Environment setup

This page covers provisioning the Azure infrastructure for the OpenLM Platform using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and managed Azure services.

For detailed sizing and service specifications, see Requirements.

Infrastructure components

The Azure deployment uses the following managed services:

Component	Azure service	Purpose
Kubernetes	Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)	Container orchestration
SQL database	Azure SQL Managed Instance	Identity, operational, and reporting data
Cache	Azure Cache for Redis	Caching and session storage
Persistent storage	Azure Managed Disks	Kafka, MongoDB, and other stateful services (~400 GB)

note

Kafka and MongoDB run inside the Kubernetes cluster using Helm charts and Azure Managed Disks for persistence, rather than as Azure managed services.

Network provisioning

Use Azure CNI networking mode for AKS.

Item	Requirement
Virtual network (VNet)	Minimum /22 CIDR block (for example, 10.0.0.0/22)
IP capacity	1,024 addresses – approximately 400 needed for pods, nodes, and growth
Planned pods	~143
Planned nodes	6–7

AKS cluster

Node pools

Create three node pools:

Node pool	Purpose	VM size	Count	Max pods per node
System	Kubernetes system pods	4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (for example, Standard_D4ds_v4)	2	30
Main	Core application workloads	4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM	2	70
Reporting	Reporting workloads	4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM	3	30

Use Kubernetes version 1.32.9 or another AKS-supported version matching your release policy.

Node labels

Apply labels to nodes for workload scheduling:

kubectl label node <system-node>     openlm.com/role=system
kubectl label node <main-node-1>     openlm.com/role=main-workload
kubectl label node <main-node-2>     openlm.com/role=main-workload
kubectl label node <report-node-1>   openlm.com/role=reporting-workload
kubectl label node <report-node-2>   openlm.com/role=reporting-workload
kubectl label node <report-node-3>   openlm.com/role=reporting-workload

Managed services

Azure SQL Managed Instance

Setting	Requirement
Tier	General Purpose
Compute	4 vCores minimum
Storage	256 GB minimum
Scaling	Increase based on user volume, reporting load, and data retention

Azure Cache for Redis

Setting	Requirement
Tier	C2
Cache size	2.5 GB

Azure Managed Disks

Managed disks are provisioned automatically by AKS when storage classes are configured. Approximately 400 GB total is needed for Kafka, MongoDB, and other stateful services.

In-cluster infrastructure services

Kafka and MongoDB are not provisioned as Azure managed services on this path – they run inside the AKS cluster, backed by Azure Managed Disks. Create their namespace first:

kubectl create namespace openlm-infrastructure

Kafka

Deploy Kafka from the Helm chart in the deployment package:

helm install kafka <kafka-chart>.tgz -f values.yaml -n openlm-infrastructure

Set the storage class and per-broker volume size in values.yaml before installing. Allow roughly 250 GB per broker.

Alternatively, use Confluent Cloud through the Azure Marketplace and point the platform at its bootstrap servers instead of installing in-cluster. Azure Event Hubs with the Kafka protocol layer is not supported.

MongoDB

Deploy MongoDB inside the Kubernetes cluster using the Helm chart provided in the deployment package. Azure Managed Disks provide the underlying persistent storage.

helm install mongodb <mongodb-chart>.tgz -f values.yaml -n openlm-infrastructure

MongoDB Atlas through the Azure Marketplace is a supported managed alternative.

Verify

kubectl get pods -n openlm-infrastructure

All pods should be Running before you continue.

Next steps

Once infrastructure is provisioned:

1. Configure kubectl to connect to the AKS cluster:

   az aks get-credentials --resource-group <resource-group> --name <cluster-name>

2. Complete the Prerequisites checklist
3. Proceed to Platform installation