Multi-Cluster Orchestration

Goal: Run chaos scenarios across multiple clusters or cloud environments from a single control point — useful for validating a multi-region application or comparing cluster configurations.

The recommended approach for multi-cluster orchestration is krkn-operator: a Kubernetes operator that runs on a dedicated control plane cluster and dispatches chaos scenarios to any number of registered target clusters, without distributing credentials to individual users.

How krkn-operator works

• A control plane cluster runs the operator and its web console
• Target clusters are registered once by an administrator (via kubeconfig, service account token, or username/password)
• Users select one or more targets through the web UI and launch scenarios — they never handle cluster credentials directly
• Scenarios run in parallel across all selected targets

This design preserves the original Krkn architecture (chaos runs from outside the cluster) while adding a secure, centralized orchestration layer.

What you need

• A Kubernetes or OpenShift cluster to host the operator (the control plane cluster)
• Helm 3.0+
• kubeconfig or service account credentials for each target cluster (held by the admin, not shared with users)

Steps

1. Install krkn-operator on your control plane cluster using Helm:

   helm install krkn-operator oci://quay.io/krkn-chaos/charts/krkn-operator \
     --version <VERSION> \
     --namespace krkn-operator-system \
     --create-namespace
   

   For production deployments with HA, external access, and monitoring, see the full installation guide.

2. Access the web console — for local testing use port-forwarding; for production expose it via Ingress, Gateway API, or OpenShift Route:

   kubectl port-forward svc/krkn-operator-console 3000:3000 -n krkn-operator-system
   

3. Register target clusters — as an administrator, open Admin Settings → Cluster Targets → Add Target and provide the cluster name and credentials for each cluster you want to target. See Configuration for the three supported auth methods (kubeconfig, service account token, username/password).

4. Run a scenario across multiple clusters — click Run Scenario, select one or more registered target clusters, choose a scenario, configure its parameters, and launch. The operator executes the scenario on all selected targets concurrently.

5. Monitor in real time — the home dashboard shows all active runs across all clusters. Click any run to see live log streaming and execution status.

ACM/OCM integration

If your organization uses Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) or Open Cluster Management (OCM), install the operator with ACM integration enabled. It will automatically discover and sync all ACM-managed clusters as chaos targets — no manual credential management required:

helm install krkn-operator oci://quay.io/krkn-chaos/charts/krkn-operator \
  --version <VERSION> \
  --namespace krkn-operator-system \
  --create-namespace \
  --set acm.enabled=true

Reference docs

• krkn-operator overview — architecture and security model
• Installation — Helm values for Kubernetes, OpenShift, and ACM
• Configuration — adding target clusters and ACM integration
• Usage — running and monitoring scenarios via the web console