Introduction

Alauda Data Services Analytical Database E1 is an enterprise-grade real-time analytical database service built on the open-source ClickHouse®. It provides cloud-native deployment, operations, and full cluster lifecycle management on Kubernetes.

What it is

A column-oriented OLAP engine for real-time queries and analytics over large datasets, delivered as a Kubernetes operator. You declare the desired cluster topology in a custom resource; the operator renders and reconciles the StatefulSets, Services, ConfigMaps and PersistentVolumeClaims that implement it.

Three custom resources, all in group clickhouse.altinity.com/v1 and all namespaced:

KindShort namePurpose
ClickHouseInstallationchiOne database cluster: its topology, settings and users
ClickHouseInstallationTemplatechitReusable fragments merged into a CHI
ClickHouseOperatorConfigurationchopconfOperator-wide behaviour

The operator is delivered as an OLM bundle. The OLM package name is clickhouse-operator and it installs into the operators namespace. Both amd64 and arm64 are declared supported.

Sharding and replication

A cluster is a grid of shards and replicas, declared as spec.configuration.clusters[].layout.shardsCount and .replicasCount. A shard holds a shared-nothing part of the data; a replica is a full copy of one shard. Each shard/replica pair — a host — is its own StatefulSet carrying exactly one Pod.

Replication itself is performed by the engine, not the operator. *ReplicatedMergeTree table engines and distributed_ddl coordinate through a ZooKeeper-compatible ensemble, which the cluster reaches via spec.configuration.zookeeper.nodes. The operator writes that address into each Pod's generated <zookeeper> configuration and propagates schema to newly added hosts.

What it is not

  • Not an OLTP database. It is built for read-heavy analytical scanning and aggregation over large datasets, not for transactional workloads.
  • No backup or restore API. None of the three custom resources provides backup or restore. Data protection must be arranged outside the operator.
  • The coordination service is not managed for you. The CRD states plainly that the operator "doesn't manage Zookeeper". You must provide a running ZooKeeper-compatible ensemble and point the CR at it. There is no ClickHouseKeeperInstallation CRD in this distribution — the shipped bundle owns exactly the three CRDs listed above.

Used by other Alauda products

Alauda Container Platform Log Storage for ClickHouse, the ClickHouse storage option of the Alauda Container Platform logging service, depends on this operator. For installing and operating ClickHouse as log storage, see the Logging documentation.

Versions

ComponentValue
Operand imagemiddleware/clickhouse-server:v25.8.33.6-30274dd7
ClickHouse® engine25.8.33.6
OLM packageclickhouse-operator

ClickHouse is a registered trademark of ClickHouse, Inc. https://clickhouse.com

Alauda is an independent vendor. This product is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ClickHouse, Inc. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification purposes only.