Chapter 6. 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 detailed 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.

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:

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

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

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
...

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

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

kubernetes.io/description: My Storage Class Description

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

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

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

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: managed-premium
  annotations:
    storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-disk
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer 1
allowVolumeExpansion: true
parameters:
  kind: Managed 2
  storageaccounttype: Premium_LRS 3
reclaimPolicy: Delete

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

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: standard
  annotations:
    storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
provisioner: kubernetes.io/gce-pd
parameters:
  type: pd-standard 1
  replication-type: none
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
allowVolumeExpansion: true
reclaimPolicy: Delete

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

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