Openshift Strimzi Operator not installing

[err0cha]

Hello, has this happened to anyone?
I want to install the Strimzi Operator in the openshift-operators namespace and it just gets stuck (screenshots attached)
I have asked redhat support for help but their response was pretty much "this is not a redhat operator so we can't offer more help".
Thanks.

[im-konge]

From those two screenshots nobody will able to help.
Do you have logs from the operator being installed in the Namespace? Also, there should be events from the Namespace, some info in the InstallPlan etc.

[see-quick]

Yes, please share, for instance, a CSV or, as Lukas already pointed out, an InstallPlan. Also, kubectl get pods -n openshift-operators might help (but I assume nothing is there...).

[err0cha]

Sorry, as I am new to this can you specify which logs (or how you get them) u need?

The operator is not getting a CSV or an InstallPlan. I can however install the operator in another namespace and it installs normally but if I do it that way it won't be available for all the cluster.

This is from the olm-operator (all that I found)
{"level":"info","ts":"2025-10-10T12:19:10Z","logger":"controllers.adoption","msg":"Could not find Subscription","request":{"name":"strimzi-kafka-operator","namespace":"openshift-operators"}}

kubectl get pods -n openshift-operators
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
amq-broker-controller-manager-7bd94668b5-5sjkg 1/1 Running 0 15h
confluent-operator-55d5f9669f-k9tt5 1/1 Running 0 15h
devworkspace-controller-manager-7c644746db-wvfgm 2/2 Running 0 15h
devworkspace-webhook-server-69f6948999-5vzxn 2/2 Running 0 15h
devworkspace-webhook-server-69f6948999-9trpn 2/2 Running 0 14h
elastic-operator-79d6df77f9-977k7 1/1 Running 0 15h
istio-cni-node-v2-4-ccgp9 1/1 Running 11 232d
istio-cni-node-v2-4-czlhf 1/1 Running 12 232d
istio-cni-node-v2-4-fhgxw 1/1 Running 12 232d
istio-cni-node-v2-4-l4f6z 1/1 Running 14 469d
istio-cni-node-v2-4-qbbwn 1/1 Running 14 469d
istio-cni-node-v2-4-xwcd6 1/1 Running 15 469d
istio-operator-5d79448b96-5mr7c 1/1 Running 0 15h
kiali-operator-6c578f5ddb-jmh7q 1/1 Running 0 15h
prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv 1/1 Running 0 15h
rabbitmq-cluster-operator-cd9f7b658-sk8bw 1/1 Running 0 15h
volsync-controller-manager-5f74dcdff9-jq9ms 2/2 Running 0 15h
web-terminal-controller-7b95c89c46-xjj6l 1/1 Running 0 15h

[im-konge]

Isn't there some leftover after previous installation or something like that?
You can do oc get csv -n openshift-operators, oc get installplan -n openshift-operators, oc get events -n openshift-operators, oc get subscription -n openshift-operators.

[im-konge]

Output from these will help us determine next steps.

[err0cha]

Hello,
Thank you for your help.
Here are the logs:

$ oc get csv -n openshift-operators
NAME DISPLAY VERSION REPLACES PHASE
amq-broker-operator.v7.11.7-opr-1-1726157430 Red Hat Integration - AMQ Broker for RHEL 8 (Multiarch) 7.11.7-opr-1-1726157430 amq-broker-operator.v7.11.7-opr-1-1723204800 Succeeded
cert-manager-operator.v1.17.0 cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift 1.17.0 cert-manager-operator.v1.16.1 Succeeded
confluent-for-kubernetes.v2.8.4 Confluent for Kubernetes 2.8.4 confluent-for-kubernetes.v2.8.3 Succeeded
devworkspace-operator.v0.30.2 DevWorkspace Operator 0.30.2 devworkspace-operator.v0.30.1 Succeeded
elasticsearch-eck-operator-certified.v2.14.0 Elasticsearch (ECK) Operator 2.14.0 elasticsearch-eck-operator-certified.v2.13.0 Succeeded
elasticsearch-operator.v5.8.21 OpenShift Elasticsearch Operator 5.8.21 elasticsearch-operator.v5.8.20 Succeeded
kiali-operator.v1.73.8 Kiali Operator 1.73.8 kiali-operator.v1.73.7 Succeeded
opentelemetry-operator.v0.127.0-2 Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry 0.127.0-2 opentelemetry-operator.v0.127.0-1 Succeeded
prometheus-exporter-operator.v0.7.0 Prometheus Exporter Operator 0.7.0 prometheus-exporter-operator.v0.3.4 Succeeded
rabbitmq-cluster-operator.v2.10.0 RabbitMQ-cluster-operator 2.10.0 rabbitmq-cluster-operator.v2.9.0 Succeeded
rhacs-operator.v4.8.0 Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes 4.8.0 rhacs-operator.v4.7.4 Succeeded
serverless-operator.v1.36.1 Red Hat OpenShift Serverless 1.36.1 serverless-operator.v1.36.0 Succeeded
servicemeshoperator.v2.5.2 Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 2.5.2-0 servicemeshoperator.v2.5.1 Succeeded
smb-csi-driver-operator.v4.17.0-202506112034 CIFS/SMB CSI Driver Operator 4.17.0-202506112034 smb-csi-driver-operator.v4.17.0-202505200039 Succeeded
tempo-operator.v0.16.0-2 Tempo Operator 0.16.0-2 tempo-operator.v0.16.0-1 Succeeded
volsync-product.v0.10.1 VolSync 0.10.1 volsync-product.v0.10.0 Succeeded
web-terminal.v1.8.0-0.1727299593.p Web Terminal 1.8.0+0.1727299593.p web-terminal.v1.8.0-0.1708477299.p Succeeded

$ oc get installplan -n openshift-operators
NAME CSV APPROVAL APPROVED
install-8vj95 confluent-for-kubernetes.v2.8.4 Manual true
install-d6h8l devworkspace-operator.v0.30.2 Manual false
install-djmgm gitlab-runner-operator.v1.29.0 Manual false
install-gcn25 amq-broker-operator.v7.11.7-opr-1-1726157430 Manual false
install-qfq7h rabbitmq-cluster-operator.v2.10.0 Manual false

$ oc get events -n openshift-operators
LAST SEEN TYPE REASON OBJECT MESSAGE
44m Normal Created pod/prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv Created container: manager
44m Normal Started pod/prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv Started container manager
43m Warning ProbeError pod/prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv Readiness probe error: Get "http://10.110.18.204:6789/readyz": dial tcp 10.110.18.204:6789: connect: connection refused...
43m Warning Unhealthy pod/prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv Readiness probe failed: Get "http://10.110.18.204:6789/readyz": dial tcp 10.110.18.204:6789: connect: connection refused
44m Normal Pulled pod/prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv Container image "quay.io/3scale/prometheus-exporter-operator:v0.7.0" already present on machine
43m Normal LeaderElection configmap/prometheus-exporter-operator prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv_83f7ac73-30ea-4624-a857-42685cc38735 became leader
43m Normal LeaderElection lease/prometheus-exporter-operator prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager-76b7bc4488bv9sv_83f7ac73-30ea-4624-a857-42685cc38735 became leader
43m Warning ComponentUnhealthy clusterserviceversion/prometheus-exporter-operator.v0.7.0 installing: waiting for deployment prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager to become ready: deployment "prometheus-exporter-operator-controller-manager" not available: Deployment does not have minimum availability.
43m Normal InstallSucceeded clusterserviceversion/prometheus-exporter-operator.v0.7.0 install strategy completed with no errors

$ oc get subscription -n openshift-operators
No resources found in openshift-operators namespace.

I think the issue is not related to the strimzi operator alone. I'll also be opening a redhat support case.

Kind regards,

[err0cha]

Hello,
As suspected the issue was with the cluster. We 3 issues with the namespace csv's and operators.
We just cleaned up the operators with issues.
Also our confluent operator was not in the right upgrade channel and that also locked the namespace.

Thank you for your time.

[im-konge]

Hey, sorry, I found your message yesterday, but I was out of office.
Glad that you found out the issue.

And once more - sorry for no response since yesterday.