// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-operators.adoc

[id='con-operators-namespaces-{context}']

= Watching namespaces with Strimzi operators

[role="_abstract"]
Operators watch and manage Strimzi resources in namespaces.
The Cluster Operator can watch a single namespace, multiple namespaces, or all namespaces in a Kubernetes cluster.
The Topic Operator and User Operator can watch a single namespace.

* The Cluster Operator watches for `Kafka` resources
* The Topic Operator watches for `KafkaTopic` resources
* The User Operator watches for `KafkaUser` resources 

The Topic Operator and the User Operator can only watch a single Kafka cluster in a namespace.
And they can only be connected to a single Kafka cluster.  

If multiple Topic Operators watch the same namespace, name collisions and topic deletion can occur. 
This is because each Kafka cluster uses Kafka topics that have the same name (such as `__consumer_offsets`). 
Make sure that only one Topic Operator watches a given namespace.

When using multiple User Operators with a single namespace, a user with a given username can exist in more than one Kafka cluster.    

If you deploy the Topic Operator and User Operator using the Cluster Operator, they watch the Kafka cluster deployed by the Cluster Operator by default.
You can also specify a namespace using `watchedNamespace` in the operator configuration.

For a standalone deployment of each operator, you specify a namespace and connection to the Kafka cluster to watch in the configuration.