Kubernetes Cluster Requirements
This topic is a checklist with the prerequisites and system requirements for installing production Redpanda in a Kubernetes cluster using the Helm chart.
Operating system
Minimum required version of the Linux kernel: 3.10.0-514 or 4.18
Kubernetes
Minimum required Kubernetes version: 1.21
Make sure to do the following:
Helm
Minimum required Helm version: 3.6.0
Number of worker nodes
You must provision one worker node for each Redpanda broker that you plan to deploy in your Redpanda cluster. Each Pod replica that runs a Redpanda broker requires its own dedicated worker node for the following reasons:
- Redpanda brokers are designed to have access to all resources, such as CPU and memory, on their host machine.
- External clients access Redpanda brokers using the address of a worker node. See External networking.
The Helm chart configures podAntiAffinity rules to make sure that each Redpanda broker runs on its own worker node.
Storage volumes
Redpanda brokers must store their data on disk. As a result, each Pod that runs a Redpanda broker must have its own storage volume.
For production, you must create and mount an XFS file system on any storage volumes that host the data directory of Redpanda (/var/lib/redpanda/data) or the Tiered Storage cache. XFS is a high-performance file system that provides important features for running Redpanda in production. NFS is not supported.
To learn what volumes Redpanda recommends, see the storage best practices. To learn how to configure storage, see Configure storage.
External networking
For external access, each worker node in your cluster must have a static, externally accessible IP address to allow clients to connect to the NodePort Service and access the Redpanda broker. Redpanda uses the following default ports:
| Node port | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 30081 | Schema registry |
| 30082 | HTTP Proxy |
| 31092 | Kafka API |
| 31644 | Admin API |
Redpanda recommends using NodePorts instead of Loadbalancers. See the external networking best practices.
Tuning
Before deploying Redpanda to production, each worker node that runs Redpanda must be tuned to optimize the Linux kernel for Redpanda processes.
See Tuning Kubernetes Worker Nodes for Production
Sizing
For help sizing your Kubernetes cluster, see Sizing Guidelines.