Deploy Redpanda for Production in Kubernetes
This topic describes how to configure and deploy one or more Redpanda clusters in Kubernetes.
Prerequisites
Make sure that your Kubernetes cluster meets the requirements.
You must already have a ConfigMap that stores your io-config.yaml
file. See Generate optimal I/O configuration settings.
Deploy a Redpanda cluster
To deploy Redpanda, you can use the following methods. Regardless of the method you choose to deploy Redpanda, you’ll deploy the Redpanda Helm chart, which includes Redpanda and Redpanda Console. Redpanda Console comes bundled as a subchart within the Redpanda Helm chart.
-
Helm and the Redpanda Operator: The Redpanda Operator extends Kubernetes with custom resource definitions (CRDs), allowing you to define Redpanda clusters as native Kubernetes resources. The resource that the Redpanda Operator uses to represent a Redpanda cluster is the Redpanda resource.
The Redpanda Operator handles the deployment and management of the Redpanda Helm chart for you by using Flux. When you deploy a Redpanda resource, the Redpanda Operator takes that configuration and passes it to Flux. Flux, in turn, interacts with Helm, by creating the necessary HelmRepository and HelmRelease resources to deploy and manage the Redpanda Helm chart.
-
Helm: Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes, which simplifies the process of defining, installing, and upgrading Kubernetes applications. Helm uses charts, a collection of files that describe a related set of Kubernetes resources, to deploy applications in a Kubernetes cluster.
For more details about the differences between these two methods, see Redpanda in Kubernetes. |
-
Helm + Operator
-
Helm
The Redpanda Operator is namespace scoped. You must install the Redpanda Operator in the same namespace as your Redpanda resource (Redpanda cluster). |
-
Make sure that you have permission to install custom resource definitions (CRDs):
kubectl auth can-i create CustomResourceDefinition --all-namespaces
You should see
yes
in the output.You need these cluster-level permissions to install cert-manager and Redpanda Operator CRDs in the next steps.
-
Install cert-manager:
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io helm repo update helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \ --set installCRDs=true \ --namespace cert-manager \ --create-namespace
The Redpanda Helm chart enables TLS by default and uses cert-manager to manage TLS certificates.
-
Install the Redpanda Operator CRDs:
kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda-operator//src/go/k8s/config/crd?ref=v2.1.17-23.3.11" \ | kubectl apply -f -
-
Create a YAML file to override the default version of the Redpanda Operator.
redpanda-operator-values.yaml
image: tag: v2.1.17-23.3.11
If you already have Flux installed and you want it to continue managing resources across the entire cluster, use the following:
redpanda-operator-values.yaml
additionalCmdFlags: - --enable-helm-controllers=false
This flag prevents the Redpanda Operator from deploying its own set of Flux controllers that may conflict with existing ones.
Your existing versions of Flux controllers and Flux CRDs must match the versions that come with the Redpanda Operator. You can find these versions on GitHub. -
Deploy the Redpanda Operator.
helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com helm upgrade --install redpanda-controller redpanda/operator \ --namespace <namespace> \ --create-namespace \ --values redpanda-operator-values.yaml
-
Ensure that the Deployment is successfully rolled out:
kubectl --namespace <namespace> rollout status --watch deployment/redpanda-controller-operator
deployment "redpanda-controller-operator" successfully rolled out
-
Install a Redpanda custom resource to deploy a Redpanda cluster and Redpanda Console.
redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha1 kind: Redpanda metadata: name: redpanda spec: chartRef: {} clusterSpec: statefulset: extraVolumes: |- - name: redpanda-io-config configMap: name: redpanda-io-config extraVolumeMounts: |- - name: redpanda-io-config mountPath: /etc/redpanda-io-config additionalRedpandaCmdFlags: - "--io-properties-file=/etc/redpanda-io-config/io-config.yaml"
-
metadata.name
: Name to assign the Redpanda cluster. This name is also assigned to the Helm release. -
spec.chartRef
: Information about the Helm chart that will be used to deploy Redpanda. -
spec.clusterSpec
: This is where you can override default values in the Redpanda Helm chart. Here, you mount the I/O configuration file to the Pods that run Redpanda. For other configuration details, see Configuration advice.
-
-
Apply the Redpanda resource:
kubectl apply -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>
The Redpanda resource must be deployed in the same namespace as the Redpanda Operator. Each new deployment of Redpanda requires a separate namespace. -
Wait for the Redpanda Operator to deploy Redpanda using the Helm chart:
kubectl get redpanda --namespace <namespace> --watch
NAME READY STATUS redpanda True Redpanda reconciliation succeeded
This step may take a few minutes. You can watch for new Pods to make sure that the deployment is progressing:
kubectl get pod --namespace <namespace>
If it’s taking too long, see Troubleshooting.
-
Verify that each Redpanda broker is scheduled on only one Kubernetes node:
kubectl get pod --namespace <namespace> \ -o=custom-columns=NODE:.spec.nodeName,NAME:.metadata.name -l \ app.kubernetes.io/component=redpanda-statefulset
Expected output:
example-worker3 redpanda-0 example-worker2 redpanda-1 example-worker redpanda-2
-
Install cert-manager using Helm:
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io helm repo update helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \ --set installCRDs=true \ --namespace cert-manager \ --create-namespace
The Redpanda Helm chart enables TLS by default and uses cert-manager to manage TLS certificates.
-
Override the default values to mount your I/O configuration file onto each Pod that runs Redpanda.
redpanda-values.yaml
statefulset: extraVolumes: |- - name: redpanda-io-config configMap: name: redpanda-io-config extraVolumeMounts: |- - name: redpanda-io-config mountPath: /etc/redpanda-io-config additionalRedpandaCmdFlags: - "--io-properties-file=/etc/redpanda-io-config/io-config.yaml"
Redpanda reads from this file at startup to optimize itself for the given I/O parameters.
-
Install the Redpanda Helm chart to deploy a Redpanda cluster and Redpanda Console.
Configure any additional Helm values that you want to override. See Configuration advice for details.
helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com helm install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \ --namespace <namespace> \ --create-namespace \ --values redpanda-values.yaml
Each deployment of the Redpanda Helm chart requires a separate namespace. Ensure you choose a unique namespace for each deployment. -
Wait for the Redpanda cluster to be ready:
kubectl --namespace <namespace> rollout status statefulset redpanda --watch
When the Redpanda cluster is ready, the output should look similar to the following:
statefulset rolling update complete 3 pods at revision redpanda-8654f645b4...
-
Verify that each Redpanda broker is scheduled on only one Kubernetes node:
kubectl get pod --namespace <namespace> \ -o=custom-columns=NODE:.spec.nodeName,NAME:.metadata.name -l \ app.kubernetes.io/component=redpanda-statefulset
Expected output:
example-worker3 redpanda-0 example-worker2 redpanda-1 example-worker redpanda-2
Deploy multiple Redpanda clusters
You can deploy more than one Redpanda cluster in the same Kubernetes cluster by using a different namespace and unique node ports.
-
Helm + Operator
-
Helm
-
Install another instance of the Redpanda Operator in a different namespace to your existing ones. This Redpanda Operator will manage Redpanda clusters only in its namespace.
helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com helm upgrade --install redpanda-controller redpanda/operator \ --namespace <another-namespace> \ --set image.tag=v2.1.17-23.3.11 \ --create-namespace
-
Apply a Redpanda resource in the same namespace as your new Redpanda Operator to deploy your new Redpanda cluster.
Make sure to use unique node ports for the listeners in your Redpanda resource so that they don’t conflict with any existing node ports in your other Redpanda clusters. See External access. redpanda-cluster-two.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha1 kind: Redpanda metadata: name: redpanda-two spec: chartRef: {} clusterSpec: listeners: kafka: external: default: advertisedPorts: [31093] admin: external: default: advertisedPorts: [31645] http: external: default: advertisedPorts: [30083] rpc: port: 33146 schemaRegistry: external: default: advertisedPorts: [30084]
Install the Redpanda Helm chart in a different namespace to your existing Redpanda clusters.
Make sure to use unique node ports for the listeners in your Redpanda resource so that they don’t conflict with any existing node ports in your other Redpanda clusters. See External access. |
helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com
helm install redpanda-two redpanda/redpanda \
--namespace <anothernamespace> \
--set listeners.kafka.external.default.advertisedPorts[0]=31093 \
--set listeners.admin.external.default.advertisedPorts[0]=31645 \
--set listeners.http.external.default.advertisedPorts[0]=30083 \
--set listeners.rpc.port=33146 \
--set listeners.schemaRegistry.external.default.advertisedPorts[0]=30084
--create-namespace
Configuration advice
This section provides advice for configuring the Redpanda Helm chart. For all available settings, see Redpanda Helm Chart Specification. To learn how to customize the Redpanda Helm chart, see Customize the Helm Chart.
Name overrides
Deploying multiple instances of the same Helm chart in a Kubernetes cluster can lead to naming conflicts. Using nameOverride
and fullnameOverride
helps differentiate between them. If you have a production and staging environment for Redpanda, different names help to avoid confusion.
-
Use
nameOverride
to customize the labelsapp.kubernetes.io/component=<nameOverride>-statefulset
andapp.kubernetes.io/name=<nameOverride>
. -
Use
fullnameOverride
to customize the name of the StatefulSet and Services.
nameOverride: 'redpanda-production'
fullnameOverride: 'redpanda-instance-prod'
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Labels
Kubernetes labels help you to organize, query, and manage your resources. Use labels to categorize Kubernetes resources in different deployments by environment, purpose, or team.
commonLabels:
env: 'production'
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Tolerations
Tolerations and taints allow Pods to be scheduled onto nodes where they otherwise wouldn’t. If you have nodes dedicated to Redpanda with a taint dedicated=redpanda:NoSchedule
, the following toleration allows the Redpanda brokers to be scheduled on them.
tolerations:
- key: "dedicated"
operator: "Equal"
value: "redpanda"
effect: "NoSchedule"
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Docker image
You can specify the image tag to deploy a known version of the Redpanda Docker image. By default, the image tag is set in Chart.appVersion
. Avoid using the latest
tag, which can lead to unexpected changes.
If you’re using a private repository, always ensure your nodes have the necessary credentials to pull the image.
image:
repository: docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/redpanda
tag: "v23.3.12"
imagePullSecrets: []
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Number of Redpanda brokers
By default, the Redpanda Helm chart deploys a StatefulSet with three Pod replicas (Redpanda brokers). In a production cluster, deploy at least three Redpanda brokers to use as seed servers. Seed servers are used to bootstrap the gossip process for new brokers joining a cluster. When a new broker joins, it connects to the seed servers to find out the topology of the Redpanda cluster. A larger number of seed servers makes consensus more robust and minimizes the chance of unwanted clusters forming when brokers are restarted without any data.
statefulset:
replicas: 3
You must provision one dedicated worker node for each Redpanda broker that you plan to deploy in your Redpanda cluster. The Redpanda Helm chart configures podAntiAffinity rules to make sure that each Redpanda broker runs on its own worker node.
|
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also:
TLS
By default, the Helm chart enables TLS (Transport Layer Security) for encrypted communication. Internal (default
) and external (external
) self-signed certificates are generated using cert-manager. See TLS Certificates.
tls:
enabled: true
certs:
# This key represents the name of the certificate.
default:
caEnabled: true
# This key represents the name of the certificate.
external:
caEnabled: true
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also: TLS for Redpanda in Kubernetes
Authentication
If you want to authenticate clients connections to the Redpanda cluster, you can enable SASL authentication.
auth:
sasl:
enabled: true
mechanism: "SCRAM-SHA-512"
secretRef: "sasl-password-secret"
users: []
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Resources
By default, the resources allocated to Redpanda are for a development environment. In a production cluster, the resources you allocate should be proportionate to your machine type. You should determine and set these values before deploying the cluster.
resources:
cpu:
cores: 4
memory:
enable_memory_locking: true
container:
max: 10Gi
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also:
Storage
By default, the Redpanda Helm chart creates PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) for each Redpanda broker in the StatefulSet. The PVC uses the default StorageClass in your cluster.
In production, it’s best to use local PersistentVolumes (PVs) that are backed by NVMe devices to store the Redpanda data directory. NVMe devices outperform traditional SSDs or HDDs. For cloud instance types that support NVMe disks, see Kubernetes Cluster Requirements and Recommendations.
Redpanda Data recommends creating StorageClasses that use the local volume manager (LVM) CSI driver to automatically provision PVs. The LVM allows you to group physical storage devices into a logical volume group. Allocating logical volumes from a logical volume group provides greater flexibility in terms of storage expansion and management. The LVM supports features such as resizing, snapshots, and striping, which are not available with the other drivers such as the local volume static provisioner.
storage:
persistentVolume:
enabled: true
size: 100Gi
storageClass: csi-driver-lvm-striped-xfs
For an example of configuring local PersistentVolumes backed by NVMe disks, see one of the following guides:
|
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also:
External access
By default, the Redpanda Helm chart deploys a NodePort Service for external access to the Redpanda listeners. You can configure individual node ports for each listener.
The NodePort Service provides the lowest latency of all the Kubernetes Services because it does not include any unnecessary routing or middleware. Client connections go to the Redpanda brokers in the most direct way possible, through the worker nodes.
By default, the fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) that brokers advertise are their internal addresses within the Kubernetes cluster, which are not reachable from outside the cluster. To make the cluster accessible from outside, each broker must advertise a domain that can be reached from outside the cluster.
external:
enabled: true
type: NodePort
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also:
ExternalDNS
You should use ExternalDNS to manage DNS records for your Pods' domains. ExternalDNS synchronizes exposed Kubernetes Services with various DNS providers, rendering Kubernetes resources accessible through DNS servers.
Benefits of ExternalDNS include:
-
Automation: ExternalDNS automatically configures public DNS records when you create, update, or delete Kubernetes Services or Ingresses. This eliminates the need for manual DNS configuration, which can be error-prone.
-
Compatibility: ExternalDNS is compatible with a wide range of DNS providers, including major cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, and DNS servers like CoreDNS and PowerDNS.
-
Integration with other tools: ExternalDNS can be used with other Kubernetes tools, such as ingress controllers or cert-manager for managing TLS certificates.
external:
enabled: true
type: LoadBalancer
externalDns:
enabled: true
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also:
Logging
By default, the log-level is set to info
. In production, use the info
logging level to avoid overwhelming the storage. For debugging purposes, temporarily change the logging level to debug
.
logging:
level: "info"
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Monitoring
By default, monitoring is disabled. If you have the Prometheus Operator, enable monitoring to deploy a ServiceMonitor resource for Redpanda. Observability is essential in production environments.
monitoring:
enabled: true
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also: Monitor in Kubernetes
StatefulSet update strategy
For smooth and uninterrupted updates, use the default RollingUpdate
strategy. Additionally, set a budget to ensure a certain number of replicas stay available during the update.
statefulset:
updateStrategy:
type: "RollingUpdate"
budget:
maxUnavailable: 1
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Affinity rules
By default, the Redpanda Helm chart also uses podAntiAffinity
rules to stop the Kubernetes scheduler from placing multiple Redpanda brokers on the same node. These rules offer two benefits:
-
To minimize the risk of data loss by ensuring that a node’s failure results in the loss of only one Redpanda broker.
-
To prevent resource contention between brokers by ensuring they are never co-located on the same node.
Affinities control Pod placement in the cluster based on various conditions. Set these according to your high availability and infrastructure needs. For example, this is a soft rule that tries to ensure the Kubernetes scheduler doesn’t place two Pods with the same app: redpanda
label in the same zone. However, if it’s not possible, the scheduler can still place the Pods in the same zone.
statefulset:
podAntiAffinity:
topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
type: hard
weight: 100
custom:
preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
- weight: 100
podAffinityTerm:
labelSelector:
matchExpressions:
- key: "app"
operator: "In"
values:
- "redpanda"
topologyKey: "kubernetes.io/zone"
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also: High Availability in Kubernetes
Graceful shutdown
By default, Pods are given 90 seconds to shut down gracefully. If your brokers require additional time for a graceful shutdown, modify the terminationGracePeriodSeconds
.
statefulset:
terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 100
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also: Upgrade Redpanda in Kubernetes
Service account
Restricting permissions is a best practice. Create a dedicated ServiceAccount for each Pod. To assign roles to this ServiceAccount, see Role-based access control (RBAC).
serviceAccount:
create: true
name: "redpanda-service-account"
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
Role-based access control (RBAC)
RBAC is a method for providing permissions to ServiceAccounts based on roles. Some features such as rack awareness require both a ServiceAccount and RBAC to access resources using the Kubernetes API.
rbac:
enabled: true
annotations: {}
If you use the Redpanda Operator, you must also deploy the Redpanda Operator Helm chart with rbac.createRPKBundleCRs set to true to give it the required roles.
|
For all available settings, see the Helm specification.
See also: Enable Rack Awareness in Kubernetes
Find the latest versions of the Redpanda Helm charts
To list the latest version of the Redpanda Helm chart, use the helm search
command:
helm search repo redpanda
To find the versions that are installed on your machine, run the following:
helm list --namespace <namespace>
Perform a self test
To understand the performance capabilities of your Redpanda cluster, Redpanda offers built-in self-test features that evaluate the performance of both disk and network operations.
For more information, see Disk and network self-test benchmarks.
Explore the default Kubernetes components
By default, the Redpanda Helm chart deploys the following Kubernetes components:
-
A StatefulSet with three Pods.
-
One PersistentVolumeClaim for each Pod, each with a capacity of 20Gi.
-
A headless ClusterIP Service and a NodePort Service for each Kubernetes node that runs a Redpanda broker.
StatefulSet
Redpanda is a stateful application. Each Redpanda broker needs to store its own state (topic partitions) in its own storage volume. As a result, the Helm chart deploys a StatefulSet to manage the Pods in which the Redpanda brokers are running.
kubectl get statefulset --namespace <namespace>
Example output:
NAME READY AGE redpanda 3/3 3m11s
StatefulSets ensure that the state associated with a particular Pod replica is always the same, no matter how often the Pod is recreated.
Each Pod is also given a unique ordinal number in its name such as redpanda-0
.
A Pod with a particular ordinal number is always associated with a PersistentVolumeClaim with the same number.
When a Pod in the StatefulSet is deleted and recreated,
it is given the same ordinal number and so it mounts the same storage volume as the deleted Pod that it replaced.
kubectl get pod --namespace <namespace>
Expected output:
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
redpanda-0 1/1 Running 0 6m9s
redpanda-1 1/1 Running 0 6m9s
redpanda-2 1/1 Running 0 6m9s
redpanda-console-5ff45cdb9b-6z2vs 1/1 Running 0 5m
redpanda-configuration-smqv7 0/1 Completed 0 6m9s
The redpanda-configuration job updates the Redpanda runtime configuration.
|
PersistentVolumeClaim
Redpanda brokers must be able to store their data on disk. By default, the Helm chart uses the default StorageClass in the Kubernetes cluster to create a PersistentVolumeClaim for each Pod. The default StorageClass in your Kubernetes cluster depends on the Kubernetes platform that you are using.
kubectl get persistentvolumeclaims --namespace <namespace>
Expected output:
NAME STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
datadir-redpanda-0 Bound pvc-3311ade3-de84-4027-80c6-3d8347302962 20Gi RWO standard 75s
datadir-redpanda-1 Bound pvc-4ea8bc03-89a6-41e4-b985-99f074995f08 20Gi RWO standard 75s
datadir-redpanda-2 Bound pvc-45c3555f-43bc-48c2-b209-c284c8091c45 20Gi RWO standard 75s
Service
The clients writing to or reading from a given partition have to connect directly to the leader broker that hosts the partition. As a result, clients need to be able to connect directly to each Pod. To allow internal and external clients to connect to each Pod that hosts a Redpanda broker, the Helm chart configures two Services:
-
Internal using the Headless ClusterIP
-
External using the NodePort
kubectl get service --namespace <namespace>
Expected output:
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
redpanda ClusterIP None <none> <none> 5m37s
redpanda-console ClusterIP 10.0.251.204 <none> 8080 5m
redpanda-external NodePort 10.96.137.220 <none> 9644:31644/TCP,9094:31092/TCP,8083:30082/TCP,8080:30081/TCP 5m37s
Headless ClusterIP Service
The headless Service associated with a StatefulSet gives the Pods their network identity in the form of a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). Both Redpanda brokers in the same Redpanda cluster and clients within the same Kubernetes cluster use this FQDN to communicate with each other.
An important requirement of distributed applications such as Redpanda is peer discovery: The ability for each broker to find other brokers in the same cluster.
When each Pod is rolled out, its seed_servers
field is updated with the FQDN of each Pod in the cluster so that they can discover each other.
kubectl --namespace <namespace> exec redpanda-0 -c redpanda -- cat etc/redpanda/redpanda.yaml
redpanda:
data_directory: /var/lib/redpanda/data
empty_seed_starts_cluster: false
seed_servers:
- host:
address: redpanda-0.redpanda.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local.
port: 33145
- host:
address: redpanda-1.redpanda.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local.
port: 33145
- host:
address: redpanda-2.redpanda.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local.
port: 33145
NodePort Service
External access is made available by a NodePort service that opens the following ports by default:
Listener | Node Port | Container Port |
---|---|---|
Schema Registry |
30081 |
8081 |
HTTP Proxy |
30082 |
8083 |
Kafka API |
31092 |
9094 |
Admin API |
31644 |
9644 |
To learn more, see Networking and Connectivity in Kubernetes.
TLS Certificates
By default, TLS is enabled in the Redpanda Helm chart. The Helm chart uses cert-manager to generate four Certificate resources that provide Redpanda with self-signed certificates for internal and external connections.
Having separate certificates for internal and external connections provides security isolation. If an external certificate or its corresponding private key is compromised, it doesn’t affect the security of internal communications.
kubectl get certificate --namespace <namespace>
NAME READY redpanda-default-cert True redpanda-default-root-certificate True redpanda-external-cert True redpanda-external-root-certificate True
-
redpanda-default-cert
: Self-signed certificate for internal communications. -
redpanda-default-root-certificate
: Root certificate authority for the internal certificate. -
redpanda-external-cert
: Self-signed certificate for external communications. -
redpanda-external-root-certificate
: Root certificate authority for the external certificate.
By default, all listeners are configured with the same certificate. To configure separate TLS certificates for different listeners, see TLS for Redpanda in Kubernetes.
The Redpanda Helm chart provides self-signed certificates for convenience. In a production environment, it’s best to use certificates from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) or integrate with your existing CA infrastructure. |
Uninstall Redpanda
When you’ve finished testing Redpanda, you can uninstall it from your cluster and delete any Kubernetes resources that the Helm chart created.
-
Helm + Operator
-
Helm
kubectl delete -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>
helm uninstall redpanda-controller --namespace <namespace>
kubectl delete pod --all --namespace <namespace>
kubectl delete pvc --all --namespace <namespace>
kubectl delete secret --all --namespace <namespace>
helm uninstall redpanda --namespace <namespace>
kubectl delete pod --all --namespace <namespace>
kubectl delete pvc --all --namespace <namespace>
kubectl delete secret --all --namespace <namespace>
Troubleshoot
Before troubleshooting your cluster, make sure that you have all the prerequisites.
HelmRelease is not ready
If you are using the Redpanda Operator, you may see the following message while waiting for a Redpanda custom resource to be deployed:
NAME READY STATUS
redpanda False HelmRepository 'redpanda/redpanda-repository' is not ready
redpanda False HelmRelease 'redpanda/redpanda' is not ready
While the deployment process can sometimes take a few minutes, a prolonged 'not ready' status may indicate an issue. Follow the steps below to investigate:
-
Check the status of the HelmRelease:
kubectl describe helmrelease <redpanda-resource-name> --namespace <namespace>
-
Review the Redpanda Operator logs:
kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=operator -c manager --namespace <namespace>
HelmRelease retries exhausted
The HelmRelease retries exhausted
error occurs when the Helm Controller has tried to reconcile the HelmRelease a number of times, but these attempts have failed consistently.
The Helm Controller watches for changes in HelmRelease objects. When changes are detected, it tries to reconcile the state defined in the HelmRelease with the state in the cluster. The process of reconciliation includes installation, upgrade, testing, rollback or uninstallation of Helm releases.
You may see this error due to:
-
Incorrect configuration in the HelmRelease.
-
Issues with the chart, such as a non-existent chart version or the chart repository not being accessible.
-
Missing dependencies or prerequisites required by the chart.
-
Issues with the underlying Kubernetes cluster, such as insufficient resources or connectivity issues.
To debug this error do the following:
-
Check the status of the HelmRelease:
kubectl describe helmrelease <cluster-name> --namespace <namespace>
-
Review the Redpanda Operator logs:
kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=operator -c manager --namespace <namespace>
When you find and fix the error, you must use the Flux CLI, fluxctl
, to suspend and resume the reconciliation process:
-
Suspend the HelmRelease:
flux suspend helmrelease <cluster-name> --namespace <namespace>
-
Resume the HelmRelease:
flux resume helmrelease <cluster-name> --namespace <namespace>
Crash loop backoffs
If a broker crashes after startup, or gets stuck in a crash loop, it could produce progressively more stored state that uses additional disk space and takes more time for each restart to process.
To prevent infinite crash loops, the Redpanda Helm chart sets the crash_loop_limit
node property to 5. The crash loop limit is the number of consecutive crashes that can happen within one hour of each other. After Redpanda reaches this limit, it will not start until its internal consecutive crash counter is reset to zero. In Kubernetes, the Pod running Redpanda remains in a CrashLoopBackoff
state until its internal consecutive crash counter is reset to zero.
To troubleshoot a crash loop backoff:
-
Check the Redpanda logs from the most recent crashes:
kubectl logs <pod-name> --namespace <namespace>
Kubernetes retains logs only for the current and the previous instance of a container. This limitation makes it difficult to access logs from earlier crashes, which may contain vital clues about the root cause of the issue. Given these log retention limitations, setting up a centralized logging system is crucial. Systems such as Loki or Datadog can capture and store logs from all containers, ensuring you have access to historical data. -
Resolve the issue that led to the crash loop backoff.
-
Reset the crash counter to zero to allow Redpanda to restart. You can do any of the following to reset the counter:
-
Update the redpanda.yaml configuration file. You can make changes to any of the following sections in the Redpanda Helm chart to trigger an update:
-
config.cluster
-
config.node
-
config.tunable
-
-
Delete the
startup_log
file in the broker’s data directory.kubectl exec <pod-name> --namespace <namespace> -- rm /var/lib/redpanda/data/startup_log
It might be challenging to execute this command within a Pod that is in a CrashLoopBackoff
state due to the limited time during which the Pod is available before it restarts. Wrapping the command in a loop might work. -
Wait one hour since the last crash. The crash counter resets after one hour.
-
To avoid future crash loop backoffs and manage the accumulation of small segments effectively:
-
Monitor the size and number of segments regularly.
-
Optimize your Redpanda configuration for segment management.
-
Consider implementing Tiered Storage to manage data more efficiently.
StatefulSet never rolls out
If the StatefulSet Pods remain in a pending state, they are waiting for resources to become available.
To identify the Pods that are pending, use the following command:
kubectl get pod --namespace <namespace>
The response includes a list of Pods in the StatefulSet and their status.
To view logs for a specific Pod, use the following command.
kubectl logs -f <pod-name> --namespace <namespace>
You can use the output to debug your deployment.
Unable to mount volume
If you see volume mounting errors in the Pod events or in the Redpanda logs, ensure that each of your Pods has a volume available in which to store data.
-
If you’re using StorageClasses with dynamic provisioners (default), ensure they exist:
kubectl get storageclass
-
If you’re using PersistentVolumes, ensure that you have one PersistentVolume available for each Redpanda broker, and that each one has the storage capacity that’s set in
storage.persistentVolume.size
:kubectl get persistentvolume --namespace <namespace>
To learn how to configure different storage volumes, see Configure Storage.
Failed to pull image
When deploying the Redpanda Helm chart, you may encounter Docker rate limit issues because the the default registry URL is not recognized as a Docker Hub URL. The domain docker.redpanda.com
is used for statistical purposes, such as tracking the number of downloads. It mirrors Docker Hub’s content while providing specific analytics for Redpanda.
Failed to pull image "docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/redpanda:v<version>": rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed to pull and unpack image "docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/redpanda:v<version>": failed to copy: httpReadSeeker: failed open: unexpected status code 429 Too Many Requests - Server message: toomanyrequests: You have reached your pull rate limit. You may increase the limit by authenticating and upgrading: https://www.docker.com/increase-rate-limit
To fix this error, do one of the following:
-
Replace the
image.repository
value in the Helm chart withdocker.io/redpandadata/redpanda
. Switching to Docker Hub avoids the rate limit issues associated withdocker.redpanda.com
.-
Helm + Operator
-
Helm
redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha1 kind: Redpanda metadata: name: redpanda spec: chartRef: {} clusterSpec: image: repository: docker.io/redpandadata/redpanda
kubectl apply -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>
-
--values
-
--set
docker-repo.yaml
image: repository: docker.io/redpandadata/redpanda
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \ --values docker-repo.yaml --reuse-values
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \ --set image.repository=docker.io/redpandadata/redpanda
-
-
Authenticate to Docker Hub by logging in with your Docker Hub credentials. The
docker.redpanda.com
site acts as a reflector for Docker Hub. As a result, when you log in with your Docker Hub credentials, you will bypass the rate limit issues.
Dig not defined
This error means that you are using an unsupported version of Helm:
Error: parse error at (redpanda/templates/statefulset.yaml:203): function "dig" not defined
To fix this error, ensure that you are using the minimum required version: 3.10.0.
helm version
Repository name already exists
If you see this error, remove the redpanda
chart repository, then try installing it again.
helm repo remove redpanda
helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com
helm repo update
Fatal error during checker "Data directory is writable" execution
This error appears when Redpanda does not have write access to your configured storage volume under storage
in the Helm chart.
Error: fatal error during checker "Data directory is writable" execution: open /var/lib/redpanda/data/test_file: permission denied
To fix this error, set statefulset.initContainers.setDataDirOwnership.enabled
to true
so that the initContainer can set the correct permissions on the data directories.
Cannot patch "redpanda" with kind StatefulSet
This error appears when you run helm upgrade
with the --values
flag but do not include all your previous overrides.
Error: UPGRADE FAILED: cannot patch "redpanda" with kind StatefulSet: StatefulSet.apps "redpanda" is invalid: spec: Forbidden: updates to statefulset spec for fields other than 'replicas', 'template', 'updateStrategy', 'persistentVolumeClaimRetentionPolicy' and 'minReadySeconds' are forbidden
To fix this error, do one of the following:
-
Include all the value overrides from the previous installation or upgrade using either the
--set
or the--values
flags. -
Use the
--reuse-values
flag.Do not use the --reuse-values
flag to upgrade from one version of the Helm chart to another. This flag stops Helm from using any new values in the upgraded chart.
Cannot patch "redpanda-console" with kind Deployment
This error appears if you try to upgrade your deployment and you already have console.enabled
set to true
.
Error: UPGRADE FAILED: cannot patch "redpanda-console" with kind Deployment: Deployment.apps "redpanda-console" is invalid: spec.selector: Invalid value: v1.LabelSelector{MatchLabels:map[string]string{"app.kubernetes.io/instance":"redpanda", "app.kubernetes.io/name":"console"}, MatchExpressions:[]v1.LabelSelectorRequirement(nil)}: field is immutable
To fix this error, set console.enabled
to false
so that Helm doesn’t try to deploy Redpanda Console again.
Helm is in a pending-rollback state
An interrupted Helm upgrade process can leave your Helm release in a pending-rollback
state. This state prevents further actions like upgrades, rollbacks, or deletions through standard Helm commands. To fix this:
-
Identify the Helm release that’s in a
pending-rollback
state:helm list --namespace <namespace> --all
Look for releases with a status of
pending-rollback
. These are the ones that need intervention. -
Verify the Secret’s status to avoid affecting the wrong resource:
kubectl --namespace <namespace> get secret --show-labels
Identify the Secret associated with your Helm release by its
pending-rollback
status in the labels.Ensure you have correctly identified the Secret to avoid unintended consequences. Deleting the wrong Secret could impact other deployments or services. -
Delete the Secret to clear the
pending-rollback
state:kubectl --namespace <namespace> delete secret -l status=pending-rollback
After clearing the pending-rollback
state:
-
Retry the upgrade: Restart the upgrade process. You should investigate the initial failure to avoid getting into the
pending-rollback
state again. -
Perform a rollback: If you need to roll back to a previous release, use
helm rollback <release-name> <revision>
to revert to a specific, stable release version.
For more troubleshooting steps, see Troubleshoot Redpanda in Kubernetes.
Next steps
See the Manage Kubernetes topics to learn how to customize the chart to meet your needs.