An infrastructure operator is a controller that provisions and manages infrastructure resources through a platform control-plane API. It lets developers request persistent resources such as databases, message queues, file shares, and caches through the Kubernetes API. section 8.4.3
Operators extend platform capabilities beyond application deployment, but they shift operational responsibility to platform engineers. Their lifecycle differs from traditional infrastructure as code and introduces a learning curve. section 8.4.3
Database as an application resource
An application team can declare a database inside its Helm chart, making the database another Kubernetes resource while the platform team manages its operational lifecycle. section 8.4.3
Common implementation options include:
- Crossplane, AWS ACK, and Operator SDK provide direct operator-based infrastructure management. section 8.4.3
- Terraform Operator wraps the Terraform workflow in the operator pattern when teams cannot develop fully operator-managed infrastructure skills. section 8.4.3
