Use custom Certificate Manager instead of TLS sidecar in Entity Operator

[prateekkohli21]

Hi All,

Is is possible to integrate a custom certificate manager and disable the sideCarTLS container(so that it does not get deployed) while using entity operator?

I would want to give my custom certificates and manage them using a Certificate Manager for communication between topic operator & kafka/zookeeper, but I did not see any option to disable the sidecarTLS container & do certificate management using a custom certificate Manager.

Regards,
Prateek Kohli

[scholzj]

The TLS sidecar is nothing like Certificate Manager. So I'm not sure in which way it would it replace it. The TLS sidecar just encrypts the connection when conencting to ZooKeeper because historically, ZooKeeper had. abad support for TLS.

[prateekkohli21]

I am using Strimzi managed Kafka Cluster, will refer the documentation and discuss further in case of any concerns.
Thanks a lot!!

[prateekkohli21]

Just wanted to know if I use standalone topic Operator, do I have an option of connection to zookeeper on TLS?

I can see STRIMZI_TLS_ENABLED option, but I guess this is just for mTLS communication between topic-operator & zookeeper.

Is there any similar option to make mTLS communication between topic-operator & zookeeper?

[scholzj]

If you use Strimzi managed Kafka cluster, then you should enable the Topic Operator through the Kafka CR and not use the standalone Topic Operator.

[prateekkohli21]

Ok, but if I want to use standalone topic operator, how can I manage TLS with external zookeeper?

[scholzj]

You cannot. If you use Strimzi based Kafka cluster, you should simply use the Topic Operator through Kafka CR.