Overleaf

Overleaf is a collaborative LaTeX editor. The cluster runs a self-hosted instance so students and faculty can write papers, reports, and documentation without relying on Overleaf's cloud service.

Accessing Overleaf

https://overleaf.nstsdc.org

Architecture

The Overleaf deployment consists of three components:

Component	Type	Namespace	Purpose
overleaf	Deployment	overleaf	The Overleaf web application
mongo	StatefulSet	overleaf	MongoDB database (stores projects, users, documents)
redis	StatefulSet	overleaf	Redis cache (sessions, real-time collaboration)

Both MongoDB and Redis use StatefulSets with persistent storage, so data survives pod restarts.

Kubernetes resources

# Check all Overleaf components
kubectl -n overleaf get pods
kubectl -n overleaf get svc
kubectl -n overleaf get ingress

Services:

Service	Port	Purpose
overleaf	80	Web UI
mongo	27017	MongoDB
redis	6379	Redis

Ingress

kubectl -n overleaf get ingress

The Ingress routes overleaf.nstsdc.org to the overleaf service on port 80, using Traefik.

Data persistence

MongoDB and Redis both use PersistentVolumeClaims. This means:

• Overleaf projects, user accounts, and documents persist across pod restarts
• The data lives on the node's local disk (via K3s local-path-provisioner)

To check PVCs:

kubectl -n overleaf get pvc

Administration

Creating the first admin user

After initial deployment, you need to create an admin user. This is typically done through the Overleaf container:

kubectl -n overleaf exec -it <overleaf-pod> -- bash
# Inside the container, use Overleaf's admin creation command

MongoDB access

If you need to inspect or repair the database:

kubectl -n overleaf exec -it mongo-0 -- mongosh

Maintenance

Restarting Overleaf

kubectl -n overleaf rollout restart deployment overleaf

This restarts the web application without touching the database.

Checking logs

kubectl -n overleaf logs -l app=overleaf --tail=100