Chapter 6. Post-installation storage configuration

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:

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

To set a storage class as the cluster-wide default, add the following annotation to your storage class 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 storage class to automatically be provisioned through the default storage class. However, your cluster can have more than one storage class, but only one of them can be the default storage class.

To set a storage class description, add the following annotation to your storage class metadata:

kubernetes.io/description: My Storage Class Description

For example:

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

The Azure File storage class 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.

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