Installing the IBM App Connect Operator

OpenShift-only contentAfter you add the IBM® App Connect Operator to a catalog in your cluster, you can install the Operator by using the Red Hat® OpenShift® web console or CLI.

About this task

When you install the IBM App Connect Operator, custom resources for the App Connect components are provided as APIs that can be used to create instances of App Connect Dashboard, App Connect Designer, switch servers, integration servers, configuration objects, and trace objects. The IBM Cloud Pak foundational services Operator is also installed as a dependency, which in turn installs the Operand Deployment Lifecycle Manager Operator in the ibm-common-services namespace.

Installation modes

You can install the IBM App Connect Operator in either of these installation modes:

  • A cluster-wide installation into all namespaces on the cluster: Selecting this mode installs the IBM App Connect Operator into the openshift-operators namespace. The Operator can be installed only once in the cluster with this mode. This mode is the default option and should be considered because it allows you to have a single point from which to control the Operator. When installed, the Operator will be available to all namespaces (and users) on the cluster, and can be used to deploy and manage App Connect instances or resources within any namespace.
  • Installation into a specific namespace on the cluster: Selecting this mode installs the IBM App Connect Operator into a single namespace of your choice. Choosing this option means that the Operator can be installed multiple times, across multiple namespaces, in the same cluster, and at different versions. Each Operator will be isolated to a single namespace, and can be used to deploy and manage App Connect instances or resources within that namespace only. Installing different versions of the Operator across namespaces is strongly discouraged, however, because it can result in conflicts with the CustomResourceDefinitions (CRDs) that are used to create App Connect resources. CRDs are not unique to a namespace, but affect the whole cluster, and any conflicts might lead to installation or upgrade issues for an Operator and the resources that it manages.
Note: The same installation mode must be used to install the IBM App Connect Operator and its dependent Operator (IBM Cloud Pak foundational services). The dependent Operator is typically installed automatically, but if a situation arises where it needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled, you must ensure that it is reinstalled in the same installation mode as the IBM App Connect Operator.