Running cert-manager in a custom namespace

This topic explains how to specify a custom Kubernetes namespace for cert-manager.

In most cases, cert-manager runs in the cert-manager namespace. Some users may have company policies restricting the creation of new Kubernetes namespaces or have policies requiring cert-manager to be run in a different namespace, for example kube-system.

Specify a custom namespace for cert-manager

Create the namespace if needed:

kubectl create namespace new-cert-manager-namespace

Install cert-manager following the instructions in Installation: Introduction in the cert-manager documentation.
Note: You will have to edit the installation manifests to install cert-manager in a custom namespace.

Add a certManager stanza to your overrides file.

certManager:
  namespace: new-cert-manager-namespace

Apply the namespace change with apigeectl init:
```
apigeectl init -f path-to-overrides.yaml
```

Verify that cert-manager installed correctly in the new namespace with the kubectl get pods command:

kubectl get pods -n new-cert-manager-namespace

NAME                                      READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
cert-manager-1234567-abcde                1/1     Running   0          21s
cert-manager-cainjector-23456789a-bcdef   1/1     Running   0          22s
cert-manager-webhook-3456789ab-cdef0      1/1     Running   0          20s

If cert manager had previoiusly been running, delete the cert-manager instance in the cert-manager namespace by following the instructions in Uninstall in the cert-manager documentation.

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Last updated 2025-03-07 UTC.