Installation

This section documents steps for installing and managing AIStor Volume Manager on Kubernetes infrastructure using a distribution that follows the upstream API and functionality.

Prerequisites

Kubernetes release

MinIO recommends using an in-support, active release of Kubernetes. In general, Kubernetes releases remain supported for up to one year after release.

Volume Manager requires Kubernetes release 1.29 or later.

Authorization

This procedure assumes that the user interacting with the Kubernetes cluster has authorization to:

  • Install Kubernetes operators and associated resources including CustomResourceDefinitions, Statefulsets, and secrets into new or existing namespaces.
  • Perform operations as a user that has broad permissions to create resources within multiple namespaces.

Install Volume Manager using Helm Charts

  1. Download your SUBNET license key

    Log into MinIO SUBNET and access your License Key. From the Deployments screen, select License Key to view the key.

    SUBNET License download

    Save the license value to a secure location for use in a subsequent step.

  2. Add the AIStor Helm Repository

    helm repo add minio https://helm.min.io/
    helm repo update
    helm search repo minio
    
  3. Install the minio/aistor-volumemanager chart

    helm install directpv minio/aistor-volumemanager --set license="eyJhbGciOiJFUzM4NCIsInR..."
    

    Replace the license value with your license key from SUBNET.

    For custom options such as nodeSelectors or tolerations, see Advanced installation options.

  4. Next Steps

    Once you have installed Volume Manager, you can prepare drives for provisioning. You can then dynamically allocate storage to pods by specifying storageClass: directpv-min-io when constructing the Persistent Volume Claim.

Install the Volume Manager plugin

The plugin provides command line tools to manage your Volume Manager installation.

  1. Download the Volume Manager plugin for your operating system and architecture from https://dl.min.io/aistor/directpv/release/.

    The plugin is available for amd64, arm64, and ppc64le architectures.

    Move the downloaded file to your system PATH. For example, move the file to /usr/local/bin/ or, for Windows, $HOME\bin\. Refer to the documentation for your operating system for where to place the file.

  2. Mark the downloaded plugin as executable.

    chmod a+x /path/to/kubectl-directpv
    
    Executables on macOS
    macOS typically blocks unsigned binaries from running. If the kubectl-directpv command fails, go to System Settings, then Privacy and Security. Scroll to the Security section and select Allow Anyway for the kubectl-directpv application.

Advanced installation options

Custom chart values

You can customize the minio/aistor-volumemanager chart to add the license, limit node selections, or add tolerations. These options are not required.

This chart contains the necessary Kubernetes resources for deploying AIStor Volume Manager resources through the aistor-volumemanager chart.

  1. Create a YAML manifest for the chart named aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml.

    For example, to create the file from the command line:

    touch aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml
    
  2. Edit the aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml file.

    For example, to edit the file with the CLI text editor nano:

    nano aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml
    

    The example manifest below includes the nodeserver key for controlling how Volume Manager determines eligible nodes. Set nodeSelector to limit Volume Manager to specific nodes in the cluster. Set tolerations to allow Volume Manager to ignore node taints.

    nodeserver:
      nodeSelector: {
      # aistor.min.io/pool-id: "1"
      }
      tolerations: [
      # - key: "node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane"
      #   operator: "Exists"
      #   effect: "NoSchedule"
      ]
    
  3. Install the chart using the custom values.

    helm install directpv minio/aistor-volumemanager \
      --set license="eyJhbGciOiJFUzM4NCIsInR..." \
      -f aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml
    

    Replace the license value with your license key from SUBNET.

    If successful, the command outputs a summary of installed resources.

  4. Validate the installation.

    Run the following command and check the status of deployed resources.

    kubectl get all -n directpv
    

seccomp

If seccomp is enabled, load the DirectPV seccomp profile on nodes where you want to install Volume Manager. Then, include nodeserver.seccompLocalhostProfile in your customized Helm chart.

For example, in your aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml:

nodeserver:
  seccompLocalhostProfile: "profiles/seccomp.json"

For more information, refer to the Kubernetes documentation

apparmor

If apparmor is enabled, load DirectPV apparmor profile on nodes where you want to install Volume Manager. Then, include nodeserver.podAnnotations in your customized Helm chart.

For more information, refer to the Kubernetes documentation.