Install Confluent Platform for Apache Flink on OpenShift

Confluent Platform for Apache Flink® is available as a Red Hat certified operator. You can install Confluent Platform for Apache Flink on OpenShift clusters using the following components:

  • The Flink Kubernetes Operator, available through OperatorHub as Confluent Distribution of the Apache Flink® Kubernetes Operator.

  • Confluent Manager for Apache Flink (CMF), available as a Helm chart through the OpenShift Developer Catalog.

Confluent Platform for Apache Flink on OpenShift supports x86 (AMD64), ARM64, and s390x architectures.

Prerequisites

  • An OpenShift cluster (version 4.12 or later)

  • Cluster administrator access

  • The OpenShift CLI (oc) installed and configured

  • cert-manager installed on the cluster. For installation steps, see Step 1.

Step 1: Install cert-manager

The Flink Kubernetes Operator requires cert-manager. Install it before proceeding:

oc create -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.18.2/cert-manager.yaml

Verify that cert-manager pods are running:

oc get pods -n cert-manager

Step 2: Install the Flink Kubernetes Operator from OperatorHub

  1. In the OpenShift web console, navigate to Operators > OperatorHub.

  2. Search for Confluent Distribution of the Apache Flink® Kubernetes Operator.

  3. Select the operator and click Install.

  4. Choose the installation mode and target namespace, then click Install.

  5. Verify that the operator is installed and running:

    oc get csv -n <namespace>

For more details, see Adding Operators to a cluster in the OpenShift documentation.

Step 3: Install Confluent Manager for Apache Flink from the Developer Catalog

CMF is available as a Helm chart through the OpenShift Developer Catalog.

  1. In the OpenShift web console, switch to the Developer perspective.

  2. Navigate to +Add > Helm Chart.

  3. Search for Confluent Manager for Apache Flink.

  4. Select the Helm chart and click Install Helm Chart.

  5. Configure the chart values as needed. For details on available configuration options, see Install Confluent Manager for Apache Flink with Helm.

    Note

    If you do not specify a license, CMF generates a trial license.

  6. Click Install to deploy CMF.

  7. Verify the deployment:

    oc get pods -n <namespace>

For Helm chart configuration details, including encryption, storage, and security options, see the Helm installation guide.

Configuration notes

When installing the Flink Kubernetes Operator through OperatorHub, the following limitations apply:

  • Some deployment settings can be permanently overridden through the Subscription object.

  • Most operator properties can be modified by editing the ClusterServiceVersion (CSV), but these changes are temporary. They are overwritten when the Operator Lifecycle Manager updates to a newer version.

For full control over operator configuration, consider using the Helm-based installation instead.

For information on modifying operator resources managed by OLM, see Managing resources under OLM.

Related content