Add a new server pool to MinIO to expand storage using the config.yaml hot-reload method (no restart)
domain: min.io · 8 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Confirm the cluster uses a configuration file with the `--config` flag and runs MinIO AIStor RELEASE.2026-02-02T23-40-11Z or later (hot-reload requires this).
Verify the new pool meets the cluster's erasure set requirements and parity (EC:M value) using the Erasure Code Calculator before committing.
Install MinIO AIStor on the new hardware but DO NOT start the new cluster yet - stop at the environment-file review step.
On one existing cluster node, edit the config.yaml: append the new pool's `args` block at the END of the pools list, preserving the order of existing pools exactly (they must remain unchanged).
Copy the identical updated config.yaml to ALL nodes (existing and new) and verify with `shasum` that every copy matches.
Start the new pool nodes with `systemctl start minio`.
Trigger a reload on the EXISTING pool nodes only (new nodes already have the updated config): `systemctl reload minio`. The new pool integrates once all nodes have reloaded successfully.
Verify with `mc admin info ALIAS` and `journalctl -u minio -f`; update load balancers / reverse proxies with the new pool hostnames.
Known gotchas
MinIO REJECTS a config reload that adds a pool while a rebalance is active - run `mc admin rebalance stop ALIAS` first.
`systemctl reload minio` still returns success even when the reload is rejected; the rejection is only reported in the SERVER LOG, not the shell. Always confirm in the log.
Pool removal only allowed after decommission is complete deployment-wide; error 'cannot reduce pool count while decommission is in progress' otherwise.
Append new pools at the END and never reorder existing pools.
Docs: https://min.io/docs/minio/linux/operations/install-deploy-manage/expand-minio-deployment.html and decommission-server-pool.html
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