Upgrade AIStor on Kubernetes (Helm)

AIStor Helm installations consist of two primary parts:

The operator chart that controls resources like CustomResourceDefinitions
The object-store chart that deploys the AIStor Object Store

You can also upgrade only the AIStor Object Store image used by a given chart.

This page documents a procedure for all three upgrade paths.

All AIStor software supports non-disruptive upgrades with zero downtime. In optimal environments, cluster-wide upgrades typically complete in under 500 milliseconds with large clusters (1000+ nodes) completing in less than 5 seconds.

S3 SDKs and applications typically implement retry mechanisms that mitigate the impact of any reduced availability.

Upgrade AIStor Operator chart

The AIStor Operator chart provides the core resources necessary for deploying AIStor Object Store onto Kubernetes infrastructure. Upgrading the chart brings in new changes to the operator resources, such as new features, capabilities, or updates to the underlying CustomResourceDefinition.

Downgrades or rollbacks are not guaranteed due to potentially breaking changes in underlying resources like the AIStor CustomResourceDefinition.

Before upgrading the chart, do the following:

Review the upgrade prerequisites
Take a backup of the existing Helm configuration using the helm get values command.

Verify the existing installation

Use the kubectl get all -n aistor-operator command to verify the health and status of all pods and services in the namespace.
Update the AIStor Helm repository and upgrade the operator
Standard Deployment
For deployments using public registries and Helm repositories:

Update the Helm repository:
```
helm repo update minio
```
Upgrade the operator chart:
```
helm upgrade -n aistor-operator aistor minio/aistor-objectstore-operator \
  --set license="eyJhbGciOiJFUzM4NCIsInR..."
```
Replace the license value with your decoded JWT token from SUBNET.
Private Registry
For deployments using a private container registry with internet access to helm.min.io:

Copy the updated operator image to your private registry:
```
skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \
  docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/operator:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z \
  docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/operator:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z
```
Replace the release tag with the target version and PRIVATE_REGISTRY with your registry hostname.

Update the Helm repository:
```
helm repo update minio
```
Upgrade the operator chart with your custom values file that specifies your private registry:
```
helm upgrade -n aistor-operator aistor minio/aistor-objectstore-operator \
  --set license="eyJhbGciOiJFUzM4NCIsInR..." \
  -f aistor-objectstore-operator-values.yaml
```
Replace the license value with your decoded JWT token from SUBNET.

Ensure your aistor-objectstore-operator-values.yaml file contains the updated repositories and images configurations pointing to your private registry.
Airgapped Environment
For airgapped deployments, you must first copy new container images and Helm charts to your private registries from a system with internet access.

External preparation (system with internet access):
1. Copy the updated operator image to your private registry:
  skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \ docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/operator:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z \ docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/operator:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z
  Replace the release tag with the target version.
2. Pull the updated Helm chart:
  helm pull minio/aistor-objectstore-operator
3. Push the chart to your private Helm registry (for OCI registries):
  helm push aistor-objectstore-operator-*.tgz oci://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/helm-charts
  Or transfer the .tgz file to your airgapped environment via removable media.
Airgapped deployment (within airgapped environment):

Upgrade the operator using your private Helm registry or local chart file:
```
# Using OCI registry
helm upgrade -n aistor-operator aistor oci://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/helm-charts/aistor-objectstore-operator \
  --set license="eyJhbGciOiJFUzM4NCIsInR..." \
  -f aistor-objectstore-operator-values.yaml

# Or using local chart file
helm upgrade -n aistor-operator aistor ./aistor-objectstore-operator-*.tgz \
  --set license="eyJhbGciOiJFUzM4NCIsInR..." \
  -f aistor-objectstore-operator-values.yaml
```
Replace the license value with your decoded JWT token from SUBNET.
Validate the upgrade

You can check the operator pods in the aistor namespace to confirm the Helm upgrade deployed correctly.
```
kubectl get all -n aistor-operator
```

Upgrade AIStor Object Store chart

The AIStor Object Store chart deploys object storage resources onto Kubernetes infrastructure. Upgrading the chart brings in new changes to the object store, such as features, capabilities, or updated AIStor Object Store binaries.

Downgrades or rollbacks are not guaranteed due to potentially breaking changes in the AIStor Object Store.

Before upgrading the chart, do the following:

Review the upgrade prerequisites
Take a backup of the existing Helm configuration using the helm get values command.

Verify the existing installation

Use the kubectl get all -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE command to verify the health and status of all pods and services in the namespace.
Update the AIStor Helm repository and upgrade the object store
Standard Deployment
For deployments using public registries and Helm repositories:

Update the Helm repository:
```
helm repo update minio
```
Upgrade the object store chart:
```
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name minio/aistor-objectstore -f object-store-values.yaml
```
You must pass in the existing chart values to ensure your customized settings override any defaults set as part of the chart upgrade.
Private Registry
For deployments using a private container registry with internet access to helm.min.io:

Copy the updated AIStor images to your private registry:
```
skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \
  docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z \
  docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z

skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \
  docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/minio-sidecar:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z \
  docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio-sidecar:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z
```
Replace the release tags with the target versions and PRIVATE_REGISTRY with your registry hostname. Copy any additional optional images (kes, mc, aihub, prompt, warp) if you use those features.

Update the Helm repository:
```
helm repo update minio
```
Upgrade the object store chart with your values file:
```
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name minio/aistor-objectstore -f object-store-values.yaml
```
You must pass in the existing chart values to ensure your customized settings override any defaults set as part of the chart upgrade.
Airgapped Environment
For airgapped deployments, you must first copy new container images and Helm charts to your private registries from a system with internet access.

External preparation (system with internet access):
1. Copy the updated AIStor images to your private registry:
  skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \ docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z \ docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \ docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/minio-sidecar:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z \ docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio-sidecar:RELEASE.2025-XX-XXT00-00-00Z
  Copy any additional optional images (kes, mc, aihub, prompt, warp) if you use those features.
2. Pull the updated Helm chart:
  helm pull minio/aistor-objectstore
3. Push the chart to your private Helm registry (for OCI registries):
  helm push aistor-objectstore-*.tgz oci://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/helm-charts
  Or transfer the .tgz file to your airgapped environment via removable media.
Airgapped deployment (within airgapped environment):

Upgrade the object store using your private Helm registry or local chart file:
```
# Using OCI registry
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name oci://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/helm-charts/aistor-objectstore \
  -f object-store-values.yaml

# Or using local chart file
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name ./aistor-objectstore-*.tgz \
  -f object-store-values.yaml
```
You must pass in the existing chart values to ensure your customized settings override any defaults set as part of the chart upgrade.
Validate the upgrade

You can check the pods in the object store namespace to confirm the Helm upgrade deployed correctly.
```
kubectl get all -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE
```

Upgrade AIStor Object Store image

You can upgrade the AIStor Object Store version in a given object store deployment by specifying a new image to the Chart.

Standard Deployment

For deployments using public registries:

Update the object store values.yaml

Open the object-store-values.yaml file in your preferred text editor. The objectStore.image field controls the specific image tag used by the deployment.

Update the value to your target new release tag. The following example uses a specific release of AIStor Object Store.
```
objectStore:
   image:
      repository: quay.io/minio/aistor/minio
      tag: RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z
```
Upgrade the object store chart

Use the helm upgrade command to upgrade the object-store chart. You must pass in the existing chart values to ensure your customized settings override any defaults set as part of the chart upgrade.
```
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name minio/aistor-objectstore -f object-store-values.yaml
```

Private Registry

For deployments using a private container registry:

Copy the new AIStor Object Store image to your private registry

skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \
  docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z \
  docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z

Replace the release tag with your target version and PRIVATE_REGISTRY with your registry hostname.

Update the object store values.yaml

Open the object-store-values.yaml file in your preferred text editor. The objectStore.image field controls the specific image tag used by the deployment.

Update the value to your target new release tag pointing to your private registry:
```
objectStore:
   image:
      repository: PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio
      tag: RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z
```
Upgrade the object store chart

Use the helm upgrade command to upgrade the object-store chart. You must pass in the existing chart values to ensure your customized settings override any defaults set as part of the chart upgrade.
```
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name minio/aistor-objectstore -f object-store-values.yaml
```

Airgapped Environment

For airgapped deployments:

External preparation (system with internet access):

Copy the new AIStor Object Store image to your private registry

skopeo copy --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \
  docker://quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z \
  docker://PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z

Replace the release tag with your target version.

Airgapped deployment (within airgapped environment):

Update the object store values.yaml

Open the object-store-values.yaml file in your preferred text editor. The objectStore.image field controls the specific image tag used by the deployment.

Update the value to your target new release tag:
```
objectStore:
   image:
      repository: PRIVATE_REGISTRY/aistor/minio
      tag: RELEASE.2025-05-30T11-03-39Z
```
Upgrade the object store chart

Use the helm upgrade command to upgrade the object-store chart. You must pass in the existing chart values to ensure your customized settings override any defaults set as part of the chart upgrade.
```
helm upgrade -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE object-store-name minio/aistor-objectstore -f object-store-values.yaml
```

Validate the upgrade

You can check the pods in the object store namespace to confirm the Helm upgrade deployed correctly.
```
kubectl get all -n OBJECT-STORE-NAMESPACE
```