Prerequisites for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Support for K3s is being discontinued; migrate to a supported Kubernetes platform.
Environment Prerequisites
For a Portworx cluster on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), each node must meet the following hardware, software, and network requirements:
| Hardware | |
|---|---|
| CPU | 4 cores minimum, 8 cores recommended |
| RAM | 4GB minimum, 8GB recommended |
Disk
|
|
| Backing drive | Use Azure Managed Disks: Standard or Premium SSDs are recommended. |
| Operating system root partition | 64 GB is the minimum required size for the root filesystem which contains the operating system 128 GB minimum recommended |
| Storage drives | Azure Managed Disks or Azure Blob Storage. |
| Network connectivity | Bandwidth:
Latency requirements for synchronous replication: less than 10ms between nodes in the cluster |
| Node type | Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) |
| Software | |
|---|---|
| Linux kernel and distro | Kernel version 3.10 or greater. Supported distributions include Ubuntu, CentOS, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. |
| Key-value store | Portworx needs a key-value store for operations. You can use Azure provided managed services like Azure Database for Etcd, or deploy your own. |
| Disable swap | Please disable swap on all nodes that will run the Portworx software. Ensure that the swap device is not automatically mounted on server reboot. |
Portworx network requirements
Portworx runs as a pod in a Kubernetes cluster and uses specific ports for communication, data transfer, and telemetry.
- East-to-west
- Inbound
- Outbound
- Portworx also requires the following ports:
- An open KVDB port. For example, if you're using etcd externally, open port 2379.
- An open UDP port at 9002.
- For telemetry, open ports 9024, 12001, and 12002. Ensure you are running Portworx Operator version 23.7.0 or higher to configure the telemetry port:
- Portworx Versions 2.13.7 and Older: Open port 9024 specifically for telemetry.
- Portworx Versions 2.13.8 and Newer: Use port 9029 for telemetry.
| Kubernetes | Description |
|---|---|
| 9001 | Portworx management port [REST] |
| 9002 | Portworx node-to-node port [gossip]/UDP |
| 9003 | Portworx storage data port |
| 9004 | Portworx namespace [RPC] |
| 9012 | Portworx node-to-node communication port [gRPC] |
| 9013 | Portworx namespace driver [gRPC] |
| 9014 | Portworx diags server port [gRPC] |
| 9018 | Portworx kvdb peer-to-peer port [gRPC] |
| 9019 | Portworx kvdb client service [gRPC] |
| 9021 | Portworx gRPC SDK gateway [REST] |
| 9022 | Portworx health monitor [REST] |
| 9029 | Telemetry log uploader |
| 12002 | Telemetry phone home |
| Kubernetes | Description |
|---|---|
| 9001 | Portworx management port [REST] |
| 9021 | Portworx gRPC SDK gateway [REST] |
Supported disk types
| Cloud provider | Disk types |
|---|---|
| Azure |
|
Important notes for the PremiumV2_LRS and UltraSSD_LRS Disk Types:
- For a comprehensive overview of their limitations, refer to the Azure documentation pages for PremiumV2_LRS and UltraSSD_LRS.
- To enable expansion of
PremiumV2_LRSandUltraSSD_LRSdisk types requires a dedicated storage pool for the metadata partition. This is crucial to avoid losing metadata during the disk expansion process. - When configuring the
UltraSSD_LRSdisk type, Portworx uses the median limit for IOPs. To adjust the performance settings of theUltraSSD_LRSdisk type according to your needs, see the Adjust the Performance of an Ultra Disk page in the Azure documentation.
Supported Kubernetes versions
Before installing Portworx on AKS, ensure you are using a supported Kubernetes version:
Portworx Enterprise supported Kubernetes versions
K3s users: You must use CSI integration to generate/use PVCs.
- 3.1
- 3.0
- 2.13
| Type | Supported Versions |
|---|---|
| AKS |
|
| Supported Kubernetes Version |
|---|
|
| Supported Kubernetes Version |
|---|
|
Best practices
Prevent Accidental Deletion: If your virtualization software has a feature to prevent accidental deletion, you should enable it for the VMs hosting PX nodes. While PX is designed to handle the loss of some nodes without issue, losing a significant number of storage nodes due to VM deletion can result in a loss of quorum and an outage. For more information on how to prevent accidental deletion of VM, refer to Lock your resources to protect your infrastructure on Azure.