Kubernetes operators are another method of bundling, deploying, and managing application for Kubernetes. Operators are a bit more complex than a package manager like Helm. An operator helps to remove manual steps, application-specific preparation, and post-deployment steps, and even automates second-day operations such as scaling or upgrading them for the user.

As an example, an application's requirements might be validated differently based on the platform on which it is installed or may require changes to its configuration and interaction with external systems.

In this section, we will deploy two operators for popular stateful applications based on two different operator frameworks and learn what functionalities they offer.