Skip to main content
Version: 3.4

Installation on an AKS Cluster

This topic provides instructions for installing Portworx on an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Kubernetes cluster.

The following collection of tasks describe how to install Portworx on an AKS Kubernetes cluster:

Complete all the tasks to install Portworx.

Prepare your AKS Cluster​

To set up the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to use Portworx, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Azure and save your az login subscription ID ("id") for future reference:

    az login
    [
        {
            "cloudName": "AzureCloud",
            "homeTenantId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-1234567890ab",
            "id": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-1234567890ab",
            "isDefault": true,
            "managedByTenants": [],
            "name": "Example name",
            "state": "Enabled",
            "tenantId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-1234567890ab",
            "user": {
            "name": "user@example.com",
            "type": "user"
            }
        }
    ]

  2. Set the subscription:

    az account set --subscription <Your-Azure-Subscription-UUID>

  3. Get the Azure locations using the Azure CLI command:

    az account list-locations

  4. Create an Azure Resource Group by specifying its name and the location in which you will be deploying your AKS cluster:

    az group create --name <resource-group-name> --location <location>

  1. Create an AKS cluster in the above Resource Group using either the Azure CLI or the Azure Portal.
    For more information, see Microsoft documentation.

    • If you want to use Azure ultra disks, add the --enable-ultra-ssd parameter to the az aks create command while creating the AKS cluster. For more information, see the Azure documentation.
    • If you have already deployed an AKS cluster, create the Service Principal for the Resource Group in which your AKS cluster is present as per Step 8. 
      /usr/bin/mokutil --sb-state

  2. Create a custom role for Portworx. Enter the subscription ID using the subscription ID value you saved in step 1, also specify a role name:

    az role definition create --role-definition '{
    "Name": "<your-role-name>",
    "Description": "",
    "AssignableScopes": [
        "/subscriptions/<your-subscription-id>"
    ],
    "Actions": [
        "Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/agentPools/read",
        "Microsoft.Compute/disks/delete",
        "Microsoft.Compute/disks/write",
        "Microsoft.Compute/disks/read",
        "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write",
        "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read",
        "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/virtualMachines/write",
        "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/virtualMachines/read"
    ],
    "NotActions": [],
    "DataActions": [],
    "NotDataActions": []
    }'

  3. Find the AKS cluster Infrastructure Resource Group.
    The following command shows the Infrastructure Resource Group for a given cluster name and AKS resource group:

    az aks show -n <aks-cluster-name> -g <aks-resource-group> | jq -r '.nodeResourceGroup'

  4. Create a service principal for Portworx custom role and replace the following with your cluster's values:

    • Your AKS cluster name
    • Your subscription ID
    • The name of the custom role that you created in the previous section
    az ad sp create-for-rbac --role=<your-role-name> --scopes="/subscriptions/<your-subscription-id>/resourceGroups/<aks-infrastructure-resource-group>"
    {
      "appId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-1234567890ab",
      "displayName": "azure-cli-2020-10-10-10-10-10",
      "name": "http://azure-cli-2020-10-10-10-10-10",
      "password": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-1234567890ab",
      "tenant": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-1234567890ab"
    }

  5. Create a secret called px-azure to give Portworx access to Azure APIs. Take the following fields from the previous output and use them in the following command:

    • Set AZURE_TENANT_ID to the value for tenant
    • Set AZURE_CLIENT_ID to the value for appId
    • Set AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET to the value for password
    kubectl create secret generic -n kube-system px-azure --from-literal=AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant> \
                                                          --from-literal=AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<appId> \
                                                          --from-literal=AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<password>
    secret/px-azure created

After you create the secret, you can create the spec and deploy Portworx. The spec generator automatically incorporates the secret that you created, and Portworx will fetch the secret to authenticate. Proceed to the next section to install Portworx.

Generate Portworx Specification​

To install Portworx, you must first generate Kubernetes manifests that you will deploy in your bare metal Kubernetes cluster by following these steps.

  1. Sign in to the Portworx Central console.
    The system displays the Welcome to Portworx Central! page.

  2. In the Portworx Enterprise section, select Generate Cluster Spec.
    The system displays the Generate Spec page.

  3. From the Portworx Version dropdown menu, select the Portworx version to install.

  4. From the Platform dropdown menu, select Azure.

  5. From the Distribution Name dropdown menu, select Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)+.

  6. (Optional) To customize the configuration options and generate a custom specification, click Customize and perform the following steps:

    note

    To continue without customizing the default configuration or generating a custom specification, proceed to Step 7.

    • Basic tab:
      1. To use an existing etcd cluster, do the following:
        1. Select the Your etcd details option.
        2. In the field provided, enter the host name or IP and port number.
          For example, http://test.com.net:1234.
        3. Select one of the following authentication methods:
          • Disable HTTPS – To use HTTP for etcd communication.
          • Certificate Auth – To use HTTPS with an SSL certificate.
            For more information, see Secure your etcd communication.
          • Password Auth – To use HTTPS with username and password authentication.
      2. To use an internal Portworx-managed key-value store (kvdb), do the following:
        1. Select the Built-in option.
        2. To enable TLS encrypted communication among KVDB nodes and between Portworx nodes and the KVDB cluster, select the Enable TLS for internal kvdb checkbox.
        3. If your cluster does not already have a cert-manager, select the Deploy Cert-Manager for TLS certificates checkbox.
        4. Select Next.
    • Storage tab:
      1. To enable Portworx to use all available, unused, and unmounted drives on the node, do the following:
        1. Select the Create Using a Spec option.
        2. Select one of the following:
          • PX-StoreV1 – To designate PX-Store V1 as the datastore.
          • PX-StoreV2 – To designate PX-Store V2 as the datastore.
        3. To add one or more cloud storage drive types for Portworx to use, click + Add Drive and select one of the following types of drives:
          • Standard HDD
          • Standard SSD
          • Premium SSD
          • Premium SSD v2
          • Ultra disk
          note
          • To use an Ultra disk, the Azure instance must have the Ultra SSD feature enabled.
          • The system automatically selects the minimum number of drives to ensure optimal performance.
        4. After selecting a drive type, configure the following fields for the drive:
          • Size (GB) - Specify the size of each drive in gigabytes.
          • IOPS (only for Premium SSD v2 and Ultra disks) - Enter the number of input/output operations per second to provision.
          • Throughput (only for Premium SSD v2 and Ultra disks) - Define the maximum data transfer rate (in MB/s).
          • Encryption - Select whether to enable encryption. Options may include None or provider-managed keys.
          • Encryption Key - If encryption is enabled, specify the key ID or URI to use.
          • Drive Tags - Add labels in key:value format to organize and identify drives. Useful for policies and workload mapping.
          • Action - Use the trash icon to remove a drive type from the configuration.
        5. Max storage nodes per availability zone (Optional): Enter the maximum number of storage nodes that can exist within a single availability zone (failure domain) in your cluster.
        6. From the Default IO Profile dropdown menu, select Auto.
          This enables Portworx to automatically choose the best I/O profile based on detected workload patterns.
        7. From the Journal Device dropdown menu, select one of the following:
          • None – To use the default journaling setting.
          • Auto – To automatically allocate journal devices.
          • Custom – To manually enter a journal device path.
            Enter the path of the journal device in the Journal Device Path field.
        8. Managed Identity - Select this checkbox to use Azure’s managed identity feature for authentication, instead of static credentials.
      2. To enable Portworx to use all available, unused, and unmounted drives on the node, do the following:
        1. Select the Consume Unused option.
        2. From the Journal Device dropdown menu, select one of the following:
          • None – To use the default journaling setting.
          • Auto – To automatically allocate journal devices.
          • Custom – To manually enter a journal device path.
            Enter the path of the journal device in the Journal Device Path field.
        3. Select the PX-StoreV2 checkbox to enable the PX-StoreV2 datastore.
        4. If you select the PX-StoreV2 checkbox, in the Metadata Path field, enter a pre-provisioned path for storing the Portworx metadata.
          The path must be at least 64 GB in size.
        5. Select the Use unmounted disks even if they have a partition or filesystem on it. Portworx will never use a drive or partition that is mounted checkbox to use unmounted disks, even if they contain a partition or filesystem.
          Portworx will not use any mounted drive or partition.
      3. To enable Portworx to use existing drives on a node, do the following:
        1. Select the Use Existing Drives option.
        2. In the Drive/Device field, specify the block drive(s) that Portworx uses for data storage.
        3. In the Pool Label field, assign a custom label in key:value format to identify and categorize storage pools.
        4. Select the PX-StoreV2 checkbox to enable the PX-StoreV2 datastore.
        5. If you select the PX-StoreV2 checkbox, in the Metadata Path field, enter a pre-provisioned path for storing the Portworx metadata.
          The path must be at least 64 GB in size.
        6. From the Journal Device dropdown menu, select one of the following:
        • None – To use the default journaling setting.
        • Auto – To automatically allocate journal devices.
        • Custom – To manually enter a journal device path.
          Enter the path of the journal device in the Journal Device Path field.
      4. Select Next.
    • Network tab:
      1. In the Interface(s) section, do the following:
        1. Enter the Data Network Interface to be used for data traffic.
        2. Enter the Management Network Interface to be used for management traffic.
      2. In the Advanced Settings section, do the following:
        1. Enter the Starting port for Portworx services.
      3. Select Next.
    • Customize tab:
      1. Choose the Kubernetes platform in the Customize section.
      2. In the Environment Variables section, enter name-value pairs in the respective fields.
        note

        For deploying Portworx on an Azure Sovereign cloud, specify the value of the AZURE_ENVIRONMENT variable in the Name and Value fields.

      3. In the Registry and Image Settings section:
        1. Enter the Custom Container Registry Location to download the Docker images.
        2. Enter the Kubernetes Docker Registry Secret that serves as the authentication to access the custom container registry.
        3. From the Image Pull Policy dropdown menu, select Default, Always, IfNotPresent, or Never.
          This policy influences how images are managed on the node and when updates are applied.
      4. In the Security Settings section, select the Enable Authorization checkbox to enable Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and secure access to storage resources in your cluster.
      5. In the Advanced Settings section:
        1. Select the Enable Stork checkbox to enable Stork.
        2. Select the Enable CSI checkbox to enable CSI.
        3. Select the Enable Monitoring checkbox to enable monitoring for user-defined projects before installing Portworx Operator.
        4. Select the Enable Telemetry checkbox to enable telemetry in the StorageCluster spec.
          For more information, see Enable Pure1 integration for upgrades on an AKS cluster.
        5. Enter the prefix for the Portworx cluster name in the Cluster Name Prefix field.
        6. Select the Secrets Store Type from the dropdown menu to store and manage secure information for features such as CloudSnaps and Encryption.
      6. Click Finish.
      7. In the summary page, enter a name for the specification in the Spec Name field, and tags in the Spec Tags field.
      8. Click Download .yaml to download the yaml file with the customized specification or Save Spec to save the specification.

  7. Click Save & Download to generate the specification.

Deploy Portworx Operator​

  1. Use the Operator specifications you generated in the Generate Portworx Specification section, and deploy Portworx Operator by running the following command.

    kubectl apply -f 'https://install.portworx.com/<version-number>?comp=pxoperator'
    serviceaccount/portworx-operator created
    podsecuritypolicy.policy/px-operator created
    clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/portworx-operator created
    clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/portworx-operator created
    deployment.apps/portworx-operator created

  2. (Optional) If you have a disaggregated setup, after you generate the StorageCluster spec in the Generate Portworx Specification section, add the following environment variable in the env section:

    spec:
    env:
    - name: ENABLE_ASG_STORAGE_PARTITIONING
    value: "true"

    You can also add the environment variables from the spec generator using the Environment Variables dropdown menu.
    After you add the variable, Portworx runs nodes labeled portworx.io/node-type=storage as storage nodes and nodes labeled portworx.io/node-type=storageless as storageless nodes.

Deploy StorageCluster​

Use the StorageCluster specifications you generated in the Generate Portworx Specification section, and deploy StorageCluster by running the following command.

kubectl apply -f 'https://install.portworx.com/<version-number>?operator=true&mc=false&kbver=&b=true&c=px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-8dfd338e915b&stork=true&csi=true&mon=true&tel=false&st=k8s&promop=true'
storagecluster.core.libopenstorage.org/px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-8dfd338e915b created

Monitor Portworx Nodes​

  1. Enter the following kubectl get command and wait until all Portworx nodes show as Ready or Online in the output:

    kubectl -n <px-namespace> get storagenodes -l name=portworx
    NAME                 ID                                     STATUS   VERSION          AGE
    username-k8s1-node0   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-43cf085e764e   Online   2.11.1-3a5f406   4m52s
    username-k8s1-node1   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-4597de6fdd32   Online   2.11.1-3a5f406   4m52s
    username-k8s1-node2   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-e2169ffa111c   Online   2.11.1-3a5f406   4m52s

  2. Enter the following kubectl describe command with the NAME of one of the Portworx nodes you retrieved above to show the current installation status for individual nodes:

    kubectl -n <px-namespace> describe storagenode <portworx-node-name>
    ...
    Events:
        Type     Reason                             Age                     From                  Message
        ----     ------                             ----                    ----                  -------
        Normal   PortworxMonitorImagePullInPrgress  7m48s                   portworx, k8s-node-2  Portworx image portworx/px-enterprise:2.10.1.1 pull and extraction in progress
        Warning  NodeStateChange                    5m26s                   portworx, k8s-node-2  Node is not in quorum. Waiting to connect to peer nodes on port 9002.
        Normal   NodeStartSuccess                   5m7s                    portworx, k8s-node-2  PX is ready on this node
    note
    • The image pulled in the output differs based on the Portworx license type and version.
    • For Portworx Enterprise, the default license activated on the cluster is a 30 day trial, that you can convert to a SaaS-based model or a generic fixed license.

Verify Portworx Pod Status​

Enter the following command to list and filter the results for Portworx pods and specify the namespace where you have deployed Portworx:

kubectl get pods -n <px-namespace> -o wide | grep -e portworx -e px
NAME                                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS         AGE     IP                NODE                   NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
portworx-api-774c2                                      1/1     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
portworx-api-t4lf9                                      1/1     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.99    username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
portworx-api-dvw64                                      1/1     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.99    username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
portworx-kvdb-94bpk                                     1/1     Running   0                4s      192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
portworx-kvdb-8b67l                                     1/1     Running   0                10s     192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
portworx-kvdb-fj72p                                     1/1     Running   0                30s     192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
portworx-operator-58967ddd6d-kmz6c                      1/1     Running   0                4m1s    10.244.1.99       username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
prometheus-px-prometheus-0                              2/2     Running   0                2m41s   10.244.1.105      username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d-9gs79   2/2     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d-vpptx   2/2     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.99    username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d-bxmpn   2/2     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.191   username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
px-csi-ext-868fcb9fc6-54bmc                             4/4     Running   0                3m5s    10.244.1.103      username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
px-csi-ext-868fcb9fc6-8tk79                             4/4     Running   0                3m5s    10.244.1.102      username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
px-csi-ext-868fcb9fc6-vbqzk                             4/4     Running   0                3m5s    10.244.3.107      username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
px-prometheus-operator-59b98b5897-9nwfv                 1/1     Running   0                3m3s    10.244.1.104      username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>

Note the name of a px-cluster pod. You will run pxctl commands from these pods in Verify Portworx Cluster Status.

Verify Portworx Cluster Status​

You can find the status of the Portworx cluster by running pxctl status commands from a pod.
Enter the following kubectl exec command, specifying the pod name you retrieved in Verify Portworx Pod Status:

kubectl exec <pod-name> -n <px-namespace> -- /opt/pwx/bin/pxctl status
Defaulted container "portworx" out of: portworx, csi-node-driver-registrar
Status: PX is operational
Telemetry: Disabled or Unhealthy
Metering: Disabled or Unhealthy
License: Trial (expires in 31 days)
Node ID: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e
    IP: 192.168.121.99 
    Local Storage Pool: 1 pool
    POOL    IO_PRIORITY     RAID_LEVEL      USABLE  USED    STATUS  ZONE    REGION
    0       HIGH            raid0           3.0 TiB 10 GiB  Online  default default
    Local Storage Devices: 3 devices
    Device  Path            Media Type              Size            Last-Scan
    0:1     /dev/vdb        STORAGE_MEDIUM_MAGNETIC 1.0 TiB         14 Jul 22 22:03 UTC
    0:2     /dev/vdc        STORAGE_MEDIUM_MAGNETIC 1.0 TiB         14 Jul 22 22:03 UTC
    0:3     /dev/vdd        STORAGE_MEDIUM_MAGNETIC 1.0 TiB         14 Jul 22 22:03 UTC
    * Internal kvdb on this node is sharing this storage device /dev/vdc  to store its data.
    total           -       3.0 TiB
    Cache Devices:
        * No cache devices
Cluster Summary
    Cluster ID: px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d
    Cluster UUID: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-6f3fd5522eae
    Scheduler: kubernetes
    Nodes: 3 node(s) with storage (3 online)
    IP              ID                                      SchedulerNodeName       Auth            StorageNode     Used    Capacity        Status  StorageStatus       Version         Kernel                  OS
    192.168.121.196 xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fad8c65b8edc    username-k8s1-node0      Disabled        Yes             10 GiB  3.0 TiB         Online  Up 2.11.0-81faacc   3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64  CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
    192.168.121.99  xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e    username-k8s1-node1      Disabled        Yes             10 GiB  3.0 TiB         Online  Up (This node)      2.11.0-81faacc  3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64  CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
    192.168.121.191 xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-19d45b4c541a    username-k8s1-node2      Disabled        Yes             10 GiB  3.0 TiB         Online  Up  2.11.0-81faacc  3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64  CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
Global Storage Pool        
    Total Used      :  30 GiB
    Total Capacity  :  9.0 TiB

Status displays PX is operational when the cluster is running as expected. If the cluster is using the PX-StoreV2 datastore, the StorageNode entries for each node displays Yes(PX-StoreV2).

Verify Portworx Pool Status​

note

This procedure is applicable for clusters with PX-StoreV2 datastore.

Run the following command to view the Portworx drive configurations for your pod:

kubectl exec <px-pod>  -n <px-namespace> -- /opt/pwx/bin/pxctl service pool show
Defaulted container "portworx" out of: portworx, csi-node-driver-registrar
PX drive configuration:
Pool ID: 0 
    Type:  PX-StoreV2 
    UUID:  58ab2e3f-a22e-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx 
    IO Priority:  HIGH 
    Labels:  kubernetes.io/arch=amd64,kubernetes.io/hostname=username-vms-silver-sight-3,kubernetes.io/os=linux,medium=STORAGE_MEDIUM_SSD,beta.kubernetes.io/arch=amd64,beta.kubernetes.io/os=linux,iopriority=HIGH 
    Size: 25 GiB 
    Status: Online 
    Has metadata:  No 
    Balanced:  Yes 
    Drives:
    0: /dev/sda, Total size 32 GiB, Online
    Cache Drives:
    No Cache drives found in this pool
Metadata  Device:
    1: /dev/sdd, STORAGE_MEDIUM_SSD

The output Type: PX-StoreV2 ensures that the pod uses the PX-StoreV2 datastore.

Verify pxctl Cluster Provision Status​

  1. Access the Portworx CLI.

  2. Run the following command to find the storage cluster:

    kubectl -n <px-namespace> get storagecluster
    NAME                                              CLUSTER UUID                           STATUS   VERSION   AGE
    px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-6f3fd5522eae   Online   2.11.0    10m

    The status must display the cluster is Online.

  3. Run the following command to find the storage nodes:

    kubectl -n <px-namespace> get storagenodes
    NAME                  ID                                     STATUS   VERSION          AGE
    username-k8s1-node0   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fad8c65b8edc   Online   2.11.0-81faacc   11m
    username-k8s1-node1   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e   Online   2.11.0-81faacc   11m
    username-k8s1-node2   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-19d45b4c541a   Online   2.11.0-81faacc   11m

    The status must display the nodes are Online.

  4. Verify the Portworx cluster provision status by running the following command.
    Specify the pod name you retrieved in Verify Portworx Pod Status.

    kubectl exec <px-pod> -n <px-namespace> -- /opt/pwx/bin/pxctl cluster provision-status
    NODE					                NODE STATUS	 POOL						              POOL STATUS  IO_PRIORITY	SIZE	AVAILABLE	USED   PROVISIONED ZONE REGION	RACK
    0c99e1f2-9d49-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx	Up		    0 ( 8ec9e6aa-7726-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx )	Online		HIGH		32 GiB	32 GiB		33 MiB	0 B		default	default	default
    1e89102f-0510-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx	Up		    0 ( 06fcc73a-7e2f-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx )	Online		HIGH		32 GiB	32 GiB		33 MiB	0 B		default	default	default
    24508311-e2fe-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx	Up		    0 ( 58ab2e3f-a22e-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx )	Online		HIGH		32 GiB	32 GiB		33 MiB	0 B		default	default	default

What to do next​

Create a PVC. For more information, see Create your first PVC.