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Installing Appian on Kubernetes

Overview

This page walks through how to install Appian on Kubernetes for self managed customers. The instructions show how to install on a server-based cluster.

This content is aimed at platform engineers with experience with Kubernetes, Helm, and container images. Appian is installed on Kubernetes using a custom resource definition (CRD) and an operator. Before performing the install you should be familiar with these concepts. To read about them, see What is the Appian Operator?

Note:  This documentation specifically deals with deployment, maintenance, and configuration tasks that are unique to Appian on Kubernetes. To install Appian on machine-based servers, see the Installation Guide for self-managed Appian.

These instructions help you configure a single replica instance of Appian on Kubernetes. Refer to our high availability docs for more information if you would like to setup a multi-replica (HA) deployment of Appian using the Appian operator.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you meet the following prerequisites and system requirements.

Kubernetes

This release of Appian on Kubernetes has been explicitly tested against Kubernetes v1.26-v1.30. To check your server version, run kubectl version in the command line.

Supported platforms

Appian on Kubernetes supports the following Kubernetes platforms:

Unsupported platforms

Appian on Kubernetes does not support AWS Fargate, GKE Autopilot, Azure ACI, or similar "serverless" virtualized environments.

Pre-installation steps

Request licenses

You need to request license files specifically for Appian on Kubernetes. There are two types of licenses: temporary and long-term.

Note:  It can take up to 4-5 business days to generate the long-term license files. We recommend that you request temporary license files first, or include both the temporary and long-term licenses in the same request.

  • Temporary license files are valid for 6 days. Request temporary license files when you're setting up a new Appian instance for the first time or a long-term license has expired and you want to renew it.
  • Long-term license files are valid for an extended period of time, and only valid for the site URL for which they were requested. Request long-term license files when you've already obtained temporary license files to set up an Appian instance, or your existing license files are about to expire and you want to proactively request replacements.
    • If you are your organization's primary point of contact (POC), Appian license administrators will review your request and provide you with the license files or the next steps required to generate the long-term license files.
    • If you are not your organization's primary POC, then the request will first go to your organization's POC who will have to approve this request. If the POC approves the request, the Appian license administrators will review the request and provide you the license files or the next steps required to generate the long-term license files.

Note:  You will need to submit both an Appian site name (custom resource name) and a valid site URL before we generate license files, as detailed in the steps below. If you have not requested a license in this manner before, you must do so at your earliest convenience.

  1. To request temporary and long-term licenses, create a new support case on Forum.

  2. In the Case Title, enter Self-Managed Kubernetes License Request.

  3. Enter your Appian site name. This should be what you intend to use when creating the Appian custom resource. It must contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters or the symbols - or . and must be no more than 16 characters. For example, company-name.

  4. Enter the URL you intend to use for your Appian site, following the same pattern as above. For example, https://company-name.com. This will be the URL you use in the .spec.webapp.url field of the CRD.

  5. For Severity, select 4 - Questions, Licenses, Forum Accounts, and Support Accounts.

Download artifacts

Download the Appian operator Helm chart, pull the Appian operator and Appian container images, and push the images to your organization's registry.

Decide how you want to provision CA certificates

Before you install the Appian operator Helm chart, you'll need to determine how you want to provision CA certificates. The steps outlined below follow our preferred option of using a generated self-signed certificate with cert-manager.

Expose Appian

Appian needs to be exposed outside of Kubernetes to allow access to Apache Web Server (httpd) and webapp components. See Exposing Appian Outside Kubernetes to learn about different ways of exposing Appian.

How you choose to expose Appian will affect the configuration of the Appian custom resource.

(Optional) Install NGINX ingress controller

To expose Appian via Ingress, you can optionally do a new install of NGINX Ingress Controller on Kubernetes. If you are exposing Appian using a different method or are already using an ingress controller on your Kubernetes cluster, you can ignore this step.

  1. Install ingress-nginx using Helm.
  2. Be sure to verify the install.

Setup relational database

Appian on Kubernetes does not install a relational database. You need to provide your own relational database for each site to serve as its Appian data source. Ensure you provide at least one business data source to make use of data stores.

Your database can either run within the Kubernetes cluster or outside of it. If you want to connect directly to a database outside the cluster, ensure that the database is accessible from within the cluster.

(Optional) Configure Appian RPA database

To use Appian RPA, you must also create and configure multiple databases on the MariaDB server, ensuring the URL, username, and password are correctly set in the configuration files.

Install RDBMS or JDBC drivers

Refer to System Requirements to see the relational databases Appian supports.

If you'd like to use Aurora MySQL, MySQL or IBM Db2 as the Appian data source or a business data source, you'll need to use the Appian CRD's support for specifying init containers. The same goes for older supported versions of other relational databases that require different driver versions.

Install Appian on Kubernetes

Once you complete the pre-installation steps, you're ready to install Appian on Kubernetes.

The commands below include placeholders that you'll need to replace with values specific to your environment. For example, you'll want to replace:

  • <APPIAN_OPERATOR_VERSION>
  • <REGISTRY_HOSTNAME>
  • <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE>
  • <PATH TO LICENSE>

1. Install the Appian operator

The following steps will install the Appian operator in the appian-operator namespace from the Appian operator Helm chart you downloaded earlier.

Additionally, these steps follow our preferred option of using a generated self-signed certificate with cert-manager. See additional instructions to configure the caBundle field directly.

  1. Using kubectl, create the appian-operator namespace in the command line:

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    kubectl create namespace appian-operator

  2. Install the Appian operator Helm chart using this basic command:

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    helm --namespace appian-operator install appian-operator-<APPIAN_OPERATOR_VERSION>.tgz \
--set image.repository=<REGISTRY_HOSTNAME>/appian/appian-operator:<APPIAN_OPERATOR_VERSION> \
... \
--wait

    You may need to specify additional values and annotations in this command, including:

    • If you changed the certificate name or secret name when you created the certificate, use those names here instead of appian-operator-webhooks and appian-operator-webhooks-certificate.
    • For the mutating and validating admission webhooks, add --set webhooks.webhookConfiguration.annotations."cert-manager.io/inject-ca-from:appian-operator/<your certificate name>".
    • To populate the caBundle field from a cert-manager certificate, add --set webhooks.secret=appian-operator-webhooks-certificate:

    Here's an example of the full Helm command that you might run:

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    helm --namespace appian-operator install appian-operator appian-operator-v0.117.0.tgz \
--set image.repository=registry.example.com/appian/appian-operator \
--set webhooks.secret=appian-operator-webhooks-certificate \
--set webhooks.webhookConfiguration.annotations."cert-manager\.io/inject-ca-from"=appian-operator/appian-operator-webhooks \
--wait

    Note:  If the container registry where your Appian operator image resides is private, create a secret of type docker-registry and provide the name of the secret via the option --set imagePullSecrets={<NAME>} in the command above.

    If you've pushed the operator image with a different tag that doesn't match the version / app version of the chart, you'll want to include the option --set image.tag=<TAG>.

  3. This command may take a minute or two to complete. When complete, use the following command to check that the correct Appian operator deployments, replicasets, and pods were created:

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     kubectl -n appian-operator get deployments,replicasets,pods

    The output should be similar to:

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       NAME                                          READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/appian-operator-controllers   1/1     1            1           90s
   deployment.apps/appian-operator-webhooks      1/1     1            1           90s

   NAME                                                     DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/appian-operator-controllers-55cfcf74f    1         1         1       90s
   replicaset.apps/appian-operator-webhooks-5bd6588b95      1         1         1       90s

   NAME                                              READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/appian-operator-controllers-55cfcf74f-sr4jd   1/1     Running   0          90s
   pod/appian-operator-webhooks-5bd6588b95-7lggk     1/1     Running   0          90s

    For each of the operator's controllers and webhooks, you should see a single deployment, replicaset, and pod. Once the Pods' STATUS are all Running, the READY column should show 1/1 within 1 minute.

  4. Validate that the Appian CRD installed successfully by running this command:

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     kubectl get crd appians.crd.k8s.appian.com

    The output should be similar to:

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     NAME                         CREATED AT
 appians.crd.k8s.appian.com   2022-03-04T12:00:00Z

If you have any trouble installing the operator, see Troubleshooting Appian on Kubernetes.

2. Create the Appian site namespace

If you haven't done so already, create a new namespace in Kubernetes for your Appian site and all of its components. The namespace can have any name; these instructions use <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> as a placeholder.

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kubectl create namespace <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE>

3. Load licenses

When you requested your licenses, you received a zip with two files: k3.lic and k4.lic, and a third file called appian.lic. The first two will be installed as secrets on Kubernetes, and appian.lic will be installed as a config map.

  1. Unzip the product license files.

  2. Load the product license files as secrets into Kubernetes. Replace <PATH TO LICENSE> with the location where you unzipped the license files in step 1.

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     kubectl -n <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> create secret generic k3lic --from-file=<PATH TO LICENSE>/k3.lic

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     kubectl -n <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> create secret generic k4lic --from-file=<PATH TO LICENSE>/k4.lic

  3. Create a config map for the appian.lic file, and name the config map as you wish (replacing <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> in the following command):

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     kubectl -n <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> create configmap appian-lic --from-file=<PATH TO LICENSE>/appian.lic

    When you configure your Appian YAML in the next step, define the name of your license config map with the appianLicConfigMapName property.

4. Create an Appian YAML file

Note:  Migrating from a server-based installation to Appian on Kubernetes? Use the YAML file generated by the migration tool's merge command instead of the one below.

We'll now configure a YAML file used as the spec to deploy the Appian custom resource (CR).

  1. Download the appian.yaml template file. This will serve as a basis for the Appian CR spec. In the next step, we recommend the fields and values to change.

    Tip:  The code below serves as just a starting point. Refer to the Custom Resource Definition topic to explore all supported fields and values.

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     apiVersion: crd.k8s.appian.com/v1beta1
 kind: Appian
 metadata:
   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - If using long-term licenses, update to match the
   # wildcard pattern of the licenses you were provided
   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/install-appian-on-k8s.html#request-licenses
   name: appian
 spec:
   # https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/pull-image-private-registry/
   imagePullSecrets: [] # []string
     # - regcred
   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to the Version of Low code platform that Appian runs on
   version: 22.1.190.0
   k3LicSecretName: k3lic
   k4LicSecretName: k4lic
   appianLicConfigMapName: appian-lic
   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the scheme, host, and, optionally,
   # port of your site
   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/Post-Install_Configurations.html#configure-your-site-url
   url: http://myappiansite.com
   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/Custom_Configurations.html#custom-properties
   customProperties: # map[string]string
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/resource-requests-and-limits.html#webapp
     conf.appserver.maxHeapSize: 3072m
   zookeeper:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian
     # Zookeeper container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/zookeeper
     replicas: 1
     volumeClaimTemplateSpec: # corev1.PersistentVolumeClaimSpec
       # storageClassName: ""
       accessModes:
         - ReadWriteOnce
       resources:
         requests:
           # Configure based on your expected Zookeeper storage needs
           storage: 5Gi
     env: # []corev1.EnvVar
       # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#zookeeper
       - name: ZK_HEAP_MIN
         value: 128m
       - name: ZK_HEAP_MAX
         value: 256m
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#zookeeper
     resources: # corev1.ResourceRequirements
       requests:
         cpu: 100m
         memory: 307Mi # ZK_HEAP_MAX * 1.2 to account for non-heap memory
       limits:
         cpu: 200m
         memory: 448Mi # ZK_HEAP_MAX * 1.75 to account for non-heap memory
   kafka:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian Kafka
     # container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/kafka
     replicas: 1
     volumeClaimTemplateSpec: # corev1.PersistentVolumeClaimSpec
       # storageClassName: ""
       accessModes:
         - ReadWriteOnce
       resources:
         requests:
           # Configure based on your expected Kafka storage needs
           storage: 5Gi
     env: # []corev1.EnvVar
       # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#kafka
       - name: KAFKA_HEAP_MIN
         value: 512m
       - name: KAFKA_HEAP_MAX
         value: 1024m
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#kafka
     resources: # corev1.ResourceRequirements
       requests:
         cpu: 500m
         memory: 1229Mi # KAFKA_HEAP_MAX * 1.2 to account for non-heap memory
       limits:
         cpu: 2000m
         memory: 1792Mi # KAFKA_HEAP_MAX * 1.75 to account for non-heap memory
   searchServer:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian
     # Search Server container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/search-server
     replicas: 1
     volumeClaimTemplateSpec: # corev1.PersistentVolumeClaimSpec
       # storageClassName: ""
       accessModes:
         - ReadWriteOnce
       resources:
         requests:
           # Configure based on your expected Search Server storage needs
           storage: 5Gi
     env: # []corev1.EnvVar
       # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#search-server
       - name: SS_HEAP
         value: 1280m
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#search-server
     resources: # corev1.ResourceRequirements
       requests:
         cpu: 100m
         memory: 1.5Gi # SS_HEAP + 256Mi to account for non-heap memory
       limits:
         cpu: 200m
         memory: 3Gi # Double requests.memory
   dataServer:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian Data
     # Server container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/data-server
     replicas: 1
     topology:
       rtsCount: 2
     volumeClaimTemplateSpec: # corev1.PersistentVolumeClaimSpec
       # storageClassName: ""
       accessModes:
         - ReadWriteOnce
       resources:
         requests:
           # Configure based on your expected Data Server storage needs
           storage: 5Gi
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#data-server
     resources: # corev1.ResourceRequirements
       requests:
         cpu: 100m
         memory: 512Mi
       limits:
         cpu: 200m
         memory: 1Gi
   serviceManager:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian
     # Service Manager container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/service-manager
     replicas: 1
     topology:
       analyticsExecShardCount: 3
     volumeClaimTemplateSpec: # corev1.PersistentVolumeClaimSpec
       # storageClassName: ""
       accessModes:
         - ReadWriteOnce
       resources:
         requests:
           # Configure based on your expected Service Manager storage needs
           storage: 5Gi
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/high-availability.html
     # haExistingClaim: ""
     env: # []corev1.EnvVar
       # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#service-manager
       - name: KOMODO_DIRECT_MEM_MAX
         value: 512m
       - name: KOMODO_HEAP_MAX
         value: 1g
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#service-manager
     resources: # corev1.ResourceRequirements
       requests:
         cpu: 200m
         memory: 2.5Gi
       limits:
         cpu: 2000m
         memory: 32Gi
   webapp:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian
     # Webapp container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/webapp
     replicas: 1
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/Post-Install_Configurations.html#configure-your-static-and-dynamic-content-urls
     # staticUrl: http://myappiansite-static.com
     # dynamicUrl: http://myappiansite-dynamic.com
     # Configuration for connecting to the Appian and business data sources. If
     # connecting to MySQL or IBM Db2, use an init container to add the
     # appropriate RDBMS/JDBC driver JAR to Tomcat's classpath
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/Configuring_Relational_Databases.html#provide-data-source-connection-information
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/init-and-sidecar-containers.html#using-init-containers-to-add-jars-to-tomcat's-classpath
     dataSources:
       primary:
         name: jdbc/AppianDS
         type: javax.sql.DataSource
         factory: org.apache.tomcat.jdbc.pool.DataSourceFactory
         driverClassName: org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver
         url: "jdbc:mariadb://mariadb-appian.<MY_SITE_NAMESPACE>.svc.cluster.local:3306/AppianDS?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true"
         username: username
         # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Create a secret containing the password used to
         # connect to the data source and reference it here
         passwordSecretKeyRef:
           name: ""
           key: ""
         attributes:
           initialSize: "5"
           maxActive: "200"
           defaultTransactionIsolation: "READ_COMMITTED"
           maxWait: "30000"
           minIdle: "5"
           minEvictableIdleTimeMillis: "90000"
           timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis: "450000"
           validationQuery: "SELECT 1"
           testOnBorrow: "true"
       business: []
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/email.html
     # passwordsPropertiesSecretName: ""
     volumeClaimTemplateSpec: # corev1.PersistentVolumeClaimSpec
       # storageClassName: ""
       accessModes:
         - ReadWriteOnce
       resources:
         requests:
           # Configure based on your expected Webapp storage needs
           storage: 5Gi
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/high-availability.html
     # haExistingClaim: ""
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/health-check-k8s.html
     # healthCheckExistingClaim: ""
     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#webapp
     resources: # corev1.ResourceRequirements
       requests:
         cpu: 100m
         memory: 4.5Gi
       limits:
         cpu: 1000m
         memory: 6Gi
   httpd:
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian httpd
     # container image as you pushed it to your registry
     image:
       repository: registry.example.com/appian/httpd
     replicas: 2
   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/exposing-appian-on-k8s.html
   service:
     annotations: {} # map[string]string
     # https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#publishing-services-service-types
     type: ClusterIP
   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/exposing-appian-on-k8s.html#ingress
   ingress:
     enabled: true
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Use either the ingressClassName field or the
     # deprecated kubernetes.io/ingress.class annotation to refer to your desired
     # ingress class
     # https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/ingress/#ingress-class
     annotations: {} # map[string]string
       # kubernetes.io/ingress.class: ""
     # ingressClassName: ""
     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Uncomment the rpa section below if you are deploying Appian RPA
   # rpa:
   #   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the version of the Appian RPA image
   #   # that you pulled for deployment
   #   version: 9.9.0
   #   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the coordinates of the Appian
   #   # RPA container image as you pushed it to your registry
   #   # that you pulled for deployment
   #   image:
   #     repository: registry.example.com/appian/rpa
   #   volumeClaimTemplateSpec:
   #     accessModes:
   #       - "ReadWriteOnce"
   #     resources:
   #       requests:
   #         storage: "5Gi"
   #   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the hostname and port for your Appian RPA MariaDB
   #   database:
   #     hostname: my-rpa-mariadb
   #     port: 3306
   #     schema: Rpa
   #     # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Create a secret containing the password used to
   #     # connect to the rpa data source and reference it here
   #     # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/rpa-setup-on-k8s.html
   #     credentialsSecretName: rpa-data-source-credentials
   #   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#rpa
   #   properties:
   #     # [OPTIONAL] This represents the max memory (Xmx) allocated to the JVM.  If omitted, this will default to 2048
   #     rpa.max.memory: 4096
   #     # [OPTIONAL] RPA expects to have unrestricted internet access by default, set this to "offline" if that is not the case.
   #     # If omitted, this will default to "online"
   #     rpa.artifact.resolution: "online"
   #   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the url and port for your Appian RPA MariaDB
   #   rtdo:
   #     dataSource:
   #       url: jdbc:mariadb://my-rpa-mariadb:3306/Rtdo
   #       username: my-rpa-mariadb-username
   #       passwordSecretName: rpa-data-source-credentials
   #   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the url and port for your Appian RPA MariaDB
   #   rpdo:
   #     dataSource:
   #       url: jdbc:mariadb://my-rpa-mariadb:3306/Rpdo
   #       username: my-rpa-mariadb-username
   #       passwordSecretName: rpa-data-source-credentials
   #   # USER ACTION REQUIRED - Update to match the url and port for your Appian RPA MariaDB
   #   robotRDO:
   #     dataSource:
   #       url: jdbc:mariadb://my-rpa-mariadb:3306/RobotRDO
   #       username: my-rpa-mariadb-username
   #       passwordSecretName: rpa-data-source-credentials
   #   # https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/k8s/resource-requests-and-limits.html#rpa
   #   resources:
   #     requests:
   #       cpu: 1000m
   #       memory: 2.5Gi
   #     limits:
   #       cpu: 2000m

  2. At minimum, change the following field values in appian.yaml with custom values. Save the file.

    Key Current Value Your Value
    .metadata.name appian This should be the same Appian site name specified when requesting your long-term license.

    If you are using a temporary license, you can specify any name here, lower-case, all one word. If you intend to upgrade the temporary license on an install to a long-term license, it is easiest to keep this same name for the long-term license request.
    .spec.appianLicConfigMapName appian-lic Name of the ConfigMap associated with the appian.lic file. This is required for your site to start.
    .spec.webapp.url http://myappiansite.com Fully qualified domain name of the Appian site's URL including the scheme, host, and, optionally, port. For example: http://www.example.com:8080.

    For more info, see SERVER_AND_PORT in Configure your Site URL.
    .spec.webapp.dataSources.primary.driverClassName org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver Driver class name for your RDBMS. For examples of each of the supported databases, see Configuring Data Sources.
    .spec.webapp.dataSources.primary.url jdbc:mariadb://mariadb-appian.<MY_SITE_NAMESPACE>.svc.cluster.local:3306/AppianDS?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true Appian data source connection URL of your RDBMS. For URL examples of each of the supported databases, see Configuring Data Sources.
    .spec.webapp.dataSources.primary.username username Plain-text username for your RDBMS connection.

    If you installed a new copy of MariaDB in earlier steps, this will be the username created in that step. For example: username.
    .spec.webapp.dataSources.primary.password password Plain-text password for your RDBMS connection.

    If you installed a new copy of MariaDB in earlier steps, this will be the password created in that step. For example: password.
    .spec.webapp.dataSources.primary.attributes.validationQuery "SELECT 1" Validation query for your RDBMS connection. For examples of each of the supported databases, see Configuring Data Sources.

    If you installed a new copy of MariaDB in earlier steps, this will be "SELECT 1".
    .spec.[COMPONENT].image.repository
    (Multiple fields - one field per component)    		 registry.example.com/appian/<COMPONENT> Image location on your Docker registry of each Appian component. If you are using a custom registry, change this image for each Appian component. If you did not re-tag your images and push to a custom registry, use the current values that include registry.example.com.
    .spec.[COMPONENT].image.tag
    (Multiple fields - one field per component)    		 Various tag values for each Appian component. The image version number for each Appian component. You can find these tags with the command: docker images <MY DOCKER REGISTRY>/appian/*

    For example: docker images registry.example.com/appian/*

    Note:  We highly recommend you configure application logging to your needs with Log4j.

  3. Change any other custom values in appian.yaml spec. Refer to the Custom Resource Definition topic to explore all supported fields and values.

    Here are some additional configuration settings to consider:

    Note:  You will need to set the Search Server kernel settings either using an init container in the CR spec or using admin commands after the install.

5. Create the Appian site

Note:  Migrating from a server-based installation to Appian on Kubernetes? Run the migration tool's import command instead of creating the Appian custom resource directly.

  1. In the command line, run kubectl create to create the Appian site based on the appian.yaml:

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    kubectl create -n <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> -f <PATH TO APPIAN.YAML>

  2. It will take about 20-30 minutes for the Appian site to fully start. Check progress on the various Appian component pods with the following command.

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    kubectl -n <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> get pods

    The STATUS of the Appian component pods will change from Pending to Running. When the Appian site is ready, you should see all pods have READY of 1/1 and STATUS of Running, similar to the following:

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    NAME                                           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
appian-data-server-0                           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-httpd-8658f7fdb7-k9f6j                  1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-httpd-bf56974d4-crv4g                   1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-kafka-0                                 1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-search-server-0                         1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-analytics00-0           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-analytics01-0           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-analytics02-0           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-channels-0              1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-content-0               1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-download-stats-0        1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-execution00-0           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-execution01-0           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-execution02-0           1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-forums-0                1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-groups-0                1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-notifications-0         1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-notifications-email-0   1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-portal-0                1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-service-manager-process-design-0        1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-webapp-0                                1/1     Running   0          25m
appian-zookeeper-0                             1/1     Running   0          25m

  3. In the command line, get the appians custom resource to check the status of your Appian site (replacing <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> to match what you named your site):

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    kubectl get -n <MY_SITE_NAMESPACE> appians

    The STATUS of a starting site will change from not set to Creating to Starting to Ready. The transition from not set to Creating to Starting should happen within seconds. The transition from Starting to Ready should happen within 20 to 30 minutes.

    Make sure the STATUS is Ready before accessing your site, similar to:

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    NAME     URL                       STATUS   AGE
appian   http://myappiansite.com   Ready    25m

If you have any trouble with creating the Appian site, see Troubleshooting Appian on Kubernetes.

If you need to edit the Appian CR and restart, see Editing, Stopping, and Restarting.

6. Access your Appian site

Newly created sites are bootstrapped with a system administrator user. This user cannot access the Admin Console. The steps below detail how to login and create a new system administrator user that can access the Admin Console.

  1. In a browser, navigate to <URL>/suite/design/users where <URL> is the value you set in the .spec.webapp.url field of the Appian custom resource.
  2. Login as the bootstrap system administrator user with username Administrator and temporary password admin. Change the user's password when prompted.
  3. Click CREATE USER.
  4. Under Security > User Type, select System Administrator.
  5. If you haven't configured your site to send email, make sure to manually assign a temporary password. If you omit a temporary password, Appian will attempt to send an email to the specified email address with a randomly generated temporary password. Since the site has not yet been configured to send email, this will fail and there will be no way to recover the user's password.
  6. Logout and login as the newly created user.

Tip:  To stop the Appian site, see stopping the Appian site.

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