Documentation

Deploy a MinIO Tenant

This procedure documents deploying a MinIO Tenant onto a stock Kubernetes cluster using the MinIO Operator Console.

MinIO Operator Console

The MinIO Operator Console is designed with deploying multi-node distributed MinIO Deployments.

Deploying Single-Node topologies requires additional configurations not covered in this documentation. You can alternatively use a simple Kubernetes YAML object to describe a Single-Node topology for local testing and evaluation as necessary.

MinIO does not recommend nor support single-node deployment topologies for production environments.

The Operator Console provides a rich user interface for deploying and managing MinIO Tenants on Kubernetes infrastructure. Installing the MinIO Kubernetes Operator automatically installs and configures the Operator Console.

This documentation assumes familiarity with all referenced Kubernetes concepts, utilities, and procedures. While this documentation may provide guidance for configuring or deploying Kubernetes-related resources on a best-effort basis, it is not a replacement for the official Kubernetes Documentation.

Prerequisites

MinIO Kubernetes Operator and Plugin

The procedures on this page requires a valid installation of the MinIO Kubernetes Operator and assumes the local host has a matching installation of the MinIO Kubernetes Operator. This procedure assumes the latest stable Operator and Plugin version 5.0.14.

See Deploy the MinIO Operator for complete documentation on deploying the MinIO Operator.

You can install the MinIO plugin using either the Kubernetes Krew plugin manager or manually by downloading and installing the plugin binary to your local host:

Krew is a kubectl plugin manager developed by the Kubernetes SIG CLI group. See the krew installation documentation for specific instructions. You can use the Krew plugin for Linux, MacOS, and Windows operating systems.

You can use Krew to install the MinIO kubectl plugin using the following commands:

kubectl krew update
kubectl krew install minio

If you want to update the MinIO plugin with Krew, use the following command:

kubectl krew upgrade minio

You can validate the installation of the MinIO plugin using the following command:

kubectl minio version

The output should match 5.0.14.

You can download the MinIO kubectl plugin to your local system path. The kubectl CLI automatically discovers and runs compatible plugins.

The following code downloads the latest stable version 5.0.14 of the MinIO Kubernetes plugin and installs it to the system path:

curl https://github.com/minio/operator/releases/download/v5.0.14/kubectl-minio_5.0.14_linux_amd64 -o kubectl-minio
chmod +x kubectl-minio
mv kubectl-minio /usr/local/bin/

The mv command above may require sudo escalation depending on the permissions of the authenticated user.

Run the following command to verify installation of the plugin:

kubectl minio version

The output should display the Operator version as 5.0.14.

You can download the MinIO kubectl plugin to your local system path. The kubectl CLI automatically discovers and runs compatible plugins.

The following PowerShell command downloads the latest stable version 5.0.14 of the MinIO Kubernetes plugin and installs it to the system path:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/minio/operator/releases/download/v5.0.14/kubectl-minio_5.0.14_windows_amd64.exe" -OutFile "C:\kubectl-plugins\kubectl-minio.exe"

Ensure the path to the plugin folder is included in the Windows PATH.

Run the following command to verify installation of the plugin:

kubectl minio version

The output should display the Operator version as 5.0.14.

EKS Cluster with EBS-Optimized EC2 Nodes

This procedure assumes an existing EKS cluster with at least four EC2 nodes. The EC2 nodes should have matching machine types and configurations to ensure predictable performance with MinIO.

MinIO provides hardware guidelines for selecting the appropriate EC2 instance class and size. MinIO strongly recommends selecting EBS-optimized instances with at least 25Gbps Network bandwidth as a baseline for performance.

For more complete information on the available EC2 and EBS resources, see EC2 Instance Types and EBS Volume Types. MinIO SUBNET customers should reach out to MinIO engineering as part of architecture planning for assistance in selecting the optimal instance and volume types for the target workload and performance goals.

Persistent Volumes

Exclusive access to drives

MinIO requires exclusive access to the drives or volumes provided for object storage. No other processes, software, scripts, or persons should perform any actions directly on the drives or volumes provided to MinIO or the objects or files MinIO places on them.

Unless directed by MinIO Engineering, do not use scripts or tools to directly modify, delete, or move any of the data shards, parity shards, or metadata files on the provided drives, including from one drive or node to another. Such operations are very likely to result in widespread corruption and data loss beyond MinIO’s ability to heal.

MinIO Tenants on EKS must use the EBS CSI Driver to provision the necessary underlying persistent volumes. MinIO strongly recommends using SSD-backed EBS volumes for best performance. MinIO strongly recommends deploying EBS-based PVs with the XFS filesystem. Create a StorageClass for the MinIO EBS PVs and set the csi.storage.k8s.io/fstype parameter to xfs . For more information on EBS resources, see EBS Volume Types. For more information on StorageClass Parameters, see StorageClass Parameters.

Deploy a Tenant using the MinIO Operator Console

To deploy a tenant from the MinIO Operator Console, complete the following steps in order:

1) Access the MinIO Operator Console

2) Complete the Tenant Setup

3) The Configure Section

4) The Images Section

5) The Pod Placement Section

6) The Identity Provider Section

7) The Security Section

8) The Encryption Section

9) Audit Log Settings

10) Monitoring Settings

11) Deploy and View the Tenant

12) Connect to the Tenant

1) Access the MinIO Operator Console

Port Forwarding

Note

Some Kubernetes deployments may experience issues with timeouts during port-forwarding operations with the Operator Console. Select the NodePorts section to view instructions for alternative access. You can alternatively configure your preferred Ingress to grant access to the Operator Console service. See https://github.com/kubernetes/kubectl/issues/1368 for more information.

Run the kubectl minio proxy command to temporarily forward traffic from the MinIO Operator Console service to your local machine:

kubectl minio proxy

The command output includes a required token for logging into the Operator Console.

MinIO Operator Console

You can deploy a new MinIO Tenant from the Operator Dashboard.

NodePorts

Use the following command to identify the NodePorts configured for the Operator Console. If your local host does not have the jq utility installed, you can run the first command and locate the spec.ports section of the output.

kubectl get svc/console -n minio-operator -o json | jq -r '.spec.ports'

The output resembles the following:

[
   {
      "name": "http",
      "nodePort": 31055,
      "port": 9090,
      "protocol": "TCP",
      "targetPort": 9090
   },
   {
      "name": "https",
      "nodePort": 31388,
      "port": 9443,
      "protocol": "TCP",
      "targetPort": 9443
   }
]

Use the http or https port depending on whether you deployed the Operator with Console TLS enabled via kubectl minio init --console-tls.

Append the nodePort value to the externally-accessible IP address of a worker node in your Kubernetes cluster.

Use the following command to retrieve the JWT token necessary for logging into the Operator Console:

kubectl get secret/console-sa-secret -n minio-operator -o json | jq -r '.data.token' | base64 -d

Open your browser to the specified URL and enter the JWT Token into the login page. You should see the Tenants page:

MinIO Operator Console

Click the + Create Tenant to start creating a MinIO Tenant.

2) Complete the Tenant Setup

The Setup pane displays core configuration settings for the MinIO Tenant.

Settings marked with an asterisk * are required:

Field

Description

Name

The name of the MinIO Tenant

Namespace

The Kubernetes Namespace in which to deploy the tenant. You can create the namespace by selecting the plus + icon if it does not exist.

The Operator supports at most one MinIO Tenant per namespace.

Storage Class

Specify the EBS volume type to use for this tenant. The following list is populated based on the AWS EBS CSI driver list of supported EBS volume types:

  • gp3 (General Purpose SSD)

  • gp2 (General Purpose SSD)

  • io2 (Provisioned IOPS SSD)

  • io1 (Provisioned IOPS SSD)

  • st1 (Throughput Optimized HDD)

  • sc1 (Cold Storage HDD)

Number of Servers

The total number of MinIO server pods to deploy in the Tenant. The Operator enforces a minimum of four server pods per tenant.

The Operator by default uses pod anti-affinity, such that the Kubernetes cluster must have at least one worker node per MinIO server pod. Use the Pod Placement pane to modify the pod scheduling settings for the Tenant.

Number of Drives per Server

The number of storage volumes (Persistent Volume Claims) the Operator requests per Server.

The Operator displays the Total Volumes under the Resource Allocation section. The Operator generates an equal number of PVC plus two for supporting Tenant services (Metrics and Log Search).

For deployments using the EBS CSI driver, the Operator provisions Persistent Volume Claims which result in the creation of EBS volumes of the specified Storage Class equal to Number of Drives per Server X Number of Servers.

Total Size

The total raw storage size for the Tenant. Specify both the total storage size and the Unit of that storage. All storage units are in SI values, e.g. \(Gi = GiB = 1024^3\) bytes.

The Operator displays the Drive Capacity under the:guilabel:Resource Allocation section. The Operator sets this value as the requested storage capacity in each generated PVC.

The specified Storage Class must correspond to a set of Persistent Volumes sufficient in capacity to match each generated PVC.

Memory per Node [Gi]

Specify the total amount of memory (RAM) to allocate per MinIO server pod. See Memory for guidance on setting this value. MinIO requires a minimum of 2GiB of memory per worker.

The Kubernetes cluster must have worker nodes with sufficient free RAM to match the pod request.

Erasure Code Parity

The Erasure Code Parity to set for the deployment.

The Operator displays the selected parity and its effect on the deployment under the Erasure Code Configuration section. Erasure Code parity defines the overall resiliency and availability of data on the cluster. Higher parity values increase tolerance to drive or node failure at the cost of total storage. See Erasure Coding for more complete documentation.

Select Create to create the Tenant using the current configuration. While all subsequent sections are optional, MinIO recommends reviewing them prior to deploying the Tenant.

3) The Configure Section

The Configure section displays optional configuration settings for the MinIO Tenant and its supporting services.

Field

Description

Expose MinIO Service

The MinIO Operator by default directs the MinIO Tenant services to request an externally accessible IP address from the Kubernetes cluster Load Balancer if one is available to access the tenant.

If your EKS cluster includes the AWS Load Balancer Controller add-on, enabling this setting directs the load balancer to assign an address to the Tenant services.

Other load balancers may function similarly depending on their configuration.

Your Kubernetes distributions may include a load balancer that can respond to these requests. Installation and configuration of load balancers is out of the scope of this documentation.

Expose Console Service

Select whether the Tenant should request an IP address from the Load Balancer to access the Tenant’s Console.

If your EKS cluster includes the AWS Load Balancer Controller add-on, enabling this setting directs the load balancer to assign an address to the Tenant services.

Other load balancers may function similarly depending on their configuration.

Your Kubernetes distributions may include a load balancer that can respond to these requests. Installation and configuration of load balancers is out of the scope of this documentation.

Set Custom Domains

Toggle on to customize the domains allowed to access the tenant’s console and other tenant services.

Security Context

The MinIO Operator sets the Kubernetes Security Context for pods to a default of 1000 for User, Group, and FsGroup. The FSGroupChangePolicy defaults to Always. MinIO does not run the pod using the root user.

You can modify the Security Context to direct MinIO to run using a different User, Group,FsGroup ID, and FSGroupChangePolicy. You can also direct MinIO to run as the Root user.

Custom Runtime Configurations

Toggle on to customize the Runtime Class for the tenant to use.

Additional Environment Variables

Enter any additional the key:value pairs to use as environment variables for the tenant.

4) The Images Section

The Images section displays container image settings used by the MinIO Tenant.

Field

Description

MinIO’s Image

The container image to use for the MinIO Server. See the MinIO Quay or the MinIO DockerHub repositories for a list of valid tags.

Log Search API’s Image

The container image to use for MinIO Log Search API.

KES Image

The container image to use for MinIO KES.

Log Search Postgres Image
Log Search Postgres Init Image

The container images to use for starting the PostgreSQL service supporting the Log Search API

Prometheus Image
Prometheus Sidecar Image
Prometheus Init Image

The container images to use for starting the Prometheus service supporting the Log Search API.

5) The Pod Placement Section

The Pod Placement section displays pod scheduler settings for the MinIO Tenant.

Field

Description

None

Disables pod scheduling constraints for the tenant. This allows Kubernetes to schedule multiple Tenant pods onto the same node.

This may decrease resiliency, as a single Kubernetes worker can host multiple MinIO pods. If that worker is down or lost, objects may also be unavailable or lost.

Consider using this setting only in early development or sandbox environments with a limited number of worker nodes.

Default (Pod Anti-Affinity)

Directs the Operator to set anti-affinity settings such that no Kubernetes worker can host more than one MinIO server pod for this Tenant.

Node Selector

Directs the operator to set a Node Selector such that pods only deploy onto Kubernetes workers whose labels match the selector.

6) The Identity Provider Section

The Identity Provider section displays the Identity Provider settings for the MinIO Tenant. This includes configuring an external IDP such as OpenID or Active Directory / LDAP.

Field

Description

Built-In

Configure additional internal MinIO users for the Operator to create as part of deploying the Tenant.

OpenID

Configure an OpenID Connect-compatible service as an external Identity Provider (e.g. Keycloak, Okta, Google, Facebook, Dex) to manage MinIO users.

Active Directory

Configure an Active Directory or OpenLDAP service as the external Identity Provider to manage MinIO users.

7) The Security Section

The Security section displays TLS certificate settings for the MinIO Tenant.

Field

Description

Enable TLS

Enable or disable TLS for the MinIO Tenant.

Enable AutoCert

Directs the Operator to generate Certificate Signing Requests for submission to the Kubernetes TLS API.

The MinIO Tenant uses the generated certificates for enabling and establishing TLS connections.

Custom Certificates

When enabled, you can upload custom TLS certificates for MinIO to use for server and client credentials.

MinIO supports Server Name Indication (SNI) such that the Tenant can select the appropriate TLS certificate based on the request hostname and the certificate Subject Alternative Name.

MinIO also supports uploading Certificate Authority certificates for validating client certificates minted by that CA.

Supported Secret Types

MinIO supports three types of secrets in Kubernetes.

  1. opaque

    Using private.key and public.crt files.

  2. tls

    Using tls.key and tls.crt files.

  3. cert-manager 1.7.x or later

    Running on Kubernetes 1.21 or later.

New in version Console: 0.23.1

A message displays under the certificate with the date of expiration and length of time until expiration.

The message adjusts depending on the length of time to expiration:

  • More than 30 days, the message text displays in gray.

  • Within 30 days, the message text changes to orange.

  • Within 10 days, the message text changes to red.

  • Within 24 hours, the message displays as an hour and minute countdown in red text.

  • After expiration, the message displays as EXPIRED.

8) The Encryption Section

The Encryption section displays the Server-Side Encryption (SSE) settings for the MinIO Tenant.

Enabling SSE also creates MinIO Key Encryption Service pods in the Tenant to facilitate SSE operations.

Field

Description

Vault

Configure Hashicorp Vault as the external KMS for storing root encryption keys. See Server-Side Object Encryption with KES for guidance on the displayed fields.

AWS

Configure AWS Secrets Manager as the external KMS for storing root encryption keys. See Server-Side Object Encryption with KES for guidance on the displayed fields.

GCP

Configure Google Cloud Platform Secret Manager as the external KMS for storing root encryption keys. See Server-Side Object Encryption with KES for guidance on the displayed fields.

Azure

Configure Azure Key Vault as the external KMS for storing root encryption keys. See Server-Side Object Encryption with KES for guidance on the displayed fields.

9) Audit Log Settings

Important

MinIO plans to deprecate the Tenant Console Audit Log feature and remove it in an upcoming release. MinIO recommends disabling this feature in preparation for this change.

As an alternative, use any webhook-capable database or logging service to capture audit logs from the Tenant.

Changed in version Console: 0.23.1 and Operator 5.0.0

New tenants have Audit Logs Disabled by default.

Field

Description

Log Search Storage Class

Select the storage class and requested capacity associated to the PVC generated to support audit logging.

Storage Size

Specify the size of storage to make available for audit logging.

SecurityContext for LogSearch

The MinIO Operator deploys a Log Search service (SQL Database and Log Search API) to support Audit Log search in the MinIO Tenant Console.

You can modify the Security Context to run the associated pod commands using a different User, Group, FsGroup, or FSGroupChangePolicy. You can also direct the pod to not run commands as the Root user.

SecurityContext for PostgreSQL

The MinIO Operator deploys a PostgreSQL database to support logging services.

You can modify the Security Context to run the associated pod commands using a different User, Group, FsGroup, or FSGroupChangePolicy. You can also direct the pod to not run commands as the Root user.

You can also modify the storage class and requested capacity associated to the PVC generated to support the Prometheus service.

10) Monitoring Settings

Important

MinIO plans to deprecate the Tenant Prometheus pod feature and remove it in an upcoming release. MinIO recommends setting this value to false in preparation for this change.

As an alternative, use any Prometheus service deployed within the Kubernetes cluster or externally to capture Tenant metrics.

Changed in version Console: 0.23.1 and Operator 5.0.0

New tenants have monitoring Disabled by default.

Field

Description

Storage Class

Select the storage class and requested capacity associated to the PVC generated to support Prometheus.

Storage Size

Specify the size of storage to make available for Prometheus.

SecurityContext

The MinIO Operator assigns this Security Context for the Prometheus pod.

You can modify the Security Context to run the associated pod commands using a different User, Group, FsGroup, or FSGroupChangePolicy. You can also direct the pod to not run commands as the Root user.

11) Deploy and View the Tenant

Select Create at any time to begin the deployment process. The MinIO Operator displays the root user credentials once as part of deploying the Tenant. Copy these credentials to a secure location.

You can monitor the Tenant creation process from the Tenants view. The State column updates throughout the deployment process.

Tenant deployment can take several minutes to complete. Once the State reads as Initialized, click the Tenant to view its details.

Tenant View

Each tab provides additional details or configuration options for the MinIO Tenant.

  • METRICS - Displays metrics collected from the MinIO Tenant.

  • SECURITY - Provides TLS-related configuration options.

  • POOLS - Supports expanding the tenant by adding more Server Pools.

  • LICENSE - Enter your SUBNET license.

12) Connect to the Tenant

The MinIO Operator creates services for the MinIO Tenant.

Use the kubectl get svc -n NAMESPACE command to review the deployed services:

kubectl get svc -n minio-tenant-1
NAME                               TYPE           CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)          AGE
minio                              LoadBalancer   10.97.114.60     <pending>     443:30979/TCP    2d3h
minio-tenant-1-console             LoadBalancer   10.106.103.247   <pending>     9443:32095/TCP   2d3h
minio-tenant-1-hl                  ClusterIP      None             <none>        9000/TCP         2d3h
minio-tenant-1-log-hl-svc          ClusterIP      None             <none>        5432/TCP         2d3h
minio-tenant-1-log-search-api      ClusterIP      10.103.5.235     <none>        8080/TCP         2d3h
minio-tenant-1-prometheus-hl-svc   ClusterIP      None             <none>        9090/TCP         7h39m
  • The minio service corresponds to the MinIO Tenant service. Applications should use this service for performing operations against the MinIO Tenant.

  • The *-console service corresponds to the MinIO Console. Administrators should use this service for accessing the MinIO Console and performing administrative operations on the MinIO Tenant.

The remaining services support Tenant operations and are not intended for consumption by users or administrators.

By default each service is visible only within the Kubernetes cluster. Applications deployed inside the cluster can access the services using the CLUSTER-IP.

Applications external to the Kubernetes cluster can access the services using the EXTERNAL-IP. This value is only populated for Kubernetes clusters configured for Ingress or a similar network access service. Kubernetes provides multiple options for configuring external access to services.

See the Kubernetes documentation on Publishing Services (ServiceTypes) and Ingress for more complete information on configuring external access to services.