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Observability for ZooKeeper Clusters
FAQs
  1. Prerequisites
  2. Stopping the Cluster
    1. Verify Cluster Stop
  3. Starting the Cluster
    1. Verify Cluster Start
  4. Restarting the Cluster
    1. Verify Restart Completion
  5. Cleanup

ZooKeeper Cluster Lifecycle Management

This guide demonstrates how to manage a ZooKeeper cluster's operational state in KubeBlocks, including:

  • Stopping the cluster to conserve resources
  • Starting a stopped cluster
  • Restarting cluster components
OperationEffectUse Case
StopSuspends cluster, retains storageCost savings, maintenance
StartResumes cluster operationRestore service after pause
RestartRecreates pods for componentConfiguration changes, troubleshooting

Prerequisites

    Before proceeding, verify your environment meets these requirements:

    • A functional Kubernetes cluster (v1.21+ recommended)
    • kubectl v1.21+ installed and configured with cluster access
    • Helm installed (installation guide)
    • KubeBlocks installed (installation guide)
    • ZooKeeper Add-on installed and a ZooKeeper cluster running (see Quickstart)

    Stopping the Cluster

    Stopping a ZooKeeper cluster in KubeBlocks will:

    1. Terminate all running pods
    2. Retain persistent storage (PVCs)
    3. Maintain cluster configuration
    apiVersion: operations.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: zookeeper-stop
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: zookeeper-cluster
  type: Stop

    Apply it:

    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apecloud/kubeblocks-addons/refs/heads/main/examples/zookeeper/stop.yaml

    kubectl patch cluster zookeeper-cluster -n demo --type='json' -p='[
  {
    "op": "add",
    "path": "/spec/componentSpecs/0/stop",
    "value": true
  }
]'

    Verify Cluster Stop

    kubectl get cluster zookeeper-cluster -n demo -w
    Example Output
    NAME                CLUSTER-DEFINITION   TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS     AGE
zookeeper-cluster                        Delete               Stopping   6m
zookeeper-cluster                        Delete               Stopped    6m55s

    Verify no running pods:

    kubectl get pods -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster
    Example Output
    No resources found in demo namespace.

    Confirm persistent volumes remain:

    kubectl get pvc -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster
    Example Output
    NAME                                         STATUS   VOLUME       CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS    AGE
data-zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-0           Bound    pvc-xxx      20Gi       RWO            kb-default-sc   8m
data-zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-1           Bound    pvc-xxx      20Gi       RWO            kb-default-sc   8m
data-zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-2           Bound    pvc-xxx      20Gi       RWO            kb-default-sc   8m
snapshot-log-zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-0   Bound    pvc-xxx      20Gi       RWO            kb-default-sc   8m
snapshot-log-zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-1   Bound    pvc-xxx      20Gi       RWO            kb-default-sc   8m
snapshot-log-zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-2   Bound    pvc-xxx      20Gi       RWO            kb-default-sc   8m

    Starting the Cluster

    apiVersion: operations.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: zookeeper-start
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: zookeeper-cluster
  type: Start

    Apply it:

    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apecloud/kubeblocks-addons/refs/heads/main/examples/zookeeper/start.yaml

    kubectl patch cluster zookeeper-cluster -n demo --type='json' -p='[
  {
    "op": "remove",
    "path": "/spec/componentSpecs/0/stop"
  }
]'

    Verify Cluster Start

    kubectl get cluster zookeeper-cluster -n demo -w
    Example Output
    NAME                CLUSTER-DEFINITION   TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS     AGE
zookeeper-cluster                        Delete               Updating   9m
zookeeper-cluster                        Delete               Running    9m48s

    kubectl get pods -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster -L kubeblocks.io/role
    Example Output
    NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     ROLE
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-0   2/2     Running   0          107s    follower
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-1   2/2     Running   0          94s     leader
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-2   2/2     Running   0          80s     follower

    Restarting the Cluster

    Restart recreates pods without full cluster stop, useful for:

    • Configuration changes requiring pod restart
    • Resource refresh
    • Troubleshooting
    apiVersion: operations.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: zookeeper-restart
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: zookeeper-cluster
  type: Restart
  restart:
  - componentName: zookeeper

    Apply it:

    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apecloud/kubeblocks-addons/refs/heads/main/examples/zookeeper/restart.yaml

    Verify Restart Completion

    kubectl get ops zookeeper-restart -n demo -w
    Example Output
    NAME                TYPE      CLUSTER             STATUS    PROGRESS   AGE
zookeeper-restart   Restart   zookeeper-cluster   Running   0/3        10s
zookeeper-restart   Restart   zookeeper-cluster   Running   1/3        94s
zookeeper-restart   Restart   zookeeper-cluster   Running   2/3        2m40s
zookeeper-restart   Restart   zookeeper-cluster   Running   3/3        3m45s
zookeeper-restart   Restart   zookeeper-cluster   Succeed   3/3        4m51s

    kubectl get pods -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster -L kubeblocks.io/role
    Example Output
    NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     ROLE
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-0   2/2     Running   0          3m43s   follower
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-1   2/2     Running   0          2m1s    follower
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-2   2/2     Running   0          4m51s   leader

    Cleanup

    kubectl delete cluster zookeeper-cluster -n demo
kubectl delete ns demo

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