FAQ / CSI for PowerStore

To which CSI driver PowerStore version does this FAQ apply?

This FAQ applies to version 1.1 of the CSI Driver for PowerStore

What's new with 1.1 ?

• Supports CSI 1.1
• Supports Kubernetes version 1.17, 1.18, 1.19
• Supports OpenShift 4.3 and 4.4 with both RHEL and RHCOS worker nodes
• Supports NFS based volume
• Supports volume expansion online and offline
• Supports Raw Block volumes
• Supports volume cloning
• Supports deployment via Dell EMC Storage CSI Operator
• Supports CentOS versions 7.8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.8
• New installer scripts

Which CSI version does the driver conform to?

The driver works with Kubernetes 1.14 and 1.16 with CSI specification 1.1 ; the CSI interface enabled

What are the supported features?

The following table lists the supported action to manage the lifecycle of a PowerStore volume handled with the CSI driver.

Action	Supported
Static Provisioning	yes
Dynamic Provisioning	yes
Binding	yes
Retain Reclaiming	yes
Delete Reclaiming	yes
Recycle Reclaiming	no
Expand Persistent Volume	yes
Shrink Persistent Volume	no
Create Snapshot Volume	yes
Create Volume from Snapshot	yes
Delete Snapshot	yes
CSI Volume Cloning	yes
CSI Raw Block Volume	yes
CSI ephemeral volumes	no
Access Modes	ROW / RWX for NFS

 

What are the supported storage protocols?

The supported protocols to access PowerStore storage are iSCSI, Fiber Channel, and NFS.

What are the known limitations?

The driver does not support topology (VOLUME_ACCESSIBILITY_CONSTRAINTS); this means a single host sees a volume at a time.

The driver does not support both iSCSI and FC connectivity for a single node.

It is not possible to connect to multiple PowerStore arrays with the driver.

How do I set up the PowerStore CSI driver?

The CSI driver can be installed with the provided installation scripts under the directory dell-csi-helm-installer or with the dell-csi-operator.

The operator is available directly from Openshift OperatorHub UI. For other distributions, you can download it from operatorhub.io.

For ease of installation, we recommend using the dell-csi-operator. If you want to have more control over the components helm is more open.

The details of each installation methods are documented in the product guide.

A video showing the Operator usage in context CSI Isilon is viewable here : (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4z2tRqHnSg&list=PLbssOJyyvHuVXyKi0c9Z7NLqBiDiwF1eA&index=6)

How to install the beta snapshot capability?

With the promotion of Volume Snapshot to beta, one significant change is the CSI external-snapshotter sidecar has been split into two controllers, a common snapshot controller and a CSI external-snapshotter sidecar. 

The provided install script will :

• By default, install of the external-snaphotter for CSI PowerStore.
• Optionally, install the beta snapshot CRD when the option --snapshot-crd is set during the initial installation.

It is up to your Kubernetes distribution or you to deploy the common snapshotter controller.

How to uninstall the CSI driver?

Like for the installation, you can uninstall the driver with helm: helm delete POWERSTORE_RELEASE [--purge]

Or execute the script: sh csi-uninstall.sh

What are the pre-requisites for CSI driver installation?

To check your system complies with the pre-requisites, you can execute the script sh verify.sh

The exhaustive list of pre-requisites is given in the product guide and depends on the protocol you want to use. For example, iSCSI needs iscsi daemon, while FC support needs multipathing configured.

Which K8s distributions are supported?

The supported versions are upstream Kubernetes 1.17, 1.18, 1.19 ; OpenShift 4.3 & 4.4 with RHEL and RHCOS nodes.

What operating systems are supported for Kubernetes nodes?

The supported OSes are Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS versions 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, and Ubuntu 18.04.

How do I troubleshoot the driver?

The behavior of the driver can be diagnosed using standard kubectl commands, as with other k8s pod/resources. Most often used commands are :

• kubectl get pods -n powerstore : gives the status of the controller and drivers on every node
• kubectl describe pods powerstore-controller-0 -n powerstore : provides details on the deployment for the controller
• kubectl logs powerstore-controller-0 -n powerstore -c driver : logs the API calls between the driver and Unisphere

Which driver version is installed?

helm list -c POWERSTORE_RELEASE

Where do I submit an issue against the driver?

Dell EMC officially supports the PowerStore driver. Therefore you can open a ticket directly to the support website: https://www.dell.com/support/ or open a discussion in the forum: https://www.dell.com/community/Containers/bd-p/Containers

Can I run this driver in a production environment?

Yes, the driver is production-grade. Please make sure your environment follows the pre-requisites and kubernetes best practices.

What support does Dell EMC provide for the driver built via the GitHub sources?

Dell EMC is fully committed in supporting the driver image on Dockerhub built from the sources hosted on GitHub.

Do I need to have programming skills to use CSI driver?

No.

To use the driver, you need to have basic knowledge around kubernetes administration (How to create a PV, How to use a Volume, etc.).

How can I connect Dell EMC PowerStore storage to Kubernetes running on VMWare?

If you choose to host your cluster in a virtualized environment, the preferred protocols are iSCSI and NFS.

What do I do if I discover an issue with the code on the GitHub?

Please open a ticket a discussion in: https://www.dell.com/community/Containers/bd-p/Containers