Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE)

Overview

This guide will demonstrate how to install Ondat onto a Rancher Kubernetes Engine (RKE) cluster. Ondat can be installed on a RKE cluster through two different methods;

Using the Ondat kubectl plugin.
Using Ondat’s Helm chart through Rancher’s Apps & Marketplace.

Prerequisites

⚠️ Make sure you have met the minimum resource requirements for Ondat to successfully run. Review the main Ondat prerequisites page for more information.

⚠️ Make sure the following CLI utility is installed on your local machine and is available in your $PATH:

kubectl

⚠️ Make sure to add an Ondat licence after installing.

⚠️ Make sure you have a running RKE cluster with a minimum of 3 worker nodes and the sufficient Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) permissions to deploy and manage applications in the cluster.

⚠️ Make sure your RKE cluster uses a Linux distribution that is officially supported by Rancher as your node operating system and has the required LinuxIO related kernel modules are available for Ondat to run successfully. A strong recommendation would be to review SUSE Rancher Support Matrix documentation to ensure that you are using a supported Linux distribution.

Procedure

Option A - Using Ondat Kubectl Plugin

Step 1 - Install Ondat Kubectl Plugin

Ensure that the Ondat kubectl plugin is installed on your local machine and is available in your $PATH:
- kubectl-storageos

Step 2 - Install Local Path Provisioner

By default, a newly provisioned RKE cluster does not have any CSI driver deployed. Run the following commands against the cluster to deploy a Local Path Provisioner to provide local storage for Ondat’s embedded etcd cluster operator deployment.
```
kubectl apply --filename="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rancher/local-path-provisioner/v0.0.21/deploy/local-path-storage.yaml"
```
Define and export the ETCD_STORAGECLASS environment variable so that value is local-path, which is the default StorageClass name for the Local Path Provisioner.
```
export ETCD_STORAGECLASS="local-path"
```
Verify that the Local Path Provisioner was successfully deployed and ensure that that the deployment is in a RUNNING status, run the following kubectl commands.
```
kubectl get pod --namespace=local-path-storage
kubectl get storageclass
```

⚠️ The local-path StorageClass is only recommended for non production clusters as this stores all the data of the etcd peers locally which makes it susceptible to state being lost on node failures.

Step 3 - Conducting Preflight Checks

Run the following command to conduct preflight checks against the RKE cluster to validate that Ondat prerequisites have been met before attempting an installation.
```
kubectl storageos preflight
```

Step 4 - Installing Ondat

Define and export the STORAGEOS_USERNAME and STORAGEOS_PASSWORD environment variables that will be used to manage your Ondat instance.
```
export STORAGEOS_USERNAME="storageos"
export STORAGEOS_PASSWORD="storageos"
```

Run the following kubectl-storageos plugin command to install Ondat.

kubectl storageos install \
  --include-etcd \
  --etcd-tls-enabled \
  --etcd-storage-class="$ETCD_STORAGECLASS" \
  --admin-username="$STORAGEOS_USERNAME" \
  --admin-password="$STORAGEOS_PASSWORD"

The installation process may take a few minutes.

Step 5 - Verifying Ondat Installation

Run the following kubectl commands to inspect Ondat’s resources (the core components should all be in a RUNNING status)

kubectl get all --namespace=storageos
kubectl get all --namespace=storageos-etcd
kubectl get storageclasses | grep "storageos"

Option B - Using Rancher’s Apps & Marketplace

Step 1 - Setup An `etcd` Cluster

Ensure that you have an etcd cluster deployed first before installing Ondat through the Helm chart located on Apps & Marketplace. There are two different methods listed below with instructions on how to deploy an etcd cluster;
1. Embedded Deployment - deploy an etcd cluster operator into your RKE cluster, recommended for non production environments.
2. External Deployment - deploy an etcd cluster in dedicated virtual machines, recommended for production environments.
Once you have an etcd cluster up and running, ensure that you note down the list of etcd endpoints as comma-separated values that will be used when configuring Ondat in Step 3.
- For example, 203.0.113.10:2379,203.0.113.11:2379,203.0.113.12:2379

Step 2 - Locate Ondat Operator Helm Chart

In the Rancher UI, under the RKE cluster where Ondat will be deployed - select the Menu button in the top-left corner of the page and then select Apps & Marketplace.
Under Apps & Marketplace, a Charts page will be displayed where you can locate the Ondat Operator Helm chart by searching for “Ondat” in the search filter box.
Once you have located the Ondat Operator Helm chart, select the chart. This will direct you to a page showing you more information about the Ondat Operator and how to install it.
Select the Install button.

Step 3 - Customising & Installing The Helm Chart

Upon selecting the Install button in the previous step, you will be directed to a page to configure the Application Metadata. Define the namespace and application name where Ondat will be deployed and click Next.

Parameter Value Description

Namespace storageos Namespace name for the deployment.

Name ondat-operator Application name for the deployment.
The next page will allow you to configure the Ondat Operator through Helm chart values. Under Edit Options, you are provided with 3 configurable sections called;
- Questions
- Container Images
- StorageOS Cluster

Parameter	Value	Description
Namespace	`storageos`	Namespace name for the deployment.
Name	`ondat-operator`	Application name for the deployment.

Select the StorageOS Cluster section. This will show you a form with configurable parameters that have predefined values for an Ondat deployment. Below are following parameters that will need to be populated before beginning the installation;

Parameter	Value	Description
Password	`$STORAGEOS_PASSWORD`	Password of the StorageOS administrator account. Must be at least 8 characters long, for example > `storageos`
External `etcd` address(es)	`$ETCD_ENDPOINTS`	List of `etcd` endpoints as comma-separated values. Prefer multiple direct endpoints over a single load-balanced endpoint, for example > `203.0.113.10:2379,203.0.113.11:2379,203.0.113.12:2379`

💡 Advanced Users - For users who are looking to make further customisations to the Helm chart through additional configurable parameters or import your own StorageOSCluster custom resource manifest, review the Ondat Operator README.md document, Cluster Operator Configuration and Cluster Operator Examples reference pages for more information.

Once the parameters have been successfully populated, select Install to deploy Ondat.

Step 4 - Verifying Ondat Installation