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You can install Astra Trident using the Trident operator (manually or using Helm) or with `tridentctl`. This topic provides important information for selecting the right installation process for you. |
To ensure Astra Trident can be installed in a wide variety of environments and organizations, NetApp offers multiple installation options. You can install Astra Trident using the Trident operator (manually or using Helm) or with tridentctl
. This topic provides important information for selecting the right installation process for you.
You must read the following critical information about Astra Trident.
Critical information about Astra Trident
-
Kubernetes 1.27 is now supported in Trident. Upgrade Trident prior to upgrading Kubernetes.
-
Astra Trident strictly enforces the use of multipathing configuration in SAN environments, with a recommended value of
find_multipaths: no
in multipath.conf file.Use of non-multipathing configuration or use of
find_multipaths: yes
orfind_multipaths: smart
value in multipath.conf file will result in mount failures. Trident has recommended the use offind_multipaths: no
since the 21.07 release.
Regardless of your installation path, you must have:
-
Full privileges to a supported Kubernetes cluster running a supported version of Kubernetes and feature requirements enabled. Review the requirements for details.
-
Access to a supported NetApp storage system.
-
Capability to mount volumes from all of the Kubernetes worker nodes.
-
A Linux host with
kubectl
(oroc
, if you are using OpenShift) installed and configured to manage the Kubernetes cluster that you want to use. -
The
KUBECONFIG
environment variable set to point to your Kubernetes cluster configuration. -
If you are using Kubernetes with Docker Enterprise, follow their steps to enable CLI access.
Tip
|
If you have not familiarized yourself with the basic concepts, now is a great time to do that. |
Select the installation method that’s right for you. You should also review the considerations for moving between methods before making your decision.
Whether deploying manually or using Helm, the Trident operator is a great way to simplify installation and dynamically manage Astra Trident resources. You can even customize your Trident operator deployment using the attributes in the TridentOrchestrator
custom resource (CR).
The benefits of using the Trident operator include:
Astra Trident object creation
The Trident operator automatically creates the following objects for your Kubernetes version.
-
ServiceAccount for the operator
-
ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding to the ServiceAccount
-
Dedicated PodSecurityPolicy (for Kubernetes 1.25 and earlier)
-
The operator itself
Resource accountability
The cluster-scoped Trident operator manages resources associated with an Astra Trident installation at the cluster level. This mitigates errors that might be caused when maintaining cluster-scoped resources using a namespace-scoped operator. This is essential for self-healing and patching.
Self-healing capability
The operator monitors Astra Trident installation and actively takes measures to address issues, such as when the deployment is deleted or if it is accidentally modified. A trident-operator-<generated-id>
pod is created that associates a TridentOrchestrator
CR with an Astra Trident installation. This ensures there is only one instance of Astra Trident in the cluster and controls its setup, making sure the installation is idempotent. When changes are made to the installation (such as, deleting the deployment or node daemonset), the operator identifies them and fixes them individually.
Easy updates to existing installations
You can easily update an existing deployment with the operator. You only need to edit the TridentOrchestrator
CR to make updates to an installation.
For example, consider a scenario where you need to enable Astra Trident to generate debug logs. To do this, patch your TridentOrchestrator
to set spec.debug
to true
:
kubectl patch torc <trident-orchestrator-name> -n trident --type=merge -p '{"spec":{"debug":true}}'
After TridentOrchestrator
is updated, the operator processes the updates and patches the existing installation. This might trigger the creation of new pods to modify the installation accordingly.
Clean reinstallation
The cluster-scoped Trident operator enables clean removal of cluster-scoped resources. Users can completely uninstall Astra Trident and easily reinstall.
Automatic Kubernetes upgrade handling
When the Kubernetes version of the cluster is upgraded to a supported version, the operator updates an existing Astra Trident installation automatically and changes it to ensure that it meets the requirements of the Kubernetes version.
Note
|
If the cluster is upgraded to an unsupported version, the operator prevents installing Astra Trident. If Astra Trident has already been installed with the operator, a warning is displayed to indicate that Astra Trident is installed on an unsupported Kubernetes version. |
Kubernetes cluster management using BlueXP (formerly Cloud Manager)
With Astra Trident using BlueXP, you can upgrade to the latest version of Astra Trident, add and manage storage classes and connect them to Working Environments, and back up persistent volumes using Cloud Backup Service. BlueXP supports Astra Trident deployment using the Trident operator, either manually or using Helm.
If you have an existing deployment that must be upgraded or if you are looking to highly customize your deployment, you should consider installing using tridentctl
. This is the conventional method of deploying Astra Trident.
You can customize your tridentctl
installation to generate the manifests for Trident resources. This includes the deployment, daemonset, service account, and the cluster role that Astra Trident creates as part of its installation.
Note
|
Beginning with the 22.04 release, AES keys will no longer be regenerated every time Astra Trident is installed. With this release, Astra Trident will install a new secret object that persists across installations. This means, tridentctl in 22.04 can uninstall previous versions of Trident, but earlier versions cannot uninstall 22.04 installations.Select the appropriate installation method. |
Determine your deployment process based on the installation mode (Standard, Offline, or Remote) required by your organization.
This is the easiest way to install Astra Trident and works for most environments that do not impose network restrictions. Standard installation mode uses default registries to store required Trident (docker.io
) and CSI (registry.k8s.io
) images.
When you use standard mode, the Astra Trident installer:
-
Fetches the container images over the Internet
-
Creates a deployment or node daemonset, which spins up Astra Trident pods on all the eligible nodes in the Kubernetes cluster
Offline installation mode might be required in an air-gapped or secure location. In this scenario, you can create a single private, mirrored registry or two mirrored registries to store required Trident and CSI images.
Note
|
Regardless of your registry configuration, CSI images must reside in one registry. |
Here is a high-level overview of the remote installation process:
-
Deploy the appropriate version of
kubectl
on the remote machine from where you want to deploy Astra Trident. -
Copy the configuration files from the Kubernetes cluster and set the
KUBECONFIG
environment variable on the remote machine. -
Initiate a
kubectl get nodes
command to verify that you can connect to the required Kubernetes cluster. -
Complete the deployment from the remote machine by using the standard installation steps.
After you’ve made your decisions, select the appropriate process.
Method | Installation mode |
---|---|
Trident operator (manually) |
|
Trident operator (Helm) |
|
|
You can decide to change your installation method. Before doing so, consider the following:
-
Always use the same method for installing and uninstalling Astra Trident. If you have deployed with
tridentctl
, you should use the appropriate version of thetridentctl
binary to uninstall Astra Trident. Similarly, if you are deploying with the operator, you should edit theTridentOrchestrator
CR and setspec.uninstall=true
to uninstall Astra Trident. -
If you have an operator-based deployment that you want to remove and use instead
tridentctl
to deploy Astra Trident, you should first editTridentOrchestrator
and setspec.uninstall=true
to uninstall Astra Trident. Then deleteTridentOrchestrator
and the operator deployment. You can then install usingtridentctl
. -
If you have a manual operator-based deployment, and you want to use Helm-based Trident operator deployment, you should manually uninstall the operator first, and then perform the Helm install. This enables Helm to deploy the Trident operator with the required labels and annotations. If you do not do this, your Helm-based Trident operator deployment will fail with label validation error and annotation validation error. If you have a
tridentctl
-based deployment, you can use Helm-based deployment without running into issues.
When installing Astra Trident on VMWare Tanzu Portfolio products:
-
The cluster must support privileged workloads.
-
The
--kubelet-dir
flag should be set to the location of kubelet directory. By default, this is/var/vcap/data/kubelet
.Specifying the kubelet location using
--kubelet-dir
is known to work for Trident Operator, Helm, andtridentctl
deployments.