Strimzi Custom Experiments

This page provides templates and guidance for writing custom chaos experiments targeting Strimzi components.

Component Overview

Strimzi has 1 component in the openshift-operators namespace:

• cluster-operator: Main controller for Kafka, KafkaTopic, KafkaUser, and related CRs

Example Template

cluster-operator

apiVersion: chaos.operatorchaos.io/v1alpha1
kind: ChaosExperiment
metadata:
  name: strimzi-cluster-operator-custom
spec:
  target:
    operator: strimzi
    component: cluster-operator
  steadyState:
    checks:
      - type: conditionTrue
        apiVersion: apps/v1
        kind: Deployment
        name: strimzi-cluster-operator
        namespace: openshift-operators
        conditionType: Available
    timeout: "60s"
  injection:
    type: PodKill  # Change to desired injection type
    parameters:
      labelSelector: strimzi.io/kind=cluster-operator
    ttl: "120s"
  hypothesis:
    description: >-
      Describe the expected behavior after fault injection.
    recoveryTimeout: 120s

Running Custom Experiments

1. Save your experiment YAML to a file
2. Run: chaos-cli run --experiment <file>
3. Check results: chaos-cli results --latest

Design Considerations

• Kafka clusters are independent: Killing or partitioning the cluster-operator does not affect running Kafka brokers. Experiments validate operator-layer recovery, not data-plane availability.
• OLM reconciliation: Strimzi is OLM-managed. OLM handles CSV, Subscription, and Deployment lifecycle but does not restore replica counts (DeploymentScaleZero).
• Leader election: The cluster-operator uses a Lease for leader election. Disrupting the Lease forces re-election but does not cause data loss.