Installation Guide

The dellctl tool can automatically install the CSI PowerStore driver and modules, and optionally install protocol prerequisites, and validate data path connectivity.

1. Download dellctl following the installation instructions.
2. See the dellctl install and dellctl install powerstore command documentation for instructions and examples.

1. Create Namespace.

   kubectl create namespace powerstore
   

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

2. Create secret.yaml.

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

   arrays:
     - endpoint: "https://11.0.0.1/api/rest"
       globalID: "unique"
       username: "user"
       password: "password"
       skipCertificateValidation: true
       blockProtocol: "FC"
   

   Note : skipCertificateValidation flag is currently unsupported. Please refrain from changing its value.

   • Update Parameters: Replace placeholders with actual values for your PowerStore array.
   • Add Blocks: If you have multiple PowerStore arrays, add similar blocks for each one.
   • Replication: If replication is enabled, make sure the config.yaml includes all involved PowerStore arrays.
     
     

   User Privileges

   The username in secret.yaml must be from PowerStore’s authentication providers and have at least the Storage Operator role.

   b. After editing the file, run this command to create a secret.yaml called powerstore-config.

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

3. Install Driver

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

   Starting from CSM version 1.16, users can utilize the spec.version parameter for automatic image management. No ConfigMap or custom registry configuration needed.
   
   For more details click on Advanced Image Configuration Options section.
   

   a. Minimal Configuration:

   apiVersion: storage.dell.com/v1
   kind: ContainerStorageModule
   metadata:
     name: powerstore
     namespace: powerstore
   spec:
     version: v1.16.1     
     driver:
       csiDriverType: "powerstore"
       forceRemoveDriver: true
   

   sample file for default settings. Modify if needed.

   [OR]

   b. Detailed Configuration: sample file for detailed settings or use Wizard to generate the sample file.

   • Users should configure the parameters in CR. The following table lists the primary configurable parameters of the PowerStore driver and their default values:

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default
replicas	Controls the number of controller pods you deploy. If the number of controller pods is greater than the number of available nodes, the excess pods will be in pending state until new nodes are available for scheduling. Default is 2 which allows for Controller high availability.	Yes	2
namespace	Specifies namespace where the driver will be installed	Yes	“powerstore”
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	“ReadWriteOnceWithFSType”
storageCapacity	Enable/Disable storage capacity tracking feature	No	false
Common parameters for node and controller
X_CSI_POWERSTORE_NODE_NAME_PREFIX	Prefix to add to each node registered by the CSI driver	Yes	“csi-node”
X_CSI_FC_PORTS_FILTER_FILE_PATH	To set path to the file which provides a list of WWPN which should be used by the driver for FC connection on this node	No	“/etc/fc-ports-filter”
GOPOWERSTORE_DEBUG	Enable/Disable gopowerstore library-level debugging.	No	false
Controller parameters
X_CSI_POWERSTORE_EXTERNAL_ACCESS	allows specifying additional entries for hostAccess of NFS volumes. Both single IP address and subnet are valid entries	No	empty
X_CSI_POWERSTORE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS	controls whether only externalAccess entries are added to the NFS export	No	false
X_CSI_NFS_ACLS	Defines permissions - POSIX mode bits or NFSv4 ACLs, to be set on NFS target mount directory.	No	“0777”
X_CSI_MULTI_NAS_FAILURE_THRESHOLD	Number of consecutive FS creation failures after which a NAS is put into cooldown. Please refer Multi NAS Support for more details.	No	“5”
X_CSI_MULTI_NAS_COOLDOWN_PERIOD	Duration for which a NAS remains in cooldown once the threshold is reached. Please refer Multi NAS Support for more details.	No	“5m”
Node parameters
X_CSI_POWERSTORE_ENABLE_CHAP	Set to true if you want to enable iSCSI CHAP feature	No	false

ii. Create PowerStore custom resource:

kubectl create -f <input_sample_file.yaml>

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

• Check driver pods status by running the appropriate command

  kubectl get all -n powerstore
  

iii. Verify the installation as mentioned below

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

  kubectl get csm/powerstore -n powerstore -o yaml
  

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.

4. Create Storage Class

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
     name: "powerstore-ext4"
   provisioner: "csi-powerstore.dellemc.com"
   parameters:
     csi.storage.k8s.io/fstype: "ext4"
   reclaimPolicy: Delete
   allowVolumeExpansion: true
   volumeBindingMode: Immediate
   

   Refer Storage Class for different sample files.

   Run this command to create a storage class

   kubectl create -f < storage-class.yaml >
   

5. Create Volume Snapshot Class

   apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
   metadata:
     name: powerstore-snapshot
   driver: "csi-powerstore.dellemc.com"
   deletionPolicy: Delete
   

   Refer Volume Snapshot Class for the sample files.

   Run this command to create a volume snapshot class

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

Note :

• “Kubelet config dir path” is not yet configurable in case of Operator based driver installation.
• Snapshotter and resizer sidecars are not optional. They are defaults with Driver installation.
• The VolumeJournal CRDs are installed by default as part of CSI PowerStore Driver installation and are required for Metro Volume configurations with resiliency enabled. To skip these CRDs from being installed, update the X_CSM_DR_ENABLED environment variable to false.