Does Geneos and Analytics servers require Unified Storage or Blob Storage
Related to Copied
Geneos and ITRS Analytics require persistent block or file storage (Unified Storage) presented as a filesystem or Kubernetes Persistent Volumes. They do not use Blob Storage (like S3 or Azure Blob) for core runtime operations. Blob storage is only utilized for secondary tasks such as long-term log archiving or system backups via tools like Velero.
Problem Copied
A client or architect may be unsure whether to provision Object/Blob storage or Block/File storage for a new ITRS deployment. From a system perspective, selecting the wrong storage type (Blob) will prevent the Geneos components from mounting a valid directory and will cause Kubernetes pods for ITRS Analytics (Kafka, Timescale, ClickHouse) to fail with Pending states or MountVolume.SetUp failed errors in the backend logs.
Possible cause(s) Copied
- Root Cause 1: Misalignment of storage tiering (Production live data vs. Archival data).
- Root Cause 2: Incorrect StorageClass configuration in Kubernetes Helm charts for ITRS Analytics.
- Root Cause 3: Misinterpretation of Geneos “snapshot” or “logging” features as being compatible with object storage protocols.
Possible solution(s) Copied
- Solution Root Cause 1: Provision Unified/Block storage for the core installation. Ensure the Geneos binaries, configurations, and logs reside on a local or mounted filesystem (XFS/EXT4). Reserve Blob storage only for off-instance operational tasks like support bundle storage.
- Solution Root Cause 2: Configure the ITRS Analytics
values.yamlor StorageClass to use Persistent Volumes (PVs) backed by high-performance disks (e.g., AWS EBS gp3 or Azure Disk). Ensure the CSI driver is not pointing to an Object Store container for live data components like Timescale or Kafka. - Solution Root Cause 3: For Geneos components requiring long-term data retention, use an external RDBMS (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle). The application writes to these databases via standard drivers, which require standard disk volumes, not Blob storage APIs.
Related article(s) Copied
- Quickstart: Linux and other platforms
- ITRS Analytics Resource and hardware requirements
- ITRS Analytics Overview of backup and restore