Version: Next

Deploy StorageLink with Helm Chart on AKS

TLDR - Quick Summary

What: Deploy StorageLink on AKS using a Helm chart with bundled or external PostgreSQL

Steps: Create AKS cluster, configure image access, run helm install

Quick start:

helm install storagelink ./storagelink \
  --namespace storagelink --create-namespace \
  --set backend.image.repository=<backend-image> \
  --set backend.image.tag=<tag> \
  --set ui.image.repository=<ui-image> \
  --set ui.image.tag=<tag> \
  --set license.key=trial \
  --set postgresql.auth.password=$(openssl rand -hex 16) \
  --set admin.username=admin \
  --set admin.password='YourSecurePassword1!'

Overview

The StorageLink Helm chart simplifies deploying StorageLink on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). It handles creating all Kubernetes resources (Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, PVCs, ServiceAccounts, NetworkPolicies, PodDisruptionBudgets) and supports two database modes:

Bundled PostgreSQL (default) — runs a PostgreSQL container inside the cluster using the Bitnami subchart. Good for testing and simple deployments.
External database — connects to a managed Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server. Recommended for production.

Container Reference

For detailed configuration options (TLS modes, client IP preservation, security context, LFS mode, image verification, and more), see the Container Deployment Reference.

Architecture

                    ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                    │     Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)           │
                    │           Namespace: storagelink             │
                    │                                              │
  HTTPS (443)       │   ┌────────────┐    ┌────────────────┐       │
  ──────────────────┼──►│  Admin UI  │───►│    Backend     │       │
                    │   │ (Nginx)    │    │ (Spring Boot)  │       │
                    │   │            │    │  Port 8080 API │       │
                    │   └────────────┘    └───────┬────────┘       │
                    │                             │                │
                    │                     ┌───────▼────────┐       │
                    │                     │  PostgreSQL 16 │       │
                    │                     │  (bundled or   │       │
                    │                     │   external)    │       │
                    │                     └────────────────┘       │
                    └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Components:

Backend — StorageLink API server (Spring Boot). Handles cloud storage operations and user management.
Admin UI — Web-based administration dashboard (Nginx). Exposed via a LoadBalancer on port 443.
PostgreSQL — Stores user accounts and configuration data.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription
Azure CLI installed and logged in
Helm 3 installed
kubectl installed
Access to StorageLink container images (provided per your engagement)

Download the Helm chart

Download the StorageLink Helm chart archive and extract it:

curl -LO https://help.thorntech.com/storagelink/downloads/storagelink-0.1.0.tgz
tar xzf storagelink-0.1.0.tgz

This creates a storagelink/ directory containing the chart. All helm install commands below reference this directory as ./storagelink.

Step 1: Create an AKS cluster

# Create a resource group
az group create --name storagelink-rg --location centralus

# Create the AKS cluster
az aks create \
  --resource-group storagelink-rg \
  --name storagelink-aks \
  --node-count 1 \
  --node-vm-size Standard_DS2_v2 \
  --generate-ssh-keys

# Get credentials for kubectl
az aks get-credentials --resource-group storagelink-rg --name storagelink-aks

Verify the cluster is ready:

kubectl get nodes

Step 2: Set up image access

StorageLink container images are delivered per your engagement. Create a pull secret so Kubernetes can download them:

kubectl create namespace storagelink

kubectl create secret docker-registry storagelink-pull-secret \
  --namespace storagelink \
  --docker-server=<registry-url> \
  --docker-username=<username> \
  --docker-password=<password>

Step 3: Install the Helm chart

Option A: Bundled PostgreSQL (quickstart)

This is the simplest option — a PostgreSQL container runs alongside the backend inside your cluster.

helm install storagelink ./storagelink \
  --namespace storagelink \
  --set backend.image.repository=<backend-image> \
  --set backend.image.tag=<tag> \
  --set ui.image.repository=<ui-image> \
  --set ui.image.tag=<tag> \
  --set license.key=trial \
  --set 'imagePullSecrets[0].name=storagelink-pull-secret' \
  --set postgresql.auth.password=$(openssl rand -hex 16) \
  --set admin.username=admin \
  --set admin.password='YourSecurePassword1!'

After a few minutes, all pods should be running:

kubectl get pods -n storagelink

Expected output:

NAME                                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
storagelink-backend-xxxxx              1/1     Running   0          2m
storagelink-postgresql-0               1/1     Running   0          2m
storagelink-ui-xxxxx                   1/1     Running   0          2m
storagelink-ui-yyyyy                   1/1     Running   0          2m

Option B: Azure Database for PostgreSQL (production)

For production deployments, use a managed Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server.

Create the database

# Create a PostgreSQL Flexible Server
az postgres flexible-server create \
  --name storagelink-pg \
  --resource-group storagelink-rg \
  --location centralus \
  --admin-user swiftgw \
  --admin-password '<your-strong-password>' \
  --sku-name Standard_B1ms \
  --tier Burstable \
  --version 16 \
  --storage-size 32 \
  --database-name swift_gw \
  --yes

# Allow the ltree extension (required by StorageLink)
az postgres flexible-server parameter set \
  --server-name storagelink-pg \
  --resource-group storagelink-rg \
  --name azure.extensions \
  --value LTREE

# Allow Azure services (including AKS) to connect
az postgres flexible-server firewall-rule create \
  --name storagelink-pg \
  --resource-group storagelink-rg \
  --rule-name AllowAzureServices \
  --start-ip-address 0.0.0.0 \
  --end-ip-address 0.0.0.0

caution

The ltree extension must be allowlisted before deploying StorageLink. Without it, the backend will fail to start because the database migration cannot create the extension.

Install with external database

helm install storagelink ./storagelink \
  --namespace storagelink \
  --set backend.image.repository=<backend-image> \
  --set backend.image.tag=<tag> \
  --set ui.image.repository=<ui-image> \
  --set ui.image.tag=<tag> \
  --set license.key=trial \
  --set 'imagePullSecrets[0].name=storagelink-pull-secret' \
  --set postgresql.enabled=false \
  --set externalDatabase.host=storagelink-pg.postgres.database.azure.com \
  --set externalDatabase.password='<your-strong-password>' \
  --set externalDatabase.jdbcParams='?sslmode=require' \
  --set admin.username=admin \
  --set admin.password='YourSecurePassword1!'

Step 4: Access the Admin UI

Get the external IP of the UI service:

kubectl get svc storagelink-ui -n storagelink

It may take 1–2 minutes for Azure to assign the external IP. Once available:

NAME             TYPE           CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP      PORT(S)         AGE
storagelink-ui   LoadBalancer   10.0.83.16     20.112.198.110   443:30121/TCP   2m

Open https://<EXTERNAL-IP> in your browser. You will see a certificate warning because the chart generates a self-signed TLS certificate by default — this is expected for testing.

If you provided admin.username and admin.password, log in with those credentials. Otherwise, you will be prompted to create your admin account on first access.

caution

If no admin credentials were provided and the UI is publicly accessible, the first person to reach the UI can create the admin account. See Security considerations below.

Security considerations

Admin account

The admin.username and admin.password values trigger a post-install Helm Job that waits for the backend to become healthy, then calls the setup API to create the admin account. If an admin account already exists (e.g., on helm upgrade), the Job detects this and exits successfully without changes.

Restrict Admin UI access

Lock down the Admin UI to specific IP addresses using loadBalancerSourceRanges:

helm install storagelink ./storagelink \
  --namespace storagelink \
  --set 'ui.service.loadBalancerSourceRanges[0]=203.0.113.50/32' \
  --set 'ui.service.loadBalancerSourceRanges[1]=198.51.100.0/24' \
  # ... other values

Built-in hardening

The Helm chart includes these security defaults:

Non-root containers — backend runs as UID 100, UI runs as UID 1000
Read-only root filesystem — enabled on the backend container
Dropped capabilities — all Linux capabilities are dropped
NetworkPolicies — restrict pod-to-pod and egress traffic
ServiceAccounts — dedicated accounts with token automount disabled
PodDisruptionBudgets — ensure availability during node maintenance
Backend not externally exposed — backend Service is ClusterIP, preventing X-Forwarded-For spoofing that would defeat login lockout and forge audit source IPs
Client IP preservation — UI Service uses externalTrafficPolicy: Local to preserve the client's real source IP for audit logging and login lockout
Zero-downtime rolling updates — UI Deployment uses maxSurge: 1, maxUnavailable: 0 to avoid dropped connections under the Local traffic policy

Custom TLS certificate

To use your own TLS certificate instead of the auto-generated self-signed one:

helm install storagelink ./storagelink \
  --namespace storagelink \
  --set-file ui.tls.certificate=path/to/tls.crt \
  --set-file ui.tls.privateKey=path/to/tls.key \
  # ... other values

Configuration reference

Key values

Parameter	Description	Default
`backend.image.repository`	Backend container image	`""`
`backend.image.tag`	Backend image tag	`""`
`ui.image.repository`	UI container image	`""`
`ui.image.tag`	UI image tag	`""`
`admin.username`	Initial admin username	`""`
`admin.password`	Initial admin password	`""`
`license.key`	StorageLink license key (use `trial` for evaluation)	`""`
`config.cloudProvider`	Cloud provider hint: `azure`, `aws`, or `gcp`	`azure`
`backend.replicaCount`	Number of backend replicas	`2`
`ui.replicaCount`	Number of UI replicas	`2`
`ui.tls.certificate`	Custom TLS certificate (PEM)	`""` (self-signed)
`ui.tls.privateKey`	Custom TLS private key (PEM)	`""`
`ui.service.loadBalancerSourceRanges`	Restrict Admin UI to specific IPs	`[]`
`ui.externalTlsTermination`	Skip in-pod TLS when a load balancer handles TLS	`false`
`postgresql.enabled`	Use bundled PostgreSQL	`true`
`postgresql.auth.password`	Bundled PostgreSQL password	`""`
`externalDatabase.host`	External PostgreSQL hostname	`""`
`externalDatabase.password`	External PostgreSQL password	`""`
`externalDatabase.jdbcParams`	Additional JDBC params (e.g., `?sslmode=require`)	`""`
`networkPolicy.enabled`	Enable NetworkPolicies	`true`
`podDisruptionBudget.enabled`	Enable PodDisruptionBudgets	`true`

Upgrading

helm upgrade storagelink ./storagelink \
  --namespace storagelink \
  --reuse-values

danger

If you used --set flags during install, you must pass the same values during upgrade (or use --reuse-values). Helm does not persist --set values between releases.

Uninstalling

helm uninstall storagelink --namespace storagelink

# PVCs are not deleted automatically — remove if no longer needed:
kubectl delete pvc --all -n storagelink

danger

Deleting the PersistentVolumeClaims will permanently delete the underlying Azure Managed Disks and all data stored on them. Back up any important data before uninstalling.

Troubleshooting

Backend pod CrashLoopBackOff

Check the backend logs:

kubectl logs -n storagelink -l app.kubernetes.io/component=backend --tail=50

Common causes:

ltree extension not allowlisted — See the Azure Database setup section above.
Database connection failed — Verify credentials and that the PostgreSQL server is running and accessible.
Insufficient memory — The backend requires at least 2Gi of memory.

Backend stuck on "Waiting for changelog lock"

This happens when a previous backend instance crashed during database migrations. The Helm chart includes an init container that clears stale locks automatically on every pod start.

PVCs stuck in Pending

AKS uses the managed-csi storage class by default:

kubectl get storageclass
kubectl describe pvc -n storagelink

UI pod CrashLoopBackOff

Check the UI logs:

kubectl logs -n storagelink -l app.kubernetes.io/component=ui --tail=50

Common causes:

TLS certificate issue — The chart auto-generates a self-signed certificate. If you provided a custom certificate, verify both ui.tls.certificate and ui.tls.privateKey are valid PEM and match each other.

External IP stuck on \<pending>

kubectl describe svc storagelink-ui -n storagelink

Check the Events section for error messages. Common causes include insufficient permissions on the AKS managed identity or Azure subscription quota limits.

Backend pod not becoming Ready

The backend takes 60–90 seconds to start on first launch due to database migrations. Check readiness probe status:

kubectl describe pod -n storagelink -l app.kubernetes.io/component=backend

Resource summary

Component	Memory (request/limit)	CPU (request/limit)	Storage
PostgreSQL (bundled)	256Mi / 512Mi	250m / 500m	20Gi
Backend (x2)	2Gi / 3Gi	500m / 1500m	—
Admin UI (x2)	128Mi / 256Mi	100m / 500m	—
Total	~4.5Gi / ~7Gi	1450m / 4000m	20Gi

Deploy StorageLink with Helm Chart on AKS

Overview​

Architecture​

Prerequisites​

Download the Helm chart​

Step 1: Create an AKS cluster​

Step 2: Set up image access​

Step 3: Install the Helm chart​

Option A: Bundled PostgreSQL (quickstart)​

Option B: Azure Database for PostgreSQL (production)​

Create the database​

Install with external database​

Step 4: Access the Admin UI​

Security considerations​

Admin account​

Restrict Admin UI access​

Built-in hardening​

Custom TLS certificate​

Configuration reference​

Key values​

Upgrading​

Uninstalling​

Troubleshooting​

Backend pod CrashLoopBackOff​

Backend stuck on "Waiting for changelog lock"​

PVCs stuck in Pending​

UI pod CrashLoopBackOff​

External IP stuck on \<pending>​

Backend pod not becoming Ready​

Resource summary​