Feature Gates

Redis Operator supports feature gates to enable alpha/experimental features. These can be configured in the Helm chart values.

Configuration

Feature gates can be configured in the Helm chart values:

featureGates:
  # Enable generating Redis configuration using an init container instead of a regular container
  GenerateConfigInInitContainer: false
  # Never execute redis-cli -a <password>, even if authentication cannot succeed without it
  AvoidCommandLinePassword: false

Available Feature Gates

AvoidCommandLinePassword

When enabled, Redis Operator will never execute redis-cli -a <password>, which can leak passwords. The Operator sets the REDISCLI_AUTH variable on all Redis pods, so the password does not need to be provided on the command line and it is normally safe to turn this on unless you are simultaneously upgrading the operator. This is an alpha feature and may change in future releases.

However, if you upgrade from a version that does not add REDISCLI_AUTH to the pods (a behavior introduced in the same version that added AvoidCommandLinePassword), simultaneously enabling AvoidCommandLinePassword will make Redis Operator unable to manage your current pods, since -a <password> is still needed on them. Hence, to guarantee that the Redis password will never be included on a command line, you must either risk an operator downtime or upgrade in two steps:

1. Upgrade to a version that adds REDISCLI_AUTH to the pods (which was introduced at the same time as AvoidCommandLinePassword).
2. Turn on AvoidCommandLinePassword.

Default: false

Usage:

featureGates:
  AvoidCommandLinePassword: true

GenerateConfigInInitContainer

When enabled, Redis configuration will be generated using an init container instead of a regular container. This is an alpha feature and may change in future releases.

Default: false

Usage:

featureGates:
  GenerateConfigInInitContainer: true

Feature Gate Lifecycle

Feature gates follow a standard lifecycle:

1. Alpha: Features are disabled by default and may be changed in incompatible ways in a later software release without notice.
2. Beta: Features are enabled by default and may be changed in incompatible ways in a later software release.
3. GA: Features are enabled by default and will not be changed in incompatible ways in a later software release.

Adding New Feature Gates

When adding new feature gates to Redis Operator:

1. Define the feature gate in internal/features/features.go
2. Add the feature gate to DefaultRedisOperatorFeatureGates
3. Update the Helm chart values to include the new feature gate
4. Update this documentation with the new feature gate details