Longhorn Basics: Introduction Guide

Welcome to the Longhorn Basics course. This guide is designed to help you navigate the key concepts, agenda, and prerequisites for understanding and using Longhorn effectively.

Setting the Stage

Before diving into Longhorn, let’s set some context for this course. We will cover:

  1. The purpose of this course.
  2. The target audience.
  3. The topics included.

Course Context

This course focuses on Longhorn, Rancher’s cloud-native distributed block storage solution for Kubernetes. It will include:

  • Installation, configuration, and management of Longhorn.
  • Detailed walkthroughs and practical examples.
  • Self-paced labs to get hands-on experience with Longhorn.

By the end of this course, you will have a strong foundation in Longhorn basics and the confidence to implement it in your Kubernetes environment.

Target Audience

This course is tailored for:

  • Kubernetes administrators
  • System operators
  • DevOps engineers

If you are new to Kubernetes, we recommend starting with the Kubernetes Basics course before proceeding with this one.

Course Content

Here’s what the course will cover:

  1. Lab Setup: Preparing your environment for Longhorn.
  2. Longhorn Architecture: Understanding its components and how they interact.
  3. Installation: Step-by-step guide to deploying Longhorn.
  4. Persistent Storage: Using Longhorn for snapshots, backups, and managing volumes.
  5. Upgrades: Safely updating Longhorn in your Kubernetes cluster.

Hands-On Labs

The course includes self-paced labs designed to give you practical experience:

  • Setting up Longhorn in a Kubernetes cluster.
  • Configuring and managing storage volumes.
  • Exploring advanced features like snapshots and backups.

By actively engaging with these labs, you’ll build the skills needed to confidently use Longhorn in real-world scenarios.

Prerequisites

To follow this course effectively, ensure you have:

  • Basic knowledge of Kubernetes and containers.
  • Familiarity with Linux concepts such as SSH, mounting filesystems, iSCSI, and NFS.
  • Experience with command-line tools like kubectl and helm.

If you need to brush up on these topics, consider exploring the following resources:

Thank You

This concludes the introductory section of the Longhorn Basics guide. Let’s get started and dive into the details of Longhorn!