Monitor Portworx Clusters on Openshift

You can observe and manage your Portworx cluster from the Portworx dashboard in the OpenShift web console. This dashboard provides a centralized dashboard to monitor the health, performance, and configuration of your Portworx storage cluster. After you install Portworx on an OpenShift cluster, the console automatically displays the associated pools, nodes, and volumes in the Portworx dashboard, allowing you to monitor storage performance directly within the OpenShift interface.

Prerequisites

To enable the Portworx tab, your cluster must meet the following prerequisites:

• Have the Portworx OpenShift Dynamic plugin enabled.
  For information on how to enable the Portworx console plugin, see Enable Portworx OpenShift Dynamic Plugin.
• Have OpenShift Virtualization enabled.
  For information on how to enable OpenShift Virtualization, see OpenShift documentation.
• Have Openshift Prometheus monitoring configured. For information on how to configure Prometheus monitoring, see Monitor Clusters on OpenShift.

The Portworx dashboard appears automatically when all the prerequisites are met. No additional user action is required.

Access the Portworx Dashboard

To access the Portworx dashboard in the OpenShift web console, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the OpenShift console.
2. From the left navigation pane, click Portworx.
3. Click Cluster.
   The system displays the Portworx dashboard that contains detailed information about the cluster.

note

Only users with cluster administrator privileges can view the information under the Portworx tab.

Portworx Dashboard Attributes

The following table lists the attributes that is displayed in the Portworx dashboard.

Attributes	Description
Overview Tab
Cluster UUID	Displays the UUID of the cluster that hosts Portworx.
Cluster Name	Displays the storage cluster name of the cluster that hosts Portworx.
PX version	Displays the deployed version of Portworx.
Operator version	Displays the deployed version of Operator.
Telemetry status	Displays whether the Portworx cluster is sending usage and diagnostic data to help track product performance, usage patterns, and operational health. When enabled, telemetry can assist with support, troubleshooting, and improving future versions of Portworx through anonymized analytics.
Monitoring status	Displays whether Portworx metrics collection is enabled. When enabled, the cluster gathers performance data, such as IOPS, throughput, and latency, which is displayed in the OpenShift console and can be integrated with external tools like Prometheus and Grafana for deeper observability.
License status	Displays the current license type and the number of days remaining.
Region	Displays the geographical failure domain (for example a cloud region or datacenter) where the node resides.
Rack	Displays the physical failure domain within a region (such as a server rack) where the volumes are stored.
Status	Displays the overview of the cluster health, pools, nodes, volumes replication, and Autopilot. It also displays real-time alerts and warnings, such as volume resync events, volume usage warnings, and critical alerts. Click the View Details option associated with an alert to view more information about the alert. Click View alerts to view all the alerts generated by the system.
Activity	Displays recent events and actions related to Portworx operations such as PVC creation or binding delays, image pull attempts and failures, errors setting up CSI or Stork components. Click View events to view all the events and actions related to Portworx operations. This helps users quickly identify recent issues or successful actions.
Utilization	Displays insight into real-time performance, including IOPS, Throughput, and Latency metrics. These metrics are plotted as time series charts, allowing users to observe trends and identify potential performance bottlenecks.
Usage Capacity	Displays the total, used, and available storage in the cluster over time. This visualization helps identify overprovisioning or underutilization of storage resources.
IO priority breakdown	Displays the total volume of storage categorized by IO priority. This breakdown is useful for understanding how workloads with different performance profiles are distributed.
IOPS	Displays how many read and write operations are being performed across the storage layer. A sharp spike may indicate bursts of application activity. Lower IOPS may suggest idle volumes or underutilized workloads.
Throughput	Displays read and write data transfer rates in bytes per second (Bps). Read throughput and write throughput are displayed as separate lines. A sharp spike helps identify high data movement across volumes, which may impact performance.
Latency	Displays the read and write latency (delay) in milliseconds. A lower value indicates faster I/O responsiveness. A spike can suggest congestion or performance issues.
Top Used Nodes/Pools	Displays the nodes or storage pools consuming the most capacity. You can filter by Node or Pool. Each entry displays the total capacity used and requested.
Top Consumers	Displays which Project, VM, or Pod is using the most storage. You can filter by Project, VM, or Pod. This information helps with identifying heavy workloads and balancing resource usage across tenants or teams.
Pools Tab
Pool ID	Displays the unique identifier for each storage pool. This ID is used internally by Portworx to reference the pool.
Status	Displays the current operational status of the pool.
IO Priority	Displays the assigned I/O priority level. This affects how I/O operations are scheduled for volumes using the pool.
Associated Node	Displays the node in the cluster where the pool physically resides.
Used / Provisioned	Displays the amount of storage currently used compared to the total capacity provisioned for the pool. Also displays the percentage of usage, which helps identify underused or near-full pools.
Medium	Displays the type of underlying storage medium used by the pool, such as SSD, HDD, or NVMe.
Nodes Tab
Name	Displays the name of the node running the Portworx service. This typically matches the node name in the Kubernetes cluster.
Status	Displays the current health or connectivity of the node from the perspective of Portworx.
IP Address	Displays the internal IP address of the node as recognized by Portworx.
Storage	Displays whether the node contributes storage to the Portworx cluster. A value of Yes confirms that the node has attached disks or volumes managed by Portworx.
Used / Provisioned	Displays the amount of storage currently used on the node versus the total provisioned capacity. The value also includes a percentage usage indicator, which helps administrators assess utilization balance across the cluster.
Volumes Tab
Volume Name	Displays the user-defined or system-assigned name of the volume.
Status	Displays the current operational state of the volume.
Volume ID	Displays the unique identifier assigned to each volume by Portworx.
Namespace	Displays the Kubernetes namespace where the volume is provisioned.
Attached Node	Displays the name of the node where the volume is currently mounted.
PVC	Displays the name of the PersistentVolumeClaim associated with the volume.
Volume consumers	Displays the pods, VMs, or other resources currently using the volume.
Replica	Displays the number of replicas configured for the volume.
Used / Provisioned	Displays the current amount of data stored on the volume and the total provisioned capacity. Also shows the percentage of space used, helping to monitor consumption over time.
Terminal Tab	Provides direct command-line access to a running Portworx container, allowing users to execute administrative commands without leaving the web interface.

Portworx tab in the VirtualMachine page

You can observe and manage Portworx-backed Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs) or Disks for KubeVirt virtual machines (VMs) from the Portworx tab in the VirtualMachine page.

The Portworx tab on the VirtualMachine page displays detailed information about each PVC, including performance metrics such as IOPS and throughput. When you create a virtual machine using OpenShift Virtualization, the console automatically displays the associated Portworx volume under this tab. This enables you to monitor storage performance directly within the OpenShift interface.
For information on how to create a StorageClass, PVCs, or a KubeVirt VM, see Manage storage for KubeVirt VMs.

Access the Portworx tab

important

A KubeVirt user must have administrator access to the namespace where the VM is deployed to view volumes in the Portworx tab on the VirtualMachines page. However, this access does not grant visibility into performance graphs or volume-related alerts from Prometheus metrics. Viewing these metrics may require additional permissions.

To view the Portworx tab for a specific KubeVirt VM:

1. Log in to the OpenShift web console.
2. From the left navigation pane, select Virtualization > VirtualMachines.
   The system displays the VirtualMachines page.
3. Select the VM to view the metrics.
   The system displays the VM details page.
4. Click the Portworx tab.
   The system displays the storage information of the PVC that contains the performance metrics and storage details.

PVC Metrics and Attributes

The following table lists the metrics and the attributes of the PVC that is displayed in the Portworx tab.

note

For FlashArray Direct Access (FADA) volumes and other storage backends where Portworx metrics are not collected, the Portworx tab does not display the performance metrics.

Metrics/Attributes	Description
IOPS	Displays the number of input/output operations per second for the PVC.
Throughput	Displays the data transfer rate, measured in kilobytes per second (KBps), for the PVC.
Latency	Displays the average time taken to complete I/O operations.
Usage Capacity	Displays total and used storage capacity for the PVC.
Alerts Affecting This Disk	Displays any active alerts related to the usage and health of the PVC.
Disk Details	Displays information about the virtual machine's associated storage. It includes metadata such as PVC name, underlying persistent volume, storage class used for provisioning, status of the data volume, and the node to which the volume is attached. It also displays the type of Attachment - Local or Remote. If the volume and the virtual machine instance are attached to the same node, the attachment type is shown as Local. If they are attached to different nodes, the attachment type is shown as Remote.
Portworx Volume Details	Displays metadata specific to the volume managed by Portworx. It includes details such as the volume name and unique volume ID, along with the current status of the volume (for example, attached or detached). This section also displays performance configuration settings, such as Application I/O control.
Replica Sets	Displays information about the individual replicas that make up a Portworx volume. It includes details such as name of the cluster node where the replica is hosted, unique identifier for the node within the Portworx cluster, the identifier of the specific storage pool on the node where the replica resides, and the current storage usage of the pool, shown in both absolute terms (GiB) and percentage. It also displays the overall Replication Status, which reflects whether all volume replicas are healthy and in sync. A status of Up confirms that replication is functioning normally across all nodes.

Portworx tab in the PersistentVolumeClaims page

The Portworx tab in the PersistentVolumeClaims (PVC) page of the OpenShift web console provides detailed information about the storage characteristics and replica distribution of a volume provisioned by Portworx.

Access the Portworx tab

To view the Portworx tab for a specific PVC:

1. Log in to the OpenShift console.
2. From the left navigation pane, go to Storage.
3. Select PersistentVolumeClaims.
4. Choose a PVC provisioned by Portworx.
5. Click the Portworx tab.
   The system displays detailed information about the PVC.

PersistentVolumeClaims Attributes

The following table lists the attributes of the PersistentVolumeClaims that is displayed in the Portworx tab.

Attributes	Description
Name	Displays the name of the PVC.
Status	Displays the current lifecycle state of the PVC. The system displays the status as Pending if the PVC has been created but is not yet bound to a PersistentVolume and Bound if the PVC has been successfully matched to a PersistentVolume and is ready for use.
Replication Factor	Displays the number of data replicas Portworx maintains across nodes for this volume. A higher value improves fault tolerance.
Size	Displays the requested capacity of the volume.
Format	Displays the file system format of the volume.
Replicas on Nodes	Displays the IP addresses of the nodes where each replica is located. This helps visualize redundancy and data distribution.
Attached Node	Displays which node (if any) the volume is currently mounted to.
Labels	Displays a collection of metadata key-value pairs applied to the PVC. These are used by Kubernetes and Portworx to define behavior, control scheduling, track data imports, and manage lifecycle operations.
StorageClass	Displays the StorageClass used to provision the PVC.
Actions	Displays options to expand the PVC,clone the PVC, create a snapshot, delete the PVC, and edit labels, annotations, and PVC.

Portworx tab in the StorageClasses page

The Portworx tab in the StorageClass page of the OpenShift web console provides detailed information about a selected StorageClass provisioned by Portworx.

Access the Portworx tab

To access the Portworx tab in the StorageClasses page, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the OpenShift console.
2. From the left navigation pane, go to Storage.
3. Select StorageClasses.
4. Choose the StorageClass.
5. Click the Portworx tab.
   The system displays detailed information about the storage class.

StorageClass Attributes

The following table lists the attributes of the StorageClass that is displayed in the Portworx tab.

Attributes	Description
Name	Displays the StorageClass name.
Provisioner	Displays the CSI provisioner.
Parameters	Displays the StorageClass parameters.
Number of Volumes	Displays the total volumes created using the StorageClass.
Replication Factor	Displays the level of data replication.
Secure	Displays whether encryption or secure I/O is enabled.
Persistent Volumes	Displays a quick view of PersistentVolumes (PVs) that use the StorageClass, their status, and associated PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs).
Actions	Displays options to edit labels, annotations, and storage class, and delete the storage class.