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MongoDB Atlas Kubernetes Operator
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Quick Start

On this page

  • Prerequisites
  • Procedure
  • Register for an Atlas account or log in.
  • Create API keys for your organization.
  • Deploy Atlas Kubernetes Operator.
  • Create a secret with your API keys and organization ID.
  • Create the AtlasProject custom resource.
  • Create the AtlasDeployment custom resource.
  • Create a secret with a password to log into the Atlas cluster database.
  • Create the AtlasDatabaseUser custom resource.
  • Check the status of your database user.
  • Retrieve the secret that Atlas Kubernetes Operator created to connect to the cluster.

You can use Atlas Kubernetes Operator to manage resources in Atlas without leaving Kubernetes. This tutorial demonstrates how to create your first cluster in Atlas from Kubernetes configuration files with Atlas Kubernetes Operator.

Note

Would you prefer to start with Helm?

To create your first cluster in Atlas from Helm Charts with Atlas Kubernetes Operator, see Helm Charts Quick Start.

This tutorial requires:

  • A running Kubernetes cluster with nodes running processors with the x86-64, AMD64, or ARM64 architecture.

  • jq 1.6 or higher

You can access the Atlas Kubernetes Operator project on GitHub:

  • https://github.com/mongodb/mongodb-atlas-kubernetes

To install the Atlas Kubernetes operator using the Atlas CLI, run the following command:

atlas kubernetes operator install [options]

To learn more about the command syntax and parameters, see the Atlas CLI documentation for atlas kubernetes operator install.

Tip

See: Related Links

Important

Custom Resources No Longer Delete Objects by Default

Atlas Kubernetes Operator uses custom resource configuration files to manage your Atlas configuration, but as of Atlas Kubernetes Operator 2.0, custom resources you delete in Kubernetes are no longer deleted in Atlas. Instead, Atlas Kubernetes Operator simply stops managing those resources. For example, if you delete an AtlasProject Custom Resource in Kubernetes, Atlas Kubernetes Operator no longer automatically deletes the corresponding project from Atlas, preventing accidental or unexpected deletions. To learn more, including how to revert this behavior to the default used prior to Atlas Kubernetes Operator 2.0, see New Default: Deletion Protection in Atlas Kubernetes Operator 2.0.

1

Register a new Atlas Account or Log in to Your Atlas Account.

2

Note

You need the following public API key, private API key, and the organization ID information to configure Atlas Kubernetes Operator access to Atlas.

Create an API (Application Programming Interface) Key in an Organization and configure the API Access List.

You need the following public API key, private API key, and the organization ID information to configure Atlas Kubernetes Operator access to Atlas.

3

In one of the following scenarios, replace <version> with the latest release number:

  • If you want Atlas Kubernetes Operator to watch all the namespaces in the Kubernetes cluster, run the following command:

    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/mongodb-atlas-kubernetes/v<version>/deploy/all-in-one.yaml
  • If you want Atlas Kubernetes Operator to watch only its namespace, you must install the configuration files from the deploy/namespaced directory:

    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/mongodb-atlas-kubernetes/v<version>/deploy/namespaced/crds.yaml
    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/mongodb-atlas-kubernetes/v<version>/deploy/namespaced/namespaced-config.yaml
4

To create and label a secret, run the following commands with your API keys and organization ID:

kubectl create secret generic mongodb-atlas-operator-api-key \
--from-literal="orgId=<atlas_organization_id>" \
--from-literal="publicApiKey=<atlas_api_public_key>" \
--from-literal="privateApiKey=<atlas_api_private_key>" \
-n mongodb-atlas-system
kubectl label secret mongodb-atlas-operator-api-key atlas.mongodb.com/type=credentials -n mongodb-atlas-system

If you use external secret storage, you don't need to put sensitive information directly into Kubernetes secrets. To learn more, see Configure Secret Storage.

5

Run the following command to create the AtlasProject Custom Resource:

Note

The following example does not specify spec.connectionSecretRef.name. If unspecified, Atlas Kubernetes Operator uses the default connection secret previously set with your API keys and organization ID.

Deploy the Atlas Kubernetes Operator custom resource.

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: atlas.mongodb.com/v1
kind: AtlasProject
metadata:
name: my-project
spec:
name: Test Atlas Operator Project
projectIpAccessList:
- ipAddress: <your-ip-address-range>
comment: "Adding your IP to Atlas access list"
EOF
6

Run one of the following commands to create an AtlasDeployment Custom Resource and create a cluster:

Paid Tier:

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: atlas.mongodb.com/v1
kind: AtlasDeployment
metadata:
name: my-atlas-cluster
spec:
projectRef:
name: my-project
deploymentSpec:
clusterType: REPLICASET
name: "Test-cluster"
tags:
- key: "environment"
value: "production"
replicationSpecs:
- zoneName: US-Zone
regionConfigs:
- electableSpecs:
instanceSize: M10
nodeCount: 3
providerName: AWS
regionName: US_EAST_1
priority: 7
EOF

Free Tier:

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: atlas.mongodb.com/v1
kind: AtlasDeployment
metadata:
name: my-atlas-cluster
spec:
projectRef:
name: my-project
deploymentSpec:
clusterType: REPLICASET
name: "Test-cluster"
replicationSpecs:
- regionConfigs:
- regionName: US_EAST_1
providerName: TENANT
backingProviderName: AWS
electableSpecs:
instanceSize: M0
nodeCount: 3
EOF

To create a serverless instance, see the serverless instance example.

7

Replace P@@ssword% with your password and run the following commands:

kubectl create secret generic the-user-password --from-literal="password=P@@sword%"
kubectl label secret the-user-password atlas.mongodb.com/type=credentials

If you use external secret storage, you don't need to put sensitive information directly into Kubernetes secrets. To learn more, see Configure Secret Storage.

8

Run the following command to create the AtlasDatabaseUser Custom Resource:

Note

spec.passwordSecretRef must reference the password that you created previously.

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: atlas.mongodb.com/v1
kind: AtlasDatabaseUser
metadata:
name: my-database-user
spec:
roles:
- roleName: "readWriteAnyDatabase"
databaseName: "admin"
projectRef:
name: my-project
username: theuser
passwordSecretRef:
name: the-user-password
EOF
9

Run the following command until you recieve a True response, which indicates the database user is ready:

Note

The AtlasDatabaseUser Custom Resource waits until the cluster is ready. Creating a new cluster can take up to 10 minutes.

kubectl get atlasdatabaseusers my-database-user -o=jsonpath='{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Ready")].status}'
10
  1. Copy the following command:

    Important

    The following command requires jq 1.6 or higher.

    kubectl get secret {my-project}-{my-atlas-cluster}-{my-database-user} -o json | jq -r '.data | with_entries(.value |= @base64d)';
  2. Replace the following placeholders with the details for your custom resources:

    my-project
    Specify the value of the metadata field of your AtlasProject Custom Resource.
    my-atlas-cluster
    Specify the value of the metadata field of your AtlasDeployment Custom Resource.
    my-database-user
    Specify the value of the metadata field of your AtlasDatabaseUser Custom Resource.
  3. Run the command.

    Note

    Your connection strings will differ from the following example.

    {
    "connectionStringStandard": "mongodb://theuser:P%40%40sword%25@test-cluster-shard-00-00.peqtm.mongodb.net:27017,test-cluster-shard-00-01.peqtm.mongodb.net:27017,test-cluster-shard-00-02.peqtm.mongodb.net:27017/?ssl=true&authSource=admin&replicaSet=atlas-pk82fl-shard-0",
    "connectionStringStandardSrv": "mongodb+srv://theuser:P%40%40sword%25@test-cluster.peqtm.mongodb.net",
    "password": "P@@sword%",
    "username": "theuser"
    }

    You can use this secret in your application:

    containers:
    - name: test-app
    env:
    - name: "CONNECTION_STRING"
    valueFrom:
    secretKeyRef:
    name: test-atlas-operator-project-test-cluster-theuser
    key: connectionStringStandardSrv

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