Deploy a TiDB Cluster on ARM64 Machines

This document describes how to deploy a TiDB cluster on ARM64 machines.

Prerequisites

Before starting the process, make sure that Kubernetes clusters are deployed on your ARM64 machines. If Kubernetes clusters are not deployed, refer to Deploy the Kubernetes cluster.

Deploy TiDB operator

If your TiDB operator is v1.3.1 or later, deploy TiDB Operator normally. You don't need to do the following to change images.
If your TiDB operator is earlier than v1.3.1, the process of deploying TiDB operator on ARM64 machines is the same as the process of Deploy TiDB Operator on Kubernetes. The only difference is that, you should change the following configuration in the step Customize TiDB operator deployment: after getting the values.yaml file of the tidb-operator chart, you need to modify the operatorImage and tidbBackupManagerImage fields in that file to the ARM64 image versions.
```
# ...
operatorImage: pingcap/tidb-operator-arm64:v1.3.1
# ...
tidbBackupManagerImage: pingcap/tidb-backup-manager-arm64:v1.3.1
# ...
```

Deploy a TiDB cluster

If your TiDB cluster is v5.4.2 or later, deploy the TiDB cluster normally. You don't need to do the following to change images.

If your TiDB cluster is earlier than v5.4.2, the process of deploying a TiDB cluster on ARM64 machines is the same as the process of Deploy TiDB in General Kubernetes. The only difference is that, in the TidbCluster definition file, you need to set the images of the related components to the ARM64 versions.

apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: TidbCluster
metadata:
  name: ${cluster_name}
  namespace: ${cluster_namespace}
spec:
  version: "v7.5.0"
  # ...
  helper:
    image: busybox:1.33.0
  # ...
  pd:
    baseImage: pingcap/pd-arm64
    # ...
  tidb:
    baseImage: pingcap/tidb-arm64
    # ...
  tikv:
    baseImage: pingcap/tikv-arm64
    # ...
  pump:
    baseImage: pingcap/tidb-binlog-arm64
    # ...
  ticdc:
    baseImage: pingcap/ticdc-arm64
    # ...
  tiflash:
    baseImage: pingcap/tiflash-arm64
    # ...

Initialize a TiDB cluster

The process of initializing a TiDB cluster on ARM64 machines is the same as the process of Initialize a TiDB Cluster on Kubernetes. The only difference is that you need to modify the spec.image field in the TidbInitializer definition file to the ARM64 image version. For example:

apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: TidbInitializer
metadata:
  name: ${initializer_name}
  namespace: ${cluster_namespace}
spec:
  image: kanshiori/mysqlclient-arm64
  # ...

Deploy monitoring for a TiDB cluster

If your TiDB cluster is v5.4.2 or later, deploy monitoring and alerts normally. You don't need to do the following to change images.
If your TiDB cluster is earlier than v5.4.2, the process of deploying monitoring for a TiDB cluster on ARM64 machines is the same as the process of Deploy Monitoring and Alerts for a TiDB Cluster. The only difference is that, you need to modify the spec.initializer.baseImage field in the TidbMonitor definition file to the ARM64 image.
```
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: TidbMonitor
metadata:
  name: ${monitor_name}
spec:
  # ...
  initializer:
    baseImage: pingcap/tidb-monitor-initializer-arm64
    version: v5.4.1
  # ...
```