Configuring the Che installation

The following section describes configuration options to install Eclipse Che using the Operator.

Prerequisites

  • Choose an installation procedure using the Operator.

Understanding the CheCluster Custom Resource

A default deployment of Che consist in the application of a parametrized CheCluster Custom Resource by the Eclipse Che Operator.

CheCluster Custom Resource

  • A YAML document describing the configuration of the overall Che installation.

  • Contains sections to configure each component: auth, database, server, storage.

Role of the Eclipse Che Operator

  • To translate the CheCluster Custom Resource into configuration (ConfigMap) usable by each component of the Che installation.

Role of the Kubernetes platform

  • To apply the configuration (ConfigMap) for each component.

  • To create the necessary Pods.

  • When Kubernetes detects a change in the configuration of a component, it restarts the Pods accordingly.

Example 1. Configuring the main properties of the Che server component

  1. The user applies a CheCluster Custom Resource containing some configuration related to the server.

  2. The Operator generates a necessary ConfigMap, called che.

  3. Kubernetes detects change in the ConfigMap and triggers a restart of the Che Pod.

Additional resources

CheCluster Custom Resource fields reference

This section describes all fields available to customize the CheCluster Custom Resource.

Example 2. A minimal CheCluster Custom Resource example.
apiVersion: org.eclipse.che/v1
kind: CheCluster
metadata:
  name: eclipse-che
spec:
  auth:
    externalIdentityProvider: false
  database:
    externalDb: false
  server:
    selfSignedCert: false
    gitSelfSignedCert: false
    tlsSupport: true
  storage:
    pvcStrategy: 'common'
    pvcClaimSize: '1Gi'
Table 1. CheCluster Custom Resource server settings, related to the Che server component.
Property Description

airGapContainerRegistryHostname

Optional host name, or URL, to an alternate container registry to pull images from. This value overrides the container registry host name defined in all the default container images involved in a Che deployment. This is particularly useful to install Che in a restricted environment.

airGapContainerRegistryOrganization

Optional repository name of an alternate container registry to pull images from. This value overrides the container registry organization defined in all the default container images involved in a Che deployment. This is particularly useful to install Che in a restricted environment.

allowUserDefinedWorkspaceNamespaces

Defines that a user is allowed to specify a Kubernetes namespace, or an OpenShift project, which differs from the default. It’s NOT RECOMMENDED to set to true without OpenShift OAuth configured. The OpenShift infrastructure also uses this property.

cheClusterRoles

A comma-separated list of ClusterRoles that will be assigned to Che ServiceAccount. Be aware that the Che Operator has to already have all permissions in these ClusterRoles to grant them.

cheDebug

Enables the debug mode for Che server. Defaults to false.

cheFlavor

Specifies a variation of the installation. The options are che for upstream Che installations, or codeready for CodeReady Workspaces installation. Override the default value only on necessary occasions.

cheHost

Public host name of the installed Che server. When value is omitted, the value it will be automatically set by the Operator. See the cheHostTLSSecret field.

cheHostTLSSecret

Name of a secret containing certificates to secure ingress or route for the custom host name of the installed Che server. See the cheHost field.

cheImage

Overrides the container image used in Che deployment. This does NOT include the container image tag. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

cheImagePullPolicy

Overrides the image pull policy used in Che deployment. Default value is Always for nightly or latest images, and IfNotPresent in other cases.

cheImageTag

Overrides the tag of the container image used in Che deployment. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default image tag provided by the Operator.

cheLogLevel

Log level for the Che server: INFO or DEBUG. Defaults to INFO.

cheServerIngress

The Che server ingress custom settings.

cheServerRoute

The Che server route custom settings.

cheWorkspaceClusterRole

Custom cluster role bound to the user for the Che workspaces. The default roles are used when omitted or left blank.

customCheProperties

Map of additional environment variables that will be applied in the generated che ConfigMap to be used by the Che server, in addition to the values already generated from other fields of the CheCluster custom resource (CR). When customCheProperties contains a property that would be normally generated in che ConfigMap from other CR fields, the value defined in the customCheProperties is used instead.

devfileRegistryCpuLimit

Overrides the CPU limit used in the devfile registry deployment. In cores. (500m = .5 cores). Default to 500m.

devfileRegistryCpuRequest

Overrides the CPU request used in the devfile registry deployment. In cores. (500m = .5 cores). Default to 100m.

devfileRegistryImage

Overrides the container image used in the devfile registry deployment. This includes the image tag. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

devfileRegistryIngress

The devfile registry ingress custom settings.

devfileRegistryMemoryLimit

Overrides the memory limit used in the devfile registry deployment. Defaults to 256Mi.

devfileRegistryMemoryRequest

Overrides the memory request used in the devfile registry deployment. Defaults to 16Mi.

devfileRegistryPullPolicy

Overrides the image pull policy used in the devfile registry deployment. Default value is Always for nightly or latest images, and IfNotPresent in other cases.

devfileRegistryRoute

The devfile registry route custom settings.

devfileRegistryUrl

Public URL of the devfile registry, that serves sample, ready-to-use devfiles. Set this ONLY when a use of an external devfile registry is needed. See the externalDevfileRegistry field. By default, this will be automatically calculated by the Operator.

externalDevfileRegistry

Instructs the Operator on whether to deploy a dedicated devfile registry server. By default, a dedicated devfile registry server is started. When externalDevfileRegistry is true, no such dedicated server will be started by the Operator and you will have to manually set the devfileRegistryUrl field

externalPluginRegistry

Instructs the Operator on whether to deploy a dedicated plugin registry server. By default, a dedicated plugin registry server is started. When externalPluginRegistry is true, no such dedicated server will be started by the Operator and you will have to manually set the pluginRegistryUrl field.

gitSelfSignedCert

When enabled, the certificate from che-git-self-signed-cert ConfigMap will be propagated to the Che components and provide particular configuration for Git.

nonProxyHosts

List of hosts that will be reached directly, bypassing the proxy. Specify wild card domain use the following form .<DOMAIN> and | as delimiter, for example: localhost|.my.host.com|123.42.12.32 Only use when configuring a proxy is required. Operator respects OpenShift cluster wide proxy configuration and no additional configuration is required, but defining nonProxyHosts in a custom resource leads to merging non proxy hosts lists from the cluster proxy configuration and ones defined in the custom resources. See the doc https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.4/networking/enable-cluster-wide-proxy.html. See also the proxyURL fields.

pluginRegistryCpuLimit

Overrides the CPU limit used in the plugin registry deployment. In cores. (500m = .5 cores). Default to 500m.

pluginRegistryCpuRequest

Overrides the CPU request used in the plugin registry deployment. In cores. (500m = .5 cores). Default to 100m.

pluginRegistryImage

Overrides the container image used in the plugin registry deployment. This includes the image tag. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

pluginRegistryIngress

Plugin registry ingress custom settings.

pluginRegistryMemoryLimit

Overrides the memory limit used in the plugin registry deployment. Defaults to 256Mi.

pluginRegistryMemoryRequest

Overrides the memory request used in the plugin registry deployment. Defaults to 16Mi.

pluginRegistryPullPolicy

Overrides the image pull policy used in the plugin registry deployment. Default value is Always for nightly or latest images, and IfNotPresent in other cases.

pluginRegistryRoute

Plugin registry route custom settings.

pluginRegistryUrl

Public URL of the plugin registry that serves sample ready-to-use devfiles. Set this ONLY when a use of an external devfile registry is needed. See the externalPluginRegistry field. By default, this will be automatically calculated by the Operator.

proxyPassword

Password of the proxy server. Only use when proxy configuration is required. See the proxyURL, proxyUser and proxySecret fields.

proxyPort

Port of the proxy server. Only use when configuring a proxy is required. See also the proxyURL and nonProxyHosts fields.

proxySecret

The secret that contains user and password for a proxy server. When the secret is defined, the proxyUser and proxyPassword are ignored.

proxyURL

URL (protocol+host name) of the proxy server. This drives the appropriate changes in the JAVA_OPTS and https(s)_proxy variables in the Che server and workspaces containers. Only use when configuring a proxy is required. Operator respects OpenShift cluster wide proxy configuration and no additional configuration is required, but defining proxyUrl in a custom resource leads to overrides the cluster proxy configuration with fields proxyUrl, proxyPort, proxyUser and proxyPassword from the custom resource. See the doc https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.4/networking/enable-cluster-wide-proxy.html. See also the proxyPort and nonProxyHosts fields.

proxyUser

User name of the proxy server. Only use when configuring a proxy is required. See also the proxyURL, proxyPassword and proxySecret fields.

selfSignedCert

Deprecated. The value of this flag is ignored. The Che Operator will automatically detect whether the router certificate is self-signed and propagate it to other components, such as the Che server.

serverCpuLimit

Overrides the CPU limit used in the Che server deployment In cores. (500m = .5 cores). Default to 1.

serverCpuRequest

Overrides the CPU request used in the Che server deployment In cores. (500m = .5 cores). Default to 100m.

serverExposureStrategy

Sets the server and workspaces exposure type. Possible values are multi-host, single-host, default-host. Defaults to multi-host, which creates a separate ingress, or OpenShift routes, for every required endpoint. single-host makes Che exposed on a single host name with workspaces exposed on subpaths. Read the docs to learn about the limitations of this approach. Also consult the singleHostExposureType property to further configure how the Operator and the Che server make that happen on Kubernetes. default-host exposes the Che server on the host of the cluster. Read the docs to learn about the limitations of this approach.

serverMemoryLimit

Overrides the memory limit used in the Che server deployment. Defaults to 1Gi.

serverMemoryRequest

Overrides the memory request used in the Che server deployment. Defaults to 512Mi.

serverTrustStoreConfigMapName

Name of the ConfigMap with public certificates to add to Java trust store of the Che server. This is often required when adding the OpenShift OAuth provider, which has HTTPS endpoint signed with self-signed cert. The Che server must be aware of its CA cert to be able to request it. This is disabled by default.

singleHostGatewayConfigMapLabels

The labels that need to be present in the ConfigMaps representing the gateway configuration.

singleHostGatewayConfigSidecarImage

The image used for the gateway sidecar that provides configuration to the gateway. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

singleHostGatewayImage

The image used for the gateway in the single host mode. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

tlsSupport

Deprecated. Instructs the Operator to deploy Che in TLS mode. This is enabled by default. Disabling TLS sometimes cause malfunction of some Che components.

useInternalClusterSVCNames

Use internal cluster SVC names to communicate between components to speed up the traffic and avoid proxy issues. The default value is true.

workspaceNamespaceDefault

Defines Kubernetes default namespace in which user’s workspaces are created for a case when a user does not override it. It’s possible to use <username>, <userid> and <workspaceid> placeholders, such as che-workspace-<username>. In that case, a new namespace will be created for each user or workspace.
Table 2. CheCluster Custom Resource database configuration settings related to the database used by Che.
Property Description

chePostgresContainerResources

PostgreSQL container custom settings

chePostgresDb

PostgreSQL database name that the Che server uses to connect to the DB. Defaults to dbche.

chePostgresHostName

PostgreSQL Database host name that the Che server uses to connect to. Defaults is postgres. Override this value ONLY when using an external database. See field externalDb. In the default case it will be automatically set by the Operator.

chePostgresPassword

PostgreSQL password that the Che server uses to connect to the DB. When omitted or left blank, it will be set to an automatically generated value.

chePostgresPort

PostgreSQL Database port that the Che server uses to connect to. Defaults to 5432. Override this value ONLY when using an external database. See field externalDb. In the default case it will be automatically set by the Operator.

chePostgresSecret

The secret that contains PostgreSQL`user` and password that the Che server uses to connect to the DB. When the secret is defined, the chePostgresUser and chePostgresPassword are ignored. When the value is omitted or left blank, the one of following scenarios applies: 1. chePostgresUser and chePostgresPassword are defined, then they will be used to connect to the DB. 2. chePostgresUser or chePostgresPassword are not defined, then a new secret with the name che-postgres-secret will be created with default value of pgche for user and with an auto-generated value for password.

chePostgresUser

PostgreSQL user that the Che server uses to connect to the DB. Defaults to pgche.

externalDb

Instructs the Operator on whether to deploy a dedicated database. By default, a dedicated PostgreSQL database is deployed as part of the Che installation. When externalDb is true, no dedicated database will be deployed by the Operator and you will need to provide connection details to the external DB you are about to use. See also all the fields starting with: chePostgres.

postgresImage

Overrides the container image used in the PostgreSQL database deployment. This includes the image tag. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

postgresImagePullPolicy

Overrides the image pull policy used in the PostgreSQL database deployment. Default value is Always for nightly or latest images, and IfNotPresent in other cases.
Table 3. Custom Resource auth configuration settings related to authentication used by Che.
Property Description

externalIdentityProvider

Instructs the Operator on whether or not to deploy a dedicated Identity Provider (Keycloak or RH SSO instance). Instructs the Operator on whether to deploy a dedicated Identity Provider (Keycloak or RH-SSO instance). By default, a dedicated Identity Provider server is deployed as part of the Che installation. When externalIdentityProvider is true, no dedicated identity provider will be deployed by the Operator and you will need to provide details about the external identity provider you are about to use. See also all the other fields starting with: identityProvider.

identityProviderAdminUserName

Overrides the name of the Identity Provider administrator user. Defaults to admin.

identityProviderClientId

Name of a Identity provider, Keycloak or RH-SSO, client-id that is used for Che. Override this when an external Identity Provider is in use. See the externalIdentityProvider field. When omitted or left blank, it is set to the value of the flavour field suffixed with -public.

identityProviderContainerResources

Identity provider container custom settings.

identityProviderImage

Overrides the container image used in the Identity Provider, Keycloak or RH-SSO, deployment. This includes the image tag. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator.

identityProviderImagePullPolicy

Overrides the image pull policy used in the Identity Provider, Keycloak or RH-SSO, deployment. Default value is Always for nightly or latest images, and IfNotPresent in other cases.

identityProviderIngress

Ingress custom settings.

identityProviderPassword

Overrides the password of Keycloak administrator user. Override this when an external Identity Provider is in use. See the externalIdentityProvider field. When omitted or left blank, it is set to an auto-generated password.

identityProviderPostgresPassword

Password for a Identity Provider, Keycloak or RH-SSO, to connect to the database. Override this when an external Identity Provider is in use. See the externalIdentityProvider field. When omitted or left blank, it is set to an auto-generated password.

identityProviderPostgresSecret

The secret that contains password for the Identity Provider, Keycloak or RH-SSO, to connect to the database. When the secret is defined, the identityProviderPostgresPassword is ignored. When the value is omitted or left blank, the one of following scenarios applies: 1. identityProviderPostgresPassword is defined, then it will be used to connect to the database. 2. identityProviderPostgresPassword is not defined, then a new secret with the name che-identity-postgres-secret will be created with an auto-generated value for password.

identityProviderRealm

Name of a Identity provider, Keycloak or RH-SSO, realm that is used for Che. Override this when an external Identity Provider is in use. See the externalIdentityProvider field. When omitted or left blank, it is set to the value of the flavour field.

identityProviderRoute

Route custom settings.

identityProviderSecret

The secret that contains user and password for Identity Provider. When the secret is defined, the identityProviderAdminUserName and identityProviderPassword are ignored. When the value is omitted or left blank, the one of following scenarios applies: 1. identityProviderAdminUserName and identityProviderPassword are defined, then they will be used. 2. identityProviderAdminUserName or identityProviderPassword are not defined, then a new secret with the name che-identity-secret will be created with default value admin for user and with an auto-generated value for password.

identityProviderURL

Public URL of the Identity Provider server (Keycloak / RH-SSO server). Set this ONLY when a use of an external Identity Provider is needed. See the externalIdentityProvider field. By default, this will be automatically calculated and set by the Operator.

initialOpenShiftOAuthUser

For operating with the OpenShift OAuth authentication, create a new user account since the kubeadmin can not be used. If the value is true, then a new OpenShift OAuth user will be created for the HTPasswd identity provider. If the value is false and the user has already been created, then it will be removed. If value is an empty, then do nothing. The user’s credentials are stored in the openshift-oauth-user-credentials secret by Operator. Note that this solution is Openshift 4 platform-specific.

oAuthClientName

Name of the OpenShift OAuthClient resource used to setup identity federation on the OpenShift side. Auto-generated when left blank. See also the OpenShiftoAuth field.

oAuthSecret

Name of the secret set in the OpenShift OAuthClient resource used to setup identity federation on the OpenShift side. Auto-generated when left blank. See also the OAuthClientName field.

openShiftoAuth

Enables the integration of the identity provider (Keycloak / RHSSO) with OpenShift OAuth. Empty value on OpenShift by default. This will allow users to directly login with their OpenShift user through the OpenShift login, and have their workspaces created under personal OpenShift namespaces. WARNING: the kubeadmin user is NOT supported, and logging through it will NOT allow accessing the Che Dashboard.

updateAdminPassword

Forces the default admin Che user to update password on first login. Defaults to false.
Table 4. CheCluster Custom Resource storage configuration settings related to persistent storage used by Che.
Property Description

postgresPVCStorageClassName

Storage class for the Persistent Volume Claim dedicated to the PostgreSQL database. When omitted or left blank, a default storage class is used.

preCreateSubPaths

Instructs the Che server to start a special Pod to pre-create a sub-path in the Persistent Volumes. Defaults to false, however it will need to enable it according to the configuration of your Kubernetes cluster.

pvcClaimSize

Size of the persistent volume claim for workspaces. Defaults to 1Gi.

pvcJobsImage

Overrides the container image used to create sub-paths in the Persistent Volumes. This includes the image tag. Omit it or leave it empty to use the default container image provided by the Operator. See also the preCreateSubPaths field.

pvcStrategy

Persistent volume claim strategy for the Che server. This Can be:`common` (all workspaces PVCs in one volume), per-workspace (one PVC per workspace for all declared volumes) and unique (one PVC per declared volume). Defaults to common.

workspacePVCStorageClassName

Storage class for the Persistent Volume Claims dedicated to the Che workspaces. When omitted or left blank, a default storage class is used.
Table 5. CheCluster Custom Resource k8s configuration settings specific to Che installations on Kubernetes or OpenShift.
Property Description

ingressClass

Ingress class that will define the which controller will manage ingresses. Defaults to nginx. NB: This drives the kubernetes.io/ingress.class annotation on Che-related ingresses.

ingressDomain

Global ingress domain for a Kubernetes cluster. This MUST be explicitly specified: there are no defaults.

ingressStrategy

Strategy for ingress creation. Options are: multi-host (host is explicitly provided in ingress), single-host (host is provided, path-based rules) and default-host (no host is provided, path-based rules). Defaults to multi-host Deprecated in favor of serverExposureStrategy in the server section, which defines this regardless of the cluster type. When both are defined, the serverExposureStrategy option takes precedence.

securityContextFsGroup

The FSGroup in which the Che Pod and workspace Pods containers runs in. Default value is 1724.

securityContextRunAsUser

ID of the user the Che Pod and workspace Pods containers run as. Default value is 1724.

singleHostExposureType

When the serverExposureStrategy is set to single-host, the way the server, registries and workspaces are exposed is further configured by this property. The possible values are native, which means that the server and workspaces are exposed using ingresses on K8s or gateway where the server and workspaces are exposed using a custom gateway based on Traefik. All the endpoints whether backed by the ingress or gateway route always point to the subpaths on the same domain. Defaults to native.

tlsSecretName

Name of a secret that will be used to setup ingress TLS termination when TLS is enabled. When the field is empty string, the default cluster certificate will be used. See also the tlsSupport field.
Table 6. CheCluster Custom Resource metrics settings, related to the Che metrics collection used by Che.
Property Description

enable

Enables metrics the Che server endpoint. Default to true.
Table 7. CheCluster Custom Resource status defines the observed state of Che installation
Property Description

cheClusterRunning

Status of a Che installation. Can be Available, Unavailable, or Available, Rolling Update in Progress.

cheURL

Public URL to the Che server.

cheVersion

Current installed Che version.

dbProvisioned

Indicates that a PostgreSQL instance has been correctly provisioned or not. Indicates that a PostgreSQL instance has been correctly provisioned or not.

devfileRegistryURL

Public URL to the devfile registry.

gitHubOAuthProvisioned

Indicates whether an Identity Provider instance, Keycloak or RH-SSO, has been configured to integrate with the GitHub OAuth.

helpLink

A URL that points to some URL where to find help related to the current Operator status.

keycloakProvisioned

Indicates whether an Identity Provider instance, Keycloak or RH-SSO, has been provisioned with realm, client and user.

keycloakURL

Public URL to the Identity Provider server, Keycloak or RH-SSO,.

message

A human readable message indicating details about why the Pod is in this condition.

openShiftOAuthUserCredentialsSecret

OpenShift OAuth secret that contains user credentials for HTPasswd identity provider.

openShiftoAuthProvisioned

Indicates whether an Identity Provider instance, Keycloak or RH-SSO, has been configured to integrate with the OpenShift OAuth.

pluginRegistryURL

Public URL to the plugin registry.

reason

A brief CamelCase message indicating details about why the Pod is in this state.