Uninstall Portworx from an IBM cluster

This guide provides instructions on how to uninstall Portworx from an IBM cluster, specifically for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service (IKS) and OpenShift IBM clusters.

IBM IKS Cluster

1. Stop all applications using Portworx volumes, delete the Portworx PVCs, and wait until all Delete-reclaim-policy PVs and their VolumeAttachments are fully removed from the cluster before proceeding.

   warning

   Do not proceed to the next step while volume cleanup is still in progress. Setting ignoreVolumes: true in the delete strategy bypasses this protection — use it only when you intentionally accept the risk that PV cleanup may not complete. If PVs are already stuck in Released state with CSI finalizers, contact Portworx Support.

2. Edit your Portworx StorageCluster:

   kubectl -n <px-namespace> edit storagecluster <your-cluster-name>

3. Add the delete strategy to your YAML spec:

   deleteStrategy:
       type: UninstallAndWipe

   You may choose either Uninstall, UninstallAndWipe, or UninstallAndDelete based on your needs. For more details, refer to the Delete/Uninstall strategy.

4. Delete the StorageCluster:

   kubectl -n <px-namespace> delete storagecluster <your-cluster-name>

5. Verify that all Portworx pods are deleted:

   kubectl -n <px-namespace> get pods -l name=portworx

6. Once all Portworx-related pods have been removed, run the following command to delete the Portworx Helm deployment:

   helm uninstall <px-helm-deployment>

   This command removes all Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the deployment.

OpenShift IBM Cluster

1. Stop all applications using Portworx volumes, delete the Portworx PVCs, and wait until all Delete-reclaim-policy PVs and their VolumeAttachments are fully removed from the cluster before proceeding.

   warning

   Do not proceed to the next step while volume cleanup is still in progress. Setting ignoreVolumes: true in the delete strategy bypasses this protection — use it only when you intentionally accept the risk that PV cleanup may not complete. If PVs are already stuck in Released state with CSI finalizers, contact Portworx Support.

2. Edit your Portworx StorageCluster:

   oc -n <px-namespace> edit storagecluster <your-cluster-name>

3. Add the delete strategy to your YAML spec:

   deleteStrategy:
       type: UninstallAndWipe

   You may choose either Uninstall, UninstallAndWipe, or UninstallAndDelete based on your needs. For more details, refer to the Delete/Uninstall strategy.

   important

   If you're running KubeVirt virtual machines (VMs), and your default storage class is set to a Portworx storage class, you must set spec.deleteStrategy.ignoreVolumes to true when uninstalling Portworx using the UninstallAndWipe or UninstallAndDelete strategy. Otherwise, the uninstall process fails. Use ignoreVolumes: true only when you intentionally accept the risk that PV cleanup may not complete.

   This is because KubeVirt creates boot sources as PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) using the default storage class, which might be a Portworx storage class. In general, you can set ignoreVolumes to true if you are running KubeVirt VMs.

   If the uninstall fails, check the StorageCluster conditions for more details.

4. Delete the StorageCluster:

   oc -n <px-namespace> delete storagecluster <your-cluster-name>

5. Verify that all Portworx pods are deleted:

   oc -n <px-namespace> get pods -l name=portworx

6. Once all Portworx-related pods have been removed, run the following command to delete the Portworx Helm deployment:

   helm uninstall <px-helm-deployment>

   This command removes all Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the deployment.

Remove storage objects from the IBM dashboard

After deleting your Helm deployment, navigate to the IBM dashboard and follow these steps for housekeeping:

1. In the left pane of your dashboard, click Resource List.

2. Search for and select the Portworx resource in the Storage section associated with your Portworx installation.

3. Click the Delete option from the ellipsis menu to remove the resource as shown in the following figure: