Install AIStor on Ubuntu Server

This procedure downloads and installs the AIStor Server onto baremetal hosts running Ubuntu Server Linux.

Review the Hardware and System Requirements to ensure your target infrastructure meets our guidance. You can also open a SUBNET to request an architecture review or assistance during deployment.

AIStor strongly recommends using only Long-Term Support (LTS) Ubuntu releases in the LTS standard security maintenance lifecycle with LTS Kernels in the 5.x or 6.x release series.

Repeat these steps for each node in the deployment.

1. Download the AIStor Server .deb package.

   AIStor provides a .deb package for the AMD64 and ARM64 architectures. Download the package that reflects the host system’s architecture:

   AMD64

   curl --progress-bar -L dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-amd64/minio.deb -o minio.deb
   sudo dpkg -i minio.deb
   

   ARM64

   curl --progress-bar -L dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-arm64/minio.deb -o minio.deb
   sudo dpkg -i minio.deb
   

   You can validate the installation by running minio --version.

   The DEB package creates a new systemd unit file for the AIStor Server. Run systemctl status minio to validate the installation of the systemd file.

2. Retrieve your License File.

   Log into SUBNET and select the License button in the Deployments view.

   

   Create the /opt/minio directory if it does not exist. Download the file to /opt/minio/minio.license and set the ownership to minio-user:

   sudo mkdir /opt/minio
   sudo touch /opt/minio/minio.license
   sudo chown -R minio-user:minio-user /opt/minio
   

   Edit the minio.license file and replace its contents with the license string from the previous step.

3. Create the environment file

   The RPM installs an environment file to /etc/default/minio automatically. Review the contents of the file and modify as directed based on your preferred topology:

   Multi-Node Multi-Drive

   # Copy the value of your SUBNET license below
   
   MINIO_LICENSE="/opt/minio/minio.license"
   
   # Define the expected topology of the deployment
   #
   # The following is a multi-node multi-drive "distributed" deployment pattern
   # that supports high performance, high availability, and large storage requirements
   #
   # AIStor recommends distributed topologies for production workloads.
   #
   # The command includes the port that each Server listens on
   # (default 9000).
   
   MINIO_VOLUMES="http://minio-{1...4}.example.net:9000/mnt/drive-{1...4}/minio"
   

   Single-Node Multi-Drive

   # Copy the value of your SUBNET license below
   
   MINIO_LICENSE="/opt/minio/minio.license"
   
   # Define the expected topology of the deployment
   # 
   # The following is a single-node multi-drive deployment pattern
   # appropriate for storage workloads where distributed performance and 
   # high availability are not requirements.
   #
   # The command includes the port that each Server listens on
   # (default 9000).
   
   MINIO_VOLUMES="http://aistor.example.net:9000/mnt/drive-{1...4}/minio"
   

   Single-Node Single-Drive

   # Copy the value of your SUBNET license below
   
   MINIO_LICENSE="/opt/minio/minio.license"
   
   # Define the expected topology of the deployment
   #
   # The following is a single-node single-drive deployment pattern
   # appropriate for workloads where distributed performance and 
   # high availability are not requirements.
   #
   # Single-Node Single-Drive Startup
   MINIO_VOLUMES="/mnt/drive-1/minio"
   

   For distributed deployments, all nodes must have matching /etc/default/minio environment files. Use a utility such as shasum -a 256 /etc/default/minio on each node to verify an exact match across all nodes.

4. Ensure AIStor has ownership of associated folders and drives.

   The minio.service file runs as the minio-user user and group by default. This user must have read/write/access permissions to all files, folders, and drive paths provided to the server process. The RPM installation creates the user and group by default.

   Use the chown and chmod commands to ensure the minio-user user and group have the necessary ownership and access permissions. For example:

   chown -R minio-user:minio-user /opt/minio/
   
   # Change this to reflect the series of volumes specified
   # to the MINIO_VOLUMES environment variable
   #
   # This assumes you have already mounted the drives at the given path
   chown -R minio-user:minio-user /mnt/drive-{1..4} 
   

   Repeat this step for each node in the deployment.

5. Enable and start the AIStor deployment.

   Use systemctl enable minio.service and systemctl start minio to enable and start the server process respectively.

   You can track the status of the startup using journalctl -u minio on each node.

   On successful startup, each minio process emits output to the log resembling the following:

   MinIO Enterprise AIStor Server
   Copyright: 2015-2024 MinIO, Inc.
   Version: RELEASE.YYYY-MM-DDTHH-SS-mmZ (go1.22.4 linux/amd64)
   
   API: https://minio-1.example.net:9000 https://203.0.113.10:9000 https://127.0.0.1:9000 
       RootUser: minioadmin 
       RootPass: minioadmin 
   
   WebUI: https://minio-1.example.net:9001 https://203.0.113.10:9001 https://127.0.0.1:9001          
       RootUser: minioadmin 
       RootPass: minioadmin 
   
   CLI: https://min.io/docs/minio/linux/reference/minio-mc.html#quickstart
       $ mc alias set 'myminio' 'https://minio-1.example.net:9000' 'minioadmin' 'minioadmin'
   
   Docs: https://min.io/docs/minio/linux/index.html
   Status:         4 Online, 0 Offline. 
   

   The AIStor minio service does not automatically start on host reboot. You must use systemctl enable minio.service to start the process as part of the host boot.

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 commandline tool, or by using an S3-compatible SDK:

   AIStor Console

   Open your browser to the hostname and port of any node in the deployment. The WebUI output from the previous step indicates which hostnames and ports the minio process listens on.

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

   CLI

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

      AMD64

      wget https://dl.min.io/aistor/mc/release/linux-amd64/mc -o mc
      chmod +x ./mc
      mv ./mc /usr/local/bin/
      mc --version
      

      ARM64

      wget https://dl.min.io/aistor/mc/release/linux-arm64/mc -o mc
      chmod +x ./mc
      mv ./mc /usr/local/bin
      mc --version
      

   2. Create a new alias for the AIStor server:

      mc alias set myminio http://aistor.example.net:9000 minioadmin minioadmin
      

      Replace the URL with the hostname of any node in the deployment or a load balancer, reverse proxy, or similar network control plane component managing connections to the deployment.

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

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