controllers and CRDs. Operators encode domain-specific operational knowledge — how to install, configure, upgrade, and backup an application like PostgreSQL or Kafka. They extend the Kubernetes API with new object types (CRDs) and implement controllers that watch those objects and reconcile the actual state. Operator Hub lists hundreds of community operators.
More Kubernetes Terms
Admission Controller
A Kubernetes plugin that intercepts API requests before objects are persisted.
Auto Scaling
Automatically adjusting the number of compute resources based on demand.
ClusterIP
The default Kubernetes Service type that exposes a service on an internal cluster IP.
ConfigMap
A Kubernetes object for storing non-sensitive configuration data as key-value pairs.
Controller Manager
Kubernetes control plane component running control loops to maintain desired state.
CoreDNS
The default DNS server in Kubernetes clusters for service discovery.
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