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Version: 3.1

Install Portworx with 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)
note

  • Portworx recommends installing Portworx with FlashArray Cloud Drive before using FlashArray Direct Access volumes.

  • FlashArray Direct Access volumes have the following limitations:

    • RawBlock, volume import, and CSI ephemeral volumes are not supported.
    • CreateOperations is not honored by Portworx.

Prerequisites​

  • Have an on-premise Kubernetes cluster with FlashArray that meets the minimum requirements for Portworx.
  • Have a Pure Storage FlashArray with Purity version 5.3.0 or newer.
  • Use the FC, iSCSI, or NVMe/RoCE protocol.
  • Create a Pure secret px-pure-secret under the STC namespace before installing Portworx.
  • Enable CSI for Portworx.
  • Install the latest Linux multipath software package on your operating system that include these fixes. This package also must include kpartx.
  • Have the latest Filesystem utilities/drivers.
  • Have the following latest package installed on all nodes (including master):
    • libStorageMgmt
    • device-mapper-multipath
    • libstoragemgmt-udev
    • iscsi-initiator-utils
    note

    Red Hat and CentOS only: Ensure that the second action CAPACITY_DATA_HAS_CHANGED is uncommented and you have restarted the udev service.

  • Have the latest FC initiator software for your operating system (Optional; required for FC connectivity).

Configure your physical environment​

Before you install Portworx, ensure that your physical network is configured appropriately and that you meet the prerequisites. You must provide Portworx with your FlashArray configuration details during installation.

  • Each FlashArray management IP address can be accessed by each node.
  • Your cluster contains an up-and-running FlashArray with an existing dataplane connectivity layout (iSCSI, Fibre Channel).
  • If you're using iSCSI, the storage node iSCSI initiators are on the same VLAN as the FlashArray iSCSI target ports.
  • If you are using multiple network interface cards (NICs) to connect to an iSCSI host, then all of them must be accessible from the FlashArray management IP address.
  • If you're using Fibre Channel, the storage node Fibre Channel WWNs have been correctly zoned to the FlashArray Fibre Channel WWN ports.
  • You have an API token for a user on your FlashArray with at least storage_admin permissions. Check the documentation on your device for information on generating an API token.

(Optional) Set iSCSI interfaces on FlashArray​

If you are using iSCSI protocol, you can its interfaces on FlashArray using the following steps:

  1. Run the following command to get the available iSCSI interface within your environment: 
    iscsiadm -m iface
    You can use the output in the next step.
  2. Run the following command to specify which network interfaces on the FlashArray system are allowed to handle iSCSI traffic. Replace <interface-value> by the value you retried in the previous step:
pxctl cluster options update --flasharray-iscsi-allowed-ifaces <interface-value>

Configure your software environment​

Configure your software environment within a computing infrastructure. It involves preparing both the operating system and the underlying network and storage configurations.

Follow the instructions below to set up CSI snapshot feature, disable secure boot mode, and configure the multipath.conf file appropriately. These configurations ensure that the system's software environment is properly set up to allow Portworx to interact correctly with the hardware components, like storage devices (using protocols such as iSCSI or Fibre Channel), and to function correctly within the network infrastructure.

Set up your environment to use CSI snapshot feature​

To use the CSI snapshot feature, install the following:

  • Snapshot V1 CRDs

  • Snapshot controller

    • You can also install the snapshot controller by adding the following lines to your StorageCluster:

        csi:
          enabled: true
          installSnapshotController: true

Disable secure boot mode​

Portworx requires the secure boot mode to be disabled to ensure it can operate without restrictions. Here's how to disable secure boot mode across different platforms:

For REHL/CentOS you can perform the following steps to check and disable the secure boot mode:

  1. Check the status of secure boot mode:

    /usr/bin/mokutil --sb-state

  2. If secure boot is enabled, disable it:

    /usr/bin/mokutil --disable-validation

  3. Apply changes by rebooting your system:

    reboot

Verify the status of the secure boot mode​

Run the following command to ensure that the secure boot mode is off:

/usr/bin/mokutil --sb-state
SecureBoot disabled

Configure the multipath.conf file​

  • For defaults:
    • FlashArray and Portworx does not support user friendly names, disable it and set it to no before installing Portworx on your cluster. This ensures Portworx and FlashArray use consistent device naming conventions.
    • Add polling 10 as per the RHEL Linux recommended settings. This defines how often the system checks for path status updates.
  • To prevent any interference from multipathd service on Portworx volume operations, set the pxd device denylist rule.

Your multipath.conf file should resemble the following structure:

defaults {
	user_friendly_names no
  find_multipaths     on
	enable_foreign "^$"
        polling_interval    10
}

devices {
    device {
        vendor                      "NVME"
        product                     "Pure Storage FlashArray"
        path_selector               "queue-length 0"
        path_grouping_policy        group_by_prio
        prio                        ana
        failback                    immediate
        fast_io_fail_tmo            10
        user_friendly_names         no
        no_path_retry               0
        features                    0
        dev_loss_tmo                60
    }
    device {
        vendor                   "PURE"
        product                  "FlashArray"
        path_selector            "service-time 0"
        hardware_handler         "1 alua"
        path_grouping_policy     group_by_prio
        prio                     alua
        failback                 immediate
        path_checker             tur
        fast_io_fail_tmo         10
        user_friendly_names      no
        no_path_retry            0
        features                 0
        dev_loss_tmo             600
    }
}

blacklist_exceptions {
        property "(SCSI_IDENT_|ID_WWN)"
}

blacklist {
      devnode "^pxd[0-9]*"
      devnode "^pxd*"
      device {
        vendor "VMware"
        product "Virtual disk"
      }
}

Deploy Portworx​

Once you've configured your environment and ensured that you meet the prerequisites, you're ready to deploy Portworx.

Generate an API token​

To establish secure communication between Portworx and FlashArray, an API token is required. The token serves as a key for Portworx to authenticate with FlashArray and perform storage operations on behalf of authorized users. This section provides the steps to generate such a token, which encapsulates your authorization within the FlashArray environment.

Create a new user​

  1. From your FlashArray dashboard, click Settings in the left pane. On the Settings page, click Access. Click the vertical ellipsis at the right corner of the Users section to select the Create User option, as shown in the folloiwng screenshot: FalssArray create user
  2. In the Create User window, provide your information, set your role as Storage Admin, and click Create to add yourself as a user.

Generate an API token​

  1. To create a token for the user you created, select the user from the Users list, click the vertical ellipsis in the right-hand corner of the username, and select Create API Token: Generate an API token
  2. In the API Token window, leave the Expires in field blank if you want to create a token that never expires, and click Create.
  3. Save this information to avoid the need to recreate the token.

Create a JSON configuration file​

For Portworx to integrate with FlashArray, it requires a JSON configuration file containing essential information about the FlashArray environment. This file, typically named pure.json, includes the management endpoints and the newly generated API token.

  • Management endpoints: The management endpoints are URLs or IP addresses that Portworx will use to send API calls to FlashArray. Find these by going to Settings and selecting Network within your FlashArray dashboard. Note the IP addresses or hostnames of your management interfaces, usually identified by a vir prefix, indicating virtual interfaces: flassharray endpoints
  • API token: Generated in the previous section.

Use the above information to create JSON file. Below is a template for the configuration content, which you should populate with your specific information:

{
    "FlashArrays": [
        {
            "MgmtEndPoint": "<fa-management-endpoint>",
            "APIToken": "<fa-api-token>"
        }
    ]
}
note

You can add FlashBlade configuration information to this file if you're configuring both FlashArray and FlashBlade together. Refer to the JSON file reference for more information.

Create a Kubernetes Secret​

The specific name px-pure-secret is required so that Portworx can correctly identify and access the Kubernetes secret upon startup. This secret securely stores the FlashArray configuration details and allows Portworx to access this information within the Kubernetes environment.

Enter the following kubectl create command to create a Kubernetes secret called px-pure-secret:

kubectl create secret generic px-pure-secret --namespace <stc-namespace> --from-file=pure.json=<file path>
secret/px-pure-secret created

Verify the iSCSI Connection with FlashArray​

The instructions in this section are using iSCSI network.

  1. Run the following command to discover your iSCSI targets. Replace <flash-array-interface-endpoint> with your FlashArray's interface, as shown in the following screenshot: Flash Array interface
iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p <flash-array-interface-end-piont>
10.13.xx.xx0:3260,207 iqn.2010-06.com.purestorage:flasharray.xxxxxxx
10.13.xx.xx1:3260,207 iqn.2010-06.com.purestorage:flasharray.xxxxxxx
  1. Verify that each node has a unique initiator. Run the following command on each node:
cat /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi
InitiatorName=iqn.1994-05.com.redhat:xxxxx
  1. If the initiator names are not unique, it's necessary to assign a new unique initiator name. To do this, execute the following command:
echo "InitiatorName=`/sbin/iscsi-iname`" > /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi

Replace the initiator names on any nodes that have duplicates with the newly generated unique names.

Generate specs​

To install Portworx with Kubernetes, you must first generate Kubernetes manifests that you will deploy in your cluster:

  1. Navigate to Portworx Central and log in, or create an account.

  2. In the Portworx section, select Get Started.

  3. On the Product Line page, choose any option depending on which license you intend to use, then click Continue to start the spec generator.

  4. In the Generate Spec page:

    • For Platform, select Pure FlashArray.
    • Select None for Distribution Name, then click Save and Download to generate the specs.
note

By default, iSCSI is set as your protocol for data transfer. To change this option, click Customize and navigate to the Storage window. Select a different option from the Select type of storage area network dropdown.

  1. (Optional) If you are using multiple NICs for iSCSI host, then add the following environment variable to your StorageCluster spec. Replace <nic-interface-names> with comma-separated names of NICs such as "eth1,eth2": 
    env:
    - name: flasharray-iscsi-allowed-ifaces
      value: "<nic-interface-names>"
note

If you have multiple NICs on your virtual machine, then FlashArray does not distinguish the NICs that include iSCSI and the others without iSCSI. This list must be provided, otherwise Portworx may potentially use only one of the provided interfaces.

Apply specs​

Apply the Operator and StorageCluster specs you generated in the section above using the kubectl apply command:

  1. Deploy the Operator:

    kubectl apply -f 'https://install.portworx.com/<version-number>?comp=pxoperator&kbver=1.25.0&ns=portworx'
    serviceaccount/portworx-operator created
    podsecuritypolicy.policy/px-operator created
    clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/portworx-operator created
    clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/portworx-operator created
    deployment.apps/portworx-operator created

  2. Deploy the StorageCluster:

    kubectl apply -f 'https://install.portworx.com/<version-number>?operator=true&mc=false&kbver=1.25.0&ns=portworx&b=true&iop=6&c=px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-5db83030471e&stork=true&csi=true&mon=true&tel=true&st=k8s&promop=true'
    storagecluster.core.libopenstorage.org/px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-5db83030471e created

Once deployed, Portworx detects that the FlashArray secret is present when it starts up and can use the specified FlashArray as a Direct Access volume.

Create a FlashArray PVC​

Follow the instruction in the Use FlashArray as a Direct Access volume section to create your first PVC.

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