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Configure Redpanda in Kubernetes

To configure the cluster and the Kubernetes components that the chart deploys, you can customize the values of the Redpanda Helm chart.

Helm does a three-way merge with the following:

  • Your overridden values

  • The values in the existing Helm release

  • The default values in the new Helm release (if you’re upgrading)

Find configuration options

To see what options you can override in the chart, use the helm show values command:

helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com
helm repo update
helm show values redpanda/redpanda

This command displays all the values, descriptions, and defaults, which are also documented in the Redpanda Helm Chart Specification.

Configure Redpanda

  • Operator

  • Helm

To customize the values of the Redpanda Helm chart, you can override the defaults in the Redpanda custom resource.

You must add all your overrides to the spec.clusterSpec configuration.

redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha2
kind: Redpanda
metadata:
  name: redpanda
spec:
  chartRef: {}
  clusterSpec: {}

For example, to override the storage.persistentVolume.storageClass configuration:

redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha2
kind: Redpanda
metadata:
  name: redpanda
spec:
  chartRef: {}
  clusterSpec:
    storage:
      persistentVolume:
        storageClass: "<storage-class>"
kubectl apply -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>

The values in your Redpanda custom resource override their counterparts in the Helm chart’s values.yaml file. Any values that are not overridden maintain their defaults.

To customize the values of the Redpanda Helm chart, you can override the defaults in your own YAML file with the --values option or in the command line with the --set option.

Redpanda Data recommends using the --values option and creating separate YAML files for each configuration block that you need to override. The Redpanda documentation follows this best practice. This way, it’s clearer to understand what you’ve overridden from the helm command.

You can pass more than one --values option in the same command. For example, if you wanted to override the TLS configuration and the storage configuration, you could put those overrides in separate files:

helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --values custom-storage-class.yaml \
    --values enable-tls.yaml

  • --values

  • --set

The --values option enables you to keep your overrides in one or more YAML files. If you specify multiple files and then override the same values in two or more of them, the rightmost file takes precedence. For example, you might override the storage.persistentVolume.storageClass configuration in a file called storage-class.yaml:

storage-class.yaml
storage:
  persistentVolume:
    storageClass: "my-storage-class"

The helm command to apply this configuration override looks something like the following:

helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --values storage-class.yaml --reuse-values

The values in your YAML files override their counterparts in the Helm chart’s values.yaml file. Any values that are not overridden maintain their defaults.

Use the --reuse-values flag to apply your overrides on top of existing overrides that you’ve already made. Don’t include this flag if you’re upgrading to a new version of the Helm chart. If you’re upgrading to a new version of the Helm chart, this flag prevents any values in the new release from being applied.

The --set option allows you to specify configuration overrides in the command line. For example, you might override the storage.persistentVolume.storageClass configuration like so:

helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --set storage.persistentVolume.storageClass=my-storage-class

For more details, see the Helm documentation.

The values in the --set options override their counterparts in the Helm chart’s values.yaml file. Any values that are not overridden maintain their defaults.

If you’re upgrading and you already have Redpanda Console installed, set console.enabled to false to stop Helm from trying to deploy it again.

Set Redpanda CLI flags

You can specify Redpanda CLI flags, such as --smp, --memory, or --reserve-memory, directly rather than having to find the appropriate stanza in the YAML values.

When you specify CLI flags, those values take precedence over the values defined in the YAML values.

  • Operator

  • Helm

redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha2
kind: Redpanda
metadata:
  name: redpanda
spec:
  chartRef: {}
  clusterSpec:
    statefulset:
      additionalRedpandaCmdFlags:
        - <flag>
kubectl apply -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>

  • --values

  • --set

redpanda-flags.yaml
statefulset:
  additionalRedpandaCmdFlags:
    - <flag>
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --values redpanda-flags.yaml --reuse-values
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --set "statefulset.additionalRedpandaCmdFlags=[<flags>]"

Set Redpanda cluster properties

Cluster properties control the core behavior of your Redpanda cluster, such as topic auto-creation, log retention, and feature flags. You can set any cluster property using the config.cluster field in your Helm values or Redpanda custom resource.

For a full list of available properties and their defaults, see cluster configuration properties.

Example: Enable automatic topic creation
config:
  cluster:
    auto_create_topics_enabled: true

You can set multiple properties under config.cluster as needed. This method works for all cluster properties, including those for advanced features like Tiered Storage.

To set cluster properties using the Operator or Helm, add the config.cluster block to your YAML file or use the --set flag. See the examples below for both approaches.

Use Kubernetes Secrets or ConfigMaps

Starting in v25.1.1 of the Redpanda Operator and Redpanda Helm chart, you can set any Redpanda cluster configuration property by referencing Kubernetes Secrets or ConfigMaps using the config.extraClusterConfiguration field.

This feature provides a more secure, maintainable, and declarative way to manage sensitive or shared configuration values across your Redpanda deployment.

Use this method to:

  • Securely inject sensitive values, such as credentials for Iceberg, TLS, or object storage.

  • Reuse the same value across multiple features, such as Tiered Storage, Iceberg, and disaster recovery, without duplication.

  • Centralize config management in Kubernetes-native resources to support GitOps and reduce drift.

For example, to set iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret using a Secret called iceberg-config:

  • Operator

  • Helm

redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha2
kind: Redpanda
metadata:
  name: redpanda
spec:
  clusterSpec:
    config:
      extraClusterConfiguration:
        iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret:
          secretKeyRef:
            name: iceberg-config
            key: iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret
kubectl apply -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>

  • --values

  • --set

redpanda-config.yaml
  config:
    extraClusterConfiguration:
      iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret:
        secretKeyRef:
          name: iceberg-config
          key: iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --values redpanda-config.yaml --reuse-values
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
  --namespace <namespace> \
  --create-namespace \
  --set config.extraClusterConfiguration.iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret.secretKeyRef.name=iceberg-config \
  --set config.extraClusterConfiguration.iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret.secretKeyRef.key=iceberg_rest_catalog_client_secret

This method supports both secretKeyRef and configMapKeyRef:

  • Use secretKeyRef for sensitive data like access keys or credentials.

  • Use configMapKeyRef for shared, non-sensitive values such as URIs or feature flags.

You can apply this approach to any Redpanda configuration key, making your deployments more secure, modular, and easier to manage at scale.

For full configuration options, see Properties.

Export a Redpanda configuration file

To see all Redpanda configurations for a broker, you can use the rpk cluster config export command to save the current Redpanda configuration to a file. For example, you may want to use the configuration file during debugging.

To get more detailed information about your Redpanda deployment, generate a diagnostics bundle, which includes the Redpanda configuration files for all brokers in the cluster.

  1. Execute the rpk cluster config export command inside a Pod container that’s running a Redpanda broker.

    kubectl exec redpanda-0 --namespace <namespace> -c redpanda -- \
rpk cluster config export --filename <filename>.yaml

    To save the configuration file outside of your current working directory, provide an absolute path to the --filename flag. Otherwise, the file is saved in your current working directory.

    Example output

    Wrote configuration to file "/tmp/config_625125906.yaml".

  2. On your host machine, make a directory in which to save the configuration file:

    mkdir configs

  3. Copy the configuration file from the Pod to your host machine:

    Replace <path-to-file> with the path to your exported file.

    kubectl cp redpanda/redpanda-0:<path-to-file> configs/redpanda-0-configuration-file.yaml

  4. Remove the exported file from the Redpanda container:

    kubectl exec redpanda-0 -c redpanda --namespace <namespace> -- rm <path-to-file>

When you’ve finished with the file, remove it from your host machine:

rm -r configs

Reset configuration values

You may want to reset a configuration value back to its default. The method to do this depends on how you’re managing your Redpanda deployment.

  • Operator

  • CLI

If you’re using the Redpanda Operator and want to reset a configuration property back to its default:

  1. Add the following annotation to your Redpanda custom resource to enable declarative configuration sync:

    metadata:
  annotations:
    operator.redpanda.com/config-sync-mode: Declarative

  2. Remove the configuration key you want to reset from spec.clusterSpec.config.

With this annotation, the Redpanda Operator ensures that removed keys are also removed from the Redpanda cluster configuration.

If this annotation is not set, the Redpanda Operator retains previously applied values even if you remove them from the custom resource.

To reset a configuration property using the Redpanda CLI:

rpk cluster config set <property> ""

If you’re using a file, such as a values.yaml or a Redpanda resource, to manage your configuration, make sure to also remove the property from that file. Otherwise, it may be reapplied the next time you run helm upgrade or the Pods restart.

Configure Redpanda Console

Redpanda Console is included as a subchart of the Redpanda Helm chart.

You can configure Redpanda Console in the console.config object using the Redpanda Console configuration values.

For example, to enable the admin API for Redpanda Console:

  • Operator

  • Helm

redpanda-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: cluster.redpanda.com/v1alpha2
kind: Redpanda
metadata:
  name: redpanda
spec:
  chartRef: {}
  clusterSpec:
    console:
      enabled: true
      console:
        config:
          redpanda:
            adminApi:
              enabled: true
              urls:
              - http://redpanda-0.redpanda.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local.:9644
kubectl apply -f redpanda-cluster.yaml --namespace <namespace>

  • --values

  • --set

console-enable-admin-api.yaml
console:
  enabled: true
  console:
    config:
      redpanda:
        adminApi:
          enabled: true
          urls:
          - http://redpanda-0.redpanda.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local.:9644
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --values console-enable-admin-api.yaml --reuse-values
helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace <namespace> --create-namespace \
    --set console.console.config.redpanda.adminApi.enabled=true \
    --set console.console.config.redpanda.adminApi.urls={"http://redpanda-0.redpanda.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local.:9644"}

If you want to use the separate Redpanda Console Helm chart, disable Redpanda Console in the Redpanda Helm chart with console.enabled=false. To see what options you can override in the Redpanda Console chart, use the helm show values command:

helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com
helm repo update
helm show values redpanda/console

For default values and documentation for configuration options, see the values.yaml file.

Differences between helm install and helm upgrade

When managing Redpanda deployments with Helm, it’s important to understand the differences between helm install and helm upgrade, particularly in how they handle cluster configuration overrides.

Use helm install to install or reinstall Redpanda. Use helm upgrade to reconfigure an existing deployment.

Reinstall Redpanda

When reinstalling Redpanda with helm install, cluster configuration overrides specified in the Helm values may not take effect due to PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) retention.

By default, most PVCs are retained when a Helm release is uninstalled. As a result, when Redpanda is reinstalled, the previously created PVCs are adopted, restoring the state of the previous cluster. This adoption results in the new bootstrap.yaml file being ignored and the post_upgrade job not running. The post_upgrade job is a component in the Helm chart that applies configuration overrides during an upgrade.

To ensure the new installation does not adopt the old PVCs and restore the previous state:

  1. Delete the existing PVCs before reinstalling Redpanda:

    kubectl delete pvc -l app=redpanda --namespace <namespace>

  2. Execute the helm install command to reinstall Redpanda with a clean state.

Configure an existing cluster

During a helm upgrade, the post_upgrade job is triggered, which applies the latest overrides to the cluster.

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