Install runtime for Managed Stacks

⚠warning

Managed Stacks is deprecated. Install and configure the runtime only if you still use Managed Stacks. The default product installation does not require it.

The default installation of Cloud Solution Workbench is the design-time workbench (Solution Designer). Runtime components — k5-projects, pipelines, GitOps, and deployment targets — are needed only when you enable Managed Stacks to build and deploy generated services.

Complete the core installation first, then follow this page.

Topology overview

The following pictures show an example Managed Stacks setup. In this example a dual-cluster topology is assumed: one cluster for development and testing, one dedicated cluster for production workloads.

OpenShift

Kubernetes

What the runtime adds

When runtime is enabled, the Helm chart deploys additional components used to build, deploy, and operate Managed Stacks services, including:

• k5-project operator and Custom Resource Definitions
• pipeline manager (Tekton resources)
• configuration management
• application manager, topic management, and related operators

You also need extra cluster capacity, third-party services, and one or more k5-project namespaces as deployment targets.

Helm parameters

Set these values when you install or upgrade the Helm chart. Managed Stacks need both the feature flag and the runtime components.

Parameter	Description	Required for Managed Stacks	Default
global.k5.featureFlags.enableHeritageStacks	Enable Managed Stacks (Deprecated).	yes	false
global.k5.runtime.enabled	Enable runtime components (operators, CRDs, pipeline manager, configuration management). Required when Managed Stacks is enabled.	yes	true
k5-pipeline-manager.tekton.initialize	Create Tekton pipeline resources. Set to true only if OpenShift Pipelines / Tekton is already installed.		true
runtime.aggregateRoles.create	Create aggregation roles needed for runtime.		true
runtime.crds.create	Create Custom Resource Definitions needed for runtime.		true
runtime.scc.create	Create Security Context Constraints needed for runtime (Tekton pipeline steps).		true
global.k5.openshiftConsole	URL of the OpenShift Console, used for links to Tekton PipelineRuns.		-

Example Helm parameters:

HELM_OPTIONS="${HELM_OPTIONS} \
  --set global.k5.featureFlags.enableHeritageStacks=true \
  --set global.k5.runtime.enabled=true"

If you do not use Managed Stacks, keep global.k5.featureFlags.enableHeritageStacks=false. You can also set global.k5.runtime.enabled=false so runtime operators, CRDs, and pipeline resources are not deployed.

ℹ️note

The chart default for global.k5.runtime.enabled is true. For a design-time-only installation, set it to false explicitly.

Namespaces

In addition to the installation namespace used for the workbench, Managed Stacks need one or more runtime namespaces:

Namespace	Description
cloud-solution-workbench	The installation namespace from the core installation.
k5-projects	OpenShift projects / Kubernetes namespaces used as deployment targets. In Solution Designer they are called deployment targets (used to deploy and run microservices). On the Environment page they appear as k5-projects; elsewhere they may be referred to as Envoys. You can define one or more deployment targets.

The project administrator prepares these namespaces and installs Envoys (k5-projects) in them. See Create deployment targets.

System requirements for runtime

Hardware

The table below outlines the minimum requirements for deploying a single service project (2 pods). Scale this by the number of service projects and stages you expect. Requirements vary by technology stack and load.

Hardware	CPU	Memory
x86-64	200m	1.5Gi

Third-party components

These components are optional for the core workbench and required or recommended when you use Managed Stacks to build, deploy, and run services.

Red Hat OpenShift

Component	Required version	Optional for core install	Needed for Managed Stacks
Red Hat - Streams for Apache Kafka	Version 3.2	yes	Eventing
Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry	Version 3.3.1	yes	Event schemas
Red Hat OpenShift GitOps	Version 1.21	yes	Application composition
Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines	Version 1.23	yes	Build and deploy
Red Hat OpenShift Logging Operator	Version 6.4	yes	Operations logging
MongoDB	Version 7	yes	Business data of deployed services

Kubernetes

Component	Required version	Optional for core install	Needed for Managed Stacks
Apache Kafka	Version 4.3	yes	Eventing
Apicurio Registry	Version 3.3.1	yes	Event schemas
ArgoCD	Version 3.4	yes	Application composition
Tekton	Version 1.12	yes	Build and deploy
MongoDB	Version 7	yes	Business data of deployed services

OpenShift Service Mesh or Istio is optional for both topologies.

Helm chart repositories

A Helm chart repository is required to release your service projects' Helm charts in order to create components. It must meet the following requirements:

• The chart repository must not be helm-oci based
• The chart repository must contain an index.yaml file, see Helm Chart Repository.
• The chart repository must be available from the cluster via HTTPS and has a proper certificate (not self-signed)

Examples for supported Helm Chart Repositories are:

• ChartMuseum Repository Server
• GitLab Package Registry
• Sonatype Nexus Helm Chart Repository - limited support!

⚠warning

Using Sonatype Nexus as Helm chart repository doesn't support descriptions and icons used in Solution Designer to display components.

Quick sizing for PoC

The diagram below is general advice for a possible PoC sizing when Managed Stacks is used, including deployment-target namespaces and typical third-party components.

After the Helm install

1. Configure network policies for the workbench namespace and for deployed services.
2. Create one or more deployment targets (k5-projects).
3. Optional: connect ArgoCD, Schema Registry, Vault, and audit logging as described in optional configuration. Those bindings are used by Managed Stacks runtimes.

For air-gapped clusters, every runtime namespace (k5-project) also needs access to your identity provider, repo.maven.apache.org (Java solutions), and registry.npmjs.org (Node solutions). See Airgapped configuration.