diff --git a/dict.txt b/dict.txt
index d8331be..afa4a57 100644
--- a/dict.txt
+++ b/dict.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 Alertmanager
 Bavier
 Benetel
+Bitnami
 CLI
 Davie
 Downlink
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ QoS
 RIC
 SDN
 Sercomm
+Strimzi
 Sunay
 Toolset
 Traefik
@@ -114,11 +116,9 @@ n3iwf
 nRT
 namespace
 namespaces
-natively
 nd
 networkd
 ng
-nginx
 nrf
 nssf
 omec
@@ -133,8 +133,9 @@ pcf
 pci
 pre
 preconfigured
-prereqs
+preflight
 programmatically
+provisioner
 rc
 realtime
 reenabling
@@ -152,8 +153,6 @@ smf
 srsRAN
 starbucks
 subdirectories
-submodule
-submodules
 subnet
 subnets
 sudo
diff --git a/onramp/ref.rst b/onramp/ref.rst
index 89d9a21..96f4102 100644
--- a/onramp/ref.rst
+++ b/onramp/ref.rst
@@ -153,6 +153,24 @@ the list is not comprehensive.
      - `false`
      - Loads Helm Charts from public repo; set to `true` to utilize
        local charts, with `*.helm.charts_ref` set to local path name.
+   * - `core.mongodb.members`
+     - chart default
+     - Number of MongoDB replica set members; set to `1` to shrink the footprint.
+   * - `core.mongodb.arbiters`
+     - chart default
+     - Number of MongoDB arbiters; set to `0` for a single-member deployment.
+   * - `core.mongodb.resources`
+     - chart default
+     - CPU/memory `requests` and `limits` for the `mongod` and `agent` containers.
+   * - `core.mongodb.operator.helm.chart_version`
+     - `""` (latest)
+     - Version of the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes operator chart.
+   * - `core.mongodb.operator.lpp.version`
+     - `v0.0.24`
+     - local-path-provisioner version installed when the cluster has no default StorageClass.
+   * - `core.kafka.operator.helm.chart_version`
+     - `0.49.1`
+     - Version of the Strimzi Kafka operator chart.
    * - `proxy.enabled`
      - `false`
      - Enable HTTP proxy support for all deployment steps; set to `true`
@@ -275,9 +293,9 @@ Quick Start Blueprint.
    * - `aether-k8s-uninstall`
      - Uninstall RKE2 Kubernetes and Helm.
    * - `aether-5gc-install`
-     - Install 5G Core workload; includes bridges for networking.
+     - Install 5G Core workload; includes bridges for networking, the MongoDB and Kafka operators, and (if needed) a default StorageClass.
    * - `aether-5gc-uninstall`
-     - Uninstall 5G Core workload; includes bridges for networking.
+     - Uninstall 5G Core workload; includes bridges for networking, the MongoDB and Kafka operators, and Strimzi CRDs.
    * - `aether-5gc-reset`
      - Delete and reinstall 5G Core workload; leaves network bridges untouched.
    * - `aether-gnbsim-install`
diff --git a/onramp/start.rst b/onramp/start.rst
index 87deab0..bb60ce5 100644
--- a/onramp/start.rst
+++ b/onramp/start.rst
@@ -70,7 +70,10 @@ that should not refresh upstream package indexes, set
 install targets. This tells OnRamp to skip the gated ``apt`` cache
 refreshes that would otherwise fail on disconnected hosts. In that
 mode, you are responsible for ensuring the required packages are
-already present or available from your local mirror.
+already present or available from your local mirror. Note that the
+MongoDB and Strimzi operators are not installed in airgapped mode; the
+SD-Core install will fail unless the operators and their CRDs are
+already present in the cluster.
 
 Once installed, displaying the Ansible version number should result in
 output similar to the following on Ubuntu 24.04. The exact patch
@@ -363,8 +366,20 @@ that, type:
 
    $ make aether-5gc-install
 
+Besides SD-Core itself, this target installs the supporting software
+that SD-Core's MongoDB and Kafka databases depend on. MongoDB and Kafka
+are run by their Kubernetes operators (the MongoDB Controllers for
+Kubernetes operator and the Strimzi Kafka operator), which OnRamp
+installs into the ``aether-5gc`` namespace via ``helm`` before it
+installs the SD-Core chart. Because each MongoDB member needs a
+PersistentVolume, OnRamp also installs Rancher's local-path-provisioner
+and makes it the default StorageClass, unless the cluster already has a
+default StorageClass.
+
 ``kubectl`` will now show the ``aether-5gc`` namespace running (in addition
-to ``kube-system``), with output similar to the following:
+to ``kube-system``), with output similar to the following. The
+operator, MongoDB, and Kafka pods are named differently than the
+Bitnami-based pods shown here, so expect those entries to differ.
 
 .. code-block::
 
@@ -554,6 +569,11 @@ simply execute the following commands:
    $ make aether-5gc-uninstall
    $ make aether-k8s-uninstall
 
+The ``aether-5gc-uninstall`` target also removes the MongoDB and
+Strimzi operators, the Strimzi CRDs, and the local-path-provisioner
+(the latter only if no other PersistentVolumeClaim in the cluster still
+uses the ``local-path`` StorageClass).
+
 Note that while we stepped through the system one component at a time,
 OnRamp includes compound Make targets. For example, you can uninstall
 everything covered in this section by typing: