Running the Mendix Operator in Global Mode

1 Introduction

When running the Mendix Operator in Global mode, one installation of the Mendix Operator and Agent is sufficient to manage applications across multiple namespaces. This Operator mode is recommended for new customers, or customers that want to streamline and simplify their deployments and operations. For existing customers, and for use cases that require having a separate Operator instance for every namespace, the Standard mode is still available and supported.

2 Installing the Global Operator

While installing the Mendix Operator in Global mode, you must first deploy the Mendix Operator and Agent within the Global Operator namespace. A Global Operator namespace comprises the Operator itself, the Agent, and the configuration that instructs the Operator on the namespaces it should oversee.

After configuring the Global Operator namespace, you must configure the managed namespaces, that is, namespace-specific configuration settings. This may include setting up storage plans, ingress configurations, registry settings, proxy, or custom TLS, all of which are tailored to the specific requirements of the managed namespace. The post-installation configuration process also includes creating an application within the managed namespace.

To install and configure the Global Operator, perform the following steps:

1. In the Private Cloud Portal, create a cluster and select Global Installation as the Installation Type.

   

2. Provide the Cluster Name, Cluster Type and Description.

   

3. Click Create.

   

4. After the Global Operator cluster is created, click Add Global Operator Main Namespace.

   Ensure that you do not use a namespace that is intended to be a managed namespace, that is, a namespace where you plan to deploy a Mendix app. The Global Operator namespace must be separate from managed namespaces, otherwise you may encounter unexpected results.

   

5. Provide the Global Operator Namespace name, select the Installation type, and then click Done.

   

6. Select the Operating system and install the Mendix Operator by performing the following steps:

   1. Download the Configuration Tool.
   2. Sign into the Platform.
   3. Perform the Base Installation.

   

7. Verify that the installation was successful by using the following command:

   1	kubectl -n {globalOperatorNamespace} get deployments

8. Verify that the status of the Operator and Agent pod is Running by using the following command:

   1	kubectl -n {globalOperatorNamespace} get pods

9. In the Private Cloud Portal, verify that the status of the Global Operator namespace is Connected, as in the following figure:

   

10. Click Namespaces to go to the Namespaces Overview page.

    

11. Install the managed namespace under the Global Operator namespace by clicking Add Managed Namespace.

    

    Ensure that you use the same name for the managed namespace in the Portal and in the cluster. Using different names may result in unwanted issues.

12. Open the managed namespace and click Done.

13. Configure the namespace.

14. On the Configuration page, select the Operating system and run the Configuration command under the Configuration section.

    Ensure that you do not use a namespace that is already used as a Global Operator namespace. The Global Operator namespace must be separate from managed namespaces, otherwise you may encounter unexpected results.

15. Click Configure Namespace and select the items which you want to configure.

16. In the Global Operator section, enter the Global Operator namespace name.

17. Configure any remaining namespace settings and apply the configuration.

2.1 Results

After you configure the managed namespace, the Agent and Operator pod are restarted automatically, so that the Global Operator namespace can process the newly added managed namespace. The managed namespace is added to the Operator configuration for the Global Operator namespace, and the required storage plans are created in the managed namespace.

The Operator configuration for the managed namespace is created as well. The configuration changes inside the managed namespace will take precedence over the global configuration.

After configuration, the status of managed namespace changes to Configured.

Once the managed namespace is configured, you can find the list with all the namespaces managed by the globally installed operator in Addition Information section of Global Operator Namespace.

2.2 Next Steps

After everything is configured, you can deploy the application. For more information, see Deploy Application.

3 Licensing

3.1 Installing Private Cloud License Manager

Configure Private Cloud License Management (PCLM) in the Global Operator namespace. For more information, see Private Cloud License Manager.

Licenses imported in the PCLM Server appear in the PCLM Statistics section of the Global Operator main namespace. You can see both Runtime and Operator license.

Claimed licenses are visible in the PCLM Statistics section of the Managed namespace.

3.2 Licensing application via Subscription Secret and manual operator license

If you wish to apply a Runtime license using a subscription secret, it must be applied manually for each managed namespace. The same process must be performed when applying an Operator license to all managed namespaces.

4 Upgrading Managed Namespaces

Currently, the upgrade procedure is not available for managed namespaces.