PowerMax

The Dell CSI Operator is no longer actively maintained or supported. It will be deprecated in CSM 1.9. It is highly recommended that you use CSM Operator going forward.

Linked Proxy mode for CSI reverse proxy is no longer actively maintained or supported. It will be deprecated in CSM 1.9. It is highly recommended that you use stand alone mode going forward.

Installing CSI Driver for PowerMax via Operator

CSI Driver for Dell PowerMax can be installed via the Dell CSI Operator.

To deploy the Operator, follow the instructions available here.

There are sample manifests provided which can be edited to do an easy installation of the driver. Please note that the deployment of the driver using the operator does not use any Helm charts and the installation and configuration parameters will be slightly different from the ones specified via the Helm installer.

Kubernetes Operators make it easy to deploy and manage the entire lifecycle of complex Kubernetes applications. Operators use Custom Resource Definitions (CRD) which represents the application and use custom controllers to manage them.

Prerequisite

Fibre Channel Requirements

CSI Driver for Dell PowerMax supports Fibre Channel communication. Ensure that the following requirements are met before you install CSI Driver:

  • Zoning of the Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) to the Fibre Channel port director must be completed.
  • Ensure that the HBA WWNs (initiators) appear on the list of initiators that are logged into the array.
  • If the number of volumes that will be published to nodes is high, then configure the maximum number of LUNs for your HBAs on each node. See the appropriate HBA document to configure the maximum number of LUNs.

iSCSI Requirements

The CSI Driver for Dell PowerMax supports iSCSI connectivity. These requirements are applicable for the nodes that use iSCSI initiator to connect to the PowerMax arrays.

Set up the iSCSI initiators as follows:

  • All Kubernetes nodes must have the iscsi-initiator-utils package installed.
  • Ensure that the iSCSI initiators are available on all the nodes where the driver node plugin will be installed.
  • Kubernetes nodes should have access (network connectivity) to an iSCSI director on the Dell PowerMax array that has IP interfaces. Manually create IP routes for each node that connects to the Dell PowerMax if required.
  • Ensure that the iSCSI initiators on the nodes are not a part of any existing Host (Initiator Group) on the Dell PowerMax array.
  • The CSI Driver needs the port group names containing the required iSCSI director ports. These port groups must be set up on each Dell PowerMax array. All the port group names supplied to the driver must exist on each Dell PowerMax with the same name.

For more information about configuring iSCSI, see Dell Host Connectivity guide.

Auto RDM for vSphere over FC requirements

The CSI Driver for Dell PowerMax supports auto RDM for vSphere over FC. These requirements are applicable for the clusters deployed on ESX/ESXi using virtualized environement.

Set up the environment as follows:

  • Requires VMware vCenter management software to manage all ESX/ESXis where the cluster is hosted.

  • Add all FC array ports zoned to the ESX/ESXis to a port group where the cluster is hosted .

  • Add initiators from all ESX/ESXis to a host(initiator group)/host group(cascaded initiator group) where the cluster is hosted.

  • Create a secret which contains vCenter privileges. Follow the steps here to create the same.

Note: Hostgroups support with vSphere environment will be only available on csm-operator.

Linux multipathing requirements

CSI Driver for Dell PowerMax supports Linux multipathing. Configure Linux multipathing before installing the CSI Driver.

Set up Linux multipathing as follows:

  • All the nodes must have the Device Mapper Multipathing package installed.
    NOTE: When this package is installed it creates a multipath configuration file which is located at /etc/multipath.conf. Please ensure that this file always exists.
  • Enable multipathing using mpathconf --enable --with_multipathd y
  • Enable user_friendly_names and find_multipaths in the multipath.conf file.

As a best practice, use these options to help the operating system and the mulitpathing software detect path changes efficiently:

path_grouping_policy multibus
path_checker tur
features "1 queue_if_no_path"
path_selector "round-robin 0"
no_path_retry 10

PowerPath for Linux requirements

CSI Driver for Dell PowerMax supports PowerPath for Linux. Configure Linux PowerPath before installing the CSI Driver.

Follow this procedure to set up PowerPath for Linux:

  • All the nodes must have the PowerPath package installed . Download the PowerPath archive for the environment from Dell Online Support.
  • Untar the PowerPath archive, Copy the RPM package into a temporary folder and Install PowerPath using rpm -ivh DellEMCPower.LINUX-<version>-<build>.<platform>.x86_64.rpm
  • Start the PowerPath service using systemctl start PowerPath

Create secret for client-side TLS verification (Optional)

Create a secret named powermax-certs in the namespace where the CSI PowerMax driver will be installed. This is an optional step and is only required if you are setting the env variable X_CSI_POWERMAX_SKIP_CERTIFICATE_VALIDATION to false. See the detailed documentation on how to create this secret here.

Install Driver

  1. Create namespace: Run kubectl create namespace <driver-namespace> using the desired name to create the namespace.

  2. Create PowerMax credentials: Create a file called powermax-creds.yaml with the following content:

       apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: powermax-creds
       # Replace driver-namespace with the namespace where driver is being deployed
     namespace: <driver-namespace>
   type: Opaque
   data:
     # set username to the base64 encoded username
     username: <base64 username>
     # set password to the base64 encoded password
     password: <base64 password>
     # Uncomment the following key if you wish to use ISCSI CHAP authentication (v1.3.0 onwards)
     # chapsecret: <base64 CHAP secret>

    Replace the values for the username and password parameters. These values can be obtained using base64 encoding as described in the following example:

    echo -n "myusername" | base64
echo -n "mypassword" | base64
# If mychapsecret is the ISCSI CHAP secret
echo -n "mychapsecret" | base64

    Run the kubectl create -f powermax-creds.yaml command to create the secret.

  3. Create a Custom Resource (CR) for PowerMax using the sample files provided here.

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

    Parameter Description Required Default
    replicas Controls the number of controller Pods you deploy. If controller Pods are greater than the number of available nodes, excess Pods will become stuck in pending. The default is 2 which allows for Controller high availability. Yes 2
    fsGroupPolicy Defines which FS Group policy mode to be used, Supported modes None, File and ReadWriteOnceWithFSType No “ReadWriteOnceWithFSType”
    Common parameters for node and controller
    X_CSI_K8S_CLUSTER_PREFIX Define a prefix that is appended to all resources created in the array; unique per K8s/CSI deployment; max length - 3 characters Yes XYZ
    X_CSI_POWERMAX_ENDPOINT IP address of the Unisphere for PowerMax Yes https://0.0.0.0:8443
    X_CSI_TRANSPORT_PROTOCOL Choose which transport protocol to use (ISCSI, FC, auto or None) Yes auto
    X_CSI_POWERMAX_PORTGROUPS List of comma-separated port groups (ISCSI only). Example: “PortGroup1,PortGroup2” No -
    X_CSI_MANAGED_ARRAYS List of comma-separated array ID(s) which will be managed by the driver Yes -
    X_CSI_POWERMAX_PROXY_SERVICE_NAME Name of CSI PowerMax ReverseProxy service. Yes powermax-reverseproxy
    X_CSI_GRPC_MAX_THREADS Number of concurrent grpc requests allowed per client No 4
    X_CSI_IG_MODIFY_HOSTNAME Change any existing host names. When nodenametemplate is set, it changes the name to the specified format else it uses driver default host name format. No false
    X_CSI_IG_NODENAME_TEMPLATE Provide a template for the CSI driver to use while creating the Host/IG on the array for the nodes in the cluster. It is of the format a-b-c-%foo%-xyz where foo will be replaced by host name of each node in the cluster. No -
    X_CSI_POWERMAX_DRIVER_NAME Set custom CSI driver name. For more details on this feature see the related documentation No -
    X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED Enable/Disable health monitor of CSI volumes from Controller and Node plugin. Provides details of volume status, usage and volume condition. As a prerequisite, external-health-monitor sidecar section should be uncommented in samples which would install the sidecar No false
    X_CSI_VSPHERE_ENABLED Enable VMware virtualized environment support via RDM No false
    X_CSI_VSPHERE_PORTGROUP Existing portGroup that driver will use for vSphere Yes ""
    X_CSI_VSPHERE_HOSTNAME Existing host(initiator group)/host group(cascaded initiator group) that driver will use for vSphere Yes ""
    X_CSI_VCenter_HOST URL/endpoint of the vCenter where all the ESX are present Yes ""
    Node parameters
    X_CSI_POWERMAX_ISCSI_ENABLE_CHAP Enable ISCSI CHAP authentication. For more details on this feature see the related documentation No false
    X_CSI_TOPOLOGY_CONTROL_ENABLED Enable/Disabe topology control. It filters out arrays, associated transport protocol available to each node and creates topology keys based on any such user input. No false

  5. Execute the following command to create the PowerMax custom resource:kubectl create -f <input_sample_file.yaml>. The above command will deploy the CSI-PowerMax driver.

Note - If CSI driver is getting installed using OCP UI , create these two configmaps manually using the command oc create -f <configfilename>

  1. Configmap name powermax-config-params 
     apiVersion: v1
 kind: ConfigMap
 metadata:
    name: powermax-config-params
    namespace: test-powermax
 data:
    driver-config-params.yaml: |
       CSI_LOG_LEVEL: "debug"
       CSI_LOG_FORMAT: "JSON"
  2. Configmap name node-topology-config 
       apiVersion: v1
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: node-topology-config
     namespace: test-powermax
   data:
     topologyConfig.yaml: |
       allowedConnections:
         - nodeName: "node1"
           rules:
             - "000000000001:FC"
             - "000000000002:FC"
         - nodeName: "*"
           rules:
             - "000000000002:FC"
       deniedConnections:
         - nodeName: "node2"
           rules:
             - "000000000002:*"
         - nodeName: "node3"
           rules:
             - "*:*"

CSI PowerMax ReverseProxy

CSI PowerMax ReverseProxy is component that will be installed along with the CSI PowerMax driver. For more details on this feature see the related documentation.

Deployment and ClusterIP service will be created by dell-csi-operator.

Pre-requisites

Create a TLS secret that holds an SSL certificate and a private key which is required by the reverse proxy server. Use a tool such as openssl to generate this secret using the example below:

openssl genrsa -out tls.key 2048
openssl req -new -x509 -sha256 -key tls.key -out tls.crt -days 3650
kubectl create secret -n <namespace> tls revproxy-certs --cert=tls.crt --key=tls.key
kubectl create secret -n <namespace> tls csirevproxy-tls-secret --cert=tls.crt --
key=tls.key

Set the following parameters in the CSI PowerMaxReverseProxy Spec

  • tlsSecret : Provide the name of the TLS secret. If using the above example, it should be set to revproxy-certs
  • config : This section contains the details of the Reverse Proxy configuration
  • mode : This value is set to Linked by default. Do not change this value
  • linkConfig : This section contains the configuration of the Linked mode
  • primary : This section holds details for the primary Unisphere which the Reverse Proxy will connect to
  • backup : This optional section holds details for a backup Unisphere which the Reverse Proxy can connect to if the primary Unisphere is unreachable
  • url : URL of the Unisphere server
  • skipCertificateValidation: This setting determines if the client-side Unisphere certificate validation is required
  • certSecret: Secret name which holds the CA certificates which was used to sign Unisphere SSL certificates. Mandatory if skipCertificateValidation is set to false
  • standAloneConfig : This section contains the configuration of the StandAlone mode. Refer to the sample below for the detailed config

Note: Only one of the Linked or StandAlone configurations needs to be supplied. The appropriate mode needs to be set in the spec as well.

Here is a sample manifest with each field annotated. A copy of this manifest is provided in the samples folder

apiVersion: storage.dell.com/v1
kind: CSIPowerMaxRevProxy
metadata:
  name: powermax-reverseproxy # <- Name of the CSIPowerMaxRevProxy object
  namespace: test-powermax # <- Set the namespace to where you will install the CSI PowerMax driver
spec:
  # Image for CSI PowerMax ReverseProxy
  image: dellemc/csipowermax-reverseproxy:v2.3.0 # <- CSI PowerMax Reverse Proxy image
  imagePullPolicy: Always
  # TLS secret which contains SSL certificate and private key for the Reverse Proxy server
  tlsSecret: csirevproxy-tls-secret
  config:
    mode: Linked
    linkConfig:
      primary:
        url: https://0.0.0.0:8443 #Unisphere URL
        skipCertificateValidation: true # This setting determines if client side Unisphere certificate validation is to be skipped
        certSecret: "" # Provide this value if skipCertificateValidation is set to false
      backup: # This is an optional field and lets you configure a backup unisphere which can be used by proxy server
        url: https://0.0.0.0:8443 #Unisphere URL
        skipCertificateValidation: true
    standAloneConfig: # Set mode to "StandAlone" in order to use this config
       storageArrays:
          - storageArrayId: "000000000001"
            # Unisphere server managing the PowerMax array
            primaryURL: https://unisphere-1-addr:8443
            # proxyCredentialSecrets are used by the clients of the proxy to connect to it
            # If using proxy in the stand alone mode, then the driver must be provided the same secret.
            # The format of the proxy credential secret are exactly the same as the unisphere credential secret
            # For using the proxy with the driver, use the same proxy credential secrets for
            # all the managed storage arrays
            proxyCredentialSecrets:
	           - proxy-creds
          - storageArrayId: "000000000002"
            primaryURL: https://unisphere-2-addr:8443
             # An optional backup Unisphere server managing the same array
             # This can be used by the proxy to fall back to in case the primary
             # Unisphere is inaccessible temporarily
            backupURL: unisphere-3-addr:8443
            proxyCredentialSecrets:
               - proxy-creds
       managementServers:
          - url: https://unisphere-1-addr:8443
            # Secret containing the credentials of the Unisphere server
            arrayCredentialSecret: unsiphere-1-creds
            skipCertificateValidation: true
          - url: https://unisphere-2-addr:8443
            arrayCredentialSecret: unsiphere-2-creds
            skipCertificateValidation: true
          - url: https://unisphere-3-addr:8443
            arrayCredentialSecret: unsiphere-3-creds
            skipCertificateValidation: true

Installation

Copy the sample file - powermax_reverseproxy.yaml from the samples folder or use the sample available in the OperatorHub UI
Edit and input all required parameters and then use the OperatorHub UI or run the following command to install the CSI PowerMax Reverse Proxy service:

  kubectl create -f powermax_reverseproxy.yaml

You can query for the deployment and service created as part of the installation using the following commands:

  kubectl get deployment -n <namespace>
  kubectl get svc -n <namespace>

There is a new sample file - powermax_revproxy_standalone_with_driver.yaml in the samples folder which enables installation of CSI PowerMax ReverseProxy in StandAlone mode along with the CSI PowerMax driver. This mode enables the CSI PowerMax driver to connect to multiple Unisphere servers for managing multiple PowerMax arrays. Please follow the same steps described above to install ReverseProxy with this new sample file.

Dynamic Logging Configuration

This feature is introduced in CSI Driver for powermax version 2.0.0.

Operator based installation

As part of driver installation, a ConfigMap with the name powermax-config-params is created using the manifest located in the sample file. This ConfigMap contains an attribute CSI_LOG_LEVEL which specifies the current log level of the CSI driver. To set the default/initial log level user can set this field during driver installation.

To update the log level dynamically user has to edit the ConfigMap powermax-config-params and update CSI_LOG_LEVEL to the desired log level.

kubectl edit configmap -n powermax powermax-config-params

Sample CRD file for powermax

You can find the sample CRD file here

Note:

  • Kubelet config dir path is not yet configurable in case of Operator based driver installation.
  • Also, snapshotter and resizer sidecars are not optional to choose, it comes default with Driver installation.

Volume Health Monitoring

This feature is introduced in CSI Driver for PowerMax version 2.2.0.

Operator based installation

Volume Health Monitoring feature is optional and by default this feature is disabled for drivers when installed via operator.

To enable this feature, set X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED to true in the driver manifest under controller and node section. Also, install the external-health-monitor from sideCars section for controller plugin. To get the volume health state value under controller should be set to true as seen below. To get the volume stats value under node should be set to true.

     # Install the 'external-health-monitor' sidecar accordingly.
        # Allowed values:
        #   true: enable checking of health condition of CSI volumes
        #   false: disable checking of health condition of CSI volumes
        # Default value: false
     controller:
       envs:
         - name: X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED
           value: "true"
     node:
       envs:
        # X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED: Enable/Disable health monitor of CSI volumes from node plugin - volume usage
        # Allowed values:
        #   true: enable checking of health condition of CSI volumes
        #   false: disable checking of health condition of CSI volumes
        # Default value: false
         - name: X_CSI_HEALTH_MONITOR_ENABLED
           value: "true"

Support for custom topology keys

This feature is introduced in CSI Driver for PowerMax version 2.3.0.

Operator based installation

Support for custom topology keys is optional and by default this feature is disabled for drivers when installed via operator.

X_CSI_TOPOLOGY_CONTROL_ENABLED provides a way to filter topology keys on a node based on array and transport protocol. If enabled, user can create custom topology keys by editing node-topology-config configmap.

  1. To enable this feature, set X_CSI_TOPOLOGY_CONTROL_ENABLED to true in the driver manifest under node section.
   # X_CSI_TOPOLOGY_CONTROL_ENABLED provides a way to filter topology keys on a node based on array and transport protocol
        # if enabled, user can create custom topology keys by editing node-topology-config configmap.
        # Allowed values:
        #   true: enable the filtration based on config map
        #   false: disable the filtration based on config map
        # Default value: false
        - name: X_CSI_TOPOLOGY_CONTROL_ENABLED
          value: "false"
  1. Edit the sample config map “node-topology-config” present in sample CRD with appropriate values:
    Parameter Description
    allowedConnections List of node, array and protocol info for user allowed configuration
    allowedConnections.nodeName Name of the node on which user wants to apply given rules
    allowedConnections.rules List of StorageArrayID:TransportProtocol pair
    deniedConnections List of node, array and protocol info for user denied configuration
    deniedConnections.nodeName Name of the node on which user wants to apply given rules
    deniedConnections.rules List of StorageArrayID:TransportProtocol pair

Note: Name of the configmap should always be node-topology-config.

Support for auto RDM for vSphere over FC

This feature is introduced in CSI Driver for PowerMax version 2.5.0.

Operator based installation

Support for auto RDM for vSphere over FC feature is optional and by default this feature is disabled for drivers when installed via operator.

To enable this feature, set X_CSI_VSPHERE_ENABLED to true in the driver manifest under controller and node section.

# VMware/vSphere virtualization support
        # set X_CSI_VSPHERE_ENABLED to true, if you to enable VMware virtualized environment support via RDM
        # Allowed values:
        #   "true" - vSphere volumes are enabled
        #   "false" - vSphere volumes are disabled
        # Default value: "false"
        - name: "X_CSI_VSPHERE_ENABLED"
          value: "false"
        # X_CSI_VSPHERE_PORTGROUP: An existing portGroup that driver will use for vSphere
        # recommended format: csi-x-VC-PG, x can be anything of user choice
        # Allowed value: valid existing port group on the array
        # Default value: "" <empty>
        - name: "X_CSI_VSPHERE_PORTGROUP"
          value: ""
        # X_CSI_VSPHERE_HOSTNAME: An existing host(initiator group)/ host group(cascaded intiator group) that driver will use for vSphere
        # this host/host group should contain initiators from all the ESXs/ESXi host where the cluster is deployed
        # recommended format: csi-x-VC-HN, x can be anything of user choice
        # Allowed value: valid existing host(initiator group)/ host group(cascaded intiator group) on the array
        # Default value: "" <empty>
        - name: "X_CSI_VSPHERE_HOSTNAME"
          value: ""

Edit the section in the driver manifest having the sample for the following Secret with required values.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: vcenter-creds
  # Set driver namespace
  namespace: test-powermax
type: Opaque
data:
  # set username to the base64 encoded username
  username: YWRtaW4=
  # set password to the base64 encoded password
  password: YWRtaW4=

These values can be obtained using base64 encoding as described in the following example:

echo -n "myusername" | base64
echo -n "mypassword" | base64

where myusername and mypassword are credentials for a user with vCenter privileges.