Doris Operator Overview

Doris Operator is the official Kubernetes Operator for Apache Doris. It combines Doris operational experience with Kubernetes-native resource management to provide a simpler, more efficient, and easier-to-use way to deploy and operate Doris on Kubernetes.

Doris Operator extends the Kubernetes API through CustomResourceDefinitions (CRDs). After you submit a Doris custom resource, the Operator creates and maintains the corresponding Kubernetes resources such as StatefulSet, Service, and PersistentVolumeClaim, and in some scenarios performs Doris metadata-level actions such as node registration, decommissioning, or cleanup.

This document explains where Doris Operator fits, what it manages, and when to use it. It is intended to help you build the right mental model first. For installation and deployment procedures, see the deployment documents for compute-storage integrated and compute-storage decoupled modes.

Why use Doris Operator

Deploying Doris on Kubernetes requires coordinating multiple components, service discovery, configuration mounts, storage binding, node registration, scaling, and health checks. As the cluster grows or the environment becomes more complex, managing these resources manually can lead to scattered configuration, many operational steps, and hard-to-track state.

With Doris Operator, you describe the desired cluster state declaratively through a Doris custom resource. The Operator then provides:

• A single resource that describes cluster topology.
• Automatic creation and maintenance of StatefulSet, Service, PVC, and related resources.
• Ordered component bring-up and changes based on dependencies.
• Component state aggregation into CR status.
• Support for common operations such as configuration changes, scaling, and rolling updates.
• Doris metadata-level node registration, decommissioning, or cleanup in some scenarios.

How it works

Doris Operator extends the Kubernetes API through CRDs. After you submit a Doris cluster resource through kubectl, Helm, or another release tool, the Operator watches that resource and translates it into native Kubernetes resources such as StatefulSet, Service, and PersistentVolumeClaim.

In this model, the user maintains the desired state, and the Operator continuously reconciles actual state toward that target.

Architecture

Doris Operator can be viewed as two layers: the control plane and the data plane. The control plane includes Doris Operator, the Reconciler, optional Webhook logic, and status aggregation. It watches Doris custom resources and reconciles the actual state toward the desired state. The data plane includes Kubernetes-native resources such as StatefulSet, Service, PVC, HPA, and Doris Pods, which run the actual Doris components.

After a user submits a Doris custom resource through kubectl, Helm, or another release tool, the Kubernetes API Server stores the desired state. Doris Operator watches resource changes and runs Reconcile logic, then creates or updates the underlying Kubernetes resources. This layered model reduces the complexity of managing many low-level resources directly and keeps Doris deployments aligned with standard Kubernetes platforms.

Supported cluster resources

Doris Operator primarily supports two cluster resource types:

Resource	Deployment mode	Main components	Typical use case
DorisCluster	Compute-storage integrated	FE, BE, CN, Broker	Standard Doris cluster deployment with a simpler operations model
DorisDisaggregatedCluster	Compute-storage decoupled	MetaService, FE, ComputeGroup	Workloads that need elastic compute groups or compute isolation

• DorisCluster is used for compute-storage integrated deployments. A single resource can describe FE, BE, CN, and Broker images, replica counts, resources, storage, configuration, and access methods.
• DorisDisaggregatedCluster is used for compute-storage decoupled deployments. It splits the cluster into MetaService, FE, and one or more ComputeGroups, each of which can be configured and operated independently.

Managed objects

From the user perspective, Doris Operator mainly manages:

Object	Description
Doris custom resources	Desired cluster state such as DorisCluster or DorisDisaggregatedCluster
StatefulSet	Replica count, stable network identity, and rolling updates for Doris component Pods
Service	Internal communication and external access
PVC	Persistent storage for stateful components
ConfigMap / Secret	Configuration, credentials, and external dependency information
HPA	Automatic scaling for supported components
status	Component state, availability, and cluster health

Choosing a deployment mode

If you are deploying Doris on Kubernetes for the first time, start with compute-storage integrated mode in most cases. Choose compute-storage decoupled mode when you clearly need elastic compute groups, compute isolation, or object-storage-based architecture.

Requirement	Recommended choice
Quickly deploy a standard Doris cluster	DorisCluster
Validate with fewer concepts	DorisCluster
Use different compute resources for different workloads	DorisDisaggregatedCluster
Scale compute more flexibly	DorisDisaggregatedCluster
Already plan to use object storage and FoundationDB	DorisDisaggregatedCluster

Capability boundaries

Doris Operator focuses on Doris cluster resources and lifecycle management. It does not replace Doris database-level management capabilities.

It does not directly manage:

• SQL objects such as databases, tables, partitions, and indexes.
• Data import, export, or workload orchestration policies.
• User privilege model design.
• Automatic recovery for every failure.
• Full abstraction of all Kubernetes, storage, or network problems.

When the cluster is unhealthy, you still need to combine Operator status, Kubernetes resource state, and Doris component logs to locate the issue.

Next steps

If you are new to Doris Operator, read this group of documents in order. If you are troubleshooting a specific problem, jump directly to the relevant page.

Goal	Recommended document
Understand the control plane, data plane, and Reconcile model	Doris Operator Architecture
Understand how Doris custom resources map to StatefulSet, Service, PVC, and other resources	Doris Operator Resource Model
Understand behavior during creation, scaling, configuration changes, and deletion	Doris Operator Lifecycle Management
Understand status fields and the troubleshooting path	Doris Operator Status and Troubleshooting