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Camunda 8 Helm installation

We recommend using Kubernetes and Helm to deploy and run Camunda 8 Self-Managed in production.

There are many ways you can provision and configure a Kubernetes cluster, and there are a number of architectural choices you need to make. Will your workers run in the Kubernetes cluster or external to it? You will need to configure your Kubernetes cluster and modify this to suit the architecture you are building.

Camunda provides continuously improved Helm charts, of which are not cloud provider-specific so you can choose your Kubernetes provider. The charts are available in the Camunda Helm repository and we encourage you to report issues.

What is Helm?​

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes resources. Helm allows us to install a set of components by simply referencing a package name and allowing us to override configurations to accommodate these packages to different scenarios.

Helm also provides dependency management between charts, meaning that charts can depend on other charts. This allows us to aggregate a set of components installed with a single command.

For more details, check the full list of Helm values.

Components​

The following charts will be installed as part of Camunda 8 Self-Managed:

  • Zeebe: Deploys a Zeebe Cluster with three brokers using the camunda/zeebe Docker image.
  • Zeebe Gateway: Deploys the standalone Zeebe Gateway with two replicas.
  • Operate: Deploys Operate, which connects to an existing Elasticsearch.
  • Tasklist: Deploys the Tasklist component to work with user tasks.
  • Optimize: Deploys the Optimize component to analyze the historic process executions.
  • Identity: Deploys the Identity component responsible for authentication and authorization.
  • Connectors: Deploys the Connectors component responsible for inbound and outbound integration with external systems.
  • Elasticsearch: Deploys an Elasticsearch cluster with two nodes.
  • Web Modeler: Deploys the Web Modeler component that allows you to model BPMN processes in a collaborative way.
  • Console: Deploys Camunda Console Self-Managed.
Amazon OpenSearch Helm support

The existing Helm charts use the Elasticsearch configurations by default. The Helm charts can still be used to connect to Amazon OpenSearch Service. Refer to using Amazon OpenSearch Service.

Zeebe: Configure the OpenSearch exporter.

Operate, Tasklist, and Optimize: These components use the same parameters for both Elasticsearch and OpenSearch. Replace the elasticsearch part of the relevant configuration key with opensearch, together with its appropriate value.

For example, CAMUNDA_OPERATE_ELASTICSEARCH_URL becomes CAMUNDA_OPERATE_OPENSEARCH_URL. In the case of Optimize, please make sure all variables have the proper CAMUNDA_OPTIMIZE prefix, i.e. OPTIMIZE_ELASTICSEARCH_HTTP_PORT becomes CAMUNDA_OPTIMIZE_OPENSEARCH_HTTP_PORT.

Refer to the Operate, Tasklist and Optimize configuration documentation for additional component configuration parameters to update.

Camunda 8 Self-Managed Architecture Diagram

When installing the camunda-platform Helm chart, all components shown on the architectural diagram above are installed.

Versioning​

Starting from the Camunda v8.4 (January 2024), the Camunda 8 Helm chart version is decoupled from the version of the application (e.g., the chart version is 9.0.0 and the application version is 8.4.x).

For more details about the applications version included in the Helm chart, review the full version matrix.

Installation​

At helm.camunda.io, you'll find a Helm chart to configure a 3-broker cluster with:

  • Two Elasticsearch instances
  • Operate
  • Two Zeebe Gateways
  • Tasklist

This size is comparable with the Production-S cluster plan in Camunda 8 SaaS. It should be sufficient for 80% of use cases.

Prerequisites​

Before deploying Camunda using Helm, you need the following:

  • Kubernetes cluster: either local, cloud platform, or on-premises.
  • Helm.
  • Kubectl CLI.

Helm repository​

You have to add the Camunda Helm chart repository to use the charts. Once this is done, Helm can fetch and install charts hosted at https://helm.camunda.io:

helm repo add camunda https://helm.camunda.io
helm repo update

Create Identity secrets​

In a default configuration, Helm charts will auto-generate all required Camunda Identity secrets for Camunda 8 component to Identity communications. However, future helm upgrade commands will regenerate Helm charts due to an issue with a Bitnami library.

While upgrading is still possible by following our upgrade guide, we recommend pre-creating these secrets to ease your future upgrade experience. This is also a recommended option when using CI/CD tools like ArgoCD, FluxCD, Jenkins, etc.

See an example of the secret below:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: identity-secret-for-components
type: Opaque
data:
  operate-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=
  tasklist-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=
  optimize-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=
  connectors-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=
  console-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=
  keycloak-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=
  zeebe-secret: VmVyeUxvbmdTdHJpbmc=

Add the following configuration parameters to your values.yaml file

global:
  identity:
    auth:
      operate:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components
      tasklist:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components
      optimize:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components
      webModeler:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components
      connectors:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components
      console:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components
      zeebe:
        existingSecret:
          name: identity-secret-for-components

Once this is completed, you are ready to install the Helm chart hosted in the official Camunda Helm chart repo.

Install Camunda Helm chart​

To install the available Camunda 8 components inside a Kubernetes cluster, you can simply run:

helm install camunda camunda/camunda-platform

You can also add the -n flag to specify in which Kubernetes namespace the components should be installed.

The command does not install Web Modeler or Console by default. To enable Web Modeler, refer to the installation instructions below. To enable Console, refer to the installation instructions.

Installing all the components in a cluster requires all Docker images to be downloaded to the Kubernetes cluster. Depending on which cloud provider you are using, the time it will take to fetch all the images will vary.

For air-gapped environments, refer to installing in an air-gapped environment.

Review the progress of your deployment by checking if the Kubernetes pods are up and running with the following:

kubectl get pods

This will return something similar to the following:

NAME                                           READY   STATUS              RESTARTS   AGE
camunda-keycloak-0                       0/1     Pending             0          4s
camunda-identity-6bb5d864cc-kk6dv        0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-operate-cb597fd76-6vr2x          0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-optimize-676955b547-vxts7        0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-connectors-1bba590ff-a63dc       0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-postgresql-0                     0/1     Pending             0          4s
camunda-tasklist-5bf5c56f7b-sdwg7        0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-zeebe-0                          0/1     Pending             0          4s
camunda-zeebe-1                          0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-zeebe-2                          0/1     Pending             0          4s
camunda-zeebe-gateway-657b774f95-bbcx5   0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
camunda-zeebe-gateway-657b774f95-gmlbm   0/1     Running             0          4s
elasticsearch-master-0                   0/1     Pending             0          4s
elasticsearch-master-1                   0/1     Init:0/1            0          4s

Wait for all Kubernetes pods to reach the Ready state. For example:

NAME                                           READY    STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
elasticsearch-master-0                          1/1     Running   0          4m6s
camunda-operate-XXX                             1/1     Running   0          4m6s
camunda-connectors-XXX                          1/1     Running   0          4m6s
camunda-zeebe-0                                 1/1     Running   0          4m6s
camunda-tasklist-XXX                            1/1     Running   0          4m6s
camunda-zeebe-gateway                           1/1     Running   0          4m6s

Install the latest Camunda 8 version​

When you use the Camunda 8 Helm chart, it automatically selects the latest version of Camunda 8 applications. However, there might be slight discrepancies between the versions of the chart and its applications/dependencies, as they are released separately.

To ensure you're installing the most current version of both the chart and its applications/dependencies, use the following command:

# This will install the latest Camunda Helm chart with the latest applications/dependencies.
helm install camunda camunda/camunda-platform \
    --values https://helm.camunda.io/camunda-platform/values/values-latest.yaml

If you want to install a previous version of the Camunda componenets, follow this command structure:

# This will install Camunda Helm chart v8.1.x with the latest applications/dependencies of v8.1.x.
helm install camunda camunda/camunda-platform --version 8.1 \
    --values https://helm.camunda.io/camunda-platform/values/values-v8.1.yaml

Accessing Camunda services​

By default, Camunda services deployed in a cluster are not accessible from outside the cluster. However, you can choose from several methods to connect to these services:

  • Port forwarding: This method allows you to direct traffic from your local machine to the cluster, making it possible to access Camunda services directly. For detailed instructions, refer to accessing components without Ingress.
  • Ingress configuration: You can set up the NGINX Ingress controller to manage external service access. For detailed instructions, refer to the Ingress setup guide.
  • EKS cluster installation: For those deploying Camunda 8 on an Amazon EKS cluster, refer to installing Camunda 8 on an EKS cluster.

Configure license key​

Camunda 8 components are able to consume Enterprise licensing information with the following Helm configuration:

global:
  license:
    ## @param global.license.key if set, it will be exposed as "CAMUNDA_LICENSE_KEY" in all components, consumable as ENV_VAR.
    key:
    ## @param global.license.existingSecret you can provide an existing secret name for Camunda license secret.
    existingSecret:
    ## @param global.license.existingSecretKey you can provide the key within the existing secret object for Camunda license key.
    existingSecretKey:

If your installation of Camunda 8 requires a license key, update your values.yaml to include one of two options.

Option One: Enter your license key directly in global.license.key.

global:
  license:
    key: >-
      --------------- BEGIN CAMUNDA LICENSE KEY ---------------
      [...]
      ---------------  END CAMUNDA LICENSE KEY  ---------------

Option Two: Provide a secret name and key in global.license.existingSecret and global.license.existingSecretKey.

Create a Kubernetes Secret object as follows:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: camunda-license
stringData:
  key: >-
    --------------- BEGIN CAMUNDA LICENSE KEY ---------------
    [...]
    ---------------  END CAMUNDA LICENSE KEY  ---------------

Then use the created Kubernetes Secret object as follows:

global:
  license:
    existingSecret: "camunda-license"
    existingSecretKey: "key"
note

Camunda 8 components without a valid license may display Non-Production License in the navigation bar and issue warnings in the logs. These warnings have no impact on startup or functionality, with the exception that Web Modeler has a limitation of five users.

Configuring Web Modeler, Console, and Connectors​

Web Modeler and Console secrets​

The Console and Web Modeler Components are published in Camunda's private Docker registry (registry.camunda.cloud) and are under a proprietary license. These components are not available in public repositories.

To enable Kubernetes to pull the images from this registry, first create an image pull secret using the credentials you received from Camunda:

kubectl create secret docker-registry registry-camunda-cloud \
  --namespace=<NAMESPACE> \
  --docker-server=registry.camunda.cloud \
  --docker-username=<DOCKER_USER> \
  --docker-password=<DOCKER_PASSWORD> \
  --docker-email=<DOCKER_EMAIL>
note

Use registry-camunda-cloud as a secret after replacing <DOCKER_USER>, <DOCKER_PASSWORD>, and <DOCKER_EMAIL> with your credentials.

The secret must be created in the same Kubernetes namespace where you'll install the Helm chart. Replace <NAMESPACE> to set the namespace.

Alternatively, create an image pull secret from your Docker configuration file.

Install Connectors​

The Connector runtime comes enabled by default. To start using Connectors, install Connector element templates. Learn more in our documentation for Web Modeler or Desktop Modeler.

Find all available configurable options at the official Camunda Helm values docs.

Disable Connectors​

To disable Connectors, pass the connectors.enabled: false value when deploying Camunda Helm Chart.

Polling authentication mode​

Connectors use the Operate API to fetch process definitions containing inbound Connectors. Depending on your Camunda architecture, you may want to choose one of the following values for the inbound.mode:

  • disabled - Polling from Operate is disabled. Connector runtime will support only outbound interactions, such as HTTP REST calls.
  • credentials - Connector runtime will attempt to authenticate to the Operate API with password-based basic HTTP authentication.
  • oauth - (Recommended and enabled by default) the Connector runtime will attempt to authenticate to the Operate API with an OAuth 2.0 provider. Camunda offers Keycloak as a default OAuth provider.

For more details, check Connectors Helm values.

Install Web Modeler​

Follow the steps below to install the Camunda Helm chart with Web Modeler enabled:

Configure Web Modeler​

To set up Web Modeler, you need to provide the following required configuration values (all available configuration options are described in more detail in the Helm chart's values docs):

  • Enable Web Modeler with webModeler.enabled: true (it is disabled by default).
  • Configure your SMTP server by providing the values under webModeler.restapi.mail.
    • Web Modeler requires an SMTP server to send notification emails to users.
  • Configure the database connection
    • Web Modeler requires a PostgreSQL database as persistent data storage (other database systems are currently not supported).
    • Option 1: Set postgresql.enabled: true. This will install a new PostgreSQL instance as part of the Helm release (using the PostgreSQL Helm chart by Bitnami as a dependency).
    • Option 2: Set postgresql.enabled: false and configure a connection to an external database (see the second example below).

We recommend specifying these values in a YAML file that you pass to the helm install command. A minimum configuration file would look as follows:

webModeler:
  enabled: true
  restapi:
    mail:
      smtpHost: smtp.example.com
      smtpPort: 587
      smtpUser: user
      smtpPassword: secret
      # Email address to be displayed as sender of emails from Web Modeler
      fromAddress: no-reply@example.com
postgresql:
  enabled: true

If you don't want to install a new PostgreSQL instance with Helm, but connect Web Modeler to an existing external database, set postgresql.enabled: false and provide the values under webModeler.restapi.externalDatabase:

webModeler:
  restapi:
    externalDatabase:
      url: jdbc:postgresql://postgres.example.com:5432/modeler-db
      user: modeler-user
      password: secret
postgresql:
  # disables the PostgreSQL chart dependency
  enabled: false

For more details, check Web Modeler Helm values.

Install Console​

Console Self-Managed is disabled by default in the Camunda 8 Helm chart, as it requires a proprietary license to access the Camunda container registry.

To install Console, two steps are required:

  1. Create a secret with Camunda registry credentials.
  2. Enable Console, and reference the created Kubernetes secret object via Helm values.
console:
  enabled: true
  image:
    pullSecrets:
      - name: registry-camunda-cloud

For more details, check Console Helm values.

note

Console Self-Managed requires the Identity component to authenticate. Camunda Helm Chart installs Identity by default. When logging in to Console when using port-forward, port-forward the Keycloak service kubectl port-forward svc/<RELEASE-NAME>-keycloak 18080:80 or configure Identity with Ingress as described in the Ingress setup guide.

Installation troubleshooting​

Check that each pod is running and ready. If one or more of your pods are still pending, it means it cannot be scheduled onto a node. Usually, this happens because there are insufficient resources that prevent it. Use the kubectl describe ... command to check on messages from the scheduler:

kubectl describe pods <POD_NAME>

If the output of the describe command was not helpful, tail the logs of these pods by running the following:

kubectl logs -f <POD_NAME>

Upgrading​

For upgrading the Camunda Helm chart from one release to another, perform a Helm upgrade.

General notes​

  • Zeebe Gateway is deployed as a stateless service. We support Kubernetes startup and liveness probes for Zeebe.
  • Zeebe broker nodes need to be deployed as a StatefulSet to preserve the identity of cluster nodes. StatefulSets require persistent storage, which must be allocated in advance. Depending on your cloud provider, the persistent storage differs as it is provider-specific.