Version: Preview

Manage Milvus with KubeBlocks

The popularity of generative AI (Generative AI) has aroused widespread attention and completely ignited the vector database (Vector Database) market.

Milvus is a highly flexible, reliable, and blazing-fast cloud-native, open-source vector database. It powers embedding similarity search and AI applications and strives to make vector databases accessible to every organization. Milvus can store, index, and manage a billion+ embedding vectors generated by deep neural networks and other machine learning (ML) models.

This tutorial illustrates how to create and manage a Milvus cluster by kbcli, kubectl or a YAML file. You can find the YAML examples and guides in the GitHub repository.

Before you start

Install kbcli if you want to manage the Milvus cluster with kbcli.
Install KubeBlocks.
Install and enable the milvus Addon.
To keep things isolated, create a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial.
```
kubectl create namespace demo
```

Create a cluster

KubeBlocks implements a Cluster CRD to define a cluster. Here is an example of creating a Milvus cluster. If you only have one node for deploying a cluster with multiple replicas, configure the cluster affinity by setting spec.schedulingPolicy or spec.componentSpecs.schedulingPolicy. For details, you can refer to the API docs. But for a production environment, it is not recommended to deploy all replicas on one node, which may decrease the cluster availability.

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  namespace: demo
  name: mycluster
spec:
  terminationPolicy: Delete
  clusterDef: milvus
  topology: cluster
  componentSpecs:
    - name: proxy
      replicas: 1
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
        requests:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
      serviceRefs:
        - name: milvus-meta-storage 
          namespace: demo        
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: etcdm-cluster  
            service:
              component: etcd       
              service: headless     
              port: client          
        - name: milvus-log-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: pulsarm-cluster
            service:
              component: broker
              service: headless
              port: pulsar
        - name: milvus-object-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: miniom-cluster
            service:
              component: minio
              service: headless
              port: http
            credential:            
              component: minio     
              name: admin          
      disableExporter: true
    - name: mixcoord
      replicas: 1
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
        requests:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
      serviceRefs:
        - name: milvus-meta-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: etcdm-cluster
            service:
              component: etcd
              service: headless
              port: client

        - name: milvus-log-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: pulsarm-cluster
            service:
              component: broker
              service: headless
              port: pulsar

        - name: milvus-object-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: miniom-cluster
            service:
              component: minio
              service: headless
              port: http
            credential:
              component: minio
              name: admin

      disableExporter: true
    - name: datanode
      replicas: 1
      disableExporter: true
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
        requests:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
      serviceRefs:
        - name: milvus-meta-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: etcdm-cluster
            service:
              component: etcd
              service: headless
              port: client

        - name: milvus-log-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: pulsarm-cluster
            service:
              component: broker
              service: headless
              port: pulsar

        - name: milvus-object-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: miniom-cluster
            service:
              component: minio
              service: headless
              port: http
            credential:
              component: minio
              name: admin

      disableExporter: true
    - name: indexnode
      replicas: 1
      disableExporter: true
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
        requests:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
      serviceRefs:
        - name: milvus-meta-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: etcdm-cluster
            service:
              component: etcd
              service: headless
              port: client

        - name: milvus-log-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: pulsarm-cluster
            service:
              component: broker
              service: headless
              port: pulsar

        - name: milvus-object-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: miniom-cluster
            service:
              component: minio
              service: headless
              port: http
            credential:
              component: minio
              name: admin

      disableExporter: true
    - name: querynode
      replicas: 1
      disableExporter: true
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
        requests:
          cpu: "0.5"
          memory: "0.5Gi"
      serviceRefs:
        - name: milvus-meta-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: etcdm-cluster
            service:
              component: etcd
              service: headless
              port: client

        - name: milvus-log-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: pulsarm-cluster
            service:
              component: broker
              service: headless
              port: pulsar

        - name: milvus-object-storage
          namespace: demo
          clusterServiceSelector:
            cluster: miniom-cluster
            service:
              component: minio
              service: headless
              port: http
            credential:
              component: minio
              name: admin

      disableExporter: true
EOF

Field	Definition
`spec.terminationPolicy`	It is the policy of cluster termination. Valid values are `DoNotTerminate`, `Delete`, `WipeOut`. For the detailed definition, you can refer to Termination Policy.
`spec.clusterDef`	It specifies the name of the ClusterDefinition to use when creating a Cluster. Note: DO NOT UPDATE THIS FIELD. The value must be `milvus` to create a Milvus Cluster.
`spec.topology`	It specifies the name of the ClusterTopology to be used when creating the Cluster. Valid options are: [standalone,cluster].
`spec.componentSpecs`	It is the list of ClusterComponentSpec objects that define the individual Components that make up a Cluster. This field allows customized configuration of each component within a cluster.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs`	It defines a list of ServiceRef for a Component.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.name`	It specifies the identifier of the service reference declaration, defined in `componentDefinition.spec.serviceRefDeclarations[*].name`.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector`	It references a service provided by another KubeBlocks Cluster.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector.cluster`	It defines the cluster name. You can name it on demand.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector.service.component`	It defines the component name.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector.service.service`	It refers to the default headless Service.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector.service.port`	It refers to port name.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector.credential`	It specifies the SystemAccount to authenticate and establish a connection with the referenced Cluster.
`spec.componentSpecs.serviceRefs.clusterServiceSelector.credential.name`	It specifies to the name of the credential (SystemAccount) to reference, using account 'admin' in this case.
`spec.componentSpecs.disableExporter`	It determines whether metrics exporter information is annotated on the Component's headless Service. Valid options are [true, false].
`spec.componentSpecs.replicas`	It specifies the number of replicas of the component.
`spec.componentSpecs.resources`	It specifies the resources required by the Component.

For more API fields and descriptions, refer to the API Reference.

KubeBlocks operator watches for the Cluster CRD and creates the cluster and all dependent resources. You can get all the resources created by the cluster with kubectl get all,secret,rolebinding,serviceaccount -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=mycluster -n demo.

kubectl get all,secret,rolebinding,serviceaccount -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=mycluster -n demo

Run the following command to see the created Milvus cluster object:

kubectl get cluster mycluster -n demo -o yaml

Scale

Currently, KubeBlocks supports vertically scaling a Milvus cluster.

Before you start

Check whether the cluster status is Running. Otherwise, the following operations may fail.

kubectl
kbcli

kubectl get cluster mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION                  TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS    AGE
mycluster   milvus-2.3.2                                  Delete               Running   4m29s

kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        NAMESPACE   CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION           TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS    CREATED-TIME
mycluster   demo        milvus-2.3.2                           Delete               Running   Jul 05,2024 17:35 UTC+0800

Steps

OpsRequest
Edit cluster YAML file
kbcli

Apply an OpsRequest to the specified cluster. Configure the parameters according to your needs.

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: ops-vertical-scaling
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: mycluster
  type: VerticalScaling
  verticalScaling:
  - componentName: milvus
    requests:
      memory: "2Gi"
      cpu: "1"
    limits:
      memory: "4Gi"
      cpu: "2"
EOF

Check the operation status to validate the vertical scaling.

kubectl get ops -n demo
>
NAMESPACE   NAME                   TYPE              CLUSTER     STATUS    PROGRESS   AGE
demo        ops-vertical-scaling   VerticalScaling   mycluster   Succeed   3/3        6m

If an error occurs, you can troubleshoot with kubectl describe ops -n demo command to view the events of this operation.

Check whether the corresponding resources change.
```
kubectl describe cluster mycluster -n demo
```

Change the configuration of spec.componentSpecs.resources in the YAML file. spec.componentSpecs.resources controls the requirement and limit of resources and changing them triggers a vertical scaling.

apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: mycluster
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterDefinitionRef: milvus
  clusterVersionRef: milvus-2.3.2
  componentSpecs:
  - name: milvus
    componentDefRef: milvus
    replicas: 1
    resources: # Change the values of resources.
      requests:
        memory: "2Gi"
        cpu: "1"
      limits:
        memory: "4Gi"
        cpu: "2"
    volumeClaimTemplates:
    - name: data
      spec:
        accessModes:
          - ReadWriteOnce
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 1Gi
  terminationPolicy: Delete

Check whether the corresponding resources change.
```
kubectl describe cluster mycluster -n demo
```

Set the --cpu and --memory values according to your needs and run the following command to perform vertical scaling.
```
kbcli cluster vscale mycluster -n demo --cpu=1 --memory=1Gi --components=milvus 
```
Please wait a few seconds until the scaling process is over.
Validate the vertical scaling operation.
- View the OpsRequest progress.
  
  KubeBlocks outputs a command automatically for you to view the OpsRequest progress. The output includes the status of this OpsRequest and Pods. When the status is Succeed, this OpsRequest is completed.
```
kbcli cluster describe-ops mycluster-verticalscaling-rpw2l -n demo
```
- Check the cluster status.
```
kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        NAMESPACE   CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION           TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS     CREATED-TIME
mycluster   demo                                               Delete               Updating   Jul 05,2024 17:35 UTC+0800
```
  - STATUS=Updating: it means the vertical scaling is in progress.
  - STATUS=Running: it means the vertical scaling operation has been applied.
  - STATUS=Abnormal: it means the vertical scaling is abnormal. The reason may be that the number of the normal instances is less than that of the total instance or the leader instance is running properly while others are abnormal.
    
    To solve the problem, you can manually check whether this error is caused by insufficient resources. Then if AutoScaling is supported by the Kubernetes cluster, the system recovers when there are enough resources. Otherwise, you can create enough resources and troubleshoot with kubectl describe command.
After the OpsRequest status is Succeed or the cluster status is Running again, check whether the corresponding resources change.
```
kbcli cluster describe mycluster -n demo
```

Volume Expansion

Before you start

Check whether the cluster status is Running. Otherwise, the following operations may fail.

kubectl
kbcli

kubectl get cluster mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION                  TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS    AGE
mycluster   milvus-2.3.2                                  Delete               Running   4m29s

kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        NAMESPACE   CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION           TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS    CREATED-TIME
mycluster   demo        milvus-2.3.2                           Delete               Running   Jul 05,2024 17:35 UTC+0800

Steps

OpsRequest
Edit cluster YAML file
kbcli

Change the value of storage according to your need and run the command below to expand the volume of a cluster.

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: ops-volume-expansion
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: mycluster
  type: VolumeExpansion
  volumeExpansion:
  - componentName: milvus
    volumeClaimTemplates:
    - name: data
      storage: "40Gi" # Set the volume storage size.
EOF

Validate the volume expansion operation.

kubectl get ops -n demo
>
NAMESPACE   NAME                   TYPE              CLUSTER     STATUS    PROGRESS   AGE
demo        ops-volume-expansion   VolumeExpansion   mycluster   Succeed   3/3        6m

If an error occurs to the vertical scaling operation, you can troubleshoot with kubectl describe ops -n demo command to view the events of this operation.

Check whether the corresponding cluster resources change.
```
kubectl describe cluster mycluster -n demo
```

Change the value of spec.componentSpecs.volumeClaimTemplates.spec.resources in the cluster YAML file.

spec.componentSpecs.volumeClaimTemplates.spec.resources is the storage resource information of the pod and changing this value triggers the volume expansion of a cluster.

kubectl edit cluster mycluster -n demo

Edit the value of spec.componentSpecs.volumeClaimTemplates.spec.resources.

...
spec:
  clusterDefinitionRef: milvus
  clusterVersionRef: milvus-2.3.2
  componentSpecs:
  - name: milvus
    componentDefRef: milvus
    replicas: 2
    volumeClaimTemplates:
    - name: data
      spec:
        accessModes:
          - ReadWriteOnce
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 40Gi # Change the volume storage size
...

Check whether the corresponding cluster resources change.
```
kubectl describe cluster mycluster -n demo
```

Set the --storage value according to your need and run the command to expand the volume.
```
kbcli cluster volume-expand mycluster -n demo --storage=40Gi --components=milvus -t data
```
The volume expansion may take a few minutes.
Validate the volume expansion operation.
- View the OpsRequest progress.
  
  KubeBlocks outputs a command automatically for you to view the details of the OpsRequest progress. The output includes the status of this OpsRequest and PVC. When the status is Succeed, this OpsRequest is completed.
```
kbcli cluster describe-ops mycluster-volumeexpansion-5pbd2 -n demo
```
- View the cluster status.
```
kbcli cluster list mycluster
>
NAME        NAMESPACE   CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION           TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS     CREATED-TIME
mycluster   demo        milvus-2.3.2                           Delete               Running    Jul 05,2024 17:35 UTC+0800
```
  - STATUS=Updating: it means the volume expansion is in progress.
  - STATUS=Running: it means the volume expansion operation has been applied.
After the OpsRequest status is Succeed or the cluster status is Running again, check whether the corresponding resources change.
```
kbcli cluster describe mycluster -n demo
```

Restart

OpsRequest
kbcli

Restart a cluster.

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: ops-restart
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: mycluster
  type: Restart 
  restart:
  - componentName: milvus
EOF

Check the pod and operation status to validate the restarting.
```
kubectl get pod -n demo

kubectl get ops ops-restart -n demo
```
During the restarting process, there are two status types for pods.
- STATUS=Terminating: it means the cluster restart is in progress.
- STATUS=Running: it means the cluster has been restarted.

Configure the values of components and ttlSecondsAfterSucceed and run the command below to restart a specified cluster.
```
kbcli cluster restart mycluster -n demo --components="milvus" --ttlSecondsAfterSucceed=30
```
- components describes the component name that needs to be restarted.
- ttlSecondsAfterSucceed describes the time to live of an OpsRequest job after the restarting succeeds.

Validate the restarting.

Run the command below to check the cluster status to check the restarting status.

kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo
>
NAME     NAMESPACE   CLUSTER-DEFINITION     VERSION         TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS    CREATED-TIME
milvus   demo     milvus-2.3.2                              Delete               Running   Jul 05,2024 18:35 UTC+0800

STATUS=Updating: it means the cluster restart is in progress.
STATUS=Running: it means the cluster has been restarted.

Stop/Start a cluster

You can stop/start a cluster to save computing resources. When a cluster is stopped, the computing resources of this cluster are released, which means the pods of Kubernetes are released, but the storage resources are reserved. You can start this cluster again to restore it to the state it was in before it was stopped.

Stop a cluster

Configure the name of your cluster and run the command below to stop this cluster.

OpsRequest
Edit Cluster YAML File
kbcli

Apply an OpsRequest to stop a cluster.

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: ops-stop
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: mycluster
  type: Stop
EOF

kubectl edit cluster mycluster -n demo

Configure replicas as 0 to delete pods.

...
spec:
  clusterDefinitionRef: milvus
  clusterVersionRef: milvus-2.3.2
  terminationPolicy: Delete
  componentSpecs:
  - name: milvus
    componentDefRef: milvus
    disableExporter: true  
    replicas: 0 # Change this value
...

kbcli cluster stop mycluster -n demo

Check the status of the cluster to see whether it is stopped.

kubectl
kbcli

kubectl get cluster mycluster -n demo

kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo

Start a cluster

Configure the name of your cluster and run the command below to start this cluster.

OpsRequest
Edit Cluster YAML File
kbcli

Apply an OpsRequest to start a cluster.

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: ops-start
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: mycluster
  type: Start
EOF 

kubectl edit cluster mycluster -n demo

Change replicas back to the original amount to start this cluster again.

...
spec:
  clusterDefinitionRef: milvus
  clusterVersionRef: milvus-2.3.2
  terminationPolicy: Delete
  componentSpecs:
  - name: milvus
    componentDefRef: milvus
    disableExporter: true  
    replicas: 1 # Change this value
...

kbcli cluster start mycluster -n demo

Check the status of the cluster to see whether it is running again.
- kubectl
- kbcli
kubectl get cluster mycluster -n demo
kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo

Delete a cluster

Termination policy

note

The termination policy determines how a cluster is deleted.

terminationPolicy	Deleting Operation
`DoNotTerminate`	`DoNotTerminate` prevents deletion of the Cluster. This policy ensures that all resources remain intact.
`Delete`	`Delete` deletes Cluster resources like Pods, Services, and Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs), leading to a thorough cleanup while removing all persistent data.
`WipeOut`	`WipeOut` is an aggressive policy that deletes all Cluster resources, including volume snapshots and backups in external storage. This results in complete data removal and should be used cautiously, primarily in non-production environments to avoid irreversible data loss.

To check the termination policy, execute the following command.

kubectl
kbcli

kubectl get cluster mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        CLUSTER-DEFINITION   VERSION                  TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS    AGE
mycluster   milvus-2.3.2                                  Delete               Running   14m

kbcli cluster list mycluster -n demo
>
NAME        NAMESPACE   CLUSTER-DEFINITION        VERSION               TERMINATION-POLICY   STATUS           CREATED-TIME
mycluster   demo        milvus-2.3.2                                    Delete               Running          Jul 05,2024 17:35 UTC+0800  

Steps

Run the command below to delete a specified cluster.

kubectl
kbcli

If you want to delete a cluster and its all related resources, you can modify the termination policy to WipeOut, then delete the cluster.

kubectl patch -n demo cluster mycluster -p '{"spec":{"terminationPolicy":"WipeOut"}}' --type="merge"

kubectl delete -n demo cluster mycluster

kbcli cluster delete mycluster -n demo

Before you start​

Create a cluster​

Scale​

Before you start​

Steps​

Volume Expansion​

Before you start​

Steps​

Restart​

Stop/Start a cluster​

Stop a cluster​

Start a cluster​

Delete a cluster​

Termination policy​

Steps​

Before you start

Create a cluster

Scale

Before you start

Steps

Volume Expansion

Before you start

Steps

Restart

Stop/Start a cluster

Stop a cluster

Start a cluster

Delete a cluster

Termination policy

Steps