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System requirements

Make sure that the target computer where you plan to install VSatellite meets the minimum requirements detailed below.

Operating systems

VSatellite is expected to work on most modern Linux systems (x86_64). However, please review the following:

Supported

Supported means fully tested by QA during the development life cycle. If issues or defects do arise, they'll be resolved by Venafi.

Supported operating systems include the following:

  • Ubuntu LTS 18.04 or later (x86_64)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.9, 8.x and 9.x (x86_64)
  • Oracle Linux 8.x and 9.x (x86_64)
  • Rocky Linux 8.x and 9.x (x86_64)

RHEL, Oracle, and Rocky Linux installations

For RHEL, Oracle Linux, and Rocky Linux installations, review these special considerations.

Ensure that your selected operating system is updated with the latest patches. At a minimum, it must be able to retrieve updates from the operating system's standard software repository (for example, using apt-get or yum).

System resources

You can install VSatellites on either virtual computers (most common) or on physical hardware. In either case, VSatellite requires at least the following resources to function normally:

  • 4 GB RAM
  • 2 CPUs

  • 10 GB of free disk space

    IMPORTANT! Disk space requirements for VSatellite installation

    Carefully consider the necessary disk space requirements for installing VSatellite, including considerations for both default and custom installations.

    Default installation

    VSatellite uses specialized technology (Kubernetes K3s) and requires specific disk space allocations across various folders to ensure optimal performance:

    • Total required disk space: 10 GB of free disk space.
    • Distribution of disk space:
      • /var/lib/rancher: ~85% of required space
      • /var/lib/kubelet: ~5% of required space
      • /usr/local/bin: ~5% of required space
      • /var/log/containers: ~3% of required space
      • /etc/rancher: ~2% of required space

    Note: If you have mounted any of the above folders to a different location, ensure that the new location has enough space based on these percentages. For instance, mounting /var/lib/rancher on a separate disk at /mnt/mydisk/rancher means this location needs to accommodate approximately 85% of the required VSatellite disk space.

    Using the --install-dir option

    The --install-dir option simplifies the installation process by consolidating all VSatellite artifacts into a single directory, altering the disk space allocation:

    • Installation directory structure:

      • INSTALL_DIR/vsatellite/logs for logs
      • INSTALL_DIR/vsatellite/bin for binary files, including kubectl
      • INSTALL_DIR/vsatellite/data for Kubernetes k3s data

    • Disk space check: When using --install-dir, the disk space check is performed against the specified directory instead of the default locations. Ensure the specified INSTALL_DIR has at least 10 GB of free disk space available to accommodate all components of the VSatellite installation.

    • Additional considerations:

      • A soft link from /etc/rancher/k3s to INSTALL_DIR/vsatellite/data will be created.
      • A .vsatellite file in the user's home directory will be generated, containing paths to the install and log directories.
      • To execute kubectl commands, users may need to manually add INSTALL_DIR/vsatellite/bin to their PATH.

    The entire 10GB disk space requirement applies to the directory specified by --install-dir, as this option consolidates the installation into a single location. Adjust your disk space planning accordingly.

Root privileges

You'll need permission to run commands with root privileges. The following options are available:

  • Use sudo

    If the sudo command is available on your target Linux machine you can use that to install VSatellite. Alternative privilege elevation utilities, like dzdo, are not supported and may result in installation failure.

  • Use a root shell

    If you are already logged in as the root user you will not need the sudo command. In that case, you can omit sudo whereever you see it used with vsatctl in the documentation.

Why are root privileges required?

The vsatctl install command installs k3s in /usr/local/bin, which is owned by the root user.

If you are installing VSatellite on RHEL, Oracle, or Rocky Linux, the vsatctl install command will install the k3s-selinux RPM package. Installing RPM packages requires root privileges.

Other vsatctl subcommands connect to the VSatellite cluster, requiring access to credentials stored in /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml. This file is only accessible to the root user.