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Version: 3.2

Configure Pure Storage FlashArray as a Direct Access volume

On-premises users who want to use Pure Storage FlashArray with Portworx on Kubernetes can attach FlashArray as a Direct Access volume. Used in this way, Portworx directly provisions FlashArray volumes, maps them to a user PVC, and mounts them to pods. Once mounted, the application writes data directly onto FlashArray. As a result, this mounting method doesn’t use storage pools.

FlashArray Direct Access volumes support the following CSI operations:

  • Basic filesystem operations: create, mount, expand, clone, unmount, delete
  • Mount options: Configure file system mount options
  • Snapshots
  • Quality of service (QoS) settings (requires at least one FlashArray with Purity version 5.3.0 or newer and REST API version 1.17 or newer)

Use FlashArray as a Direct Access volume​

Once you’ve configured Portworx to work with your FlashArray, you can create a StorageClass and reference it in any PVCs you create.

Create a StorageClass​

Create a StorageClass spec and set parameters.backend to "pure_block". Here is an example StorageClass spec:

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: sc-portworx-fa-direct-access
provisioner: pxd.portworx.com
parameters:
  backend: "pure_block"
  max_iops: "1000"
  max_bandwidth: "1G"
allowVolumeExpansion: true

Create a PVC​

Create a PersistentVolumeClaim and reference the StorageClass you created by entering the name that you gave your StorageClass in the spec.storageClassName field. For example:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: pure-claim-block
  labels:
    app: nginx
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 20Gi
  storageClassName: sc-portworx-fa-direct-access

Mount to a pod​

Create a Pod and reference the PVC you created by entering the name you gave your PVC in the persistentVolumeClaim.claimName field. For example:

kind: Pod
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: nginx-pod
  labels:
    app: nginx
spec:
  volumes:
  - name: pure-vol
    persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: pure-claim-block
  containers:
  - name: nginx
    image: nginx
    volumeMounts:
    - name: pure-vol
      mountPath: /data
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80

Clone a PVC​

To clone PVC, create a PersistentVolumeClaim with dataSource.kind set to PVC and dataSource.name set to the name of the PVC you wish to clone. For example:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: pvc-clone
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 20Gi
  storageClassName: sc-portworx-fa-direct-access
  dataSource:
    kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
    name: pure-claim-block

Take a snapshot​

To take a snapshot, perform the following steps:

  1. Create a SnapshotClass with driver set to pxd.portworx.com. For example:

    kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
    apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
    metadata:
       name: px-fa-direct-access-snapshotclass
       annotations:
          snapshot.storage.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
    driver: pxd.portworx.com
    deletionPolicy: Delete

  2. Create a VolumeSnapshot where volumeSnapshotClassName is set to the name you gave your VolumeSnapshotClass, and source.persistentVolumeClaimName is set to the name you gave your volume. For example:

    kind: VolumeSnapshot
    apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
    metadata:
      name: volumesnapshot-of-pure-claim-block
    spec:
      volumeSnapshotClassName: px-fa-direct-access-snapshotclass
      source:
        persistentVolumeClaimName: pure-claim-block

Restore a snapshot​

To restore a snapshot to a new PVC, create a PersistentVolumeClaim with dataSource.kind set to VolumeSnapshot and dataSource.name set to the name of your VolumeSnapshot. For example:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: pvc-restore
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 20Gi
  storageClassName: sc-portworx-fa-direct-access
  dataSource:
    kind: VolumeSnapshot
    name: volumesnapshot-of-pure-claim-block
    apiGroup: snapshot.storage.k8s.io

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