How To Deploy MinIO On Kubernetes

We will examine how to deploy MinIO on Kubernetes in this article. We’re assuming that K3S and Helm are already set up on your VM. Let’s get going!

In the digital world, data is the new oil. Having effective and scalable storage solutions is essential as data volume increases exponentially. Object storage is useful in situations like these. Instead of managing data as files or blocks, object storage treats data as objects. Every object has data, metadata, and a special identifier. MinIO, an open-source object storage server, is designed to store unstructured data (such as photos, videos, log files, backups, and container/VM images) with high scalability.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Preparing for Deployment

Make sure your Kubernetes cluster is operational before deploying MinIO on it. To check the status of your nodes, issue the following command:

kubectl get nodes

If your nodes are ready, you can proceed with the deployment. If not, you need to troubleshoot the issue before moving forward.

Part 2: Deploying MinIO on Kubernetes using Helm

Helm is a Kubernetes package manager that makes it easier to deploy applications on Kubernetes. On our Kubernetes cluster, MinIO will be installed using Helm.

First, add the MinIO Helm chart repository to your Helm repo list:

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

Then, update your Helm chart repositories:

helm repo update

Now that you are prepared, install MinIO. For MinIO to be installed with its default settings, run the following command:

helm install --namespace minio-namespace --create-namespace --generate-name minio/minio

This command will install MinIO in a new namespace called ‘minio-namespace’. For your MinIO release, the ‘–generate-name’ option will automatically generate a distinctive name.

Part 3: Customizing MinIO Deployment

Numerous customization options are supported by MinIO on Kubernetes. These options can be specified in a YAML file and passed during installation. For instance, you can alter Minio’s mode (standalone, distributed), number of drives, and size of each drive.

Create a YAML file (e.g., ‘minio-values.yaml’) and define your configurations:

nano minio-values.yaml

Here’s an example of how you can customize your Minio deployment:

mode: distributed
drivesPerNode: 4
size: 100Gi

Save and close the file. Now, install Minio with your custom configurations:

helm install --namespace minio-namespace --create-namespace --generate-name -f minio-values.yaml minio/minio

Part 4: Accessing MinIO on Kubernetes

You can use the MinIO on Kubernetes client (mc), a web browser, or REST APIs to access Minio after it has been set up. The Minio server by default offers a web-based management interface. It can be accessed by redirecting the Minio service port to a nearby port:

kubectl port-forward service/your-minio-service 9000:9000 --namespace minio-namespace

Replace ‘your-minio-service’ with the name of your Minio service. Now, open your web browser and navigate to ‘localhost:9000’. You should see the Minio web interface.

Final thoughts

Your applications can benefit from a scalable, effective, and resilient object storage solution by deploying MinIO on Kubernetes. You can easily manage sizable amounts of unstructured data using Minio. For managing your data in a distributed environment, Kubernetes and Minio provide a potent toolkit.

It’s important to keep in mind that knowing your needs and tailoring your deployment to them are the keys to success. Spend some time learning about the various configuration options before selecting the one that best suits your requirements.