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Version: 3.2

Install Portworx with PX-StoreV2 on Anthos bare metal or VMware cluster using the spec generator

PX-StoreV2 is a Portworx datastore optimized for supporting IO intensive workloads for configurations utilizing high performance NVMe class devices. It efficiently manages and balances workload across nodes by dynamically assigning tasks to the most suitable nodes based on their available resources. Hence, improving performance and scalability of your cluster.

This guide provides instructions for installing Portworx with PX-StoreV2 on Anthos.

Limitation

  • Upgrading from a previous Portworx version to deploy PX-StoreV2 datastore with cloud drives is not supported.
  • Once Portworx is deployed with the PX-StoreV2 datastore, you can use all of Portworx's features except for the following:
    • XFS volumes
    • Aggregated volumes
    • PX-Cache

Prerequisites​

  • Anthos cluster
  • Your cluster must meet the requirements for installing a Portworx cluster.

  • Linux kernel version: 5.15, with the following packages:

    • Ubuntu: dmsetup mdadm lvm2 thin-provisioning-tools augeas-tools
    note

    During installation, Portworx will automatically try to pull the required packages from distribution specific repositories. This is a mandatory requirement and installation will fail if this prerequisite is not met.

  • SD/NVME drive with a memory of more than 8 GB per node.

  • A minimum of 64 GB system metadata device on each node where you want to deploy Portworx. If you do not provide a metadata device, one will be automatically added to the spec.

Install Portworx on an Anthos cluster​

Perform the following steps to install Portworx.

Get your Kubernetes version​

Run this command to get the Kubernetes version installed on your cluster for use in the later section:

(kubectl version --short 2>&1 || kubectl version) | awk -Fv '/Server Version: / {print $3}'

Generate the specs​

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

  2. Select the Get Started button.

  3. In the Product Line page, select Portworx Enterprise.

  4. For Platform, select vSphere.

  5. Specify the vCenter endpoint and datastore prefix.

  6. For Distribution, select Anthos.

  7. Enter other relevant details, such as Cluster Selector Label and Namespace.

    • Cluster Selector Label: By assigning this label to a cluster, you can specify that certain configurations or software installations should only be applied to clusters that match the label criteria. For example, when installing Portworx on an Anthos cluster, you might want to target only those clusters that are designated for storage-intensive applications. To achieve this, you can use the Cluster Selector Label to mark these specific clusters. For instance, label your target cluster with a specific selector:

      metadata:
      labels:
        configmanagement.gke.io/cluster-selector: storage-intensive

      In your Portworx installation configuration, specify that it should only be applied to clusters with the storage-intensive label. This ensures that Portworx is only installed on clusters designated for storage-heavy workloads, optimizing resource usage and deployment strategies across your Anthos environment.

  8. In Summary section, for the K8S Version field, enter the complete Kubernetes version string that you retrieved in the previous section. Also, you can modify the cluster name prefix if required.

  9. Select Customize and navigate to the Storage window.

  10. Select PX-StoreV2 checkbox in the Configure storage devices section. Then follow the wizard to generate the specs.

Apply the specs​

Apply the Portworx Operator and StorageCluster specs you generated in the section above using the following steps:

  1. Run the following wget command by replacing the <cluster-name> with your cluster name:

    wget -O portworx-anthos-storage-intensive-2024-02-13-05-04-27.zip 'https://install.portworx.com/3.1?operator=true&mc=false&kbver=1.25.0&ns=portworx&b=true&iop=6&s=%22size%3D150%22&pureSanType=ISCSI&c=px-cluster-<cluster-name>&acr=storage-intensive&ctl=true&stork=true&csi=true&mon=true&tel=true&st=k8s&promop=true'

  2. Extract the .zip file in the wget command:

    unzip portworx-anthos-storage-intensive-2024-02-13-05-04-27.zip

    You will get the px-operator and storage-cluster YAML files.

  3. Run the following command to deploy the Portworx Operator:

    kubectl create -f px-operator-portworx-local-px-int-2024-02-21-09-42-55.yaml
    serviceaccount/portworx-operator created
    clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/portworx-operator created
    clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/portworx-operator created
    deployment.apps/portworx-operator created

  4. Run the following command to deploy the StorageCluster:

    kubectl create -f storage-cluster-<px-namespace>-local-px-int-2024-02-21-09-42-55.yaml
    storagecluster.core.libopenstorage.org/px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-f50775cb041b created

Verify your Portworx installation​

Once you've installed Portworx, you can perform the following tasks to verify that Portworx has installed correctly.

Verify if all pods are running​

Enter the following kubectl get pods command to list and filter the results for Portworx pods:

kubectl get pods -n <px-namespace> -o wide | grep -e portworx -e px
portworx-api-774c2                                      1/1     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
portworx-api-t4lf9                                      1/1     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.99    username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
portworx-api-dvw64                                      1/1     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.99    username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
portworx-kvdb-94bpk                                     1/1     Running   0                4s      192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
portworx-kvdb-8b67l                                     1/1     Running   0                10s     192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
portworx-kvdb-fj72p                                     1/1     Running   0                30s     192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
portworx-operator-58967ddd6d-kmz6c                      1/1     Running   0                4m1s    10.244.1.99       username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
prometheus-px-prometheus-0                              2/2     Running   0                2m41s   10.244.1.105      username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d-9gs79   2/2     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.196   username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d-vpptx   2/2     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.99    username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d-bxmpn   2/2     Running   0                2m55s   192.168.121.191   username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
px-csi-ext-868fcb9fc6-54bmc                             4/4     Running   0                3m5s    10.244.1.103      username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>
px-csi-ext-868fcb9fc6-8tk79                             4/4     Running   0                3m5s    10.244.1.102      username-k8s1-node2    <none>           <none>
px-csi-ext-868fcb9fc6-vbqzk                             4/4     Running   0                3m5s    10.244.3.107      username-k8s1-node1    <none>           <none>
px-prometheus-operator-59b98b5897-9nwfv                 1/1     Running   0                3m3s    10.244.1.104      username-k8s1-node0    <none>           <none>

Note the name of one of your px-cluster pods. You'll run pxctl commands from these pods in following steps.

Verify Portworx cluster status​

You can find the status of the Portworx cluster by running pxctl status commands from a pod. Enter the following kubectl exec command, specifying the pod name you retrieved in the previous section:

kubectl exec <pod-name> -n <px-namespace> -- /opt/pwx/bin/pxctl status
Defaulted container "portworx" out of: portworx, csi-node-driver-registrar
Status: PX is operational
Telemetry: Disabled or Unhealthy
Metering: Disabled or Unhealthy
License: Trial (expires in 31 days)
Node ID: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e
        IP: 192.168.121.99 
        Local Storage Pool: 1 pool
        POOL    IO_PRIORITY     RAID_LEVEL      USABLE  USED    STATUS  ZONE    REGION
        0       HIGH            raid0           3.0 TiB 10 GiB  Online  default default
        Local Storage Devices: 3 devices
        Device  Path            Media Type              Size            Last-Scan
        0:1     /dev/vdb        STORAGE_MEDIUM_MAGNETIC 1.0 TiB         14 Jul 22 22:03 UTC
        0:2     /dev/vdc        STORAGE_MEDIUM_MAGNETIC 1.0 TiB         14 Jul 22 22:03 UTC
        0:3     /dev/vdd        STORAGE_MEDIUM_MAGNETIC 1.0 TiB         14 Jul 22 22:03 UTC
        * Internal kvdb on this node is sharing this storage device /dev/vdc  to store its data.
        total           -       3.0 TiB
        Cache Devices:
         * No cache devices
Cluster Summary
        Cluster ID: px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d
        Cluster UUID: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-6f3fd5522eae
        Scheduler: kubernetes
        Nodes: 3 node(s) with storage (3 online)
        IP              ID                                      SchedulerNodeName       Auth            StorageNode     Used    Capacity        Status  StorageStatus       Version         Kernel                  OS
        192.168.121.196 xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fad8c65b8edc    username-k8s1-node0      Disabled        Yes             10 GiB  3.0 TiB         Online  Up 2.11.0-81faacc   3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64  CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
        192.168.121.99  xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e    username-k8s1-node1      Disabled        Yes             10 GiB  3.0 TiB         Online  Up (This node)      2.11.0-81faacc  3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64  CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
        192.168.121.191 xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-19d45b4c541a    username-k8s1-node2      Disabled        Yes             10 GiB  3.0 TiB         Online  Up  2.11.0-81faacc  3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64  CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
Global Storage Pool        
        Total Used      :  30 GiB
        Total Capacity  :  9.0 TiB

The Portworx status will display PX is operational if your cluster is running as intended.

Verify pxctl cluster provision status​

  • Find the storage cluster, the status should show as Online:

    kubectl -n <px-namespace> get storagecluster
    NAME                                              CLUSTER UUID                           STATUS   VERSION   AGE
    px-cluster-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3e9bf3cd834d   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-6f3fd5522eae   Online   2.11.0    10m

  • Find the storage nodes, the statuses should show as Online:

    kubectl -n <px-namespace> get storagenodes
    NAME                  ID                                     STATUS   VERSION          AGE
    username-k8s1-node0   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fad8c65b8edc   Online   2.11.0-81faacc   11m
    username-k8s1-node1   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e   Online   2.11.0-81faacc   11m
    username-k8s1-node2   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-19d45b4c541a   Online   2.11.0-81faacc   11m

  • Verify the Portworx cluster provision status. Enter the following kubectl exec command, specifying the pod name you retrieved in the previous section:

    kubectl exec <pod-name> -n <px-namespace> -- /opt/pwx/bin/pxctl cluster provision-status
    Defaulted container "portworx" out of: portworx, csi-node-driver-registrar
    NODE                                    NODE STATUS     POOL                                            POOL STATUS     IO_PRIORITY     SIZE    AVAILABLE  USED     PROVISIONED     ZONE    REGION  RACK
    xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-70c31d0f478e    Up              0 ( xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-4d74ecc7e159 )      Online          HIGH            3.0 TiB 3.0 TiB    10 GiB   0 B             default default default
    xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fad8c65b8edc    Up              0 ( xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-97e4359e57c0 )      Online          HIGH            3.0 TiB 3.0 TiB    10 GiB   0 B             default default default
    xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-19d45b4c541a    Up              0 ( xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-8904cab0e019 )      Online          HIGH            3.0 TiB 3.0 TiB    10 GiB   0 B             default default default

Create your first PVC​

For your apps to use persistent volumes powered by Portworx, you must use a StorageClass that references Portworx as the provisioner. Portworx includes a number of default StorageClasses, which you can reference with PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) you create. For a more general overview of how storage works within Kubernetes, refer to the Persistent Volumes section of the Kubernetes documentation.

Perform the following steps to create a PVC:

  1. Create a PVC referencing the px-csi-db default StorageClass and save the file:

    kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
    apiVersion: v1
    metadata:
        name: px-check-pvc
    spec:
        storageClassName: px-csi-db
        accessModes:
            - ReadWriteOnce
        resources:
            requests:
                storage: 2Gi

  2. Run the kubectl apply command to create a PVC:

    kubectl apply -f <your-pvc-name>.yaml
    persistentvolumeclaim/px-check-pvc created

Verify your StorageClass and PVC​

  1. Enter the kubectl get storageclass command:

    kubectl get storageclass
    NAME                                 PROVISIONER                     RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE   ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
    px-csi-db                            pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-db-cloud-snapshot             pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-db-cloud-snapshot-encrypted   pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-db-encrypted                  pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-db-local-snapshot             pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-db-local-snapshot-encrypted   pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-replicated                    pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-csi-replicated-encrypted          pxd.portworx.com                Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-db                                kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-db-cloud-snapshot                 kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-db-cloud-snapshot-encrypted       kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-db-encrypted                      kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-db-local-snapshot                 kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-db-local-snapshot-encrypted       kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-replicated                        kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    px-replicated-encrypted              kubernetes.io/portworx-volume   Delete          Immediate           true                   43d
    stork-snapshot-sc                    stork-snapshot                  Delete          Immediate           true                   43d

    kubectl returns details about the StorageClasses available to you. Verify that px-csi-db appears in the list.

  2. Enter the kubectl get pvc command. If this is the only StorageClass and PVC that you've created, you should see only one entry in the output:

    kubectl get pvc <your-pvc-name>
    NAME          STATUS   VOLUME                                     CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS           AGE
    px-check-pvc  Bound    pvc-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-2377767c8ce0   2Gi        RWO            example-storageclass   3m7s

    kubectl returns details about your PVC if it was created correctly. Verify that the configuration details appear as you intended.

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