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This guide walks you through setting up OpenSearch in Kubernetes for SuprSend’s self‑hosted deployments. OpenSearch provides the backbone for search, analytics, and observability features in SuprSend. SuprSend recommends using a managed OpenSearch service (AWS OpenSearch, GCP Elastic, or Azure Elastic) for production environments to reduce operational overhead and ensure high availability. However, for self‑managed or air‑gapped environments, you can deploy OpenSearch directly in Kubernetes using the OpenSearch Operator.

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Prerequisites

  • Kubernetes cluster (v1.25 or later)
  • kubectl and helm CLI installed and configured
  • Persistent storage provisioner (e.g., EBS, GCE Persistent Disk, or DO Block Storage)
  • At least 4 CPU cores and 8 GB RAM available

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Step 1: Install the OpenSearch Operator

helm repo add opensearch-operator https://opensearch-project.github.io/opensearch-k8s-operator/
kubectl create ns opensearch-operator

helm install opensearch-operator opensearch-operator/opensearch-operator \
  --namespace opensearch-operator
This installs the OpenSearch Operator which manages OpenSearch clusters declaratively.

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Step 2: Create Namespace and Admin Credentials

Create a dedicated namespace for OpenSearch: 
kubectl create ns opensearch
Create the admin credentials secret: 
kubectl -n opensearch create secret generic admin-credentials \
  --from-literal=username=admin \
  --from-literal=password='SuperStrong#Passw0rd'

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Step 3: Generate Hashed Password for Internal Users

1

Generate bcrypt hash of your admin password

To set up OpenSearch security, generate a bcrypt hash of your admin password:
docker run --rm httpd:2.4-alpine htpasswd -nbBC 10 admin 'SuperStrong#Passw0rd' | cut -d: -f2
2

Create Kubernetes secret

Create a Kubernetes secret os-internal-users.secret.yaml with the generated hash:
os-internal-users.secret.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: os-internal-users
  namespace: opensearch
type: Opaque
stringData:
  internal_users.yml: |
    _meta:
      type: "internalusers"
      config_version: 2
    admin:
      hash: "<PASTE_BCRYPT_HASH_HERE>"
      reserved: true
      backend_roles:
        - "admin"
      description: "Admin user"
3

Apply the secret

kubectl apply -f os-internal-users.secret.yaml

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Step 4: Deploy the OpenSearch Cluster

1

Create cluster definition file

suprsend-opensearch.yaml
apiVersion: opensearch.opster.io/v1
kind: OpenSearchCluster
metadata:
  name: suprsend-opensearch
  namespace: opensearch
spec:
  general:
    serviceName: suprsend-opensearch-cluster
    version: "1.3.20"
    setVMMaxMapCount: true
  security:
    tls:
      transport:
        generate: true
      http:
        generate: true
    config:
      adminCredentialsSecret:
        name: admin-credentials
      securityConfigSecret:
        name: os-internal-users
  dashboards:
    enable: true
    version: "1.3.20"
    replicas: 1
    opensearchCredentialsSecret:
      name: admin-credentials
    additionalConfig:
      opensearch.ssl.verificationMode: "none"
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: "200m"
        memory: "512Mi"
      limits:
        cpu: "200m"
        memory: "512Mi"
  nodePools:
    - component: nodes
      replicas: 3
      roles: ["master","data","ingest"]
      diskSize: "50Gi"
      jvm: "-Xms1g -Xmx1g"
      resources:
        requests:
          cpu: "500m"
          memory: "2Gi"
        limits:
          cpu: "500m"
          memory: "2Gi"
2

Apply the manifest

kubectl apply -f suprsend-opensearch.yaml

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Step 5: Verify the Deployment

Check Persistent Volumes Ensure volumes are created correctly: 
kubectl get pvc -n opensearch
Check Cluster Health 
kubectl get OpenSearchCluster -n opensearch
The status should show green once all nodes are ready.
You can also try making a curl request from with cluster 
# make sure to replace password with the password that you generated
curl https://suprsend-opensearch-cluster.opensearch.svc.cluster.local:9200/_cluster/health?pretty=true -u "admin:SuperStrong#Passw0rd"
{
  "cluster_name" : "suprsend-opensearch",
  "status" : "green",
  "timed_out" : false,
  "number_of_nodes" : 3,
  "number_of_data_nodes" : 3,
  "discovered_master" : true,
  "active_primary_shards" : 4,
  "active_shards" : 9,
  "relocating_shards" : 0,
  "initializing_shards" : 0,
  "unassigned_shards" : 0,
  "delayed_unassigned_shards" : 0,
  "number_of_pending_tasks" : 0,
  "number_of_in_flight_fetch" : 0,
  "task_max_waiting_in_queue_millis" : 0,
  "active_shards_percent_as_number" : 100.0
}
Make sure status is green

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Step 6: Access OpenSearch Dashboards

You can port‑forward to the dashboard service: 
kubectl port-forward svc/suprsend-opensearch-dashboards 5601:5601 -n opensearch
Access in your browser at: https://localhost:5601
Login credentials:
  • Username: admin
  • Password: SuperStrong#Passw0rd

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Step 7: Backup and Persistence

  • Persistent volumes ensure data durability.
  • To take regular snapshots, configure S3 or GCS snapshot repositories in OpenSearch.
  • Example (S3):
PUT _snapshot/suprsend_backup_repo
{
  "type": "s3",
  "settings": {
    "bucket": "suprsend-opensearch-backups",
    "region": "ap-south-1"
  }
}

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Step 8: Cleanup (if needed)

To uninstall everything: 
kubectl delete OpenSearchCluster suprsend-opensearch -n opensearch
kubectl delete ns opensearch
helm uninstall opensearch-operator -n opensearch-operator
kubectl delete ns opensearch-operator

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Step 9: SuprSend Helm Configuration

Once your OpenSearch cluster is operational, configure SuprSend to use it.
This section shows only the OpenSearch-specific configuration. You must also configure other required secrets and values for SuprSend to work properly. See the complete configuration guide: SuprSend Installation Guide

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Kubernetes Secret Configuration

First, add the OpenSearch-specific secret to your suprsend-secrets.yaml: 
# ============================================
# OpenSearch Configuration (this guide)
# ============================================
# connection url for opensearch (full URL with credentials)
opensearchConnUrlKey: "https://admin:SuperStrong#Passw0rd@suprsend-opensearch-cluster.opensearch.svc.cluster.local:9200"

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Helm Values Configuration

Then add the following to your suprsend-values.yaml (along with other required configuration): 
# connection url for opensearch
opensearchConnUrlKey: "opensearchConnUrlKey"
The OpenSearch connection is configured via the full connection URL in the secret, which includes the host, port, credentials, and scheme. The above configuration goes under suprsendInboxApi.secret section.

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Best Practices

  • Use dedicated storage classes (e.g., SSD-backed volumes)
  • Enable auto-scaling and snapshot policies
  • Run OpenSearch in HA mode with 3+ nodes for redundancy
  • Use Ingress or LoadBalancer for external access with TLS termination
  • Configure proper TLS certificates for production deployments

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References

OpenSearch Operator

Official Kubernetes operator for OpenSearch.

SuprSend Docs

SuprSend product documentation.

OpenSearch Reference

OpenSearch configuration and API reference.