Installation Guide

Prerequisites

• If multipath is configured, ensure CSI-PowerFlex volumes are blacklisted by multipathd. See troubleshooting section for details.

SDC Deployment for Operator

• Overview: This feature deploys the SDC kernel modules on all nodes using an init container. PowerFlex can be deployed with or without SDC.

• Enable/Disable SDC: Set the X_CSI_SDC_ENABLED value in the CR file. By default, SDC is enabled.

• Manual Deployment: For unsupported OS versions, follow the manual SDC deployment steps. Refer to https://quay.io/repository/dell/storage/powerflex/sdc for supported OS versions.

• MDM Value: The operator sets the MDM value for initContainers in the driver CR from the mdm attributes in config.yaml. Do not set this manually.

• SDC Monitor: Enable the SDC monitor by setting the enable flag to true.

  • With Sidecar: Edit the HOST_PID and MDM fields with the host PID and MDM IPs.
  • Without Sidecar: Leave the enabled field set to false.

  Example CR: samples/storage_csm_powerflex_v2151.yaml

sideCars:
# sdc-monitor is disabled by default, due to high CPU usage
  - name: sdc-monitor
    enabled: false
    image: quay.io/dell/storage/powerflex/sdc:4.5.4
    envs:
    - name: HOST_PID
      value: "1"
    - name: MDM
      value: "10.xx.xx.xx,10.xx.xx.xx" #provide the same MDM value from secret

Manual SDC Deployment

For detailed PowerFlex installation procedure, see the Dell PowerFlex Deployment Guide. Install the PowerFlex SDC using this procedure:

Steps

1. Download SDC: Download the PowerFlex SDC from Dell Online support. The filename is EMC-ScaleIO-sdc-*.rpm, where * is the SDC name corresponding to the PowerFlex installation version.

2. Set MDM IPs: Export the MDM IPs as a comma-separated list:

   export MDM_IP=xx.xxx.xx.xx,xx.xxx.xx.xx
   

   where xxx represents the actual IP address in your environment.

3. Install SDC: Install the SDC per the Dell PowerFlex Deployment Guide:

   • For RPM environments, run:

   rpm -iv ./EMC-ScaleIO-sdc-*.x86_64.rpm
   

   Replace * with the SDC name corresponding to the PowerFlex version.

4. Add MDM IPs for Multi-Array support: run /opt/emc/scaleio/sdc/bin/drv_cfg --add_mdm --ip 10.xx.xx.xx.xx,10.xx.xx.xx.

CSI Driver Installation

1. Create namespace:

   kubectl create namespace vxflexos
   

   This command creates a namespace called vxflexos. You can replace vxflexos with any name you prefer.

2. Create secret.yaml.

   a. Create a file called secret.yaml or pick a sample that has Powerflex array connection details:

   - username: "admin"
     password: "password"
     systemID: "2b11bb111111bb1b"
     endpoint: "https://127.0.0.2"
     skipCertificateValidation: true
     mdm: "10.0.0.3,10.0.0.4"
   

   • Update Parameters: Replace placeholders with actual values for your Powerflex array.
   • Add Blocks: If you have multiple Powerflex arrays, add similar blocks for each one.
   • Replication: If replication is enabled, make sure the secret.yaml includes all involved Powerflex arrays.
     b. After editing the file, run this command to create a secret called vxflexos-config.

     kubectl create secret generic vxflexos-config -n vxflexos --from-file=config=secret.yaml
   

   Use this command to replace or update the secret:

     kubectl create secret generic vxflexos-config -n vxflexos --from-file=config=secret.yaml -o yaml --dry-run=client | kubectl replace -f -
   

3. Install driver:

   i. Create a CR (Custom Resource) for PowerFlex using the sample files provided

   a. Minimal Configuration:

   apiVersion: storage.dell.com/v1
   kind: ContainerStorageModule
   metadata:
     name: vxflexos
     namespace: vxflexos
   spec:
     driver:
       csiDriverType: "powerflex"
       configVersion: v2.15.1
       forceRemoveDriver: true
   

   Refer the minimal sample files provided in respective CSM versions folder under samples here. Modify if needed.

   [OR]

   b. Detailed Configuration: Use the sample file for detailed settings.

   Note: Configure SFTP settings based on PowerFlex Concepts

• Configure the parameters in the CR. The table below lists the primary configurable parameters of the PowerFlex driver and their default values:

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default
namespace	Specifies namespace where the driver will be installed	Yes	“vxflexos”
dnsPolicy	Determines the DNS Policy of the Node service	Yes	ClusterFirstWithHostNet
fsGroupPolicy	Defines which FS Group policy mode to be used, Supported modes None, File and ReadWriteOnceWithFSType. In OCP <= 4.16 and K8s <= 1.29, fsGroupPolicy is an immutable field.	No	“File”
replicas	Controls the number of controller pods you deploy. If the number of controller pods is greater than the number of available nodes, excess pods will become stay in a pending state.	Yes	1
storageCapacity.enabled	Enable/Disable storage capacity tracking	No	true
storageCapacity.pollInterval	Configure how often the driver checks for changed capacity	No	5m
enableQuota	a boolean that, when enabled, will set quota limit for a newly provisioned NFS volume	No	none
maxVxflexosVolumesPerNode	Specify default value for maximum number of volumes that controller can publish to the node.If value is zero CO SHALL decide how many volumes of this type can be published by the controller to the node	Yes	0
Common parameters for node and controller
X_CSI_VXFLEXOS_ENABLELISTVOLUMESNAPSHOT	Enable list volume operation to include snapshots (since creating a volume from a snap actually results in a new snap)	No	false
X_CSI_VXFLEXOS_ENABLESNAPSHOTCGDELETE	Enable this to automatically delete all snapshots in a consistency group when a snap in the group is deleted	No	false
X_CSI_ALLOW_RWO_MULTI_POD_ACCESS	Setting allowRWOMultiPodAccess to “true” will allow multiple pods on the same node to access the same RWO volume. This behavior conflicts with the CSI specification version 1.3. NodePublishVolume description that requires an error to be returned in this case. However, some other CSI drivers support this behavior and some customers desire this behavior. Customers use this option at their own risk.	No	false
INTERFACE_NAMES	A mapping of node names to interface names. Only necessary when SDC is disabled.	No	none
CSI_LOG_LEVEL	Sets the logging level of the driver.	No	INFO
GOSCALEIO_DEBUG	Enable/Disable goscaleio library-level debugging.	No	false
GOSCALEIO_SHOWHTTP	Enable/Disable goscaleio library-level REST request logging. Enabling will also enable GOSCALEIO_DEBUG regardless of GOSCALEIO_DEBUG setting.	No	false
X_CSI_PROBE_TIMEOUT	Specify the timeout limit for controller and node to communicate with the array.	No	“10s”
Controller parameters
X_CSI_POWERFLEX_EXTERNAL_ACCESS	allows specifying additional entries for hostAccess of NFS volumes. Both single IP address and subnet are valid entries	No	empty
X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED	Enable/Disable health monitor of CSI volumes from Controller plugin - volume condition	No	false
Node parameters
X_CSI_RENAME_SDC_ENABLED	Enable this to rename the SDC with the given prefix. The new name will be (“prefix” + “worker_node_hostname”) and it should not exceed 31 chars.	Yes	false
X_CSI_APPROVE_SDC_ENABLED	Enable this to to approve restricted SDC by GUID during setup	Yes	false
X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED	Enable/Disable health monitor of CSI volumes from Node plugin - volume condition	No	false
X_CSI_SDC_ENABLED	Enable/Disable installation of the SDC.	Yes	true
X_CSI_SDC_SFTP_REPO_ENABLED	A boolean that enables/disables the SFTP repository settings for SDC.	No	false
X_CSI_SFTP_REPO_ADDRESS	Specifies the address of the Dell SFTP/private repository to look up for SDC kernel files.	No	“sftp://0.0.0.0”
X_CSI_SFTP_REPO_USER	Specifies the username to authenticate to the SFTP repository.	No	“sdcSFTPRepoUser”
Sidecar parameters
volume-name-prefix	The volume-name-prefix is used by provisioner sidecar as a prefix for all the volumes created	Yes	k8s
monitor-interval	The monitor-interval is used by external-health-monitor as an interval for health checks	Yes	60s

ii . Run this command to create a PowerFlex custom resource:

  kubectl create -f <input_sample_file.yaml>

This command will deploy the CSI-PowerFlex driver in the namespace specified in the input YAML file.

4. Verify the installation:

   • Check if ContainerStorageModule CR is created successfully using the command below:

     kubectl get csm/vxflexos -n vxflexos
     

   • Check the status of the CR to verify if the driver installation is in the Succeed state. If the status is not Succeed, see the Troubleshooting guide for more information.

5. Create Storage class:

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
     name: vxflexos
     annotations:
       storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
   provisioner: csi-vxflexos.dellemc.com
   reclaimPolicy: Delete
   allowVolumeExpansion: true
   parameters:
     storagepool: <STORAGE_POOL>
     systemID: <SYSTEM_ID>
     csi.storage.k8s.io/fstype: ext4
   volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
   allowedTopologies:
     - matchLabelExpressions:
         - key: csi-vxflexos.dellemc.com/<SYSTEM_ID>
           values:
             - csi-vxflexos.dellemc.com
   

   Refer Storage Class for different sample files.

   Run this command to create a storage class

   kubectl create -f < storage-class.yaml >
   

6. Create Volume Snapshot Class:

   apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
   metadata:
     name: vxflexos-snapclass
   deletionPolicy: Delete
   

   Refer Volume Snapshot Class sample file.

   Run this command to create a volume snapshot class

   kubectl create -f < volume-snapshot-class.yaml >
   

Note :

• Snapshotter and resizer sidecars are installed by default.