Coverage Matrix
| Generate IaC Pull Requests | Available (Request Preview in Free Tier) |
| Curated Release Notes | to latest |
| Guided & Automated Safety Checks | to latest |
| Rapid Upgrade Assessments | Available |
| Upgrade Templates & Plans | In-Place, Blue-Green |
| Upgrade Advisories | Available |
| Preverification | Available |
| End-Of-Life (EOL) Information | Available |
| Version Incompatibility Information | Available |
| Operational Risk Detection | Available |
| Supported Packages | Helm, Kustomize, Kube |
| Private Registries | Covered |
| Custom Built Images | Covered |
Cloudflare Origin CA Issuer Overview
Cloudflare Origin CA Issuer is a cert-manager extension that automates issuance and renewal of TLS certificates signed by Cloudflare’s Origin CA. It facilitates secure communication between Cloudflare’s edge network and workloads, eliminating the need for manual certificate management. Certificates issued by Origin CA are specifically trusted by Cloudflare, optimizing secure, rapid TLS deployment between Cloudflare and origin servers. Integrating directly with cert-manager, it ensures seamless certificate lifecycle management within Cloud Native environments. This simplifies TLS configuration, reduces administrative overhead, and maintains secure communications exclusively through Cloudflare’s infrastructure.Chkk Coverage
Curated Release Notes
Chkk continuously tracks official Cloudflare Origin CA Issuer updates, summarizing essential operational changes and improvements. Significant alterations, such as mandatory manifest adjustments or new CRD fields, are clearly highlighted. Chkk also indicates API behavior changes impacting your deployment and any compatibility updates required with cert-manager versions. This precise reporting ensures engineers can promptly adapt configurations and maintain stable certificate issuance workflows without extensively reviewing all upstream notes.Preflight & Postflight Checks
Chkk performs detailed preflight validations, verifying cert-manager version compatibility and detecting deprecated fields or CRD mismatches. Issues such as outdated issuer references or improperly scoped API tokens are identified ahead of deployment. Postflight checks ensure the Issuer controller is healthy, certificate requests are succeeding, and Cloudflare API interactions are error-free. Automated detection of these critical issues significantly reduces downtime risks associated with certificate issuance.Version Recommendations
Chkk monitors Origin CA Issuer versions and proactively recommends upgrades when your deployment nears end-of-life or encounters known reliability issues. Recommendations highlight compatibility with cert-manager and Cloudflare API versions and flag missing essential features or critical bug fixes. Chkk bases upgrade guidance on community feedback, official stability indicators, and operational best practices. This targeted guidance helps platform teams balance maintaining stability and keeping up with important updates.Upgrade Templates
Chkk provides structured Upgrade Templates for both in-place and blue-green deployment strategies. Templates detail CRD updates, issuer controller deployment, verification checkpoints, and rollback procedures. Blue-green templates outline strategies to validate a new issuer version gradually without risking ongoing certificate operations. These templates integrate smoothly into GitOps or CI/CD workflows, simplifying repeatable and safe upgrades.Preverification
Chkk’s preverification process simulates the complete upgrade path in a controlled test environment using representative configurations and credentials. This simulation identifies configuration conflicts, CRD validation errors, or API credential issues before affecting production. Resource consumption and log analysis are also conducted to anticipate potential performance or operational regressions. This ensures that actual production upgrades proceed smoothly and predictably, minimizing disruptions.Supported Packages
Chkk supports multiple deployment approaches, including Helm, Kustomize, and plain YAML manifests. It accurately recognizes issuer installations from custom namespaces, private registries, or forked repositories, providing consistent operational support. Engineers managing deployments through GitOps or CI/CD pipelines can seamlessly leverage Chkk’s precise version mappings and upgrade recommendations. This flexibility allows teams to retain existing deployment practices while benefiting from Chkk’s insights.Common Operational Considerations
- Scoped API Credentials: Ensure Cloudflare API tokens have strictly limited permissions (Zone SSL and Certificates edit only). Regularly rotate tokens to maintain secure and continuous certificate operations.
- Domain and Zone Alignment: Verify requested certificate domains exactly match those in your Cloudflare zone configuration. Incorrect alignment will result in issuance failures without clear errors in cert-manager.
- Limited Trust Scope: Cloudflare Origin CA certificates are not publicly trusted. Services must be exclusively accessed via Cloudflare’s proxies to avoid client-side TLS errors.
- Cloudflare API Connectivity: The issuer requires uninterrupted outbound connectivity to Cloudflare’s API. Configure firewall rules or egress proxies to prevent controller startup and issuance disruptions.
- Required Certificate Fields: Always specify
issuerRef.groupascert-manager.k8s.cloudflare.comto avoid certificate processing errors post-upgrade. - CRD and Field Renames: Regularly review issuer CRD changes, as deprecated or renamed fields must be updated promptly. Misalignment will cause ignored or rejected certificate requests.
- Certificate SAN Limitations: Origin CA restricts certificates to DNS-based SANs and simple wildcards. Avoid IP addresses and complex wildcards to ensure certificates issue correctly.