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Version: 3.1

Common Prerequisites

Deprecation notice

Support for K3s is being discontinued; migrate to a supported Kubernetes platform.

This page lists common prerequisites for Portworx Enterprise. For prerequisites specific to your platform, visit the Before you begin page of your platform guide.

Installation Prerequisites​

The minimum supported size for a Portworx cluster is three nodes. Each node must meet the following hardware and software requirements:

Hardware
CPU4 cores minimum, 8 cores recommended
RAM4GB minimum, 8GB recommended
Disk
  • /var
  • /opt
  • 2GB free
  • 3GB free
Backing drive8GB (minimum required)
128 GB (minimum recommended)
Operating system root partition64 GB is the minimum required size for the root filesystem which contains the operating system
128 GB minimum recommended
Storage drivesStorage drives must be unmounted block storage: raw disks, drive partitions, LVM, or cloud block storage.
Network connectivityBandwidth:
  • 10 Gbps recommended
  • 1 Gbps minimum

Latency requirements for synchronous replication: less than 10ms between nodes in the cluster
Node typeBare metal and virtual machine (VM)
Software
Linux kernel and distroKernel version 3.10 or greater.
To check if your Linux distro and kernel are supported, see Supported Kernels.
DockerVersion 1.13.1 or greater.
Key-value storePortworx needs a key-value store to perform its operations. As such, install a clustered key-value database (kvdb) with a three node cluster.

You can also use Internal KVDB during installation. In this mode, Portworx will create and manage an internal key-value store (KVDB) cluster.

If you plan of using your own KVDB, refer to KVDB for Portworx for details on recommendations for installing and configuring a KVDB cluster.
Disable swapDisable swap on all nodes that will run the Portworx software. Ensure that the swap device is not automatically mounted on server reboot.
Network Time Protocol (NTP)All nodes in the cluster should be in sync with NTP time. Any time drift between nodes can cause unexpected behaviour, impacting services.
Hypervisor
VMware vSphere
  • Version 7.0
  • Version 8.0

Portworx network requirements​

Portworx runs as a pod in a Kubernetes cluster and uses specific ports for communication, data transfer, and telemetry.

note
  • 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 Kubernetes and 17002 for OpenShift 4+
  • Telemetry components require the following open ports: 9024, 12001, and 12002. Ensure you are running Portworx Operator version 23.7.0 and higher to configure this port for Telemetry.
    • If you are on Portworx version 2.13.7 and older, open port 9024 for telemetry.
    • If you are on Portworx version 2.13.8 and newer, use port 9029 for telemetry.
KubernetesOpenShiftDescription
900117001Portworx management port [REST]
900217002Portworx node-to-node port [gossip]/UDP
900317003Portworx storage data port
900417004Portworx namespace [RPC]
901217009Portworx node-to-node communication port [gRPC]
901317010Portworx namespace driver [gRPC]
901417011Portworx diags server port [gRPC]
901817015Portworx kvdb peer-to-peer port [gRPC]
901917016Portworx kvdb client service [gRPC]
902117018Portworx gRPC SDK gateway [REST]
902217019Portworx health monitor [REST]
902917021Telemetry log uploader
1200220002Telemetry phone home

Supported Kubernetes versions​

Before you install Portworx on Kubernetes, ensure that you're using a supported Kubernetes version:

Portworx Enterprise supported Kubernetes versions

TypeSupported Versions
Kubernetes On-prem
  • 1.24
  • 1.25
  • 1.26
  • 1.27
  • 1.28
  • 1.29
  • 1.30 (Supported starting from Portworx version 3.1.4)
Managed Kubernetes distribution
  • GKE: 1.25.16, 1.26.11, 1.27.7, 1.28.10, 1.29.6
  • AKS: 1.26.10, 1.27.9, 1.28.9, 1.29.5
  • EKS: 1.23, 1.24, 1.25, 1.26.10, 1.27.9, 1.28.5, 1.29.3
  • IKS: 1.26.15, 1.27.16, 1.28.14, 1.29.9, 1.30.5, 1.31.1, (Note: Ubuntu 24.04 is not supported for these IKS versions. Additionally, IKS version 1.29.1 requires Operator version 23.10.4 or newer.)
  • OKE: 1.25.12, 1.26, 1.27.2, 1.28.2, 1.29.1
  • KOPS: 1.28.0, 1.29.0
  • RKE2: 1.28.8, 1.29.3, For Mirantis support, Operator 23.10.2 or newer is required.
  • Mirantis: MKE 3.7.3, MCR 23.0.8
  • Charmed Kubernetes: Juju version: 3.3
Distribution Kubernetes
  • Red Hat OpenShift:
    • OpenShift version: 4.12, verified up to 4.12.60 , Kubernetes version: 1.25
    • OpenShift version: 4.13, verified up to 4.13.44 , Kubernetes version: 1.26
    • OpenShift version: 4.14, verified up to 4.14.31 , Kubernetes version: 1.27
    • OpenShift version: 4.15, verified up to 4.15.20 , Kubernetes version: 1.28
    • OpenShift version: 4.16, verified up to 4.16.0 , Kubernetes version: 1.29
    • Note: For OpenShift 4.16, Portworx Enterprise 3.1.3 or newer and Operator 24.1.1 or newer are required
    • Supports both bare metal and VM
  • Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud:
    • ROKS version: 4.13, verified up to 4.13.49
    • ROKS version: 4.14, verified up to 4.14.35, Operator 23.10.4 or newer is required
    • ROKS version: 4.15, verified up to 4.15.30
    • ROKS version: 4.16, verified up to 4.16.10
  • Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS:
    • ROSA version: 4.12, verified up to 4.12.51
    • ROSA version: 4.13, verified up to 4.13.44
    • ROSA version: 4.14, verified up to 4.14.31
    • ROSA version: 4.15, verified up to 4.15.20
    • ROSA version: 4.16, verified up to 4.16.0
  • Azure Red Hat OpenShift:
    • ARO version: 4.12, verified up to 4.12.25
    • ARO version: 4.13, verified up to 4.13.23
    • ARO version: 4.14, verified up to 4.14.16
Tanzu
  • TKGS:
    • v1.22.6+vmware.1-vsc0.0.19-20336138
    • v1.23.8+vmware.3
    • v1.24.11---vmware.1-fips.1-tkg.1
  • TKGI:
    • TKGI version: 1.18.2-build.18 , Kubernetes version: 1.27.11
    • TKGI version: 1.16.3-build.11 , Kubernetes version: 1.25.15
    • TKGI version: 1.17.2-build.15 , Kubernetes version: 1.26.10
    • TKGI version: 1.18.0-build.46 , Kubernetes version: 1.27.5
Google Anthos
  • Bare metal:
    • Anthos version: 1.14 , Kubernetes version: 1.25
    • Anthos version: 1.15 , Kubernetes version: 1.26
    • Anthos version: 1.16.0-gke.669 , Kubernetes version: v1.27.6-gke.2500
    • Anthos version: 1.28.500-gke.121 , Kubernetes version: v1.28.8-gke.2000
    • Anthos version: 1.29.100-gke.248 , Kubernetes version: v1.29.4-gke.200
    • Anthos version: 1.30.0-gke.1930 , Kubernetes version: v1.30.3-gke.200
  • VMware:
    • Anthos version: 1.14 , vSphere version: 7.0.3 , Kubernetes version: 1.25.5-gke.100
    • Anthos version: 1.15 , vSphere version: 7.0.3 , Kubernetes version: 1.26.2-gke.1001
    • Anthos version: 1.16 , vSphere version: 8.0 , Kubernetes version: v1.27.4-gke.1600
    • Anthos version: 1.28.200-gke.111 , vSphere version: 8.0 , Kubernetes version: v1.28.4-gke.1400
    • Anthos version: 1.29.100-gke.248 , vSphere version: 7.0.3 & 8.0 , Kubernetes version: v1.29.4-gke.200
    • Anthos version: 1.30.0-gke.1930 , vSphere version: 7.0.3 & 8.0 , Kubernetes version: v1.30.3-gke.200

Installation​

You can install Portworx on the cloud or on-premises. Proceed to one of the following sections for Kubernetes and OpenShift install instructions.

For all other environments, continue to the following section:

Portworx on other orchestrators

Post-installation​

If you have an existing Portworx cluster, continue to below sections for using and managing Portworx.

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