Kubernetes deployments with Restate Operator

Learn how to deploy single-node Restate with Restate operator on a kind Kubernetes cluster.

This guide walks you through deploying a Restate cluster on Kubernetes using the Restate Operator.

We will use kind to create a local Kubernetes cluster for testing purposes.

1. Prerequisites

   Install the following on your local machine:

   • Docker
   • Helm
   • kubectl
   • Restate
   • kind

   This guide was written with kind v0.30.0, Restate Operator v1.8.1, and Restate v1.5.0. Contact us on Discord or Slack if something does not work as expected.

2. Create a kind cluster

   kind create cluster
   

   Set kubectl context to kind-kind:

   kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind
   

3. Install the Restate Operator

   Install the Restate Operator via Helm:

   helm install restate-operator \
     oci://ghcr.io/restatedev/restate-operator-helm \
     --namespace restate-operator \
     --create-namespace
   

   To install the operator, you need to be able to create namespaces and CRDs.

4. Create a Restate cluster

   Create a RestateCluster manifest in a file called restate-cluster.yaml:

   restate-cluster.yaml

   apiVersion: restate.dev/v1
   kind: RestateCluster
   metadata:
     name: restate-test
   spec:
     compute:
       image: restatedev/restate:1.5
     storage:
       storageRequestBytes: 2147483648 # 2 GiB
     security:
       disableNetworkPolicies: true
   

   Note that we disable network policies here for simplicity, but in a production environment, you should configure appropriate network policies for security.

   To learn more about the RestateCluster spec options, see the RestateCluster pkl definition.

   Apply the manifest:

   kubectl apply -n restate-test -f restate-cluster.yaml
   

   A single-node Restate deployment will be created in the restate-test namespace.

   Wait until the restate-0 pod is in the Ready state:

   kubectl get pods -n restate-test -w
   

5. Forward the ports of the Restate ingress and the UI to your local machine

   kubectl port-forward svc/restate -n restate-test 8080:8080 9070:9070
   

   Now you can access the Restate UI at http://localhost:9070.

6. Build and upload a Restate service Docker image to the kind cluster

   For example, download the TypeScript Hello World service:

   restate example typescript-hello-world &&
   cd typescript-hello-world &&
   npm install
   

   Build a Docker image for the service:

   docker build -t my-restate-service:0.0.1 .
   

   Upload the image to the kind cluster:

   kind load docker-image my-restate-service:0.0.1
   

7. Deploy the Restate service

   Create a RestateDeployment manifest for the service in a file called service-deployment.yaml:

   service-deployment.yaml

   apiVersion: restate.dev/v1beta1
   kind: RestateDeployment
   metadata:
     name: my-app
   spec:
     replicas: 1
     restate:
       register:
         service:
           name: restate
           namespace: restate-test
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: my-app
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: my-app
       spec:
         containers:
         - name: app
           image: my-restate-service:0.0.1
           ports:
           - name: restate
             containerPort: 9080
   

   Apply the manifest to deploy the service:

   kubectl apply -f service-deployment.yaml -n restate-test
   

   You should now see the deployed service listed in the Restate UI:

   

   The Restate Operator automatically registered the service with the Restate cluster.

8. Invoke the service

   In the Restate UI playground, you can now invoke the service. In the overview page, click on the greet handler of your service to open the playground. Then send a request:

   
9. 🎉 You did it!

   You have successfully deployed a Restate cluster and a Restate service on a local kind Kubernetes cluster using the Restate Operator!

   Check out the Restate Operator docs for further information.

After you are done experimenting, you can delete the kind cluster:

kind delete cluster