Upgrade Volume Manager Using Helm

This page describes how to upgrade an existing Volume Manager with Helm. Upgrades with Helm are possible even if Volume Manager was not originally installed using Helm.

MinIO recommends using Helm for upgrading Volume Manager. Alternatively, you can continue to upgrade using the kubectl plugin.

• Kubernetes installed with an in-support, active release.

  In general, Kubernetes provides security releases for releases for a period of up to 1 year. Volume Manager requires Kubernetes version 1.29 or later.

• Helm installed.

helm get values -n directpv

Volume Manager uses a testing and validation suite as part of all releases. However, no testing suite can account for unique combinations and permutations of hardware, software, and workloads of your production environment.

You should always validate any Volume Manager upgrades in a lower environment (such as Dev/QA/Staging) before applying those upgrades to production deployments, or any other environment containing critical data. Performing updates to production environments without first validating in lower environments is done at your own risk.

Consider using SUBNET for additional support and guidance during the upgrade procedure.

1. For Volume Manager installations already managed by Helm, run helm upgrade.

   helm upgrade directpv minio/aistor-volumemanager
   

   If you customized the Helm chart for your installation, include the values file in the command. For example:

   help upgrade directpv minio/aistor-volumemanager -f aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml --reuse-values --set license="LICENSE-STRING"
   

   • Replace aistor-volumemanager-values.yaml with the file containing your chart customizations. If you do not have any custom chart values, you can skip the -f and file.
   • Replace LICENSE-STRING with your license as found in SUBNET.

2. Upgrade the Volume Manager plugin.

For Volume Manager installations not yet managed by Helm, have Helm take over the installation and upgrade it.

1. Verify the existing installation

   Use the following command to verify the health and status of all pods and services in the volume-manager namespace:

   kubectl get all -n directpv
   

2. Add the MinIO Helm repo

   helm repo add minio https://helm.min.io
   

3. Update Helm

   helm repo update
   

4. Search for the MinIO Helm repository

   helm search repo minio
   

5. Upgrade the installation and have Helm take ownership to manage the installation going forward

   helm upgrade --install --take-ownership --force directpv minio/aistor-volumemanager
   

6. Validate the upgrade

   Use the following command to check the pods in the Volume Manager namespace to confirm the Helm upgrade deployed correctly.

   kubectl get all -n directpv
   

   • Replace volume-manager with the namespace you installed Volume Manager to.

7. Upgrade the plugin to latest version

1. Uninstall Volume Manager

   kubectl directpv uninstall
   

   Uninstalling Volume Manager is a non-destructive process. Existing persistent volumes are not removed.

2. Reinstall Volume Manager with the latest version

   See the installation documentation.

1. Upgrade to release 4.1.5

   See the community documentation for upgrading to 4.1.x.

2. Follow the instructions to upgrade from 4.1.5 to latest

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

   Move the downloaded file to your system PATH. 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.