Step‑by‑Step Guide to Install Milvus Vector Database with Docker Compose

Milvus Vector Database Installation

Milvus Overview

Milvus is an open‑source vector database designed for large‑scale vector data processing and analysis, suitable for machine‑learning, artificial intelligence, computer‑vision, and natural language processing applications.

Main Features

Efficient vector search : supports various high‑performance retrieval algorithms and both memory‑ and disk‑based indexes.

Flexible data model : stores structured and unstructured data in multiple formats.

High concurrency : handles real‑time query loads.

Scalability : horizontal scaling by adding nodes.

Multi‑language SDKs : Python, Java, Go, and C++.

ML framework integration : works with TensorFlow, PyTorch, and other frameworks.

Multiple index types : IVF, HNSW, ANNOY.

Various storage back‑ends : local and cloud storage options.

Application Scenarios

Image & video retrieval : similarity search in computer‑vision.

Natural language processing : text‑vector search and analysis.

Recommendation systems : personalized recommendations via vector similarity.

Bioinformatics : gene and protein data analysis.

Installation

Prepare host directories:

mkdir -p /zpaas/volumes/etcd
mkdir -p /zpaas/volumes/milvus
mkdir -p /zpaas/volumes/minio
chmod 700 /zpaas/volumes/etcd

Create docker-compose-milvus.yml (example omitted for brevity) and start the services:

docker-compose -f docker-compose-milvus.yml up -d

Verify containers are running with docker ps -a | grep milvus.

Attu Installation

Attu is a graphical management tool for Milvus. Deploy it with Docker:

docker run -d \
  --name=attu \
  -p 8000:3000 \
  -e MILVUS_URL=10.10.194.210:19530 \
  hub-nj.iwhalecloud.com/public/attu:v2.3.9

Access Attu at http://x.x.x.x:8000 .

MinIO credentials are minioadmin / minioadmin and can be accessed at http://x.x.x.x:9001 .