Installation

Camel K allows us to run integrations directly on a Kubernetes or OpenShift cluster. To use it, you need to be connected to a cloud environment or to a local cluster created for development purposes.

Requirements

Camel K installation is usually straightforward, but for certain cluster types you need to apply specific configuration settings before installing it. Customized instructions are needed for the following cluster types:

Other cluster types (such as OpenShift clusters) should not need prior configuration.

Minishift is no longer supported since Camel K 1.5.0. You can use CRC for a local OpenShift cluster.

Procedure

To start using Camel K you need the "kamel" CLI tool, that can be used to both configure the cluster and run integrations. Look into the release page for the latest version of the camel-k-client tool for your specific platform.

Download and uncompress the archive. It contains a small binary file named kamel that you should put into your system path. For example, if you’re using Linux, you can put kamel in /usr/bin.

Once you have put the "kamel" CLI in the path, log into your cluster using the standard "oc" (OpenShift) or "kubectl" (Kubernetes) client tool and execute the following command to install Camel K:

kamel install

This will configure the cluster with the Camel K custom resource definitions and install the operator on the current namespace.

Custom Resource Definitions (CRD) are cluster-wide objects and you need admin rights to install them. Fortunately, this operation can be done once per cluster. So, if the kamel install operation fails, you’ll be asked to repeat it when logged as admin. For CRC, this means executing oc login -u system:admin then kamel install --cluster-setup only for the first-time installation.

You’re now ready to run some integrations.

Installation via Helm

Camel K is also available in Helm Hub for installation. Follow the instructions on the Camel K page for more information.