Installation

This guide walks you through installing the Forkspacer operator in your Kubernetes cluster using Helm (recommended).

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes cluster (v1.20 or later)
• kubectl configured to access your cluster
• helm (v3.0 or later)
• Cluster admin permissions

Helm Installation

Forkspacer is installed using Helm charts for flexible and manageable deployments.

1. Install cert-manager

Forkspacer requires cert-manager for managing TLS certificates used by webhooks.

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.18.2/cert-manager.yaml

Wait for cert-manager to be ready:

kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/cert-manager -n cert-manager
kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/cert-manager-cainjector -n cert-manager
kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/cert-manager-webhook -n cert-manager

2. Deploy Forkspacer with Helm

Add the Forkspacer Helm repository:

helm repo add forkspacer https://forkspacer.github.io/forkspacer
helm repo update

Operator Only (Minimal)

Install just the core operator for managing workspaces and modules:

helm install forkspacer forkspacer/forkspacer \
  --namespace forkspacer-system \
  --create-namespace

3. Verify Installation

Check that the operator is running:

kubectl get pods -n forkspacer-system

You should see the operator pod in Running state:

NAME                                          READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
forkspacer-controller-manager-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxx   1/1     Running   0          30s

Verify the CRDs are installed:

kubectl get crds | grep batch.forkspacer.com

You should see:

modules.batch.forkspacer.com
workspaces.batch.forkspacer.com

What’s Next?

• Quick Start Guide - Create your first workspace and deploy a module
• Creating Workspaces - Learn about workspace management
• Deploying Modules - Deploy applications into workspaces

Troubleshooting

cert-manager Installation Issues

If cert-manager pods are not starting, check the logs:

kubectl logs -n cert-manager deployment/cert-manager

Ensure your Kubernetes version is v1.19 or later:

kubectl version --short

Operator Not Starting

Check the operator logs:

kubectl logs -n forkspacer-system deployment/forkspacer-controller-manager

Ensure all required CRDs are installed:

kubectl get crds | grep batch.forkspacer.com

Uninstallation

To remove Forkspacer from your cluster:

# Delete all workspaces and modules first
kubectl delete workspaces --all -A
kubectl delete modules --all -A

# Remove the operator using Helm
helm uninstall forkspacer -n forkspacer-system

# Optionally remove cert-manager
kubectl delete -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.18.2/cert-manager.yaml