Deploy OpenEBS on an Arm-based virtual machine

Set up OpenEBS on the virtual machine

In this section, you’ll install OpenEBS LocalPV using a lightweight single-node Kubernetes cluster on the virtual machine (VM) that you created in the previous section.

You’ll configure Kubernetes storage provisioning and prepare the environment for persistent workloads.

Update your system

Start by updating the package index and installing the latest package updates on the virtual machine.

    

        
        
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

    

Install required dependencies

Install the tools required for Kubernetes and Helm setup.

    

        
        
sudo apt install -y curl wget git apt-transport-https

    

Install Kubernetes using K3s

K3s is a lightweight Kubernetes distribution optimized for edge systems, Arm64 environments, and single-node deployments.

Run the following command to install K3s:

    

        
        
curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -

    

Verify the installation:

    

        
        
sudo kubectl get nodes

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        NAME            STATUS   ROLES           AGE   VERSION
openebs-arm64   Ready    control-plane   7s    v1.35.5+k3s1

        
    

Configure kubectl access

Create the Kubernetes configuration directory:

    

        
        
mkdir -p ~/.kube

    

Copy the K3s kubeconfig file:

    

        
        
sudo cp /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml ~/.kube/config

    

Update ownership permissions:

    

        
        
sudo chown $USER:$USER ~/.kube/config

    

Set the Kubernetes configuration environment variable:

    

        
        
export KUBECONFIG=$HOME/.kube/config

    

Persist the configuration:

    

        
        
echo 'export KUBECONFIG=$HOME/.kube/config' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

    

Verify access:

    

        
        
kubectl get nodes

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        NAME            STATUS   ROLES           AGE   VERSION
openebs-arm64   Ready    control-plane   62s   v1.35.5+k3s1

        
    

Install Helm

Helm is the Kubernetes package manager used to deploy OpenEBS.

Install Helm:

    

        
        
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

    

Verify that Helm installed successfully:

    

        
        
helm version

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.21.0", GitCommit:"e0878d41b711792be60777fd65ad23a101e6b85f", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.25.10"}

        
    

Add the OpenEBS repository

Add the official OpenEBS Helm repository:

    

        
        
helm repo add openebs https://openebs.github.io/openebs

    

Update Helm repositories

After adding the OpenEBS repository, update Helm repositories:

    

        
        
helm repo update

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        ...Successfully got an update from the "openebs" chart repository
Update Complete. ⎈Happy Helming!⎈

        
    

Install lightweight OpenEBS

Create the openebs namespace that will hold all OpenEBS components.

    

        
        
kubectl create namespace openebs

    

Install OpenEBS LocalPV components and disable Mayastor, Loki, Alloy, and observability services, which are unnecessary for a single-node setup:

    

        
        
helm install openebs openebs/openebs \
  --namespace openebs \
  --set engines.replicated.mayastor.enabled=false \
  --set loki.enabled=false \
  --set alloy.enabled=false \
  --set obs.enabled=false

    

Verify OpenEBS installation

OpenEBS components take a moment to start. Wait for the pods to become ready before continuing:

    

        
        
kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pod -l app=openebs-localpv-provisioner -n openebs --timeout=120s

    

Then check whether all OpenEBS pods are running:

    

        
        
kubectl get pods -n openebs

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        NAME                                              READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
openebs-localpv-provisioner-6f9447fcc9-nnbgm      1/1     Running   0          17s
openebs-lvm-localpv-controller-5996c4fbfc-d8274   5/5     Running   0          17s
openebs-lvm-localpv-node-9g49t                    2/2     Running   0          17s
openebs-zfs-localpv-controller-6b98b6cc9d-rjq76   5/5     Running   0          17s
openebs-zfs-localpv-node-p28g2                    2/2     Running   0          17s

        
    

Verify storage classes

Check the available Kubernetes storage classes:

    

        
        
kubectl get sc

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        NAME                   PROVISIONER             RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE      ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
local-path (default)   rancher.io/local-path   Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   false                  2m16s
openebs-hostpath       openebs.io/local        Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   false                  32s

        
    

Configure OpenEBS as the default storage class

Remove the default flag from the K3s local-path storage class:

    

        
        
kubectl patch storageclass local-path \
  -p '{"metadata": {"annotations":{"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class":"false"}}}'

    

Set OpenEBS HostPath as the default storage class:

    

        
        
kubectl patch storageclass openebs-hostpath \
  -p '{"metadata": {"annotations":{"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class":"true"}}}'

    

Verify that the configuration commands worked:

    

        
        
kubectl get sc

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        NAME                         PROVISIONER             RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE      ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
local-path                   rancher.io/local-path   Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   false                  2m55s
openebs-hostpath (default)   openebs.io/local        Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   false                  71s

        
    

Check all OpenEBS resources:

    

        
        
kubectl get all -n openebs

    

At this stage, OpenEBS LocalPV is successfully configured and ready to provision persistent storage volumes for Kubernetes workloads.

What you’ve accomplished and what’s next

You’ve now created a lightweight single-node Kubernetes cluster running on an Arm64 virtual machine powered by Azure Cobalt 100. You’ve configured OpenEBS LocalPV as the default storage class.

Next, you’ll create a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC), deploy a stateful NGINX application, and validate data persistence.