Kubernetes Operators

Kubernetes (K8s) is a widely used open-source platform for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

On Kubernetes, an Operator is a software extension to the Kubernetes API that uses a custom resource definition (CRD) to provide an application-specific API. Operators follow basic Kubernetes principles such as the use of controllers (control loops) to regulate the state of a system.

The Operator pattern combines custom resources and custom controllers to encode application-specific knowledge into an extension of the Kubernetes API to automate orchestration tasks.

HiveMQ currently offers two operators for Kubernetes:

  • The HiveMQ Platform Operator for Kubernetes (new): The latest version of our operator to deploy and manage HiveMQ Platform clusters on Kubernetes. This new and updated operator supports all HiveMQ platform versions starting with 4.19 and features numerous usability, reliability, and scalability enhancements. The HiveMQ Platform Operator is the supported operator for HiveMQ 4.28 LTS and future releases.

  • The HiveMQ Kubernetes Operator (legacy): The legacy version of our operator to deploy and manage HiveMQ clusters on Kubernetes. This version of the operator supports the previous long-term support (LTS) version of the HiveMQ platform, HiveMQ 4.9.

Starting in April 2024, HiveMQ 4.28 becomes the Long Term Support (LTS) version of the HiveMQ Platform. The HiveMQ Platform Operator for Kubernetes (new) provides usability, stability, and performance enhancements and is the supported operator for HiveMQ 4.28 and future releases. Support and updates for the preceding HiveMQ 4.9 LTS version and the older HiveMQ Kubernetes Operator (legacy) will continue for 6 months after the HiveMQ 4.28 release, ending in November 2024.
For more information, see Flexible MQTT Platform Upgrades with HiveMQ and HiveMQ Versioning.