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Version: 0.0.41

Deploy to Azure AKS

Deploy Lakehousecat to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Microsoft Azure's managed Kubernetes service.

Overview​

Deployment Status: ⚠️ Not yet tested by Lakehousecat — community-contributed guide

Not Yet Tested

This environment has not yet been tested by Lakehousecat. The guide is provided as a reference based on standard Kubernetes deployment patterns. If you encounter environment-specific issues, please report them via portal.lakehousecat.com.

Azure Blob Storage not supported

Lakehousecat does not currently support Azure Blob Storage as an object storage backend. SeaweedFS is deployed internally by the Operator and handles all object storage needs. Azure SQL is not supported — Lakehousecat manages its own PostgreSQL and ClickHouse instances.

Cluster administration

AKS-specific configurations — managed identity, networking, and monitoring integrations — are the responsibility of the cluster administrator. This guide covers the cluster setup required to run the Lakehousecat Operator.

Prerequisites​

Azure Account Setup​

  • Microsoft Azure account with active subscription
  • Resource group for Lakehousecat resources
  • Appropriate Azure RBAC permissions for AKS creation

Required Tools​

  • Azure CLI (az): Azure command-line tool
  • kubectl: Kubernetes command-line tool
  • Helm: Version 3.8+

Install Tools (macOS)​

# Azure CLI
brew install azure-cli

# kubectl
brew install kubectl

# Helm
brew install helm

Verify installations:

az version
kubectl version --client
helm version

Authenticate with Azure​

# Login to Azure
az login

# Set default subscription
az account set --subscription YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_ID

# Create resource group
az group create \
  --name lakehousecat-rg \
  --location eastus

Step 1: Provision AKS Cluster​

Create AKS Cluster​

Create an AKS cluster with production configuration:

az aks create \
  --resource-group lakehousecat-rg \
  --name lakehousecat-prod \
  --location eastus \
  --kubernetes-version 1.29 \
  --node-count 3 \
  --min-count 3 \
  --max-count 10 \
  --enable-cluster-autoscaler \
  --node-vm-size Standard_D16s_v3 \
  --node-osdisk-size 200 \
  --network-plugin azure \
  --enable-managed-identity \
  --generate-ssh-keys \
  --tags environment=production app=lakehousecat

VM Sizes:

  • Standard_D16s_v3: 16 vCPU, 64 GB RAM (production)
  • Standard_D8s_v3: 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM (smaller workloads)
  • Standard_E16s_v3: 16 vCPU, 128 GB RAM (memory-intensive)
Cluster Creation Time

AKS cluster creation typically takes 5-10 minutes.

Using Azure Portal​

Alternatively, create via Azure Portal:

  1. Navigate to Kubernetes services → Create
  2. Configure basics: subscription, resource group, cluster name, region
  3. Set Kubernetes version (1.29+)
  4. Configure node pools: VM size, node count, autoscaling
  5. Review and create

Verify Cluster​

# Get cluster credentials
az aks get-credentials \
  --resource-group lakehousecat-rg \
  --name lakehousecat-prod

# Verify connection
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

Step 2: Configure AKS-Specific Components​

Verify Storage Class​

AKS provides multiple storage classes:

kubectl get storageclass

# Expected output:
# default (Azure Disk - Standard HDD)
# managed-premium (Azure Disk - Premium SSD)
# azurefile (Azure Files)

Recommended for production: managed-premium (SSD-backed)

Ingress Controller​

An ingress controller is required to expose Lakehousecat via a domain. Install NGINX Ingress:

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update

helm install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \
  --namespace ingress-nginx \
  --create-namespace \
  --set controller.service.type=LoadBalancer \
  --set controller.service.annotations."service\.beta\.kubernetes\.io/azure-load-balancer-health-probe-request-path"=/healthz

Step 3: Install Lakehousecat Operator​

helm repo add lakehousecat https://charts.lakehousecat.com
helm repo update

helm install lhc-operator lakehousecat/lakehousecat-operator \
  --namespace lhc-operator \
  --create-namespace \
  --wait

Verify:

kubectl get pods -n lhc-operator
kubectl logs -f deployment/lhc-operator -n lhc-operator
kubectl get crd | grep lakehousecat

Step 4: Create Handshake Secret​

Get your handshake key from portal.lakehousecat.com, then create the Kubernetes secret:

kubectl create secret generic lhc-handshake-secret \
  --from-literal=handshake-key=YOUR_HANDSHAKE_KEY \
  -n lhc-operator

Step 5: Deploy Lakehousecat Instance​

Create a Lakehousecat Custom Resource with AKS-optimized configuration:

lakehousecat-aks.yaml
apiVersion: lhc.lakehousecat.com/v1alpha2
kind: Lakehousecat
metadata:
  name: production
spec:
  license:
    handshakeSecretName: "lhc-handshake-secret"

  customer:
    namespace: "lakehousecat-prod"
    adminemail: "admin@company.com"

  version: "0.0.40"
  architecture: "amd64"

  # Premium SSD-backed persistent storage
  postgresql:
    persistence:
      size: "100Gi"
      storageClass: "managed-premium"

  clickhouse:
    shards: 2
    replicaCount: 2
    persistence:
      size: "500Gi"
      storageClass: "managed-premium"

  valkey:
    persistence:
      size: "20Gi"
      storageClass: "managed-premium"

  seaweedfs:
    enabled: true
    persistence:
      size: "100Gi"
      storageClass: "managed-premium"

  analytics:
    replicaCount: 3
    autoscaling:
      enabled: true
      minReplicas: 3
      maxReplicas: 10
      targetCPUUtilizationPercentage: 70
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: "2"
        memory: "8Gi"
      limits:
        cpu: "4"
        memory: "16Gi"

  lhc:
    replicaCount: 2
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: "1"
        memory: "4Gi"

  ui:
    replicaCount: 2
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: "500m"
        memory: "1Gi"

Apply:

kubectl apply -f lakehousecat-aks.yaml

Step 6: Monitor Deployment​

kubectl get lakehousecat -w
kubectl get pods -n lakehousecat-prod -w
kubectl logs -f deployment/lhc-operator -n lhc-operator

Step 7: Configure DNS and Access​

Get Load Balancer IP​

kubectl get svc -n lakehousecat-prod lakehousecat-ui

Configure Azure DNS​

# Create DNS zone (if not exists)
az network dns zone create \
  --resource-group lakehousecat-rg \
  --name company.com

# Add A record
az network dns record-set a add-record \
  --resource-group lakehousecat-rg \
  --zone-name company.com \
  --record-set-name lakehousecat \
  --ipv4-address <EXTERNAL-IP>

Troubleshooting​

Pods Pending (Insufficient Node Resources)​

# Check node pool status
az aks nodepool show \
  --resource-group lakehousecat-rg \
  --cluster-name lakehousecat-prod \
  --name nodepool1

# Scale node pool
az aks nodepool scale \
  --resource-group lakehousecat-rg \
  --cluster-name lakehousecat-prod \
  --name nodepool1 \
  --node-count 5

Persistent Disk Mounting Issues​

kubectl describe storageclass managed-premium
kubectl get pods -n kube-system | grep csi

Load Balancer Not Provisioned​

kubectl describe svc lakehousecat-ui -n lakehousecat-prod
az network lb list --resource-group MC_lakehousecat-rg_lakehousecat-prod_eastus

Next Steps​

  • Scaling - Configure autoscaling for production
  • Monitoring - Review monitoring options
  • Security - Review security configuration

Support​