Deploy AIStor as a Container

This section documents steps for running AIStor as a container.

1. Pull the latest stable image of AIStor Server

   Docker

   docker pull quay.io/minio/aistor/minio
   

   Podman

   podman pull quay.io/minio/aistor/minio
   

2. Create the directory structure

   Create directories for data and certificates. The following example uses $HOME/minio as the base path.

   mkdir -p $HOME/minio/data $HOME/minio/certs
   

   Later steps mount these directories to standard Linux paths in the container.

3. Retrieve your license file

   AIStor requires a license to run. You can use an existing license, such as one from SUBNET, or you can request a new MinIO AIStor Free Tier license.

   To request a new MinIO AIStor Free Tier license, go to the AIStor pricing page and select Get Started under the Free tier to obtain a free license. The free tier license allows you to run AIStor on a single compute resource with one or more drives.

   Download the license file to $HOME/minio/minio.license for use in later steps.

   Free tier licenses do not include support. For support options, see the AIStor pricing page. For more information about licenses, see Licenses.

4. (Optional) Set up TLS

   If you need TLS for your deployment, configure it before starting the server. See Set up network encryption for instructions.

5. Run the AIStor Server in a container

   The following examples mount the local directories to standard Linux paths in the container:

   • $HOME/minio/data to /mnt/data for object storage
   • $HOME/minio/minio.license to /minio.license for the license file
   • $HOME/minio/certs to /etc/minio/certs for TLS certificates (if configured)
   Docker

   docker run -dt                                             \
     -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001                                \
     -v $HOME/minio/data:/mnt/data                            \
     -v $HOME/minio/minio.license:/minio.license              \
     -v $HOME/minio/certs:/etc/minio/certs                    \
     --name "aistor-server"                                   \
     quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:latest minio server /mnt/data \
     --license /minio.license
   
   docker logs aistor-server
   

   Podman

   podman run -dt                                             \
     -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001                                \
     -v $HOME/minio/data:/mnt/data                            \
     -v $HOME/minio/minio.license:/minio.license              \
     -v $HOME/minio/certs:/etc/minio/certs                    \
     --name "aistor-server"                                   \
     quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:latest minio server /mnt/data \
     --license /minio.license
   
   podman logs aistor-server
   

   The output of the logs command includes the startup message from the AIStor Server. To access the server, use the localhost or 127.0.0.1 address on your local host machine.

6. Connect to the deployment

   You can connect to the deployment using the built-in AIStor Server console in a browser, by using the MinIO mc command-line tool, or by using an S3-compatible SDK:

   AIStor Console

   Open your browser to http://localhost:9001.

   Log in using the default minioadmin:minioadmin username and password.

   CLI

   1. Download the mc tool to your local host machine:

      AMD64

      curl --progress-bar -L https://dl.min.io/aistor/mc/release/linux-amd64/mc -o mc
      chmod +x ./mc
      
      sudo mv ./mc /usr/local/bin/
      mc --version
      

      ARM64

      curl --progress-bar -L https://dl.min.io/aistor/mc/release/linux-arm64/mc -o mc
      chmod +x ./mc
      
      sudo mv ./mc /usr/local/bin
      mc --version
      

   2. Create a new alias for the AIStor server:

      mc alias set myaistor http://localhost:9000 minioadmin minioadmin
      

   3. Create a bucket and copy a file to that bucket:

      mc mb myaistor/data
      mc cp ~/somefile.txt myaistor/data