You can install Longhorn on any Kubernetes cluster using kubectl with this command:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/longhorn/longhorn/v0.8.0/deploy/longhorn.yaml

One way to monitor the progress of the installation is to watch Pods being created in the longhorn-system namespace:

kubectl get pods \
--namespace longhorn-system \
--watch

The following items will be deployed to Kubernetes

Namespace: longhorn-system

All Longhorn bits will be scoped to this namespace.

ServiceAccount: longhorn-service-account

Service account is created in the longhorn-system namespace.

ClusterRole: longhorn-role

This role will have access to:

• In apiextension.k8s.io (All verbs)
  • customresourcedefinitions
• In core (All verbs)
  • pods
    • /logs
  • events
  • persistentVolumes
  • persistentVolumeClaims
    • /status
  • nodes
  • proxy/nodes
  • secrets
  • services
  • endpoints
  • configMaps
• In core
  • namespaces (get, list)
• In apps (All Verbs)
  • daemonsets
  • statefulSets
  • deployments
• In batch (All Verbs)
  • jobs
  • cronjobs
• In storage.k8s.io (All verbs)
  • storageclasses
  • volumeattachments
  • csinodes
  • csidrivers
• In coordination.k8s.io
  • leases
• In longhorn.rancher.io (All verbs, deprecated after v0.7.0)
  • volumes
  • engines
  • replicas
  • settings
  • engineimages
  • nodes
  • instancemanagers

ClusterRoleBinding: longhorn-bind

This connects the longhorn-role to the longhorn-service-account in the longhorn-system namespace

CustomResourceDefinitions

The following CustomResourceDefinitions will be installed

• In longhorn.io
  • engines
  • replicas
  • settings
  • volumes
  • engineimages
  • nodes
  • instancemanagers

Kubernetes API Objects

• A config map with the default settings
• The longhorn-manager DaemonSet
• The longhorn-backend service exposing the longhorn-manager DaemonSet internally to Kubernetes
• The longhorn-ui Deployment
• The longhorn-frontend service exposing the longhorn-ui internally to Kubernetes
• The longhorn-driver-deployer that deploys the CSI driver
• The longhorn StorageClass

At this point Longhorn should be ready to use.