This page walks you through preparing a Linux server for Chainstack Self-Hosted. By the end, you will have a running Kubernetes cluster and all required command-line tools installed.
For hardware and software specifications, see System requirements.
Install Kubernetes (k3s)
k3s is a lightweight Kubernetes distribution suitable for single-server deployments. Other distributions (k8s, EKS, GKE, AKS) are also supported, but k3s is what’s tested and documented.
# Install k3s
curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -
# Configure kubectl to use k3s
export KUBECONFIG=/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml
# Make the configuration persistent
echo 'KUBECONFIG=/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml' >> /etc/environment
# Verify the cluster is running
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes
Ready state.
Helm
Helm is the package manager used to deploy Chainstack Self-Hosted.
# Install prerequisites
apt update
apt install curl gpg wget apt-transport-https --yes
# Add the Helm repository and install
curl -fsSL https://packages.buildkite.com/helm-linux/helm-debian/gpgkey | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://packages.buildkite.com/helm-linux/helm-debian/any/ any main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
apt update
apt install helm --yes
# Verify
helm version
# Download and install yq
wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/latest/download/yq_linux_amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/yq
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq
# Verify (v4+ required)
yq --version
openssl
openssl is used during installation to generate certificates and RSA keys. It is pre-installed on most Linux distributions.
If openssl is not installed, install it with your package manager:
apt install openssl --yes
Default storage (single disk)
If your server uses a single disk, the default k3s local-path storage class works out of the box. No additional configuration is needed.
# Verify the storage class is available
kubectl get storageclass
Multi-disk storage with TopoLVM
If you have multiple disks available for blockchain node data, set up LVM and TopoLVM for dynamic storage provisioning.
Set up LVM
# Install LVM tools
apt install lvm2 --yes
# Find your disk devices
lsblk
# Create physical volumes (replace with your actual disk devices)
pvcreate /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd
# Create volume group
vgcreate myvg1 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd
Device paths vary by provider. The paths /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, /dev/sdd are examples. On DigitalOcean, volumes appear under /dev/disk/by-id/. On AWS, they may be /dev/nvme1n1, /dev/nvme2n1, etc. Always verify your actual device paths with lsblk before creating physical volumes.
Install TopoLVM
# Add the TopoLVM Helm repository
helm repo add topolvm https://topolvm.github.io/topolvm
helm repo update
# Create namespace and install cert-manager (required by TopoLVM)
kubectl create namespace topolvm-system
CERT_MANAGER_VERSION=v1.17.4
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/${CERT_MANAGER_VERSION}/cert-manager.crds.yaml
# Install TopoLVM
helm install --namespace=topolvm-system topolvm topolvm/topolvm --set cert-manager.enabled=true
# Check storage classes
kubectl get storageclass
Set TopoLVM as the default storage class
# Remove default from local-path
kubectl patch storageclass local-path -p '{"metadata": {"annotations":{"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class":"false"}}}'
# Set TopoLVM as default
kubectl patch storageclass topolvm-provisioner -p '{"metadata": {"annotations":{"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class":"true"}}}'
# Verify
kubectl get storageclass
Verify your environment
Run these commands to confirm everything is in place before proceeding to Installation:
# Kubernetes cluster
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes
# Required tools
helm version
yq --version
openssl version
# Storage class
kubectl get storageclass
Ready status, and at least one storage class should be listed. 
