Install SUSE Storage Using Helm Controller

You can install SUSE Storage using the Helm chart controller built into RKE2 and K3s.

Prerequisites

Kubernetes cluster: Ensure that each node fulfills the installation requirements. The cluster should be running RKE2 or K3s.

Use this script to check the environment for potential issues.

Installation

The initial settings can be [customized using Helm options or by editing the deployment configuration file.](../../../advanced-resources/deploy/customizing-default-settings/#using-helm)
For Kubernetes v1.25 or earlier, if your cluster still enables Pod Security Policy admission controller, set the helm value enablePSP to true to install longhorn-psp PodSecurityPolicy resource which allows privileged Longhorn pods to start.

Create a HelmChart yaml file similar to the following:

apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
  kind: HelmChart
  metadata:
    annotations:
      helmcharts.cattle.io/managed-by: helm-controller
    finalizers:
    - wrangler.cattle.io/on-helm-chart-remove
    generation: 1
    name: longhorn-install
    namespace: default
  spec:
    version: v{{< current-version >}}
    chart: longhorn
    repo: https://charts.longhorn.io
    failurePolicy: abort
    targetNamespace: longhorn-system
    createNamespace: true

Ensure that spec.failurePolicy is set to "abort". The only other value is the default: "reinstall", which uninstalls SUSE Storage. With "abort", it retries periodically, giving the user a chance to fix the problem.
Rather than specify the repo, version, and chart name, the yaml can also use an image of the charts themselves:

spec:
  chartContent:  <tarball of chart directory | base64 -w 0>

For full details see the HelmChart controller docs: https://docs.rke2.io/helm or https://docs.k3s.io/helm.

Apply it to create the HelmChart CR and an installation job:
```
$ kubectl apply -f helmchart_repo_install.yaml
helmchart.helm.cattle.io/longhorn-install created
```
Deleting the helmchart CR will initiate uninstallation of SUSE Storage.

Check the created resources.

$ kubectl get jobs
NAME                            COMPLETIONS   DURATION   AGE
helm-install-longhorn-install   0/1           8s         8s
$ kubectl get pods
NAME                                  READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
helm-install-longhorn-install-lngm8   0/1     Completed   0          25s
$ kubectl get helmcharts
NAME               JOB                     CHART      TARGETNAMESPACE   VERSION   REPO                         HELMVERSION   BOOTSTRAP
longhorn-install   helm-install-longhorn   longhorn   longhorn-system   v{{< current-version >}}    https://charts.longhorn.io

Verify that the deployment succeeded.

kubectl -n longhorn-system get pod

Example of result:

NAME                                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS      AGE
csi-attacher-85c7684cfd-67kqc                       1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-attacher-85c7684cfd-jbddj                       1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-attacher-85c7684cfd-t85bw                       1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-provisioner-68cdb8b96-46d9q                     1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-provisioner-68cdb8b96-dgf5f                     1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-provisioner-68cdb8b96-mh8q7                     1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-resizer-86dd765b9-d27cs                         1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-resizer-86dd765b9-scqxm                         1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-resizer-86dd765b9-zpcv7                         1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-snapshotter-65b46b8749-dtvh2                    1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-snapshotter-65b46b8749-g67fn                    1/1     Running   0             29m
csi-snapshotter-65b46b8749-nfgzm                    1/1     Running   0             29m
engine-image-ei-221c9c21-gd5d6                      1/1     Running   0             29m
engine-image-ei-221c9c21-v6clp                      1/1     Running   0             29m
engine-image-ei-221c9c21-zzdrt                      1/1     Running   0             29m
instance-manager-77d11dda6091967f9b30011c9876341b   1/1     Running   0             29m
instance-manager-870c250b69a4fe01382ed46156d33f47   1/1     Running   0             29m
instance-manager-a4099c5ce28b423c3cc2667906f4b0b4   1/1     Running   0             29m
longhorn-csi-plugin-jfbh5                           3/3     Running   0             29m
longhorn-csi-plugin-w768w                           3/3     Running   0             29m
longhorn-csi-plugin-xcghm                           3/3     Running   0             29m
longhorn-driver-deployer-586bc86bf9-bkwk6           1/1     Running   0             30m
longhorn-manager-c4xtv                              1/1     Running   1 (30m ago)   30m
longhorn-manager-kgqts                              1/1     Running   0             30m
longhorn-manager-n8xdr                              1/1     Running   0             30m
longhorn-ui-69667f9678-2lvxn                        1/1     Running   0             30m
longhorn-ui-69667f9678-2xmc9                        1/1     Running   0             30m

Create an NGINX Ingress controller with basic authentication to access the UI. Authentication to the UI is not enabled by default.
Access the UI.