OpenShift Container Platform 4.

Storage

Configuring and managing storage in OpenShift Container Platform

Last Updated: 2020-03-26

OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage
Configuring and managing storage in OpenShift Container Platform
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Abstract
This document provides instructions for configuring persistent volumes from various storage back
ends and managing dynamic allocation from Pods.
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . . . 1.. .UNDERSTANDING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PERSISTENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .STORAGE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1. PERSISTENT STORAGE OVERVIEW 5
1.2. LIFECYCLE OF A VOLUME AND CLAIM 5
1.2.1. Provision storage 5
1.2.2. Bind claims 5
1.2.3. Use Pods and claimed PVs 6
1.2.4. Storage Object in Use Protection 6
1.2.5. Release volumes 6
1.2.6. Reclaim volumes 6
1.3. PERSISTENT VOLUMES 7
1.3.1. Types of PVs 7
1.3.2. Capacity 8
1.3.3. Access modes 8
1.3.4. Phase 10
1.3.4.1. Mount options 10
1.4. PERSISTENT VOLUME CLAIMS 11
1.4.1. Storage classes 12
1.4.2. Access modes 12
1.4.3. Resources 12
1.4.4. Claims as volumes 12
1.5. BLOCK VOLUME SUPPORT 13
1.5.1. Block volume examples 14

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . . . 2.
. . CONFIGURING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PERSISTENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . STORAGE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
..............
2.1. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AWS ELASTIC FILE SYSTEM 17
2.1.1. Store the EFS variables in a ConfigMap 17
2.1.2. Configuring authorization for EFS volumes 18
2.1.3. Create the EFS StorageClass 20
2.1.4. Create the EFS provisioner 20
2.1.5. Create the EFS PersistentVolumeClaim 22
2.2. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AWS ELASTIC BLOCK STORE 23
2.2.1. Creating the EBS Storage Class 23
2.2.2. Creating the Persistent Volume Claim 24
2.2.3. Volume format 24
2.2.4. Maximum Number of EBS Volumes on a Node 24
2.3. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AZURE 25
2.3.1. Creating the Azure storage class 25
2.3.2. Creating the Persistent Volume Claim 25
2.3.3. Volume format 26
2.4. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AZURE FILE 26
2.4.1. Create the Azure File share PersistentVolumeClaim 27
2.4.2. Mount the Azure File share in a Pod 28
2.5. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING CINDER 29
2.5.1. Manual provisioning with Cinder 29
2.5.1.1. Creating the persistent volume 29
2.5.1.2. Persistent volume formatting 30
2.5.1.3. Cinder volume security 30
2.6. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING THE CONTAINER STORAGE INTERFACE (CSI) 31
2.6.1. CSI Architecture 31
2.6.1.1. External CSI controllers 32
2.6.1.2. CSI Driver DaemonSet 33

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

2.6.2. Dynamic Provisioning 33

2.6.3. Example using the CSI driver 33
2.7. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING FIBRE CHANNEL 34
2.7.1. Provisioning 34
2.7.1.1. Enforcing disk quotas 35
2.7.1.2. Fibre Channel volume security 35
2.8. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING FLEXVOLUME 35
2.8.1. About FlexVolume drivers 36
2.8.2. FlexVolume driver example 36
2.8.3. Installing FlexVolume drivers 37
2.8.4. Consuming storage using FlexVolume drivers 38
2.9. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING GCE PERSISTENT DISK 39
2.9.1. Creating the GCE Storage Class 40
2.9.2. Creating the Persistent Volume Claim 40
2.9.3. Volume format 40
2.10. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING HOSTPATH 41
2.10.1. Overview 41
2.10.2. Statically provisioning hostPath volumes 41
2.10.3. Mounting the hostPath share in a privileged Pod 42
2.11. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING ISCSI 43
2.11.1. Provisioning 43
2.11.2. Enforcing Disk Quotas 44
2.11.3. iSCSI Volume Security 44
2.11.3.1. Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) configuration 44
2.11.4. iSCSI Multipathing 45
2.11.5. iSCSI Custom Initiator IQN 45
2.12. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING LOCAL VOLUMES 46
2.12.1. Installing the Local Storage Operator 46
2.12.2. Provision the local volumes 47
2.12.3. Create the local volume PersistentVolumeClaim 49
2.12.4. Attach the local claim 50
2.12.5. Using tolerations with Local Storage Operator Pods 51
2.12.6. Deleting the Local Storage Operator’s resources 52
2.12.6.1. Removing a local volume 52
2.12.6.2. Uninstalling the Local Storage Operator 53
2.13. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING NFS 54
2.13.1. Provisioning 54
2.13.2. Enforcing disk quotas 56
2.13.3. NFS volume security 56
2.13.3.1. Group IDs 56
2.13.3.2. User IDs 57
2.13.3.3. SELinux 58
2.13.3.4. Export settings 58
2.13.4. Reclaiming resources 59
2.13.5. Additional configuration and troubleshooting 60
2.14. RED HAT OPENSHIFT CONTAINER STORAGE 60
2.15. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING VMWARE VSPHERE VOLUMES 61
2.15.1. Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes 61
2.15.1.1. Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes using the UI 61
2.15.1.2. Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes using the CLI 62
2.15.2. Statically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes 63
2.15.2.1. Formatting VMware vSphere volumes 64

2
 Table of Contents

. . . . . . . . . . . 3.
CHAPTER . . EXPANDING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .PERSISTENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .VOLUMES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
..............
3.1. ENABLING VOLUME EXPANSION SUPPORT 65
3.2. EXPANDING CSI VOLUMES 65
3.3. EXPANDING FLEXVOLUME WITH A SUPPORTED DRIVER 65
3.4. EXPANDING PERSISTENT VOLUME CLAIMS (PVCS) WITH A FILE SYSTEM 66
3.5. RECOVERING FROM FAILURE WHEN EXPANDING VOLUMES 67

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . . . 4.
. . .DYNAMIC
. . . . . . . . . . PROVISIONING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
..............
4.1. ABOUT DYNAMIC PROVISIONING 68
4.2. AVAILABLE DYNAMIC PROVISIONING PLUG-INS 68
4.3. DEFINING A STORAGECLASS 69
4.3.1. Basic StorageClass object definition 69
4.3.2. StorageClass annotations 70
4.3.3. OpenStack Cinder object definition 70
4.3.4. AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS) object definition 71
4.3.5. Azure Disk object definition 72
4.3.6. Azure File object definition 72
4.3.6.1. Considerations when using Azure File 73
4.3.7. GCE PersistentDisk (gcePD) object definition 74
4.3.8. VMware vSphere object definition 74
4.4. CHANGING THE DEFAULT STORAGECLASS 75

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

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 CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

1.1. PERSISTENT STORAGE OVERVIEW

Managing storage is a distinct problem from managing compute resources. OpenShift Container
Platform uses the Kubernetes persistent volume (PV) framework to allow cluster administrators to
provision persistent storage for a cluster. Developers can use persistent volume claims (PVCs) to
request PV resources without having specific knowledge of the underlying storage infrastructure.

PVCs are specific to a project, and are created and used by developers as a means to use a PV. PV
resources on their own are not scoped to any single project; they can be shared across the entire
OpenShift Container Platform cluster and claimed from any project. After a PV is bound to a PVC, that
PV can not then be bound to additional PVCs. This has the effect of scoping a bound PV to a single
namespace, that of the binding project.

PVs are defined by a PersistentVolume API object, which represents a piece of existing storage in the
cluster that was either statically provisioned by the cluster administrator or dynamically provisioned
using a StorageClass object. It is a resource in the cluster just like a node is a cluster resource.

PVs are volume plug-ins like Volumes but have a lifecycle that is independent of any individual Pod that
uses the PV. PV objects capture the details of the implementation of the storage, be that NFS, iSCSI, or
a cloud-provider-specific storage system.

IMPORTANT

High availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

PVCs are defined by a PersistentVolumeClaim API object, which represents a request for storage by a
developer. It is similar to a Pod in that Pods consume node resources and PVCs consume PV resources.
For example, Pods can request specific levels of resources, such as CPU and memory, while PVCs can
request specific storage capacity and access modes. For example, they can be mounted once read-
write or many times read-only.

1.2. LIFECYCLE OF A VOLUME AND CLAIM

PVs are resources in the cluster. PVCs are requests for those resources and also act as claim checks to
the resource. The interaction between PVs and PVCs have the following lifecycle.

1.2.1. Provision storage

In response to requests from a developer defined in a PVC, a cluster administrator configures one or
more dynamic provisioners that provision storage and a matching PV.

Alternatively, a cluster administrator can create a number of PVs in advance that carry the details of the
real storage that is available for use. PVs exist in the API and are available for use.

1.2.2. Bind claims

When you create a PVC, you request a specific amount of storage, specify the required access mode,
and create a storage class to describe and classify the storage. The control loop in the master watches
for new PVCs and binds the new PVC to an appropriate PV. If an appropriate PV does not exist, a
provisioner for the storage class creates one.

The size of all PVs might exceed your PVC size. This is especially true with manually provisioned PVs. To
5
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

The size of all PVs might exceed your PVC size. This is especially true with manually provisioned PVs. To
minimize the excess, OpenShift Container Platform binds to the smallest PV that matches all other
criteria.

Claims remain unbound indefinitely if a matching volume does not exist or can not be created with any
available provisioner servicing a storage class. Claims are bound as matching volumes become available.
For example, a cluster with many manually provisioned 50Gi volumes would not match a PVC requesting
100Gi. The PVC can be bound when a 100Gi PV is added to the cluster.

1.2.3. Use Pods and claimed PVs

Pods use claims as volumes. The cluster inspects the claim to find the bound volume and mounts that
volume for a Pod. For those volumes that support multiple access modes, you must specify which mode
applies when you use the claim as a volume in a Pod.

Once you have a claim and that claim is bound, the bound PV belongs to you for as long as you need it.
You can schedule Pods and access claimed PVs by including persistentVolumeClaim in the Pod’s
volumes block.

1.2.4. Storage Object in Use Protection

The Storage Object in Use Protection feature ensures that PVCs in active use by a Pod and PVs that are
bound to PVCs are not removed from the system, as this can result in data loss.

Storage Object in Use Protection is enabled by default.

NOTE

A PVC is in active use by a Pod when a Pod object exists that uses the PVC.

If a user deletes a PVC that is in active use by a Pod, the PVC is not removed immediately. PVC removal
is postponed until the PVC is no longer actively used by any Pods. Also, if a cluster admin deletes a PV
that is bound to a PVC, the PV is not removed immediately. PV removal is postponed until the PV is no
longer bound to a PVC.

1.2.5. Release volumes

When you are finished with a volume, you can delete the PVC object from the API, which allows
reclamation of the resource. The volume is considered released when the claim is deleted, but it is not
yet available for another claim. The previous claimant’s data remains on the volume and must be
handled according to policy.

1.2.6. Reclaim volumes

The reclaim policy of a PersistentVolume tells the cluster what to do with the volume after it is
released. Volumes reclaim policy can either be Retain, Recycle, or Delete.

Retain reclaim policy allows manual reclamation of the resource for those volume plug-ins that
support it.

Recycle reclaim policy recycles the volume back into the pool of unbound persistent volumes
once it is released from its claim.

IMPORTANT
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 CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

IMPORTANT

The Recycle reclaim policy is deprecated in OpenShift Container Platform 4. Dynamic

provisioning is recommended for equivalent and better functionality.

Delete reclaim policy deletes both the PersistentVolume object from OpenShift Container
Platform and the associated storage asset in external infrastructure, such as AWS EBS or
VMware vSphere.

NOTE

Dynamically provisioned volumes are always deleted.

1.3. PERSISTENT VOLUMES

Each PV contains a spec and status, which is the specification and status of the volume, for example:

PV object definition example

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: pv0001 1
spec:
capacity:
storage: 5Gi 2
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 3
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain 4
...
status:
...

1 Name of the persistent volume.

2 The amount of storage available to the volume.

3 The access mode, defining the read-write and mount permissions.

4 The reclaim policy, indicating how the resource should be handled once it is released.

1.3.1. Types of PVs

OpenShift Container Platform supports the following PersistentVolume plug-ins:

AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS)

Azure Disk

Azure File

Cinder

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Fibre Channel

GCE Persistent Disk

HostPath

iSCSI

Local volume

NFS

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage

VMware vSphere

1.3.2. Capacity
Generally, a PV has a specific storage capacity. This is set by using the PV’s capacity attribute.

Currently, storage capacity is the only resource that can be set or requested. Future attributes may
include IOPS, throughput, and so on.

1.3.3. Access modes

A PersistentVolume can be mounted on a host in any way supported by the resource provider.
Providers have different capabilities and each PV’s access modes are set to the specific modes
supported by that particular volume. For example, NFS can support multiple read-write clients, but a
specific NFS PV might be exported on the server as read-only. Each PV gets its own set of access
modes describing that specific PV’s capabilities.

Claims are matched to volumes with similar access modes. The only two matching criteria are access
modes and size. A claim’s access modes represent a request. Therefore, you might be granted more, but
never less. For example, if a claim requests RWO, but the only volume available is an NFS PV
(RWO+ROX+RWX), the claim would then match NFS because it supports RWO.

Direct matches are always attempted first. The volume’s modes must match or contain more modes
than you requested. The size must be greater than or equal to what is expected. If two types of volumes,
such as NFS and iSCSI, have the same set of access modes, either of them can match a claim with those
modes. There is no ordering between types of volumes and no way to choose one type over another.

All volumes with the same modes are grouped, and then sorted by size, smallest to largest. The binder
gets the group with matching modes and iterates over each, in size order, until one size matches.

The following table lists the access modes:

Table 1.1. Access modes

Access Mode CLI abbreviation Description

ReadWriteOnce RWO The volume can be mounted as read-write by a single node.

ReadOnlyMany ROX The volume can be mounted as read-only by many nodes.

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 CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

Access Mode CLI abbreviation Description

ReadWriteMany RWX The volume can be mounted as read-write by many nodes.

IMPORTANT

A volume’s AccessModes are descriptors of the volume’s capabilities. They are not
enforced constraints. The storage provider is responsible for runtime errors resulting
from invalid use of the resource.

For example, NFS offers ReadWriteOnce access mode. You must mark the claims as
read-only if you want to use the volume’s ROX capability. Errors in the provider show up
at runtime as mount errors.

iSCSI and Fibre Channel volumes do not currently have any fencing mechanisms. You
must ensure the volumes are only used by one node at a time. In certain situations, such
as draining a node, the volumes can be used simultaneously by two nodes. Before draining
the node, first ensure the Pods that use these volumes are deleted.

Table 1.2. Supported access modes for PVs

Volume Plug-in ReadWriteOnce ReadOnlyMany ReadWriteMany

AWS EBS - -

Azure File

Azure Disk - -

Cinder - -

Fibre Channel -

GCE Persistent Disk - -

HostPath - -

iSCSI -

Local volume - -

NFS

9
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Volume Plug-in ReadWriteOnce ReadOnlyMany ReadWriteMany

Red Hat OpenShift -

Container Storage

VMware vSphere - -

NOTE

Use a recreate deployment strategy for Pods that rely on AWS EBS.

1.3.4. Phase
Volumes can be found in one of the following phases:

Table 1.3. Volume phases

Phase Description

Available A free resource not yet bound to a claim.

Bound The volume is bound to a claim.

Released The claim was deleted, but the resource is not yet reclaimed by the
cluster.

Failed The volume has failed its automatic reclamation.

You can view the name of the PVC bound to the PV by running:

$ oc get pv <pv-claim>

1.3.4.1. Mount options

You can specify mount options while mounting a PV by using the annotation
volume.beta.kubernetes.io/mount-options.

For example:

Mount options example

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: pv0001
annotations:
volume.beta.kubernetes.io/mount-options: rw,nfsvers=4,noexec 1
spec:
capacity:

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 CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

storage: 1Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
nfs:
path: /tmp
server: 172.17.0.2
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
claimRef:
name: claim1
namespace: default

1 Specified mount options are used while mounting the PV to the disk.

The following PV types support mount options:

AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS)

Azure Disk

Azure File

Cinder

GCE Persistent Disk

iSCSI

Local volume

NFS

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage (Ceph RBD only)

VMware vSphere

NOTE

Fibre Channel and HostPath PVs do not support mount options.

1.4. PERSISTENT VOLUME CLAIMS

Each persistent volume claim (PVC) contains a spec and status, which is the specification and status of
the claim, for example:

PVC object definition example

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: myclaim 1
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 2
resources:

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

requests:
storage: 8Gi 3
storageClassName: gold 4
status:
...

1 Name of the PVC

2 The access mode, defining the read-write and mount permissions

3 The amount of storage available to the PVC

4 Name of the StorageClass required by the claim

1.4.1. Storage classes

Claims can optionally request a specific storage class by specifying the storage class’s name in the
storageClassName attribute. Only PVs of the requested class, ones with the same storageClassName
as the PVC, can be bound to the PVC. The cluster administrator can configure dynamic provisioners to
service one or more storage classes. The cluster administrator can create a PV on demand that matches
the specifications in the PVC.

IMPORTANT

The ClusterStorageOperator may install a default StorageClass depending on the

platform in use. This StorageClass is owned and controlled by the operator. It cannot be
deleted or modified beyond defining annotations and labels. If different behavior is
desired, you must define a custom StorageClass.

The cluster administrator can also set a default storage class for all PVCs. When a default storage class
is configured, the PVC must explicitly ask for StorageClass or storageClassName annotations set to
"" to be bound to a PV without a storage class.

NOTE

If more than one StorageClass is marked as default, a PVC can only be created if the
storageClassName is explicitly specified. Therefore, only one StorageClass should be
set as the default.

1.4.2. Access modes

Claims use the same conventions as volumes when requesting storage with specific access modes.

1.4.3. Resources
Claims, such as Pods, can request specific quantities of a resource. In this case, the request is for
storage. The same resource model applies to volumes and claims.

1.4.4. Claims as volumes

Pods access storage by using the claim as a volume. Claims must exist in the same namespace as the
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 CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

Pods access storage by using the claim as a volume. Claims must exist in the same namespace as the
Pod by using the claim. The cluster finds the claim in the Pod’s namespace and uses it to get the
PersistentVolume backing the claim. The volume is mounted to the host and into the Pod, for example:

Mount volume to the host and into the Pod example

kind: Pod
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: mypod
spec:
containers:
- name: myfrontend
image: dockerfile/nginx
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: "/var/www/html" 1
name: mypd 2
volumes:
- name: mypd
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: myclaim 3

1 Path to mount the volume inside the Pod

2 Name of the volume to mount

3 Name of the PVC, that exists in the same namespace, to use

1.5. BLOCK VOLUME SUPPORT

OpenShift Container Platform can statically provision raw block volumes. These volumes do not have a
file system, and can provide performance benefits for applications that either write to the disk directly
or implement their own storage service.

Raw block volumes are provisioned by specifying volumeMode: Block in the PV and PVC specification.

IMPORTANT

Pods using raw block volumes must be configured to allow privileged containers.

The following table displays which volume plug-ins support block volumes.

Table 1.4. Block volume support

Volume Plug-in Manually provisioned Dynamically Fully supported

provisioned

AWS EBS

Azure Disk

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Volume Plug-in Manually provisioned Dynamically Fully supported

provisioned

Azure File

Cinder

Fibre Channel

GCP

HostPath

iSCSI

Local volume

NFS

Red Hat OpenShift

Container Storage

VMware vSphere

NOTE

Any of the block volumes that can be provisioned manually, but are not provided as fully
supported, are included as a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview
features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and
might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in
production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling
customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.
For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features,
see https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.

1.5.1. Block volume examples

PV example

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: block-pv
spec:
capacity:
storage: 10Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
volumeMode: Block 1
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain

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 CHAPTER 1. UNDERSTANDING PERSISTENT STORAGE

fc:
targetWWNs: ["50060e801049cfd1"]
lun: 0
readOnly: false

1 volumeMode must be set to Block to indicate that this PV is a raw block volume.

PVC example

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
name: block-pvc
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
volumeMode: Block 1
resources:
requests:
storage: 10Gi

1 volumeMode must be set to Block to indicate that a raw block PVC is requested.

Pod specification example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: pod-with-block-volume
spec:
containers:
- name: fc-container
image: fedora:26
command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
args: [ "tail -f /dev/null" ]
volumeDevices: 1
- name: data
devicePath: /dev/xvda 2
volumes:
- name: data
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: block-pvc 3

1 volumeDevices, instead of volumeMounts, is used for block devices. Only

PersistentVolumeClaim sources can be used with raw block volumes.

2 devicePath, instead of mountPath, represents the path to the physical device where the raw block
is mapped to the system.

3 The volume source must be of type persistentVolumeClaim and must match the name of the
PVC as expected.

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Table 1.5. Accepted values for VolumeMode

Value Default

Filesystem Yes

Block No

Table 1.6. Binding scenarios for block volumes

PV PVC VolumeMode Binding Result

VolumeMode

Filesystem Filesystem Bind

Unspecified Unspecified Bind

Filesystem Unspecified Bind

Unspecified Filesystem Bind

Block Block Bind

Unspecified Block No Bind

Block Unspecified No Bind

Filesystem Block No Bind

Block Filesystem No Bind

IMPORTANT

Unspecified values result in the default value of Filesystem.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2.1. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AWS ELASTIC FILE SYSTEM

OpenShift Container Platform allows use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic File System volumes
(EFS). You can provision your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using AWS
EC2. Some familiarity with Kubernetes and AWS is assumed.

IMPORTANT

Elastic File System is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are
not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not
be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These
features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test
functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features,
see https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure. AWS Elastic Block Store volumes can be provisioned dynamically.
PersistentVolumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can be shared across the
OpenShift Container Platform cluster. PersistentVolumeClaims are specific to a project or namespace
and can be requested by users.

Prerequisites

Configure the AWS security groups to allow inbound NFS traffic from the EFS volume’s security
group.

Configure the AWS EFS volume to allow incoming SSH traffic from any host.

Additional references

Amazon EFS

Amazon security groups for EFS

2.1.1. Store the EFS variables in a ConfigMap

It is recommended to use a ConfigMap to contain all the environment variables that are required for the
EFS provisioner.

Procedure

1. Define an OpenShift Container Platform ConfigMap that contains the environment variables by
creating a configmap.yaml file that contains following contents:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
name: efs-provisioner

17
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

data:
file.system.id: <file-system-id> 1
aws.region: <aws-region> 2
provisioner.name: openshift.org/aws-efs 3
dns.name: "" 4

1 Defines the Amazon Web Services (AWS) EFS file system ID.

2 The AWS region of the EFS file system, such as us-east-1.

3 The name of the provisioner for the associated StorageClass.

4 An optional argument that specifies the new DNS name where the EFS volume is located.
If no DNS name is provided, the provisioner will search for the EFS volume at <file-
system-id>.efs.<aws-region>.amazonaws.com.

2. After the file has been configured, create it in your cluster by running the following command:

$ oc create -f configmap.yaml -n <namespace>

2.1.2. Configuring authorization for EFS volumes

The EFS provisioner must be authorized to communicate to the AWS endpoints, along with observing
and updating OpenShift Container Platform storage resources. The following instructions create the
necessary permissions for the EFS provisioner.

Procedure

1. Create an efs-provisioner service account:

$ oc create serviceaccount efs-provisioner

2. Create a file, clusterrole.yaml that defines the necessary permissions:

kind: ClusterRole
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: efs-provisioner-runner
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
resources: ["persistentvolumes"]
verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "create", "delete"]
- apiGroups: [""]
resources: ["persistentvolumeclaims"]
verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "update"]
- apiGroups: ["storage.k8s.io"]
resources: ["storageclasses"]
verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]
- apiGroups: [""]
resources: ["events"]
verbs: ["create", "update", "patch"]
- apiGroups: ["security.openshift.io"]

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

resources: ["securitycontextconstraints"]
verbs: ["use"]
resourceNames: ["hostmount-anyuid"]

3. Create a file, clusterrolebinding.yaml, that defines a cluster role binding that assigns the
defined role to the service account:

kind: ClusterRoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: run-efs-provisioner
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: efs-provisioner
namespace: default 1
roleRef:
kind: ClusterRole
name: efs-provisioner-runner
apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

1 The namespace where the EFS provisioner pod will run. If the EFS provisioner is running in
a namespace other than default, this value must be updated.

4. Create a file, role.yaml, that defines a role with the necessary permissions:

kind: Role
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: leader-locking-efs-provisioner
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
resources: ["endpoints"]
verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "create", "update", "patch"]

5. Create a file, rolebinding.yaml, that defines a role binding that assigns this role to the service
account:

kind: RoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: leader-locking-efs-provisioner
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: efs-provisioner
namespace: default 1
roleRef:
kind: Role
name: leader-locking-efs-provisioner
apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

1 The namespace where the EFS provisioner pod will run. If the EFS provisioner is running in
a namespace other than default, this value must be updated.

19
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

6. Create the resources inside the OpenShift Container Platform cluster:

$ oc create -f clusterrole.yaml,clusterrolebinding.yaml,role.yaml,rolebinding.yaml

2.1.3. Create the EFS StorageClass

Before PersistentVolumeClaims can be created, a StorageClass must exist in the OpenShift Container
Platform cluster. The following instructions create the StorageClass for the EFS provisioner.

Procedure

1. Define an OpenShift Container Platform ConfigMap that contains the environment variables by
creating a storageclass.yaml with the following contents:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
name: aws-efs
provisioner: openshift.org/aws-efs
parameters:
gidMin: "2048" 1
gidMax: "2147483647" 2
gidAllocate: "true" 3

1 An optional argument that defines the minimum group ID (GID) for volume assignments.
The default value is 2048.

2 An optional argument that defines the maximum GID for volume assignments. The default
value is 2147483647.

3 An optional argument that determines if GIDs are assigned to volumes. If false,

dynamically provisioned volumes are not allocated GIDs, allowing all users to read and write
to the created volumes. The default value is true.

2. After the file has been configured, create it in your cluster by running the following command:

$ oc create -f storageclass.yaml

2.1.4. Create the EFS provisioner

The EFS provisioner is an OpenShift Container Platform Pod that mounts the EFS volume as an NFS
share.

Prerequisites

Create A ConfigMap that defines the EFS environment variables.

Create a service account that contains the necessary cluster and role permissions.

Create a StorageClass for provisioning volumes.

Configure the Amazon Web Services (AWS) security groups to allow incoming NFS traffic on all
OpenShift Container Platform nodes.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

Configure the AWS EFS volume security groups to allow incoming SSH traffic from all sources.

Procedure

1. Define the EFS provisioner by creating a provisioner.yaml with the following contents:

kind: Pod
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: efs-provisioner
spec:
serviceAccount: efs-provisioner
containers:
- name: efs-provisioner
image: quay.io/external_storage/efs-provisioner:latest
env:
- name: PROVISIONER_NAME
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: efs-provisioner
key: provisioner.name
- name: FILE_SYSTEM_ID
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: efs-provisioner
key: file.system.id
- name: AWS_REGION
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: efs-provisioner
key: aws.region
- name: DNS_NAME
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: efs-provisioner
key: dns.name
optional: true
volumeMounts:
- name: pv-volume
mountPath: /persistentvolumes
volumes:
- name: pv-volume
nfs:
server: <file-system-id>.efs.<region>.amazonaws.com 1
path: / 2

1 Contains the DNS name of the EFS volume. This field must be updated for the Pod to
discover the EFS volume.

2 The mount path of the EFS volume. Each persistent volume is created as a separate
subdirectory on the EFS volume. If this EFS volume is used for other projects outside of
OpenShift Container Platform, then it is recommended to create a unique subdirectory
OpenShift Container Platform manually on EFS for the cluster to prevent projects from
accessing another project’s data. Specifying a directory that does not exist results in an
error.

21
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

2. After the file has been configured, create it in your cluster by running the following command:

$ oc create -f provisioner.yaml

2.1.5. Create the EFS PersistentVolumeClaim

EFS PersistentVolumeClaims are created to allow Pods to mount the underlying EFS storage.

Prerequisites

Create the EFS provisioner pod.

Procedure (UI)

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Persistent Volume Claims.

2. In the persistent volume claims overview, click Create Persistent Volume Claim.

3. Define the required options on the resulting page.

a. Select the storage class that you created from the list.

b. Enter a unique name for the storage claim.

c. Select the access mode to determine the read and write access for the created storage
claim.

d. Define the size of the storage claim.

NOTE

Although you must enter a size, every Pod that access the EFS volume has
unlimited storage. Define a value, such as 1Mi, that will remind you that the
storage size is unlimited.

4. Click Create to create the persistent volume claim and generate a persistent volume.

Procedure (CLI)

1. Alternately, you can define EFS PersistentVolumeClaims by creating a file, pvc.yaml, with the
following contents:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: efs-claim 1
namespace: test-efs
annotations:
volume.beta.kubernetes.io/storage-provisioner: openshift.org/aws-efs
finalizers:
- kubernetes.io/pvc-protection
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 2

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

resources:
requests:
storage: 5Gi 3
storageClassName: aws-efs 4
volumeMode: Filesystem

1 A unique name for the PVC.

2 The access mode to determine the read and write access for the created PVC.

3 Defines the size of the PVC.

4 Name of the StorageClass for the EFS provisioner.

2. After the file has been configured, create it in your cluster by running the following command:

$ oc create -f pvc.yaml

2.2. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AWS ELASTIC BLOCK STORE

OpenShift Container Platform supports AWS Elastic Block Store volumes (EBS). You can provision your
OpenShift Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using AWS EC2. Some familiarity with
Kubernetes and AWS is assumed.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure. AWS Elastic Block Store volumes can be provisioned dynamically. Persistent
volumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can be shared across the OpenShift
Container Platform cluster. Persistent volume claims are specific to a project or namespace and can be
requested by users.

IMPORTANT

High-availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

Additional References

Amazon EC2

2.2.1. Creating the EBS Storage Class

StorageClasses are used to differentiate and delineate storage levels and usages. By defining a storage
class, users can obtain dynamically provisioned persistent volumes.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Storage Classes.

2. In the storage class overview, click Create Storage Class.

3. Define the desired options on the page that appears.

a. Enter a name to reference the storage class.

23
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

b. Enter an optional description.

c. Select the reclaim policy.

d. Select kubernetes.io/aws-ebs from the drop down list.

e. Enter additional parameters for the storage class as desired.

4. Click Create to create the storage class.

2.2.2. Creating the Persistent Volume Claim

Prerequisites
Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in OpenShift
Container Platform.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Persistent Volume Claims.

2. In the persistent volume claims overview, click Create Persistent Volume Claim.

3. Define the desired options on the page that appears.

a. Select the storage class created previously from the drop-down menu.

b. Enter a unique name for the storage claim.

c. Select the access mode. This determines the read and write access for the created storage
claim.

d. Define the size of the storage claim.

4. Click Create to create the persistent volume claim and generate a persistent volume.

2.2.3. Volume format

Before OpenShift Container Platform mounts the volume and passes it to a container, it checks that it
contains a file system as specified by the fsType parameter in the persistent volume definition. If the
device is not formatted with the file system, all data from the device is erased and the device is
automatically formatted with the given file system.

This allows using unformatted AWS volumes as persistent volumes, because OpenShift Container
Platform formats them before the first use.

2.2.4. Maximum Number of EBS Volumes on a Node

By default, OpenShift Container Platform supports a maximum of 39 EBS volumes attached to one
node. This limit is consistent with the AWS volume limits .

OpenShift Container Platform can be configured to have a higher limit by setting the environment
variable KUBE_MAX_PD_VOLS. However, AWS requires a particular naming scheme ( AWS Device
Naming) for attached devices, which only supports a maximum of 52 volumes. This limits the number of
volumes that can be attached to a node via OpenShift Container Platform to 52.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2.3. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AZURE

OpenShift Container Platform supports Microsoft Azure Disk volumes. You can provision your
OpenShift Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using Azure. Some familiarity with
Kubernetes and Azure is assumed. The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators
to provision a cluster with persistent storage and gives users a way to request those resources without
having any knowledge of the underlying infrastructure. Azure Disk volumes can be provisioned
dynamically. Persistent volumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can be shared
across the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. Persistent volume claims are specific to a project or
namespace and can be requested by users.

IMPORTANT

High availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

Additional references

Microsoft Azure Disk

2.3.1. Creating the Azure storage class

StorageClasses are used to differentiate and delineate storage levels and usages. By defining a storage
class, users can obtain dynamically provisioned persistent volumes.

Additional References

Azure Disk Storage Class

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Storage Classes.

2. In the storage class overview, click Create Storage Class.

3. Define the desired options on the page that appears.

a. Enter a name to reference the storage class.

b. Enter an optional description.

c. Select the reclaim policy.

d. Select kubernetes.io/azure-disk from the drop down list.

i. Enter the storage account type. This corresponds to your Azure storage account SKU
tier. Valid options are Premium_LRS, Standard_LRS, StandardSSD_LRS, and
UltraSSD_LRS.

ii. Enter the kind of account. Valid options are shared, dedicated, and managed.

e. Enter additional parameters for the storage class as desired.

4. Click Create to create the storage class.

2.3.2. Creating the Persistent Volume Claim

25
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Prerequisites
Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in OpenShift
Container Platform.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Persistent Volume Claims.

2. In the persistent volume claims overview, click Create Persistent Volume Claim.

3. Define the desired options on the page that appears.

a. Select the storage class created previously from the drop-down menu.

b. Enter a unique name for the storage claim.

c. Select the access mode. This determines the read and write access for the created storage
claim.

d. Define the size of the storage claim.

4. Click Create to create the persistent volume claim and generate a persistent volume.

2.3.3. Volume format

Before OpenShift Container Platform mounts the volume and passes it to a container, it checks that it
contains a file system as specified by the fsType parameter in the persistent volume definition. If the
device is not formatted with the file system, all data from the device is erased and the device is
automatically formatted with the given file system.

This allows using unformatted Azure volumes as persistent volumes, because OpenShift Container
Platform formats them before the first use.

2.4. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING AZURE FILE

OpenShift Container Platform supports Microsoft Azure File volumes. You can provision your OpenShift
Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using Azure. Some familiarity with Kubernetes and
Azure is assumed.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure. Azure File volumes can be provisioned dynamically.

PersistentVolumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can be shared across the
OpenShift Container Platform cluster. PersistentVolumeClaims are specific to a project or namespace
and can be requested by users for use in applications.

IMPORTANT

High availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

Additional references

Azure Files

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2.4.1. Create the Azure File share PersistentVolumeClaim

To create the PersistentVolumeClaim, you must first define a Secret that contains the Azure account
and key. This Secret is used in the PersistentVolume definition, and will be referenced by the
PersistentVolumeClaim for use in applications.

Prerequisites

An Azure File share exists.

The credentials to access this share, specifically the storage account and key, are available.

Procedure

1. Create a Secret that contains the Azure File credentials:

$ oc create secret generic <secret-name> --from-literal=azurestorageaccountname=

<storage-account> \ 1
--from-literal=azurestorageaccountkey=<storage-account-key> 2

1 The Azure File storage account name.

2 The Azure File storage account key.

2. Create a PersistentVolume that references the Secret you created:

apiVersion: "v1"
kind: "PersistentVolume"
metadata:
name: "pv0001" 1
spec:
capacity:
storage: "5Gi" 2
accessModes:
- "ReadWriteOnce"
storageClassName: azure-file-sc
azureFile:
secretName: <secret-name> 3
shareName: share-1 4
readOnly: false

1 The name of the PersistentVolume.

2 The size of this PersistentVolume.

3 The name of the Secret that contains the Azure File share credentials.

4 The name of the Azure File share.

3. Create a PersistentVolumeClaim that maps to the PersistentVolume you created:

apiVersion: "v1"
kind: "PersistentVolumeClaim"

27
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

metadata:
name: "claim1" 1
spec:
accessModes:
- "ReadWriteOnce"
resources:
requests:
storage: "5Gi" 2
storageClassName: azure-file-sc 3
volumeName: "pv0001" 4

1 The name of the PersistentVolumeClaim.

2 The size of this PersistentVolumeClaim.

3 The name of the StorageClass that is used to provision the PersistentVolume. Specify the
StorageClass used in the PersistentVolume definition.

4 The name of the existing PersistentVolume that references the Azure File share.

2.4.2. Mount the Azure File share in a Pod

After the PersistentVolumeClaim has been created, it can be used inside by an application. The following
example demonstrates mounting this share inside of a Pod.

Prerequisites

A PersistentVolumeClaim exists that is mapped to the underlying Azure File share.

Procedure

Create a Pod that mounts the existing PersistentVolumeClaim:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: pod-name 1
spec:
containers:
...
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: "/data" 2
name: azure-file-share
volumes:
- name: azure-file-share
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: claim1 3

1 The name of the Pod.

2 The path to mount the Azure File share inside the Pod.

3 The name of the PersistentVolumeClaim that has been previously created.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2.5. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING CINDER

OpenShift Container Platform supports OpenStack Cinder. Some familiarity with Kubernetes and
OpenStack is assumed.

Cinder volumes can be provisioned dynamically. Persistent volumes are not bound to a single project or
namespace; they can be shared across the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. Persistent volume
claims are specific to a project or namespace and can be requested by users.

Additional resources

For more information about how OpenStack Block Storage provides persistent block storage
management for virtual hard drives, see OpenStack Cinder.

2.5.1. Manual provisioning with Cinder

Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in OpenShift
Container Platform.

Prerequisites

OpenShift Container Platform configured for OpenStack

Cinder volume ID

2.5.1.1. Creating the persistent volume

You must define your persistent volume (PV) in an object definition before creating it in OpenShift
Container Platform:

Procedure

1. Save your object definition to a file.

cinder-persistentvolume.yaml

apiVersion: "v1"
kind: "PersistentVolume"
metadata:
name: "pv0001" 1
spec:
capacity:
storage: "5Gi" 2
accessModes:
- "ReadWriteOnce"
cinder: 3
fsType: "ext3" 4
volumeID: "f37a03aa-6212-4c62-a805-9ce139fab180" 5

1 The name of the volume that is used by persistent volume claims or pods.

2 The amount of storage allocated to this volume.

29
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

3 Indicates cinder for OpenStack Cinder volumes.

4 The file system that is created when the volume is mounted for the first time.

5 The Cinder volume to use.

IMPORTANT

Do not change the fstype parameter value after the volume is formatted and
provisioned. Changing this value can result in data loss and Pod failure.

2. Create the object definition file you saved in the previous step.

$ oc create -f cinder-persistentvolume.yaml

2.5.1.2. Persistent volume formatting

You can use unformatted Cinder volumes as PVs because OpenShift Container Platform formats them
before the first use.

Before OpenShift Container Platform mounts the volume and passes it to a container, the system
checks that it contains a file system as specified by the fsType parameter in the PV definition. If the
device is not formatted with the file system, all data from the device is erased and the device is
automatically formatted with the given file system.

2.5.1.3. Cinder volume security

If you use Cinder PVs in your application, configure security for their deployment configurations.

Prerequisite

An SCC must be created that uses the appropriate fsGroup strategy.

Procedure

1. Create a service account and add it to the SCC:

$ oc create serviceaccount <service_account>

$ oc adm policy add-scc-to-user <new_scc> -z <service_account> -n <project>

2. In your application’s deployment configuration, provide the service account name and
securityContext:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ReplicationController
metadata:
name: frontend-1
spec:
replicas: 1 1
selector: 2
name: frontend
template: 3

30
 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

metadata:
labels: 4
name: frontend 5
spec:
containers:
- image: openshift/hello-openshift
name: helloworld
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
protocol: TCP
restartPolicy: Always
serviceAccountName: <service_account> 6
securityContext:
fsGroup: 7777 7

1 The number of copies of the Pod to run.

2 The label selector of the Pod to run.

3 A template for the Pod that the controller creates.

4 The labels on the Pod. They must include labels from the label selector.

5 The maximum name length after expanding any parameters is 63 characters.

6 Specifies the service account you created.

7 Specifies an fsGroup for the Pods.

2.6. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING THE CONTAINER STORAGE

INTERFACE (CSI)
The Container Storage Interface (CSI) allows OpenShift Container Platform to consume storage from
storage backends that implement the CSI interface as persistent storage.

IMPORTANT

OpenShift Container Platform does not ship with any CSI drivers. It is recommended to
use the CSI drivers provided by community or storage vendors .

Installation instructions differ by driver, and are found in each driver’s documentation.
Follow the instructions provided by the CSI driver.

OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 supports version 1.1.0 of the CSI specification.

2.6.1. CSI Architecture

CSI drivers are typically shipped as container images. These containers are not aware of OpenShift
Container Platform where they run. To use CSI-compatible storage backend in OpenShift Container
Platform, the cluster administrator must deploy several components that serve as a bridge between
OpenShift Container Platform and the storage driver.

The following diagram provides a high-level overview about the components running in pods in the
OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

31
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

It is possible to run multiple CSI drivers for different storage backends. Each driver needs its own
external controllers' deployment and DaemonSet with the driver and CSI registrar.

2.6.1.1. External CSI controllers

External CSI Controllers is a deployment that deploys one or more pods with three containers:

An external CSI attacher container translates attach and detach calls from OpenShift Container
Platform to respective ControllerPublish and ControllerUnpublish calls to the CSI driver.

An external CSI provisioner container that translates provision and delete calls from OpenShift
Container Platform to respective CreateVolume and DeleteVolume calls to the CSI driver.

A CSI driver container

The CSI attacher and CSI provisioner containers communicate with the CSI driver container using UNIX
Domain Sockets, ensuring that no CSI communication leaves the pod. The CSI driver is not accessible
from outside of the pod.

NOTE

attach, detach, provision, and delete operations typically require the CSI driver to use
credentials to the storage backend. Run the CSI controller pods on infrastructure nodes
so the credentials are never leaked to user processes, even in the event of a catastrophic
security breach on a compute node.

NOTE
32
 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

NOTE

The external attacher must also run for CSI drivers that do not support third-party attach
or detach operations. The external attacher will not issue any ControllerPublish or
ControllerUnpublish operations to the CSI driver. However, it still must run to implement
the necessary OpenShift Container Platform attachment API.

2.6.1.2. CSI Driver DaemonSet

The CSI driver DaemonSet runs a pod on every node that allows OpenShift Container Platform to
mount storage provided by the CSI driver to the node and use it in user workloads (pods) as persistent
volumes (PVs). The pod with the CSI driver installed contains the following containers:

A CSI driver registrar, which registers the CSI driver into the openshift-node service running on
the node. The openshift-node process running on the node then directly connects with the CSI
driver using the UNIX Domain Socket available on the node.

A CSI driver.

The CSI driver deployed on the node should have as few credentials to the storage backend as possible.
OpenShift Container Platform will only use the node plug-in set of CSI calls such as
NodePublish/NodeUnpublish and NodeStage/NodeUnstage, if these calls are implemented.

2.6.2. Dynamic Provisioning

Dynamic provisioning of persistent storage depends on the capabilities of the CSI driver and underlying
storage backend. The provider of the CSI driver should document how to create a StorageClass in
OpenShift Container Platform and the parameters available for configuration.

The created StorageClass can be configured to enable dynamic provisioning.

Procedure

Create a default storage class that ensures all PVCs that do not require any special storage class
are provisioned by the installed CSI driver.

# oc create -f - << EOF

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
name: <storage-class> 1
annotations:
storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
provisioner: <provisioner-name> 2
parameters:
EOF

1 The name of the StorageClass that will be created.

2 The name of the CSI driver that has been installed

2.6.3. Example using the CSI driver

The following example installs a default MySQL template without any changes to the template.

33
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Prerequisites

The CSI driver has been deployed.

A StorageClass has been created for dynamic provisioning.

Procedure

Create the MySQL template:

# oc new-app mysql-persistent
--> Deploying template "openshift/mysql-persistent" to project default
...

# oc get pvc
NAME STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY
ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
mysql Bound kubernetes-dynamic-pv-3271ffcb4e1811e8 1Gi
RWO cinder 3s

2.7. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING FIBRE CHANNEL

OpenShift Container Platform supports Fibre Channel, allowing you to provision your OpenShift
Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using Fibre channel volumes. Some familiarity with
Kubernetes and Fibre Channel is assumed.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure. PersistentVolumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can
be shared across the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. PersistentVolumeClaims are specific to a
project or namespace and can be requested by users.

IMPORTANT

High availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

Additional references

Fibre Channel

2.7.1. Provisioning
To provision Fibre Channel volumes using the PersistentVolume API the following must be available:

The targetWWNs (array of Fibre Channel target’s World Wide Names).

A valid LUN number.

The filesystem type.

A PersistentVolume and a LUN have a one-to-one mapping between them.

Prerequisites

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

Fibre Channel LUNs must exist in the underlying infrastructure.

PersistentVolume Object Definition

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: pv0001
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
fc:
targetWWNs: ['500a0981891b8dc5', '500a0981991b8dc5'] 1
lun: 2
fsType: ext4

1 Fibre Channel WWNs are identified as /dev/disk/by-path/pci-<IDENTIFIER>-fc-0x<WWN>-lun-

<LUN#>, but you do not need to provide any part of the path leading up to the WWN, including the
0x, and anything after, including the - (hyphen).

IMPORTANT

Changing the value of the fstype parameter after the volume has been formatted and
provisioned can result in data loss and pod failure.

2.7.1.1. Enforcing disk quotas

Use LUN partitions to enforce disk quotas and size constraints. Each LUN is mapped to a single
PersistentVolume, and unique names must be used for PersistentVolumes.

Enforcing quotas in this way allows the end user to request persistent storage by a specific amount, such
as 10Gi, and be matched with a corresponding volume of equal or greater capacity.

2.7.1.2. Fibre Channel volume security

Users request storage with a PersistentVolumeClaim. This claim only lives in the user’s namespace, and
can only be referenced by a pod within that same namespace. Any attempt to access a
PersistentVolume across a namespace causes the pod to fail.

Each Fibre Channel LUN must be accessible by all nodes in the cluster.

2.8. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING FLEXVOLUME

OpenShift Container Platform supports FlexVolume, an out-of-tree plug-in that uses an executable
model to interface with drivers.

To use storage from a back-end that does not have a built-in plug-in, you can extend OpenShift
Container Platform through FlexVolume drivers and provide persistent storage to applications.

Pods interact with FlexVolume drivers through the flexvolume in-tree plugin.

Additional References

35
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Additional References

Expanding persistent volumes

2.8.1. About FlexVolume drivers

A FlexVolume driver is an executable file that resides in a well-defined directory on all nodes in the
cluster. OpenShift Container Platform calls the FlexVolume driver whenever it needs to mount or
unmount a volume represented by a PersistentVolume with flexVolume as the source.

IMPORTANT

Attach and detach operations are not supported in OpenShift Container Platform for
FlexVolume.

2.8.2. FlexVolume driver example

The first command-line argument of the FlexVolume driver is always an operation name. Other
parameters are specific to each operation. Most of the operations take a JavaScript Object Notation
(JSON) string as a parameter. This parameter is a complete JSON string, and not the name of a file with
the JSON data.

The FlexVolume driver contains:

All flexVolume.options.

Some options from flexVolume prefixed by kubernetes.io/, such as fsType and readwrite.

The content of the referenced secret, if specified, prefixed by kubernetes.io/secret/.

FlexVolume driver JSON input example

{
"fooServer": "192.168.0.1:1234", 1
"fooVolumeName": "bar",
"kubernetes.io/fsType": "ext4", 2
"kubernetes.io/readwrite": "ro", 3
"kubernetes.io/secret/<key name>": "<key value>", 4
"kubernetes.io/secret/<another key name>": "<another key value>",
}

1 All options from flexVolume.options.

2 The value of flexVolume.fsType.

3 ro/rw based on flexVolume.readOnly.

4 All keys and their values from the secret referenced by flexVolume.secretRef.

OpenShift Container Platform expects JSON data on standard output of the driver. When not specified,
the output describes the result of the operation.

FlexVolume driver default output example

36
 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

{
"status": "<Success/Failure/Not supported>",
"message": "<Reason for success/failure>"
}

Exit code of the driver should be 0 for success and 1 for error.

Operations should be idempotent, which means that the mounting of an already mounted volume should
result in a successful operation.

2.8.3. Installing FlexVolume drivers

FlexVolume drivers that are used to extend OpenShift Container Platform are executed only on the
node. To implement FlexVolumes, a list of operations to call and the installation path are all that is
required.

Prerequisites

FlexVolume drivers must implement these operations:

init
Initializes the driver. It is called during initialization of all nodes.

Arguments: none

Executed on: node

Expected output: default JSON

mount
Mounts a volume to directory. This can include anything that is necessary to mount the
volume, including finding the device and then mounting the device.

Arguments: <mount-dir> <json>

Executed on: node

Expected output: default JSON

unmount
Unmounts a volume from a directory. This can include anything that is necessary to clean up
the volume after unmounting.

Arguments: <mount-dir>

Executed on: node

Expected output: default JSON

mountdevice
Mounts a volume’s device to a directory where individual Pods can then bind mount.

This call-out does not pass "secrets" specified in the FlexVolume spec. If your driver requires secrets, do
not implement this call-out.

37
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Arguments: <mount-dir> <json>

Executed on: node

Expected output: default JSON

unmountdevice
Unmounts a volume’s device from a directory.

Arguments: <mount-dir>

Executed on: node

Expected output: default JSON

All other operations should return JSON with {"status": "Not supported"} and exit code 1.

Procedure
To install the FlexVolume driver:

1. Ensure that the executable file exists on all nodes in the cluster.

2. Place the executable file at the volume plug-in path: /etc/kubernetes/kubelet-

plugins/volume/exec/<vendor>~<driver>/<driver>.

For example, to install the FlexVolume driver for the storage foo, place the executable file at:
/etc/kubernetes/kubelet-plugins/volume/exec/openshift.com~foo/foo.

2.8.4. Consuming storage using FlexVolume drivers

Each PersistentVolume object in OpenShift Container Platform represents one storage asset in the
storage back-end, such as a volume.

Procedure

Use the PersistentVolume object to reference the installed storage.

Persistent volume object definition using FlexVolume drivers example

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: pv0001 1
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Gi 2
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
flexVolume:
driver: openshift.com/foo 3
fsType: "ext4" 4
secretRef: foo-secret 5
readOnly: true 6

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

options: 7
fooServer: 192.168.0.1:1234
fooVolumeName: bar

1 The name of the volume. This is how it is identified through persistent volume claims or from Pods.
This name can be different from the name of the volume on back-end storage.

2 The amount of storage allocated to this volume.

3 The name of the driver. This field is mandatory.

4 The file system that is present on the volume. This field is optional.

5 The reference to a secret. Keys and values from this secret are provided to the FlexVolume driver
on invocation. This field is optional.

6 The read-only flag. This field is optional.

7 The additional options for the FlexVolume driver. In addition to the flags specified by the user in
the options field, the following flags are also passed to the executable:

"fsType":"<FS type>",
"readwrite":"<rw>",
"secret/key1":"<secret1>"
...
"secret/keyN":"<secretN>"

NOTE

Secrets are passed only to mount or unmount call-outs.

2.9. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING GCE PERSISTENT DISK

OpenShift Container Platform supports GCE Persistent Disk volumes (gcePD). You can provision your
OpenShift Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using GCE. Some familiarity with
Kubernetes and GCE is assumed.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure.

GCE Persistent Disk volumes can be provisioned dynamically.

Persistent volumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can be shared across the
OpenShift Container Platform cluster. Persistent volume claims are specific to a project or namespace
and can be requested by users.

IMPORTANT

High availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

Additional references

39
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

GCE Persistent Disk

2.9.1. Creating the GCE Storage Class

StorageClasses are used to differentiate and delineate storage levels and usages. By defining a storage
class, users can obtain dynamically provisioned persistent volumes.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Storage Classes.

2. In the storage class overview, click Create Storage Class.

3. Define the desired options on the page that appears.

a. Enter a name to reference the storage class.

b. Enter an optional description.

c. Select the reclaim policy.

d. Select kubernetes.io/gce-pd from the drop down list.

e. Enter additional parameters for the storage class as desired.

4. Click Create to create the storage class.

2.9.2. Creating the Persistent Volume Claim

Prerequisites
Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in OpenShift
Container Platform.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Persistent Volume Claims.

2. In the persistent volume claims overview, click Create Persistent Volume Claim.

3. Define the desired options on the page that appears.

a. Select the storage class created previously from the drop-down menu.

b. Enter a unique name for the storage claim.

c. Select the access mode. This determines the read and write access for the created storage
claim.

d. Define the size of the storage claim.

4. Click Create to create the persistent volume claim and generate a persistent volume.

2.9.3. Volume format

Before OpenShift Container Platform mounts the volume and passes it to a container, it checks that it

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

contains a file system as specified by the fsType parameter in the persistent volume definition. If the
device is not formatted with the file system, all data from the device is erased and the device is
automatically formatted with the given file system.

This allows using unformatted GCE volumes as persistent volumes, because OpenShift Container
Platform formats them before the first use.

2.10. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING HOSTPATH

A hostPath volume in an OpenShift Container Platform cluster mounts a file or directory from the host
node’s filesystem into your Pod. Most Pods will not need a hostPath volume, but it does offer a quick
option for testing should an application require it.

IMPORTANT

The cluster administrator must configure Pods to run as privileged. This grants access to
Pods in the same node.

2.10.1. Overview
OpenShift Container Platform supports hostPath mounting for development and testing on a single-
node cluster.

In a production cluster, you would not use hostPath. Instead, a cluster administrator would provision a
network resource, such as a GCE Persistent Disk volume, an NFS share, or an Amazon EBS volume.
Network resources support the use of StorageClasses to set up dynamic provisioning.

A hostPath volume must be provisioned statically.

2.10.2. Statically provisioning hostPath volumes

A Pod that uses a hostPath volume must be referenced by manual (static) provisioning.

Procedure

1. Define the persistent volume (PV). Create a file, pv.yaml, with the PersistentVolume object
definition:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: task-pv-volume 1
labels:
type: local
spec:
storageClassName: manual 2
capacity:
storage: 5Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 3
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
hostPath:
path: "/mnt/data" 4

41
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

1 The name of the volume. This name is how it is identified by PersistentVolumeClaims or

Pods.

2 Used to bind PersistentVolumeClaim requests to this PersistentVolume.

3 The volume can be mounted as read-write by a single node.

4 The configuration file specifies that the volume is at /mnt/data on the cluster’s node.

2. Create the PV from the file:

$ oc create -f pv.yaml

3. Define the persistent volume claim (PVC). Create a file, pvc.yaml, with the
PersistentVolumeClaim object definition:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
name: task-pvc-volume
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
storageClassName: manual

4. Create the PVC from the file:

$ oc create -f pvc.yaml

2.10.3. Mounting the hostPath share in a privileged Pod

After the PersistentVolumeClaim has been created, it can be used inside by an application. The following
example demonstrates mounting this share inside of a Pod.

Prerequisites

A PersistentVolumeClaim exists that is mapped to the underlying hostPath share.

Procedure

Create a privileged Pod that mounts the existing PersistentVolumeClaim:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: pod-name 1
spec:
containers:
...
securityContext:

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

privileged: true 2
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /data 3
name: hostpath-privileged
...
securityContext: {}
volumes:
- name: hostpath-privileged
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: task-pvc-volume 4

1 The name of the Pod.

2 The Pod must run as privileged to access the node’s storage.

3 The path to mount the hostPath share inside the privileged Pod.

4 The name of the PersistentVolumeClaim that has been previously created.

2.11. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING ISCSI

You can provision your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using iSCSI. Some
familiarity with Kubernetes and iSCSI is assumed.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure.

IMPORTANT

High-availability of storage in the infrastructure is left to the underlying storage provider.

IMPORTANT

When you use iSCSI on Amazon Web Services, you must update the default security
policy to include TCP traffic between nodes on the iSCSI ports. By default, they are ports
860 and 3260.

IMPORTANT

OpenShift assumes that all nodes in the cluster have already configured iSCSI initator, i.e.
have installed iscsi-initiator-utils package and configured their initiator name in
/etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi. See Storage Administration Guide linked above.

2.11.1. Provisioning
Verify that the storage exists in the underlying infrastructure before mounting it as a volume in
OpenShift Container Platform. All that is required for the iSCSI is the iSCSI target portal, a valid iSCSI
Qualified Name (IQN), a valid LUN number, the filesystem type, and the PersistentVolume API.

Example 2.1. Persistent Volume Object Definition

apiVersion: v1

43
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: iscsi-pv
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
iscsi:
targetPortal: 10.16.154.81:3260
iqn: iqn.2014-12.example.server:storage.target00
lun: 0
fsType: 'ext4'

2.11.2. Enforcing Disk Quotas

Use LUN partitions to enforce disk quotas and size constraints. Each LUN is one persistent volume.
Kubernetes enforces unique names for persistent volumes.

Enforcing quotas in this way allows the end user to request persistent storage by a specific amount (e.g,
10Gi) and be matched with a corresponding volume of equal or greater capacity.

2.11.3. iSCSI Volume Security

Users request storage with a PersistentVolumeClaim. This claim only lives in the user’s namespace and
can only be referenced by a pod within that same namespace. Any attempt to access a persistent
volume claim across a namespace causes the pod to fail.

Each iSCSI LUN must be accessible by all nodes in the cluster.

2.11.3.1. Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) configuration

Optionally, OpenShift can use CHAP to authenticate itself to iSCSI targets:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: iscsi-pv
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
iscsi:
targetPortal: 10.0.0.1:3260
iqn: iqn.2016-04.test.com:storage.target00
lun: 0
fsType: ext4
chapAuthDiscovery: true 1
chapAuthSession: true 2
secretRef:
name: chap-secret 3

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

1 Enable CHAP authentication of iSCSI discovery.

2 Enable CHAP authentication of iSCSI session.

3 Specify name of Secrets object with user name + password. This Secrets object must be available
in all namespaces that can use the referenced volume.

2.11.4. iSCSI Multipathing

For iSCSI-based storage, you can configure multiple paths by using the same IQN for more than one
target portal IP address. Multipathing ensures access to the persistent volume when one or more of the
components in a path fail.

To specify multi-paths in the pod specification use the portals field. For example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: iscsi-pv
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
iscsi:
targetPortal: 10.0.0.1:3260
portals: ['10.0.2.16:3260', '10.0.2.17:3260', '10.0.2.18:3260'] 1
iqn: iqn.2016-04.test.com:storage.target00
lun: 0
fsType: ext4
readOnly: false

1 Add additional target portals using the portals field.

2.11.5. iSCSI Custom Initiator IQN

Configure the custom initiator iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN) if the iSCSI targets are restricted to certain
IQNs, but the nodes that the iSCSI PVs are attached to are not guaranteed to have these IQNs.

To specify a custom initiator IQN, use initiatorName field.

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: iscsi-pv
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
iscsi:
targetPortal: 10.0.0.1:3260
portals: ['10.0.2.16:3260', '10.0.2.17:3260', '10.0.2.18:3260']

45
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

iqn: iqn.2016-04.test.com:storage.target00
lun: 0
initiatorName: iqn.2016-04.test.com:custom.iqn 1
fsType: ext4
readOnly: false

1 Specify the name of the initiator.

2.12. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING LOCAL VOLUMES

OpenShift Container Platform can be provisioned with persistent storage by using local volumes. Local
persistent volumes allow you to access local storage devices, such as a disk or partition, by using the
standard PVC interface.

Local volumes can be used without manually scheduling Pods to nodes, because the system is aware of
the volume node’s constraints. However, local volumes are still subject to the availability of the
underlying node and are not suitable for all applications.

NOTE

Local volumes can only be used as a statically created Persistent Volume.

2.12.1. Installing the Local Storage Operator

The Local Storage Operator is not installed in OpenShift Container Platform by default. Use the
following procedure to install and configure this Operator to enable local volumes in your cluster.

Prerequisites

Access to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Procedure

1. Create the local-storage project:

$ oc new-project local-storage

2. Install the Local Storage Operator from the web console.

a. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

b. Navigate to Operators → OperatorHub.

c. Type Local Storage into the filter box to locate the Local Storage Operator.

d. Click Install.

e. On the Create Operator Subscription page, select A specific namespace on the cluster.
Select local-storage from the drop-down menu.

f. Adjust the values for the Update Channel and Approval Strategy to the desired values.

g. Click Subscribe.

3. Once finished, the Local Storage Operator will be listed in the Installed Operators section of
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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

3. Once finished, the Local Storage Operator will be listed in the Installed Operators section of
the web console.

2.12.2. Provision the local volumes

Local volumes cannot be created by dynamic provisioning. Instead, PersistentVolumes must be created
by the Local Storage Operator. This provisioner will look for any devices, both filesystem and block
volumes, at the paths specified in defined resource.

Prerequisites

The Local Storage Operator is installed.

Local disks are attached to the OpenShift Container Platform nodes.

Procedure

1. Create the local volume resource. This must define the nodes and paths to the local volumes.

NOTE

Do not use different StorageClass names for the same device. Doing so will
create multiple PVs.

Example: Filesystem

apiVersion: "local.storage.openshift.io/v1"
kind: "LocalVolume"
metadata:
name: "local-disks"
namespace: "local-storage" 1
spec:
nodeSelector: 2
nodeSelectorTerms:
- matchExpressions:
- key: kubernetes.io/hostname
operator: In
values:
- ip-10-0-140-183
- ip-10-0-158-139
- ip-10-0-164-33
storageClassDevices:
- storageClassName: "local-sc"
volumeMode: Filesystem 3
fsType: xfs 4
devicePaths: 5
- /path/to/device

1 The namespace where the Local Storage Operator is installed.

2 Optional: A node selector containing a list of nodes where the local storage volumes are
attached. This example uses the node host names, obtained from oc get node. If a value is
not defined, then the Local Storage Operator will attempt to find matching disks on all

47
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

available nodes.

3 The volume mode, either Filesystem or Block, defining the type of the local volumes.

4 The file system that is created when the local volume is mounted for the first time.

5 The path containing a list of local storage devices to choose from.

Example: Block

apiVersion: "local.storage.openshift.io/v1"
kind: "LocalVolume"
metadata:
name: "local-disks"
namespace: "local-storage" 1
spec:
nodeSelector: 2
nodeSelectorTerms:
- matchExpressions:
- key: kubernetes.io/hostname
operator: In
values:
- ip-10-0-136-143
- ip-10-0-140-255
- ip-10-0-144-180
storageClassDevices:
- storageClassName: "localblock-sc"
volumeMode: Block 3
devicePaths: 4
- /dev/xvdg

1 The namespace where the Local Storage Operator is installed.

2 Optional: A node selector containing a list of nodes where the local storage volumes are
attached. This example uses the node host names, obtained from oc get node. If a value is
not defined, then the Local Storage Operator will attempt to find matching disks on all
available nodes.

3 The volume mode, either Filesystem or Block, defining the type of the local volumes.

4 The path containing a list of local storage devices to choose from.

2. Create the local volume resource in your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, specifying the
file you just created:

$ oc create -f <local-volume>.yaml

3. Verify the provisioner was created, and the corresponding DaemonSets were created:

$ oc get all -n local-storage

NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE

pod/local-disks-local-provisioner-h97hj 1/1 Running 0 46m

48
 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

pod/local-disks-local-provisioner-j4mnn 1/1 Running 0 46m

pod/local-disks-local-provisioner-kbdnx 1/1 Running 0 46m
pod/local-disks-local-diskmaker-ldldw 1/1 Running 0 46m
pod/local-disks-local-diskmaker-lvrv4 1/1 Running 0 46m
pod/local-disks-local-diskmaker-phxdq 1/1 Running 0 46m
pod/local-storage-operator-54564d9988-vxvhx 1/1 Running 0 47m

NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE

service/local-storage-operator ClusterIP 172.30.49.90 <none> 60000/TCP 47m

NAME DESIRED CURRENT READY UP-TO-DATE

AVAILABLE NODE SELECTOR AGE
daemonset.apps/local-disks-local-provisioner 3 3 3 3 3 <none>
46m
daemonset.apps/local-disks-local-diskmaker 3 3 3 3 3 <none>
46m

NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE

deployment.apps/local-storage-operator 1/1 1 1 47m

NAME DESIRED CURRENT READY AGE

replicaset.apps/local-storage-operator-54564d9988 1 1 1 47m

Note the desired and current number of DaemonSet processes. If the desired count is 0, it
indicates the label selectors were invalid.

4. Verify that the PersistentVolumes were created:

$ oc get pv

NAME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES RECLAIM POLICY STATUS CLAIM

STORAGECLASS REASON AGE
local-pv-1cec77cf 100Gi RWO Delete Available local-sc 88m
local-pv-2ef7cd2a 100Gi RWO Delete Available local-sc
82m
local-pv-3fa1c73 100Gi RWO Delete Available local-sc 48m

2.12.3. Create the local volume PersistentVolumeClaim

Local volumes must be statically created as a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) to be accessed by the Pod.

Prerequisite

PersistentVolumes have been created using the local volume provisioner.

Procedure

1. Create the PVC using the corresponding StorageClass:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: local-pvc-name 1
spec:
accessModes:

49
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

- ReadWriteOnce
volumeMode: Filesystem 2
resources:
requests:
storage: 100Gi 3
storageClassName: local-sc 4

1 Name of the PVC.

2 The type of the PVC. Defaults to Filesystem.

3 The amount of storage available to the PVC.

4 Name of the StorageClass required by the claim.

2. Create the PVC in the OpenShift Container Platform cluster, specifying the file you just
created:

$ oc create -f <local-pvc>.yaml

2.12.4. Attach the local claim

After a local volume has been mapped to a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) it can be specified inside of a
resource.

Prerequisites

A PVC exists in the same namespace.

Procedure

1. Include the defined claim in the resource’s Spec. The following example declares the PVC inside
a Pod:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
spec:
...
containers:
volumeMounts:
- name: localpvc 1
mountPath: "/data" 2
volumes:
- name: localpvc
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: localpvc 3

1 Name of the volume to mount.

2 Path inside the Pod where the volume is mounted.

3 Name of the existing PVC to use.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2. Create the resource in the OpenShift Container Platform cluster, specifying the file you just
created:

$ oc create -f <local-pod>.yaml

2.12.5. Using tolerations with Local Storage Operator Pods

Taints can be applied to nodes to prevent them from running general workloads. To allow the Local
Storage Operator to use tainted nodes, you must add tolerations to the Pod or DaemonSet definition.
This allows the created resources to run on these tainted nodes.

You apply tolerations to the Local Storage Operator Pod through the LocalVolume resource and apply
taints to a node through the node specification. A taint on a node instructs the node to repel all Pods
that do not tolerate the taint. Using a specific taint that is not on other Pods ensures that the Local
Storage Operator Pod can also run on that node.

IMPORTANT

Taints and tolerations consist of a key, value, and effect. As an argument, it is expressed
as key=value:effect. An operator allows you to leave one of these parameters empty.

Prerequisites

The Local Storage Operator is installed.

Local disks are attached to OpenShift Container Platform nodes with a taint.

Tainted nodes are expected to provision local storage.

Procedure
To configure local volumes for scheduling on tainted nodes:

1. Modify the YAML file that defines the Pod and add the LocalVolume spec, as shown in the
following example:

apiVersion: "local.storage.openshift.io/v1"
kind: "LocalVolume"
metadata:
name: "local-disks"
namespace: "local-storage"
spec:
tolerations:
- key: localstorage 1
operator: Equal 2
value: "localstorage" 3
storageClassDevices:
- storageClassName: "localblock-sc"
volumeMode: Block 4
devicePaths: 5
- /dev/xvdg

1 Specify the key that you added to the node.

Specify the Equal operator to require the key/value parameters to match. If operator is
51
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

2 Specify the Equal operator to require the key/value parameters to match. If operator is
'Exists`, the system checks that the key exists and ignores the value. If operator is Equal,

3 Specify the value local of the tainted node.

4 The volume mode, either Filesystem or Block, defining the type of the local volumes.

5 The path containing a list of local storage devices to choose from.

The defined tolerations will be passed to the resulting DaemonSets, allowing the diskmaker and
provisioner Pods to be created for nodes that contain the specified taints.

2.12.6. Deleting the Local Storage Operator’s resources

2.12.6.1. Removing a local volume

Occasionally, local volumes must be deleted. While removing the entry in the LocalVolume resource and
deleting the PersistentVolume is typically enough, if you want to re-use the same device path or have it
managed by a different StorageClass, then additional steps are needed.


WARNING

The following procedure involves accessing a node as the root user. Modifying the
state of the node beyond the steps in this procedure could result in cluster
instability.

Prerequisite

The PersistentVolume must be in a Released or Available state.


WARNING

Deleting a PersistentVolume that is still in use can result in data loss or

corruption.

Procedure

1. Edit the previously created LocalVolume to remove any unwanted disks.

a. Edit the cluster resource:

$ oc edit localvolume <name> -n local-storage

b. Navigate to the lines under devicePaths, and delete any representing unwanted disks.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2. Delete any PersistentVolumes created.

$ oc delete pv <pv-name>

3. Delete any symlinks on the node.

a. Create a debug pod on the node:

$ oc debug node/<node-name>

b. Change your root directory to the host:

$ chroot /host

c. Navigate to the directory containing the local volume symlinks.

$ cd /mnt/local-storage/<sc-name> 1

1 The name of the StorageClass used to create the local volumes.

d. Delete the symlink belonging to the removed device.

$ rm <symlink>

2.12.6.2. Uninstalling the Local Storage Operator

To uninstall the Local Storage Operator, you must remove the Operator and all created resources in the
local-storage project.


WARNING

Uninstalling the Local Storage Operator while local storage PVs are still in use is not
recommended. While the PVs will remain after the Operator’s removal, there might
be indeterminate behavior if the Operator is uninstalled and reinstalled without
removing the PVs and local storage resources.

Prerequisites

Access to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Procedure

1. Delete any local volume resources in the project:

$ oc delete localvolume --all --all-namespaces

2. Uninstall the Local Storage Operator from the web console.

a. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

a. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

b. Navigate to Operators → Installed Operators.

c. Type Local Storage into the filter box to locate the Local Storage Operator.

d. Click the Options menu at the end of the Local Storage Operator.

e. Click Uninstall Operator.

f. Click Remove in the window that appears.

3. The PVs created by the Local Storage Operator will remain in the cluster until deleted. Once
these volumes are no longer in use, delete them by running the following command:

$ oc delete pv <pv-name>

4. Delete the local-storage project:

$ oc delete project local-storage

2.13. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING NFS

OpenShift Container Platform clusters can be provisioned with persistent storage using NFS. Persistent
volumes (PVs) and persistent volume claims (PVCs) provide a convenient method for sharing a volume
across a project. While the NFS-specific information contained in a PV definition could also be defined
directly in a Pod definition, doing so does not create the volume as a distinct cluster resource, making
the volume more susceptible to conflicts.

Additional resources

Network File System (NFS)

2.13.1. Provisioning
Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in OpenShift
Container Platform. To provision NFS volumes, a list of NFS servers and export paths are all that is
required.

Procedure

1. Create an object definition for the PV:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: pv0001 1
spec:
capacity:
storage: 5Gi 2
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 3

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

nfs: 4
path: /tmp 5
server: 172.17.0.2 6
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain 7

1 The name of the volume. This is the PV identity in various oc <command> pod
commands.

2 The amount of storage allocated to this volume.

3 Though this appears to be related to controlling access to the volume, it is actually used
similarly to labels and used to match a PVC to a PV. Currently, no access rules are enforced
based on the accessModes.

4 The volume type being used, in this case the nfs plug-in.

5 The path that is exported by the NFS server.

6 The host name or IP address of the NFS server.

7 The reclaim policy for the PV. This defines what happens to a volume when released.

NOTE

Each NFS volume must be mountable by all schedulable nodes in the cluster.

2. Verify that the PV was created:

$ oc get pv
NAME LABELS CAPACITY ACCESSMODES STATUS CLAIM REASON AGE
pv0001 <none> 5Gi RWO Available 31s

3. Create a persistent volume claim that binds to the new PV:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
name: nfs-claim1
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 1
resources:
requests:
storage: 5Gi 2

1 As mentioned above for PVs, the accessModes do not enforce security, but rather act as
labels to match a PV to a PVC.

2 This claim looks for PVs offering 5Gi or greater capacity.

4. Verify that the persistent volume claim was created:

55
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

$ oc get pvc
NAME STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
nfs-claim1 Bound pv0001 5Gi RWO gp2 2m

2.13.2. Enforcing disk quotas

You can use disk partitions to enforce disk quotas and size constraints. Each partition can be its own
export. Each export is one PV. OpenShift Container Platform enforces unique names for PVs, but the
uniqueness of the NFS volume’s server and path is up to the administrator.

Enforcing quotas in this way allows the developer to request persistent storage by a specific amount,
such as 10Gi, and be matched with a corresponding volume of equal or greater capacity.

2.13.3. NFS volume security

This section covers NFS volume security, including matching permissions and SELinux considerations.
The user is expected to understand the basics of POSIX permissions, process UIDs, supplemental
groups, and SELinux.

Developers request NFS storage by referencing either a PVC by name or the NFS volume plug-in
directly in the volumes section of their Pod definition.

The /etc/exports file on the NFS server contains the accessible NFS directories. The target NFS
directory has POSIX owner and group IDs. The OpenShift Container Platform NFS plug-in mounts the
container’s NFS directory with the same POSIX ownership and permissions found on the exported NFS
directory. However, the container is not run with its effective UID equal to the owner of the NFS mount,
which is the desired behavior.

As an example, if the target NFS directory appears on the NFS server as:

$ ls -lZ /opt/nfs -d
drwxrws---. nfsnobody 5555 unconfined_u:object_r:usr_t:s0 /opt/nfs

$ id nfsnobody
uid=65534(nfsnobody) gid=65534(nfsnobody) groups=65534(nfsnobody)

Then the container must match SELinux labels, and either run with a UID of 65534, the nfsnobody
owner, or with 5555 in its supplemental groups in order to access the directory.

NOTE

The owner ID of 65534 is used as an example. Even though NFS’s root_squash maps
root, uid 0, to nfsnobody, uid 65534, NFS exports can have arbitrary owner IDs. Owner
65534 is not required for NFS exports.

2.13.3.1. Group IDs

The recommended way to handle NFS access, assuming it is not an option to change permissions on the
NFS export, is to use supplemental groups. Supplemental groups in OpenShift Container Platform are
used for shared storage, of which NFS is an example. In contrast block storage, such as iSCSI, use the
fsGroup SCC strategy and the fsGroup value in the Pod’s securityContext.

NOTE
56
 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

NOTE

It is generally preferable to use supplemental group IDs to gain access to persistent

storage versus using user IDs.

Because the group ID on the example target NFS directory is 5555, the Pod can define that group ID
using supplementalGroups under the Pod’s securityContext definition. For example:

spec:
containers:
- name:
...
securityContext: 1
supplementalGroups: [5555] 2

1 securityContext must be defined at the Pod level, not under a specific container.

2 An array of GIDs defined for the Pod. In this case, there is one element in the array. Additional GIDs
would be comma-separated.

Assuming there are no custom SCCs that might satisfy the Pod’s requirements, the Pod likely matches
the restricted SCC. This SCC has the supplementalGroups strategy set to RunAsAny, meaning that
any supplied group ID is accepted without range checking.

As a result, the above Pod passes admissions and is launched. However, if group ID range checking is
desired, a custom SCC is the preferred solution. A custom SCC can be created such that minimum and
maximum group IDs are defined, group ID range checking is enforced, and a group ID of 5555 is allowed.

NOTE

To use a custom SCC, you must first add it to the appropriate service account. For
example, use the default service account in the given project unless another has been
specified on the Pod specification.

2.13.3.2. User IDs

User IDs can be defined in the container image or in the Pod definition.

NOTE

It is generally preferable to use supplemental group IDs to gain access to persistent

storage versus using user IDs.

In the example target NFS directory shown above, the container needs its UID set to 65534, ignoring
group IDs for the moment, so the following can be added to the Pod definition:

spec:
containers: 1
- name:
...
securityContext:
runAsUser: 65534 2

57
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

1 Pods contain a securityContext specific to each container and a Pod’s securityContext which
applies to all containers defined in the Pod.

2 65534 is the nfsnobody user.

Assuming the default project and the restricted SCC, the Pod’s requested user ID of 65534 is not
allowed, and therefore the Pod fails. The Pod fails for the following reasons:

It requests 65534 as its user ID.

All SCCs available to the Pod are examined to see which SCC allows a user ID of 65534. While all
policies of the SCCs are checked, the focus here is on user ID.

Because all available SCCs use MustRunAsRange for their runAsUser strategy, UID range
checking is required.

65534 is not included in the SCC or project’s user ID range.

It is generally considered a good practice not to modify the predefined SCCs. The preferred way to fix
this situation is to create a custom SCC A custom SCC can be created such that minimum and maximum
user IDs are defined, UID range checking is still enforced, and the UID of 65534 is allowed.

NOTE

To use a custom SCC, you must first add it to the appropriate service account. For
example, use the default service account in the given project unless another has been
specified on the Pod specification.

2.13.3.3. SELinux

By default, SELinux does not allow writing from a Pod to a remote NFS server. The NFS volume mounts
correctly, but is read-only.

To enable writing to a remote NFS server, follow the below procedure.

Prerequisites

The container-selinux package must be installed. This package provides the virt_use_nfs
SELinux boolean.

Procedure

Enable the virt_use_nfs boolean using the following command. The -P option makes this
boolean persistent across reboots.

# setsebool -P virt_use_nfs 1

2.13.3.4. Export settings

In order to enable arbitrary container users to read and write the volume, each exported volume on the
NFS server should conform to the following conditions:

Every export must be exported using the following format:

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

/<example_fs> *(rw,root_squash)

The firewall must be configured to allow traffic to the mount point.

For NFSv4, configure the default port 2049 (nfs).

NFSv4

# iptables -I INPUT 1 -p tcp --dport 2049 -j ACCEPT

For NFSv3, there are three ports to configure: 2049 (nfs), 20048 (mountd), and 111
(portmapper).

NFSv3

# iptables -I INPUT 1 -p tcp --dport 2049 -j ACCEPT

# iptables -I INPUT 1 -p tcp --dport 20048 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -I INPUT 1 -p tcp --dport 111 -j ACCEPT

The NFS export and directory must be set up so that they are accessible by the target Pods.
Either set the export to be owned by the container’s primary UID, or supply the Pod group
access using supplementalGroups, as shown in group IDs above.

2.13.4. Reclaiming resources

NFS implements the OpenShift Container Platform Recyclable plug-in interface. Automatic processes
handle reclamation tasks based on policies set on each persistent volume.

By default, PVs are set to Retain.

Once claim to a PVC is deleted, and the PV is released, the PV object should not be reused. Instead, a
new PV should be created with the same basic volume details as the original.

For example, the administrator creates a PV named nfs1:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: nfs1
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Mi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteMany
nfs:
server: 192.168.1.1
path: "/"

The user creates PVC1, which binds to nfs1. The user then deletes PVC1, releasing claim to nfs1. This
results in nfs1 being Released. If the administrator wants to make the same NFS share available, they
should create a new PV with the same NFS server details, but a different PV name:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume

59
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

metadata:
name: nfs2
spec:
capacity:
storage: 1Mi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteMany
nfs:
server: 192.168.1.1
path: "/"

Deleting the original PV and re-creating it with the same name is discouraged. Attempting to manually
change the status of a PV from Released to Available causes errors and potential data loss.

2.13.5. Additional configuration and troubleshooting

Depending on what version of NFS is being used and how it is configured, there may be additional
configuration steps needed for proper export and security mapping. The following are some that may
apply:

NFSv4 mount incorrectly shows

Could be attributed to the ID mapping settings, found in
all files with ownership of
/etc/idmapd.conf on your NFS.
nobody:nobody
See this Red Hat Solution.

Disabling ID mapping on NFSv4

On both the NFS client and server, run:

# echo 'Y' >

/sys/module/nfsd/parameters/nfs4_disable_idmapping

2.14. RED HAT OPENSHIFT CONTAINER STORAGE

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage is a provider of agnostic persistent storage for OpenShift
Container Platform supporting file, block, and object storage, either in-house or in hybrid clouds. As a
Red Hat storage solution, Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage is completely integrated with
OpenShift Container Platform for deployment, management, and monitoring.

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage provides its own documentation library. The complete set of Red
Hat OpenShift Container Storage documentation identified below is available at
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_openshift_container_storage/4.2/

If you are looking for Red Hat OpenShift Container See the following Red Hat OpenShift Container
Storage information about…​ Storage documentation:

What’s new, known issues, notable bug fixes, and Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage 4.2 Release
Technology Previews Notes

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

If you are looking for Red Hat OpenShift Container See the following Red Hat OpenShift Container
Storage information about…​ Storage documentation:

Supported workloads, layouts, hardware and Planning your Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage
software requirements, sizing and scaling 4.2 deployment
recommendations

Deploying Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage 4.2 Deploying Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage 4.2
on an existing OpenShift Container Platform cluster

Managing a Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage Managing Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage 4.2
4.2 cluster

Monitoring a Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage Monitoring Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage
4.2 cluster 4.2

Migrating your OpenShift Container Platform cluster Migration

from version 3 to version 4

2.15. PERSISTENT STORAGE USING VMWARE VSPHERE VOLUMES

OpenShift Container Platform allows use of VMware vSphere’s Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) volumes.
You can provision your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with persistent storage using VMware
vSphere. Some familiarity with Kubernetes and VMware vSphere is assumed.

VMware vSphere volumes can be provisioned dynamically. OpenShift Container Platform creates the
disk in vSphere and attaches this disk to the correct image.

The Kubernetes persistent volume framework allows administrators to provision a cluster with persistent
storage and gives users a way to request those resources without having any knowledge of the
underlying infrastructure.

PersistentVolumes are not bound to a single project or namespace; they can be shared across the
OpenShift Container Platform cluster. PersistentVolumeClaims are specific to a project or namespace
and can be requested by users.

Additional references

VMware vSphere

2.15.1. Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes

Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes is the recommended method. You can use either of
the following procedures to dynamically provision these volumes using the default StorageClass.

2.15.1.1. Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes using the UI

OpenShift Container Platform installs a default StorageClass, named thin, that uses the thin disk
format for provisioning volumes.

Prerequisites

Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in
61
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in
OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform console, click Storage → Persistent Volume Claims.

2. In the persistent volume claims overview, click Create Persistent Volume Claim.

3. Define the required options on the resulting page.

a. Select the thin StorageClass.

b. Enter a unique name for the storage claim.

c. Select the access mode to determine the read and write access for the created storage
claim.

d. Define the size of the storage claim.

4. Click Create to create the PersistentVolumeClaim and generate a PersistentVolume.

2.15.1.2. Dynamically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes using the CLI

OpenShift Container Platform installs a default StorageClass, named thin, that uses the thin disk
format for provisioning volumes.

Prerequisites

Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in
OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure (CLI)

1. You can define a VMware vSphere PersistentVolumeClaim by creating a file, pvc.yaml, with the
following contents:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: pvc 1
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce 2
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi 3

1 A unique name that represents the PersistentVolumeClaim.

2 The PersistentVolumeClaim’s access mode. With ReadWriteOnce, the volume can be

mounted with read and write permissions by a single node.

3 The size of the PersistentVolumeClaim.

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 CHAPTER 2. CONFIGURING PERSISTENT STORAGE

2. Create the PersistentVolumeClaim from the file:

$ oc create -f pvc.yaml

2.15.2. Statically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes

To statically provision VMware vSphere volumes you must create the virtual machine disks for reference
by the persistent volume framework.

Prerequisites

Storage must exist in the underlying infrastructure before it can be mounted as a volume in
OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

1. Create the virtual machine disks. Virtual machine disks (VMDKs) must be created manually
before statically provisioning VMware vSphere volumes. Use either of the following methods:

Create using vmkfstools. Access ESX through Secure Shell (SSH) and then use following
command to create a VMDK volume:

$ vmkfstools -c <size> /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/volumes/<disk-name>.vmdk

Create using vmware-diskmanager:

$ shell vmware-vdiskmanager -c -t 0 -s <size> -a lsilogic <disk-name>.vmdk

2. Create a PersistentVolume that references the VMDKs. Create a file, pv.yaml, with the
PersistentVolume object definition:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: pv 1
spec:
capacity:
storage: 2Gi 2
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
vsphereVolume: 3
volumePath: "[datastore1] volumes/myDisk" 4
fsType: ext4 5

1 The name of the volume. This name is how it is identified by PersistentVolumeClaims or

Pods.

2 The amount of storage allocated to this volume.

3 The volume type used, with vsphereVolume for vSphere volumes. The label is used to
mount a vSphere VMDK volume into pods. The contents of a volume are preserved when it
is unmounted. The volume type supports VMFS and VSAN datastore.

63
OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

4 The existing VMDK volume to use. You must enclose the datastore name in square
brackets, [], in the volume definition, as shown previously.

5 The file system type to mount. For example, ext4, xfs, or other file-systems.

IMPORTANT

Changing the value of the fsType parameter after the volume is formatted and
provisioned can result in data loss and Pod failure.

3. Create the PersistentVolume from the file:

$ oc create -f pv.yaml

2.15.2.1. Formatting VMware vSphere volumes

Before OpenShift Container Platform mounts the volume and passes it to a container, it checks that the
volume contains a file system that is specified by the fsType parameter value in the PersistentVolume
(PV) definition. If the device is not formatted with the file system, all data from the device is erased, and
the device is automatically formatted with the specified file system.

Because OpenShift Container Platform formats them before the first use, you can use unformatted
vSphere volumes as PVs.

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 CHAPTER 3. EXPANDING PERSISTENT VOLUMES

CHAPTER 3. EXPANDING PERSISTENT VOLUMES

3.1. ENABLING VOLUME EXPANSION SUPPORT

Before you can expand persistent volumes, the StorageClass must have the allowVolumeExpansion
field set to true.

Procedure

Edit the StorageClass and add the allowVolumeExpansion attribute. The following example
demonstrates adding this line at the bottom of the StorageClass’s configuration.

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
...
parameters:
type: gp2
reclaimPolicy: Delete
allowVolumeExpansion: true 1

1 Setting this attribute to true allows PVCs to be expanded after creation.

3.2. EXPANDING CSI VOLUMES

You can use the Container Storage Interface (CSI) to expand storage volumes after they have already
been created.

OpenShift Container Platform supports CSI volume expansion by default. However, a specific CSI driver
is required.

OpenShift Container Platform does not ship with any CSI drivers. It is recommended to use the CSI
drivers provided by community or storage vendors . Follow the installation instructions provided by the
CSI driver.

OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 supports version 1.1.0 of the CSI specification.

IMPORTANT

Expanding CSI volumes is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview

features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and
might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in
production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling
customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features,
see https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.

3.3. EXPANDING FLEXVOLUME WITH A SUPPORTED DRIVER

When using FlexVolume to connect to your backend storage system, you can expand persistent storage
volumes after they have already been created. This is done by manually updating the persistent volume
claim (PVC) in OpenShift Container Platform.

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

FlexVolume allows expansion if the driver is set with RequiresFSResize to true. The FlexVolume can be
expanded on Pod restart.

Similar to other volume types, FlexVolume volumes can also be expanded when in use by a Pod.

Prerequisites

The underlying volume driver supports resize.

The driver is set with the RequiresFSResize capability to true.

Dynamic provisioning is used.

The controlling StorageClass has allowVolumeExpansion set to true.

Procedure

To use resizing in the FlexVolume plugin, you must implement the ExpandableVolumePlugin
interface using these methods:

RequiresFSResize
If true, updates the capacity directly. If false, calls the ExpandFS method to finish the
filesystem resize.
ExpandFS
If true, calls ExpandFS to resize filesystem after physical volume expansion is done. The
volume driver can also perform physical volume resize together with filesystem resize.

IMPORTANT

Because OpenShift Container Platform does not support installation of FlexVolume

plugins on master nodes, it does not support control-plane expansion of FlexVolume.

3.4. EXPANDING PERSISTENT VOLUME CLAIMS (PVCS) WITH A FILE

SYSTEM
Expanding PVCs based on volume types that need file system resizing, such as GCE PD, EBS, and
Cinder, is a two-step process. This process involves expanding volume objects in the cloud provider, and
then expanding the file system on the actual node.

Expanding the file system on the node only happens when a new pod is started with the volume.

Prerequisites

The controlling StorageClass must have allowVolumeExpansion set to true.

Procedure

1. Edit the PVC and request a new size by editing spec.resources.requests. For example, the
following expands the ebs PVC to 8 Gi.

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:

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 CHAPTER 3. EXPANDING PERSISTENT VOLUMES

name: ebs
spec:
storageClass: "storageClassWithFlagSet"
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 8Gi 1

1 Updating spec.resources.requests to a larger amount will expand the PVC.

2. Once the cloud provider object has finished resizing, the PVC is set to
FileSystemResizePending. The following command is used to check the condition:

$ oc describe pvc <pvc_name>

3. When the cloud provider object has finished resizing, the persistent volume object reflects the
newly requested size in PersistentVolume.Spec.Capacity. At this point, you can create or
recreate a new pod from the PVC to finish the file system resizing. Once the pod is running, the
newly requested size is available and the FileSystemResizePending condition is removed from
the PVC.

3.5. RECOVERING FROM FAILURE WHEN EXPANDING VOLUMES

If expanding underlying storage fails, the OpenShift Container Platform administrator can manually
recover the Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) state and cancel the resize requests. Otherwise, the resize
requests are continuously retried by the controller without administrator intervention.

Procedure

1. Mark the persistent volume (PV) that is bound to the PVC with the Retain reclaim policy. This
can be done by editing the PV and changing persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy to Retain.

2. Delete the PVC. This will be recreated later.

3. To ensure that the newly created PVC can bind to the PV marked Retain, manually edit the PV
and delete the claimRef entry from the PV specs. This marks the PV as Available.

4. Re-create the PVC in a smaller size, or a size that can be allocated by the underlying storage
provider.

5. Set the volumeName field of the PVC to the name of the PV. This binds the PVC to the
provisioned PV only.

6. Restore the reclaim policy on the PV.

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OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 Storage

CHAPTER 4. DYNAMIC PROVISIONING

4.1. ABOUT DYNAMIC PROVISIONING

The StorageClass resource object describes and classifies storage that can be requested, as well as
provides a means for passing parameters for dynamically provisioned storage on demand. StorageClass
objects can also serve as a management mechanism for controlling different levels of storage and
access to the storage. Cluster Administrators (cluster-admin) or Storage Administrators ( storage-
admin) define and create the StorageClass objects that users can request without needing any intimate
knowledge about the underlying storage volume sources.

The OpenShift Container Platform persistent volume framework enables this functionality and allows
administrators to provision a cluster with persistent storage. The framework also gives users a way to
request those resources without having any knowledge of the underlying infrastructure.

Many storage types are available for use as persistent volumes in OpenShift Container Platform. While
all of them can be statically provisioned by an administrator, some types of storage are created
dynamically using the built-in provider and plug-in APIs.

4.2. AVAILABLE DYNAMIC PROVISIONING PLUG-INS

OpenShift Container Platform provides the following provisioner plug-ins, which have generic
implementations for dynamic provisioning that use the cluster’s configured provider’s API to create new
storage resources:

Storage type Provisioner plug-in name Notes

AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS) kubernetes.io/aws-ebs For dynamic provisioning when
using multiple clusters in different
zones, tag each node with
Key=kubernetes.io/cluster/<c
luster_name>,Value=
<cluster_id> where
<cluster_name> and
<cluster_id> are unique per
cluster.

AWS Elastic File System (EFS) Dynamic provisioning is

accomplished through the EFS
provisioner pod and not through a
provisioner plug-in.

Azure Disk kubernetes.io/azure-disk

Azure File kubernetes.io/azure-file The persistent-volume-binder

ServiceAccount requires
permissions to create and get
Secrets to store the Azure
storage account and keys.

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 CHAPTER 4. DYNAMIC PROVISIONING

Storage type Provisioner plug-in name Notes

GCE Persistent Disk (gcePD) kubernetes.io/gce-pd In multi-zone configurations, it is

advisable to run one OpenShift
Container Platform cluster per
GCE project to avoid PVs from
being created in zones where no
node in the current cluster exists.

VMware vSphere kubernetes.io/vsphere-

volume

IMPORTANT

Any chosen provisioner plug-in also requires configuration for the relevant cloud, host, or
third-party provider as per the relevant documentation.

4.3. DEFINING A STORAGECLASS

StorageClass objects are currently a globally scoped object and must be created by cluster-admin or
storage-admin users.

IMPORTANT

The ClusterStorageOperator may install a default StorageClass depending on the

platform in use. This StorageClass is owned and controlled by the operator. It cannot be
deleted or modified beyond defining annotations and labels. If different behavior is
desired, you must define a custom StorageClass.

The following sections describe the basic object definition for a StorageClass and specific examples for
each of the supported plug-in types.

4.3.1. Basic StorageClass object definition

The following resource shows the parameters and default values that you use to configure a
StorageClass. This example uses the AWS ElasticBlockStore (EBS) object definition.

Sample StorageClass definition

kind: StorageClass 1
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1 2
metadata:
name: gp2 3
annotations: 4
storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: 'true'
...
provisioner: kubernetes.io/aws-ebs 5
parameters: 6
type: gp2
...

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1 (required) The API object type.

2 (required) The current apiVersion.

3 (required) The name of the StorageClass.

4 (optional) Annotations for the StorageClass

5 (required) The type of provisioner associated with this storage class.

6 (optional) The parameters required for the specific provisioner, this will change from plug-in to
plug-in.

4.3.2. StorageClass annotations

To set a StorageClass as the cluster-wide default, add the following annotation to your StorageClass’s
metadata:

storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"

For example:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
annotations:
storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
...

This enables any Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) that does not specify a specific volume to
automatically be provisioned through the default StorageClass.

NOTE

The beta annotation storageclass.beta.kubernetes.io/is-default-class is still working;

however, it will be removed in a future release.

To set a StorageClass description, add the following annotation to your StorageClass’s metadata:

kubernetes.io/description: My StorageClass Description

For example:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
annotations:
kubernetes.io/description: My StorageClass Description
...

4.3.3. OpenStack Cinder object definition

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cinder-storageclass.yaml

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: gold
provisioner: kubernetes.io/cinder
parameters:
type: fast 1
availability: nova 2
fsType: ext4 3

1 Volume type created in Cinder. Default is empty.

2 Availability Zone. If not specified, volumes are generally round-robined across all active zones
where the OpenShift Container Platform cluster has a node.

3 File system that is created on dynamically provisioned volumes. This value is copied to the fsType
field of dynamically provisioned persistent volumes and the file system is created when the volume
is mounted for the first time. The default value is ext4.

4.3.4. AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS) object definition

aws-ebs-storageclass.yaml

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: slow
provisioner: kubernetes.io/aws-ebs
parameters:
type: io1 1
iopsPerGB: "10" 2
encrypted: "true" 3
kmsKeyId: keyvalue 4
fsType: ext4 5

1 (required) Select from io1, gp2, sc1, st1. The default is gp2. See the AWS documentation for valid
Amazon Resource Name (ARN) values.

2 (optional) Only for io1 volumes. I/O operations per second per GiB. The AWS volume plug-in
multiplies this with the size of the requested volume to compute IOPS of the volume. The value cap
is 20,000 IOPS, which is the maximum supported by AWS. See the AWS documentation for further
details.

3 (optional) Denotes whether to encrypt the EBS volume. Valid values are true or false.

4 (optional) The full ARN of the key to use when encrypting the volume. If none is supplied, but
encypted is set to true, then AWS generates a key. See the AWS documentation for a valid ARN
value.

5 (optional) File system that is created on dynamically provisioned volumes. This value is copied to
the fsType field of dynamically provisioned persistent volumes and the file system is created when
the volume is mounted for the first time. The default value is ext4.

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the volume is mounted for the first time. The default value is ext4.

4.3.5. Azure Disk object definition

azure-advanced-disk-storageclass.yaml

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: slow
provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-disk
parameters:
storageAccount: azure_storage_account_name 1
storageaccounttype: Standard_LRS 2
kind: Dedicated 3

1 Azure storage account name. This must reside in the same resource group as the cluster. If a
storage account is specified, the location is ignored. If a storage account is not specified, a new
storage account gets created in the same resource group as the cluster. If you are specifying a
storageAccount, the value for kind must be Dedicated.

2 Azure storage account SKU tier. Default is empty. Note that Premium VMs can attach both
Standard_LRS and Premium_LRS disks, Standard VMs can only attach Standard_LRS disks,
Managed VMs can only attach managed disks, and unmanaged VMs can only attach unmanaged
disks.

3 Possible values are Shared (default), Dedicated, and Managed.

a. If kind is set to Shared, Azure creates all unmanaged disks in a few shared storage
accounts in the same resource group as the cluster.

b. If kind is set to Managed, Azure creates new managed disks.

c. If kind is set to Dedicated and a storageAccount is specified, Azure uses the specified
storage account for the new unmanaged disk in the same resource group as the cluster.
For this to work:

The specified storage account must be in the same region.

Azure Cloud Provider must have a write access to the storage account.

d. If kind is set to Dedicated and a storageAccount is not specified, Azure creates a new
dedicated storage account for the new unmanaged disk in the same resource group as the
cluster.

4.3.6. Azure File object definition

The Azure File StorageClass uses secrets to store the Azure storage account name and the storage
account key that are required to create an Azure Files share. These permissions are created as part of
the following procedure.

Procedure

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1. Define a ClusterRole that allows access to create and view secrets:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
# name: system:azure-cloud-provider
name: <persistent-volume-binder-role> 1
rules:
- apiGroups: ['']
resources: ['secrets']
verbs: ['get','create']

1 The name of the ClusterRole to view and create secrets.

2. Add the ClusterRole to the ServiceAccount:

$ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-user <persistent-volume-binder-role>

system:serviceaccount:kube-system:persistent-volume-binder

3. Create the Azure File StorageClass:

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: <azure-file> 1
provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-file
parameters:
location: eastus 2
skuName: Standard_LRS 3
storageAccount: <storage-account> 4
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: Immediate

1 Name of the StorageClass. The PersistentVolumeClaim uses this StorageClass for

provisioning the associated PersistentVolumes.

2 Location of the Azure storage account, such as eastus. Default is empty, meaning that a
new Azure storage account will be created in the OpenShift Container Platform cluster’s
location.

3 SKU tier of the Azure storage account, such as Standard_LRS. Default is empty, meaning
that a new Azure storage account will be created with the Standard_LRS SKU.

4 Name of the Azure storage account. If a storage account is provided, then skuName and
location are ignored. If no storage account is provided, then the StorageClass searches for
any storage account that is associated with the resource group for any accounts that
match the defined skuName and location.

4.3.6.1. Considerations when using Azure File

The following file system features are not supported by the default Azure File StorageClass:

Symlinks

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Hard links

Extended attributes

Sparse files

Named pipes

Additionally, the owner user identifier (UID) of the Azure File mounted directory is different from the
process UID of the container. The uid mount option can be specified in the StorageClass to define a
specific user identifier to use for the mounted directory.

The following StorageClass demonstrates modifying the user and group identifier, along with enabling
symlinks for the mounted directory.

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: azure-file
mountOptions:
- uid=1500 1
- gid=1500 2
- myfsymlinks 3
provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-file
parameters:
location: eastus
skuName: Standard_LRS
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: Immediate

1 Specifies the user identifier to use for the mounted directory.

2 Specifies the group identifier to use for the mounted directory.

3 Enables symlinks.

4.3.7. GCE PersistentDisk (gcePD) object definition

gce-pd-storageclass.yaml

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: slow
provisioner: kubernetes.io/gce-pd
parameters:
type: pd-standard 1
replication-type: none

1 Select either pd-standard or pd-ssd. The default is pd-ssd.

4.3.8. VMware vSphere object definition

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vsphere-storageclass.yaml

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: slow
provisioner: kubernetes.io/vsphere-volume 1
parameters:
diskformat: thin 2

1 For more information about using VMware vSphere with OpenShift Container Platform, see the
VMware vSphere documentation.

2 diskformat: thin, zeroedthick and eagerzeroedthick are all valid disk formats. See vSphere docs
for additional details regarding the disk format types. The default value is thin.

4.4. CHANGING THE DEFAULT STORAGECLASS

If you are using AWS, use the following process to change the default StorageClass. This process
assumes you have two StorageClasses defined, gp2 and standard, and you want to change the default
StorageClass from gp2 to standard.

1. List the StorageClass:

$ oc get storageclass

NAME TYPE
gp2 (default) kubernetes.io/aws-ebs 1
standard kubernetes.io/aws-ebs

1 (default) denotes the default StorageClass.

2. Change the value of the annotation storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class to false for

the default StorageClass:

$ oc patch storageclass gp2 -p '{"metadata": {"annotations": {"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-

default-class": "false"}}}'

3. Make another StorageClass the default by adding or modifying the annotation as

storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class=true.

$ oc patch storageclass standard -p '{"metadata": {"annotations":

{"storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class": "true"}}}'

4. Verify the changes:

$ oc get storageclass

NAME TYPE
gp2 kubernetes.io/aws-ebs
standard (default) kubernetes.io/aws-ebs

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