Longhorn 1.6: Distributed Block Storage Reliability

Introduction

Longhorn 1.6, released on September 20, 2024, advances distributed block storage with improved replication, enhanced backup capabilities, better performance, and expanded integration options. This release makes Longhorn more reliable for production workloads.

Replication Improvements

• Replication enhancements provide better data durability and availability.
• Synchronous replication improvements enable better consistency guarantees.
• Asynchronous replication enhancements provide better performance for remote replication.
• Replication factor configuration enables flexible replication strategies.

Backup Enhancements

1. Backup performance improvements reduce time for backup operations.
2. Incremental backup support enables efficient backup of changed data.
3. Backup scheduling improvements enable automated backup scheduling.
4. Restore capabilities enable efficient restore from backups.

Performance Optimizations

• IOPS improvements increase input/output operations per second.
• Latency reductions minimize storage access latency.
• Throughput enhancements improve data transfer rates.
• Scaling improvements enable better handling of large storage volumes.

Integration Options

• Kubernetes integration improvements provide seamless integration with Kubernetes.
• CSI enhancements enable better Container Storage Interface integration.
• Monitoring integration provides visibility into storage metrics.
• Backup integration enables integration with backup solutions.

Getting Started

# Install Longhorn
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/longhorn/longhorn/v1.6.0/deploy/longhorn.yaml

Create a PersistentVolumeClaim:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: longhorn-volv-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  storageClassName: longhorn
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 2Gi

Summary

Longhorn 1.6 continues to be a leading distributed block storage solution, providing teams with reliable storage capabilities for stateful workloads.