# Deploy Minio on Kubernetes [](https://slack.minio.io) [](https://goreportcard.com/report/minio/minio) [](https://hub.docker.com/r/minio/minio/) [](https://codecov.io/gh/minio/minio)
Kubernetes constructs like Deployments and StatefulSets provide perfect platform to deploy Minio server in standalone, distributed or shared mode. In addition, using Minio [Helm](https://helm.sh) Chart, you can deploy Minio server with a single command on your cluster.
Minio Helm Chart offers great deal of [customizability](#configuration), still if you'd rather like to deploy Minio using custom config files, you can do that as well. This [blog post](https://blog.minio.io/build-aws-s3-compatible-cloud-storage-on-gcp-with-minio-and-kubernetes-159cc99caea8#.8zesfh6tc) offers an introduction to running Minio on Kubernetes using .yaml configuration files.
## 1. Prerequisites
* Kubernetes 1.4+ with Beta APIs enabled for default standalone mode.
* Kubernetes 1.5+ with Beta APIs enabled to run Minio in [distributed mode](#distributed-minio).
* PV provisioner support in the underlying infrastructure.
* Helm package manager [installed](https://github.com/kubernetes/helm#install) on your Kubernetes cluster.
## 2. Deploy Minio using Helm Chart
Install Minio chart by
```bash
$ helm install stable/minio
```
Above command deploys Minio on the Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration. Below section lists all the configurable parameters of the Minio chart and their default values.
### Configuration
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|----------------------------|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| `image` | Minio image name | `minio/minio` |
| `imageTag` | Minio image tag. Possible values listed [here](https://hub.docker.com/r/minio/minio/tags/).| `RELEASE.2017-01-25T03-14-52Z`|
| `imagePullPolicy` | Image pull policy | `Always` |
| `mode` | Minio server mode (`standalone`, `shared` or `distributed`)| `standalone` |
| `numberOfNodes` | Number of nodes (applicable only for Minio distributed mode). Should be 4 <= x <= 16 | `4` |
| `accessKey` | Default access key | `AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE` |
| `secretKey` | Default secret key | `wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY` |
| `configPath` | Default config file location | `~/.minio` |
| `mountPath` | Default mount location for persistent drive| `/export` |
| `serviceType` | Kubernetes service type | `LoadBalancer` |
| `servicePort` | Kubernetes port where service is exposed| `9000` |
| `persistence.enabled` | Use persistent volume to store data | `true` |
| `persistence.size` | Size of persistent volume claim | `10Gi` |
| `persistence.storageClass` | Type of persistent volume claim | `generic` |
| `persistence.accessMode` | ReadWriteOnce or ReadOnly | `ReadWriteOnce` |
| `resources` | CPU/Memory resource requests/limits | Memory: `256Mi`, CPU: `100m` |
You can specify each parameter using the `--set key=value[,key=value]` argument to `helm install`. For example,
```bash
$ helm install --name my-release \
--set persistence.size=100Gi \
stable/minio
```
The above command deploys Minio server with a 100Gi backing persistent volume.
Alternately, you can provide a YAML file that specifies parameter values while installing the chart. For example,
```bash
$ helm install --name my-release -f values.yaml stable/minio
```
### Distributed Minio
This chart provisions a Minio server in standalone mode, by default. To provision Minio server in [distributed mode](https://docs.minio.io/docs/distributed-minio-quickstart-guide), set the `mode` field to `distributed`,
```bash
$ helm install --set mode=distributed stable/minio
```
This provisions Minio server in distributed mode with 4 nodes. To change the number of nodes in your distributed Minio server, set the `numberOfNodes` field,
```bash
$ helm install --set mode=distributed,numberOfNodes=8 stable/minio
```
This provisions Minio server in distributed mode with 8 nodes. Note that the `numberOfNodes` value should be an integer between 4 and 16 (inclusive).
#### StatefulSet [limitations](http://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/abstractions/controllers/statefulsets/#limitations) applicable to distributed Minio
* StatefulSets need persistent storage, so the `persistence.enabled` flag is ignored when `mode` is set to `distributed`.
* When uninstalling a distributed Minio release, you'll need to manually delete volumes associated with the StatefulSet.
### Shared Minio
To provision Minio servers in [shared mode](https://github.com/minio/minio/blob/master/docs/shared-backend/README.md), set the `mode` field to `shared`,
```bash
$ helm install --set mode=shared stable/minio
```
This provisions 4 Minio server nodes backed by single storage. To change the number of nodes in your shared Minio deployment, set the `numberOfNodes` field,
```bash
$ helm install --set mode=shared,numberOfNodes=8 stable/minio
```
This provisions Minio server in shared mode with 8 nodes.
### Persistence
This chart provisions a PersistentVolumeClaim and mounts corresponding persistent volume to default location `/export`. You'll need physical storage available in the Kubernetes cluster for this to work. If you'd rather use `emptyDir`, disable PersistentVolumeClaim by:
```bash
$ helm install --set persistence.enabled=false stable/minio
```
> *"An emptyDir volume is first created when a Pod is assigned to a Node, and exists as long as that Pod is running on that node. When a Pod is removed from a node for any reason, the data in the emptyDir is deleted forever."*
## 3. Uninstalling the Chart
Assuming your release is named as `my-release`, delete it using the command:
```bash
$ helm delete my-release
```
The command removes all the Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the release.
### Notes
* An instance of a chart running in a Kubernetes cluster is called a release. Helm automatically assigns a unique release name after installing the chart. You can also set your preferred name by:
```bash
$ helm install --name my-release stable/minio
```
* To override the default keys, pass the access and secret keys as arguments to helm install.
```bash
$ helm install --set accessKey=myaccesskey,secretKey=mysecretkey \
stable/minio
```
### Explore Further
- [Minio Erasure Code QuickStart Guide](https://docs.minio.io/docs/minio-erasure-code-quickstart-guide)
- [Kubernetes Documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/home/)
- [Helm package manager for kubernetes](https://helm.sh/)