Getting Started with Portworx Essentials on Kubernetes

The Kubernetes architecture can be a lot to swallow, so on routine days administering applications on Kubernetes may feel like everything is running pretty well. However, just like any avid hiker would recommend, it’s important to carry the essentials so that you have them when you need them. This is how Portworx feels about running your stateful applications on Kubernetes—even if you are not at full enterprise level scale and don’t need enterprise capabilities. This is why we’ve released Portworx Essentials, which provides the essential Kubernetes storage capabilities for small production applications—and is free forever. Learn what the essentials are for stateful applications and how to install and get started using them for Kubernetes.

What Are the Essentials of Kubernetes Storage?

When it comes to running stateful applications in Kubernetes like MySQL, Postgres, Kafka, Cassandra, Gitlab, WordPress, and Jenkins, there are some basic necessities for keeping data available. Like the CAP theorem suggests, data should be consistent, available, and partition tolerant, and in order for these to be true, there needs to be some level of data management.

Getting Started

Prerequisites for installing Portworx essentials are listed here, including the following hardware requirements. You must also already have Kubernetes installed.

Note: Portworx Essentials cannot be installed in an air-gapped environment. If you need to run stateful service in an air-gapped environment, consider Portworx Enterprise.

Once you have Kuberentes installed on a cluster of at least three worker nodes that meet the minimum requirements, then you can proceed to install Portworx Essentials. To do this, first head over to PX-Central. From here you should be able to login and click on “Install and Run.”

Once you are in the install and run view, click on “New Spec” in the top right corner.

From here, you will have a choice between Portworx products you want to install. To install Portworx essentials on Kubernetes, click “Portworx Essentials,” then click “>Next.”

Next, follow the prompts and fill out the configuration accordingly with information about your Kubernetes environment.

Once you reach the end, you will be asked to agree to the Portworx Essentials license agreement.

Click “Agree” once you are ready to move forward, and you can save the spec file with a name and optional metadata labels.

You can download the spec file or copy the kubectl apply command, which you can run directly on your Kubernetes cluster where kubectl is configured.

Once you apply Portworx Essentials with kubectl, you can monitor Portworx pods with the following command.

$ kubectl get po -n kube-system -l name=portworx

Once all pods are up and running, you are officially using Portworx Essentials. To understand the features in depth, browse the Portworx documentation on Essentials and browse the end user license agreement. If you run into issues, Portworx Essentials comes with access to online support where you can ask questions and troubleshoot issues, including support for updates and upgrades. There is also documentation for common troubleshooting steps you can take.

Lastly, if you prefer to watch a demo of the above steps for getting started installing Portworx Essentials on Kubernetes, you can watch the video below. Thanks for reading!

 Demo