4.3. CSI volume snapshots
This document describes how to use volume snapshots with supported Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers to help protect against data loss in OpenShift Container Platform. Familiarity with persistent volumes is suggested.
CSI volume snapshot 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/.
4.3.1. Overview of CSI volume snapshots
A snapshot represents the state of the storage volume in a cluster at a particular point in time. Volume snapshots can be used to provision a new volume.
OpenShift Container Platform supports CSI volume snapshots by default. However, a specific CSI driver is required.
With CSI volume snapshots, a cluster administrator can:
- Deploy a third-party CSI driver that supports snapshots.
- Create a new persistent volume claim (PVC) from an existing volume snapshot.
- Take a snapshot of an existing PVC.
- Restore a snapshot as a different PVC.
- Delete an existing volume snapshot.
With CSI volume snapshots, an app developer can:
- Use volume snapshots as building blocks for developing application- or cluster-level storage backup solutions.
- Rapidly rollback to a previous development version.
- Use storage more efficiently by not having to make a full copy each time.
Be aware of the following when using volume snapshots:
- Support is only available for CSI drivers. In-tree and FlexVolumes are not supported.
- OpenShift Container Platform only ships with select CSI drivers. For CSI drivers that are not provided by an OpenShift Container Platform Driver Operator, it is recommended to use the CSI drivers provided by community or storage vendors. Follow the installation instructions provided by the CSI driver.
-
CSI drivers may or may not have implemented the volume snapshot functionality. CSI drivers that have provided support for volume snapshots will likely use the
csi-external-snapshotter
sidecar. See documentation provided by the CSI driver for details. - OpenShift Container Platform 4.5 supports version 1.1.0 of the CSI specification.
4.3.2. CSI snapshot controller and sidecar
OpenShift Container Platform provides a snapshot controller that is deployed into the control plane. In addition, your CSI driver vendor provides the CSI snapshot sidecar as a helper container that is installed during the CSI driver installation.
The CSI snapshot controller and sidecar provide volume snapshotting through the OpenShift Container Platform API. These external components run in the cluster.
The external controller is deployed by the CSI Snapshot Controller Operator.
4.3.2.1. External controller
The CSI snapshot controller binds VolumeSnapshot
and VolumeSnapshotContent
objects. The controller manages dynamic provisioning by creating and deleting VolumeSnapshotContent
objects.
4.3.2.2. External sidecar
Your CSI driver vendor provides the csi-external-snapshotter
sidecar. This is a separate helper container that is deployed with the CSI driver. The sidecar manages snapshots by triggering CreateSnapshot
and DeleteSnapshot
operations. Follow the installation instructions provided by your vendor.
4.3.3. About the CSI Snapshot Controller Operator
The CSI Snapshot Controller Operator runs in the openshift-cluster-storage-operator
namespace. It is installed by the Cluster Version Operator (CVO) in all clusters by default.
The CSI Snapshot Controller Operator installs the CSI snapshot controller, which runs in the openshift-cluster-storage-operator
namespace.
4.3.3.1. Volume snapshot CRDs
During OpenShift Container Platform installation, the CSI Snapshot Controller Operator creates the following snapshot custom resource definitions (CRDs) in the snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1beta1
API group:
VolumeSnapshotContent
A snapshot taken of a volume in the cluster that has been provisioned by a cluster administrator.
Similar to the
PersistentVolume
object, theVolumeSnapshotContent
CRD is a cluster resource that points to a real snapshot in the storage back end.For manually pre-provisioned snapshots, a cluster administrator creates a number of
VolumeSnapshotContent
CRDs. These carry the details of the real volume snapshot in the storage system.The
VolumeSnapshotContent
CRD is not namespaced and is for use by a cluster administrator.VolumeSnapshot
Similar to the
PersistentVolumeClaim
object, theVolumeSnapshot
CRD defines a developer request for a snapshot. The CSI Snapshot Controller Operator runs the CSI snapshot controller, which handles the binding of aVolumeSnapshot
CRD with an appropriateVolumeSnapshotContent
CRD. The binding is a one-to-one mapping.The
VolumeSnapshot
CRD is namespaced. A developer uses the CRD as a distinct request for a snapshot.VolumeSnapshotClass
Allows a cluster administrator to specify different attributes belonging to a
VolumeSnapshot
CRD. These attributes may differ among snapshots taken of the same volume on the storage system, in which case they would not be expressed by using the same storage class of a persistent volume claim.The
VolumeSnapshotClass
CRD defines the parameters for thecsi-external-snapshotter
sidecar to use when creating a snapshot. This allows the storage back end to know what kind of snapshot to dynamically create if multiple options are supported.Dynamically provisioned snapshots use the
VolumeSnapshotClass
CRD to specify storage-provider-specific parameters to use when creating a snapshot.The
VolumeSnapshotContentClass
CRD is not namespaced and is for use by a cluster administrator to enable global configuration options for their storage back end.
4.3.4. Volume snapshot provisioning
There are two ways to provision snapshots: dynamically and manually.
4.3.4.1. Dynamic provisioning
Instead of using a preexisting snapshot, you can request that a snapshot be taken dynamically from a persistent volume claim. Parameters are specified using a VolumeSnapshotClass
CRD.
4.3.4.2. Manual provisioning
As a cluster administrator, you can manually pre-provision a number of VolumeSnapshotContent
objects. These carry the real volume snapshot details available to cluster users.
4.3.5. Creating a volume snapshot
When you create a VolumeSnapshot
object, OpenShift Container Platform creates a volume snapshot.
Prerequisites
- Logged in to a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
-
A PVC created using a CSI driver that supports
VolumeSnapshot
objects. - A storage class to provision the storage back end.
No pods are using the persistent volume claim (PVC) that you want to take a snapshot of.
注意Do not create a volume snapshot of a PVC if a pod is using it. Doing so might cause data corruption because the PVC is not quiesced (paused). Be sure to first tear down a running pod to ensure consistent snapshots.
Procedure
To dynamically create a volume snapshot:
Create a file with the
VolumeSnapshotClass
object described by the following YAML:volumesnapshotclass.yaml
apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io kind: VolumeSnapshotClass 1 metadata: name: csi-hostpath-snap driver: hostpath.csi.k8s.io deletionPolicy: Delete
- 1
- Allows you to specify different attributes belonging to a volume snapshot.
Create the object you saved in the previous step by entering the following command:
$ oc create -f volumesnapshotclass.yaml
Create a
VolumeSnapshot
object:volumesnapshot-dynamic.yaml
apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io kind: VolumeSnapshot metadata: name: mysnap spec: volumeSnapshotClassName: csi-hostpath-snap 1 source: persistentVolumeClaimName: myclaim 2
- 1
- The request for a particular class by the volume snapshot. If
volumeSnapshotClassName
is empty, then no snapshot is created. - 2
- The name of the
PersistentVolumeClaim
object bound to a persistent volume. This defines what you want to create a snapshot of. Required for dynamically provisioning a snapshot.
Create the object you saved in the previous step by entering the following command:
$ oc create -f volumesnapshot-dynamic.yaml
To manually provision a snapshot:
Provide a value for the
volumeSnapshotContentName
parameter as the source for the snapshot, in addition to defining volume snapshot class as shown above.volumesnapshot-manual.yaml
apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io kind: VolumeSnapshot metadata: name: snapshot-demo spec: source: volumeSnapshotContentName: mycontent 1
- 1
- The
volumeSnapshotContentName
parameter is required for pre-provisioned snapshots.
Create the object you saved in the previous step by entering the following command:
$ oc create -f volumesnapshot-manual.yaml
Verification
After the snapshot has been created in the cluster, additional details about the snapshot are available.
To display details about the volume snapshot that was created, enter the following command:
$ oc describe volumesnapshot mysnap
The following example displays details about the
mysnap
volume snapshot:volumesnapshot.yaml
apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io kind: VolumeSnapshot metadata: name: mysnap spec: source: persistentVolumeClaimName: myclaim volumeSnapshotClassName: csi-hostpath-snap status: boundVolumeSnapshotContentName: snapcontent-1af4989e-a365-4286-96f8-d5dcd65d78d6 1 creationTime: "2020-01-29T12:24:30Z" 2 readyToUse: true 3 restoreSize: 500Mi
- 1
- The pointer to the actual storage content that was created by the controller.
- 2
- The time when the snapshot was created. The snapshot contains the volume content that was available at this indicated time.
- 3
- If the value is set to
true
, the snapshot can be used to restore as a new PVC.
If the value is set tofalse
, the snapshot was created. However, the storage back end needs to perform additional tasks to make the snapshot usable so that it can be restored as a new volume. For example, Amazon Elastic Block Store data might be moved to a different, less expensive location, which can take several minutes.
To verify that the volume snapshot was created, enter the following command:
$ oc get volumesnapshotcontent
The pointer to the actual content is displayed. If the
boundVolumeSnapshotContentName
field is populated, aVolumeSnapshotContent
object exists and the snapshot was created.-
To verify that the snapshot is ready, confirm that the
VolumeSnapshot
object hasreadyToUse: true
.
4.3.6. Deleting a volume snapshot
You can configure how OpenShift Container Platform deletes volume snapshots.
Procedure
Specify the deletion policy that you require in the
VolumeSnapshotClass
object, as shown in the following example:volumesnapshot.yaml
apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io kind: VolumeSnapshotClass metadata: name: csi-hostpath-snap driver: hostpath.csi.k8s.io deletionPolicy: Delete 1
- 1
- When deleting the volume snapshot, if the
Delete
value is set, the underlying snapshot is deleted along with theVolumeSnapshotContent
object. If theRetain
value is set, both the underlying snapshot andVolumeSnapshotContent
object remain.
If theRetain
value is set and theVolumeSnapshot
object is deleted without deleting the correspondingVolumeSnapshotContent
object, the content remains. The snapshot itself is also retained in the storage back end.
Delete the volume snapshot by entering the following command:
$ oc delete volumesnapshot <volumesnapshot_name>
Example output
volumesnapshot.snapshot.storage.k8s.io "mysnapshot" deleted
If the deletion policy is set to
Retain
, delete the volume snapshot content by entering the following command:$ oc delete volumesnapshotcontent <volumesnapshotcontent_name>
Optional: If the
VolumeSnapshot
object is not successfully deleted, enter the following command to remove any finalizers for the leftover resource so that the delete operation can continue:重要Only remove the finalizers if you are confident that there are no existing references from either persistent volume claims or volume snapshot contents to the
VolumeSnapshot
object. Even with the--force
option, the delete operation does not delete snapshot objects until all finalizers are removed.$ oc patch -n $PROJECT volumesnapshot/$NAME --type=merge -p '{"metadata": {"finalizers":null}}'
Example output
volumesnapshotclass.snapshot.storage.k8s.io "csi-ocs-rbd-snapclass" deleted
The finalizers are removed and the volume snapshot is deleted.
4.3.7. Restoring a volume snapshot
The VolumeSnapshot
CRD content can be used to restore the existing volume to a previous state.
After your VolumeSnapshot
CRD is bound and the readyToUse
value is set to true
, you can use that resource to provision a new volume that is pre-populated with data from the snapshot.
Prerequisites
- Logged in to a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
- A persistent volume claim (PVC) created using a Container Storage Interface (CSI) driver that supports volume snapshots.
- A storage class to provision the storage back end.
Procedure
Specify a
VolumeSnapshot
data source on a PVC as shown in the following:pvc-restore.yaml
apiVersion: v1 kind: PersistentVolumeClaim metadata: name: myclaim-restore spec: storageClassName: csi-hostpath-sc dataSource: name: mysnap 1 kind: VolumeSnapshot 2 apiGroup: snapshot.storage.k8s.io 3 accessModes: - ReadWriteOnce resources: requests: storage: 1Gi
Create a PVC by entering the following command:
$ oc create -f pvc-restore.yaml
Verify that the restored PVC has been created by entering the following command:
$ oc get pvc
Two different PVCs are displayed.