How to Deploy OceanBase with OB-Operator on Kubernetes: Step‑by‑Step Guide

1. OB‑Operator Overview

ob-operator is a Kubernetes Operator‑based automation tool that greatly simplifies deploying and managing OceanBase clusters and related resources on Kubernetes.

It supports cluster management, tenant management, backup & restore, physical standby, fault recovery, and provides a GUI dashboard.

Cluster management: bootstrap, topology adjustments, K8s topology config, scaling, upgrades, parameter changes.

Tenant management: create tenants, adjust topology, manage resource units, change passwords.

Backup & restore: periodic backups to OSS or NFS, restore from those locations.

Physical standby: create standby tenants, promote, failover.

Fault recovery: single‑node recovery with IP preservation.

Dashboard (GUI): graphical management tool built on OB‑Operator.

2. Prerequisites for Deploying OceanBase

Before starting, ensure the following:

Kubernetes version > 1.18.

OceanBase version 4.2.5 or 4.3.3, depending on requirements.

Kubernetes resources managed by local-path-provisioner with local PVs on nodes.

cert‑manager installed (OB‑Operator depends on it).

<code>kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.16.1/cert-manager.yaml
namespace/cert-manager created
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/certificaterequests.cert-manager.io created
... (additional resources created) ...
service/cert-manager-webhook created
deployment.apps/cert-manager-webhook created
mutatingwebhookconfiguration.admissionregistration.k8s.io/cert-manager-webhook created
validatingwebhookconfiguration.admissionregistration.k8s.io/cert-manager-webhook created</code>

3. Deploy OB‑Operator

Install the latest OB‑Operator (example uses version 2.2.0; 2.3.0 is recommended):

<code>/opt/ob-operator# helm repo add ob-operator https://oceanbase.github.io/ob-operator/
"ob-operator" has been added to your repositories
/opt/ob-operator# helm install ob-operator ob-operator/ob-operator \
    --namespace=oceanbase-system --create-namespace --version=2.2.0
NAME: ob-operator
LAST DEPLOYED: Mon Oct 28 10:53:12 2024
NAMESPACE: oceanbase-system
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None</code>

The deployment requires the operator image to be available in your private registry; otherwise you may encounter image‑pull failures:

<code>Events:
  Type     Reason   Age   From     Message
  ----     ------   ----  ----     -------
  Warning  Failed   31m   kubelet   Failed to pull image "oceanbase/ob-operator:2.2.0": rpc error: code = Unknown desc = Error response from daemon: Get https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/: dial tcp 199.16.158.190:443: connect: connection timed out
  Normal   Pulling  26m   kubelet   Pulling image "oceanbase/ob-operator:2.2.0"
  Normal   BackOff  91s   kubelet   Back-off pulling image "oceanbase/ob-operator:2.2.0"</code>

Verify the operator pods:

<code>/opt/ob-operator# kubectl get pods -n oceanbase-system
NAME                                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
oceanbase-controller-manager-85f4b9d58c-cl9rq   2/2     Running   0          3m27s</code>

4. Deploy OceanBase Cluster

Follow these steps on the Kubernetes cluster:

Create a namespace: kubectl create ns oceanbase-test

Create required secrets (replace yourpassword with a secure password):

<code>kubectl create secret generic ob-root-password --from-literal=password='yourpassword' -n oceanbase-test
kubectl create secret generic ob-proxyro-password --from-literal=password='yourpassword' -n oceanbase-test</code>

Note: avoid special characters in ob-proxyro-password to prevent connection issues.

Edit the OBCluster YAML (example file oceanbase-test.yaml ):

<code>apiVersion: oceanbase.oceanbase.com/v1alpha1
kind: OBCluster
metadata:
  name: obcluster-test    # OBCluster name
  namespace: oceanbase-test
spec:
  clusterName: obcluster-test
  clusterId: 1
  userSecrets:
    root: ob-root-password
    proxyro: ob-proxyro-password
  topology:
    - zone: zone1
      replica: 1
    - zone: zone2
      replica: 1
    - zone: zone3
      replica: 1
  observer:
    image: oceanbase/oceanbase-cloud-native:4.3.3.0-100000142024101215
    resource:
      cpu: 12
      memory: 40Gi
    storage:
      dataStorage:
        storageClass: local-ssd-storage
        size: 500Gi
      redoLogStorage:
        storageClass: local-ssd-storage
        size: 150Gi
      logStorage:
        storageClass: local-ssd-storage
        size: 20Gi
  monitor:
    image: oceanbase/obagent:4.2.1-100000092023101717
    resource:
      cpu: 8
      memory: 10Gi</code>

Apply the YAML and wait about two minutes for the cluster to be created:

<code>kubectl apply -f oceanbase-test.yaml -n oceanbase-test</code>

Make sure the required images are pulled into your private registry:

<code>oceanbase/oceanbase-cloud-native:4.3.3.0-100000142024101215
oceanbase/obagent:4.2.1-100000092023101717</code>

Check the OBCluster status and pods:

<code>/opt/ob-operator# kubectl get obcluster -n oceanbase-test1
NAME        STATUS    AGE
obcluster   running   3d2h
/opt/ob-operator# kubectl get pods -n oceanbase-test1 -o wide
NAME                                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE    IP            NODE   ...
obcluster-test-1-zone1-6a036c0d84bf    2/2     Running   0          3d2h   10.xxx.xxx.143 db02   ...
obcluster-test-1-zone2-384f9bf55992    2/2     Running   0          3d2h   10.xxx.xxx.142 db08   ...
obcluster-test-1-zone3-6f375db39867    2/2     Running   0          3d2h   10.xxx.xxx.242 db07   ...
obproxy-test-6479ccb497-6r7xv          1/1     Running   0          2d6h   10.xxx.xxx.182 kube60 ...
obproxy-test-6479ccb497-bnj48          1/1     Running   0          2d6h   10.xxx.xxx.227 kube60 ...</code>

Since no OBProxy is deployed, access the cluster directly via the OB pod IP:

<code>/opt/ob-operator# mysql -h10.xxx.xxx.143 -P2881 -uroot@sys -p oceanbase -A -c
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 3221489701
Server version: 5.7.25 OceanBase_CE 4.3.3.0-...
show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| LBACSYS            |
| mysql              |
| oceanbase          |
| ORAAUDITOR         |
| SYS                |
| sys_external_tbs   |
| test               |
+--------------------+
8 rows in set (0.01 sec)
mysql> exit
Bye</code>

5. Summary

OB‑Operator, built on the Kubernetes Operator framework, provides declarative management, automated tuning, and unified control for OceanBase clusters, offering a simple and reliable way to containerize and operate OceanBase in production environments.

For deeper information, refer to the official documentation and GitHub repository.