Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

Install global Operators in custom namespaces

To avoid installing global Operators in the default openshift-operators namespace, you can create a custom global namespace in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and install Operators there instead.

When installing Operators with the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform web console, the default behavior installs Operators that support the All namespaces install mode into the default openshift-operators global namespace. This can cause issues related to shared install plans and update policies between all Operators in the namespace. For more details on these limitations, see "Multitenancy and Operator colocation".

Prerequisites

You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

Before installing the Operator, create a namespace for the installation of your desired Operator. This installation namespace will become the custom global namespace:
1. Define a Namespace resource and save the YAML file, for example, global-operators.yaml:
  apiVersion: v1 kind: Namespace metadata: name: global-operators
2. Create the namespace by running the following command:
  $ oc create -f global-operators.yaml
Create a custom global Operator group, which is an Operator group that watches all namespaces:
1. Define an OperatorGroup resource and save the YAML file, for example, global-operatorgroup.yaml. Omit both the spec.selector and spec.targetNamespaces fields to make it a global Operator group, which selects all namespaces:
  apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1 kind: OperatorGroup metadata: name: global-operatorgroup namespace: global-operators
  The status.namespaces of a created global Operator group contains the empty string (""), which signals to a consuming Operator that it should watch all namespaces.
2. Create the Operator group by running the following command:
  $ oc create -f global-operatorgroup.yaml

Next steps

Install the desired Operator in your custom global namespace. Because the web console does not populate the Installed Namespace menu during Operator installation with custom global namespaces, the install task can only be performed with the OpenShift CLI (oc). For a detailed installation procedure, see "Installing from software catalog by using the CLI".

When you initiate the Operator installation, if the Operator has dependencies, the dependencies are also automatically installed in the custom global namespace. As a result, it is then valid for the dependency Operators to have the same update policy and shared install plans.