Disabling Unused Managed Resources

{{<hint "important">}} This guide uses [managed resource definitions]({{<ref "../managed-resources/managed-resource-definitions">}}) and [managed resource activation policies]({{<ref "../managed-resources/managed-resource-activation-policies">}}), which Crossplane v2.0+ enables by default. To disable this behavior, set --enable-custom-to-managed-resource-conversion=false when installing Crossplane. {{</hint>}}

Large Crossplane providers can install 100+ managed resource CRDs, consuming significant cluster resources even when you only need one or two resource types. This guide shows how to use [ManagedResourceDefinitions]({{<ref "../managed-resources/managed-resource-definitions">}}) and [ManagedResourceActivationPolicies]({{<ref "../managed-resources/managed-resource-activation-policies">}}) to install only the provider resources you actually need.

Before you begin

This guide requires:

• Crossplane v2.0+ installed in your cluster
• A provider with safe-start capability (this guide uses provider-aws-ec2:v2.0.0)
• Basic familiarity with Kubernetes and Crossplane concepts

{{<hint "important">}} ManagedResourceDefinitions and ManagedResourceActivationPolicies are alpha features in Crossplane v2.0+. {{</hint>}}

The problem: Resource overhead

Installing a large cloud provider in Crossplane creates hundreds of CRDs:

# Before selective activation - provider-aws-ec2 installs ~200 CRDs
kubectl get crds | grep aws.crossplane.io | wc -l
# Output: 200

# Each CRD consumes ~3 MiB of API server memory
# 200 CRDs × 3 MiB = 600 MiB of memory usage

Most users only need a small subset of these resources. Selective activation lets you install just what you need.

Step 1: Disable automatic activation

By default, the Crossplane Helm chart creates an activation policy that enables all provider resources. To use selective activation, disable this default behavior.

Option A: Helm installation

helm install crossplane crossplane-stable/crossplane \
  --namespace crossplane-system \
  --create-namespace \
  --set provider.defaultActivations={}

Option B: Existing installation

Delete the default activation policy:

kubectl delete managedresourceactivationpolicy default

Step 2: Install your provider

Install your provider as normal. Crossplane automatically converts the provider's CRDs to ManagedResourceDefinitions:

apiVersion: pkg.crossplane.io/v1
kind: Provider
metadata:
  name: provider-aws-ec2
spec:
  package: xpkg.crossplane.io/provider-aws-ec2:v2.0.0

Save this as provider.yaml and apply it:

kubectl apply -f provider.yaml

# Wait for provider to be ready
kubectl wait --for=condition=Healthy provider/provider-aws-ec2 --timeout=5m

Step 3: Verify Crossplane created MRDs

After the provider installs, check ManagedResourceDefinitions that Crossplane created in inactive state:

# List ManagedResourceDefinitions
kubectl get managedresourcedefinitions

# Check their states (should be "Inactive")
kubectl get mrds -o jsonpath='{.items[*].spec.state}' \
  | tr ' ' '\n' | sort | uniq -c
# 200 Inactive

Notice that Crossplane didn't create any CRDs yet:

kubectl get crds | grep ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io
# No output - CRDs don't exist until MRDs are activated

Step 4: Create an activation policy

Create a ManagedResourceActivationPolicy to selectively activate only the resources you need:

apiVersion: apiextensions.crossplane.io/v1alpha1
kind: ManagedResourceActivationPolicy
metadata:
  name: my-app-resources
spec:
  activate:
  - instances.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io        # EC2 instances for compute
  - securitygroups.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io   # Security groups for networking
  - vpcs.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io             # VPCs for isolation

Save this as activation-policy.yaml and apply it:

kubectl apply -f activation-policy.yaml

Step 5: Verify selective activation

Check that Crossplane activated only the specified resources:

# Check MRD states - only some should be Active now
kubectl get mrds \
  -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}: {.spec.state}{"\n"}{end}' \
  | grep Active
# instances.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io: Active
# securitygroups.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io: Active
# vpcs.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io: Active

# Verify Crossplane created corresponding CRDs
kubectl get crds | grep ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io
# instances.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io
# securitygroups.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io
# vpcs.ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io

# Count CRDs from EC2 provider - should match activated MRDs
kubectl get crds | grep ec2.aws.m.crossplane.io | wc -l
# 3 (only the activated resources)

Step 6: Measure the impact

Check the significant reduction in resource overhead:

# Count CRDs from EC2 provider - should be much lower than 200
kubectl get crds | grep aws.crossplane.io | wc -l
# 3 CRDs (99% reduction from 200)

# Calculate memory savings
echo "197 CRDs saved × 3 MiB = 591 MiB saved (99% reduction)"

# Verify inactive MRDs still exist but consume minimal resources
kubectl get mrds \
  -o jsonpath='{.items[?(@.spec.state=="Inactive")]..metadata.name}' | wc -w
# 197 inactive MRDs (~20 MiB total overhead vs 600 MiB for active CRDs)

# Check total MRDs (active + inactive)
kubectl get mrds | wc -l
# 200 total MRDs (3 active, 197 inactive)

The selective activation provides massive resource savings while maintaining full capability for the resources you actually use.

Next steps

• Learn more about [ManagedResourceDefinitions]({{<ref "../managed-resources/managed-resource-definitions">}}) for detailed concepts and troubleshooting
• Explore [ManagedResourceActivationPolicies]({{<ref "../managed-resources/managed-resource-activation-policies">}}) for advanced activation strategies and best practices
• Check the [API reference]({{<ref "../api">}}) for complete schema documentation