Features and installation options in Rancher
Summary and Key concepts
Summary:
The article provides detailed information on the Portworx CSI Driver and its compatibility with Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Nomad. It outlines the features supported by the CSI Driver across different platforms, including volume lifecycle management, snapshotting, sharedv4 volumes, security features like encryption, and more. It also describes the installation options for each platform, including the use of the Portworx Operator, and highlights the features supported by Stork and Portworx Backup for disaster recovery and migration. Additionally, a table is provided to compare core feature support across Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Nomad environments.
Kubernetes Concepts:
- CSI (Container Storage Interface): Standard interface for container orchestrators to expose storage systems to workloads.
- Persistent Volume Lifecycle: Management of persistent volumes, including provisioning, binding, and recycling.
- Volume Cloning: Allows copying an existing volume to create a new one.
- Ephemeral Volumes: Temporary storage volumes tied to the lifecycle of a pod.
Portworx Concepts:
- Portworx CSI Driver: Portworx’s implementation of the CSI standard, enabling seamless storage operations across multiple orchestration platforms.
- Stork: Storage orchestration for Kubernetes and OpenShift that enhances the capabilities of the CSI driver for snapshotting, disaster recovery, and migration.
- PX Security: Security features provided by Portworx for encryption and token-based authorization.
- Sharedv4 Volumes: Allows multiple pods to share a single volume in read-write mode.
CSI-based Installation Options
| Install Workflow | Kubernetes |
|---|---|
| Operator | Yes |
Core Features support
| Feature | Kubernetes |
|---|---|
| Volume Lifecycle | Yes |
| Sharedv4 Volumes | Yes |
| Volume Cloning | Yes |
| CSI Snapshotting | Yes |
| CSI Spec 1.6 | Yes |
| PX Security - Volume Lifecycle | Yes |
| PX Security - Snapshotting | Yes |
| PX Topology | Yes |
| CSI Raw Block | Yes |
| Volume Resizing | Yes |
| Encryption - Vault | Yes |
| CSI Topology | No; Portworx topology is recommended instead |
Kubernetes specific features
| Feature | Supported |
|---|---|
| Volume Placement Strategies | Yes |
| Auth Token Secrets | Yes |
| Autopilot | Yes |
| Generic Ephemeral Volumes | Yes |
| Encryption with Kubernetes secrets | Yes |
| CSI Migration (Portworx in-tree -> CSI) | In development |
Portworx Backup & Stork
| Feature | Kubernetes |
|---|---|
| Portworx Backup support | Yes |
| DR/Disaster Recovery | Yes |
| Stork Snapshotting | Yes |
| Stork Migration | Yes |
| Stork Backup | Yes |