In a containerized environment, you need persistent volumes . With HyperFlex 4.5, iSCSI thisis possible. What are the difference between using iSCSI or CSI in a container. Information about Kubernetes Persistent Volumes can be found HERE.
iSCSI can only do: ReadWriteOnce and ReadOnlyMany.
HX-CSI can do both AND also ReadWriteMany. (Block)
There is a very nice installation guide of the HyperFlex CSI, which can be found HERE. I am always learning with hands-on and here is my way of installing the HyperFlex CSI Plugin.
How to configure a Kubernetes cluster can be found HERE.
HyperFlex iSCSI Configuration
Before you can install HX-CSI, HyperFlex iSCSI network must be configured. In the HyperFlex iSCSI Video Serie there is a video with the explanation how it’s working and how to configure it. Please watch those videos before proceeding any further.
Installation of HX-CSI
After the installation of Kubernetes Master, Workers and the HX iSCSI Network Configuration, it is time to install HX-CSI. Download the plugin at www.cisco.com/go/software
Make sure node.session.scan = manual in the /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf
sudo cat /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf | grep -i node.session.scanIf it’s not in the file, you will have to put this parameter in the file.
To append this parameter when it’s not in the file:
sudo bash -c 'echo "node.session.scan = manual" >> /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf'iscsid.conf is a root owned file and to append the echo command, use bash in the command.
If the parameter is set to auto, you can change it, with verification via the command:
sudo vim -c '%s/node.session.scan = auto/node.session.scan = manual/gc' -c 'wq' /etc/iscsi/iscsid.confEnable iscsid and view the status to verify it’s running
sudo systemctl enable iscsid
sudo systemctl status iscsidVerify if present at the Kubernetes Master Image: –disable-attach-detach-reconcile-sync=true
sudo cat /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-controller-manager.yaml | grep -i reconcileAdd it at the command section of the file.
sudo vim /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-controller-manager.yamlDownload the HXCSI software from CCO and upload it to the K8S master in the /tmp directory. This can be done via SCP, WinSCP etc.
Extract the image with tar-xf <image name>. New directories will be created.
Copy the HXCSI Image to all workers nodes:
scp ./images/hxcsi-1.2.rel.4.5.1a.569.git.cc5ea579.tar 10.2.12.226:/tmp
Copy all the CSI images to the ALL Kubernetes nodes. I prefer to have those images also been copied to the /tmp of the Master node.
scp ./images/csi* 10.2.12.226:/tmp
On the Kubernetes Worker Nodes, load the HXCSI Image:
sudo docker load --input /tmp/hxcsi-1.2.rel.4.5.1a.569.git.cc5ea579.tar
Now docker load all the other 4 CSI images on ALL kubernetes nodes :
ls -1 /tmp/csi*.tar | xargs --no-run-if-empty -L 1 sudo docker load -i
HXCSI-Setup
Here are the final steps for the HX-CSI and lets start with the HXCSI-Setup. This file do have a lot of parameters.
/tmp/setup/hxcsi-setup
Usage of ./setup/hxcsi-setup:
-clientId string
Client ID for the Tenant
-cluster-name string
k8s cluster name
-helm-chart
generate helm chart for helm install
-hx-csi-image string
HX csi image for the node plugin (default "smitsh/hxcsi:latest")
-iscsi-url string
hx iscsiUrlurl
-output-dir string
Output directory (default "./hxcsi-deploy/")
-password string
password to hx cluster api
-token string
Service Authentication Token
-url string
hx api url
-username stringcc5ea579
user name to hx cluster apiDepending of your configuration, but here is an example of what I used:
./tmp/setup/hxcsi-setup -clientId IAmJoost -cluster-name jvdmadecluster -hx-csi-image -hx-csi-image hxcsi:1.2.rel.4.5.1a.569.git.cc5ea579 -iscsi-url 10.22.24.13 -url 10.2.12.13 -username admin 
A hxcsi-deploy directory will be created with this content:
Deploy HX-CSI with the command:
kubectl create -f /tmp/hxcsi-deploy/
kubectl get pods
And that is it! HX-CSI is now installed and can be used.
FREE: Example Directory with Scripts
In the Example Director of the HX-CSI plugin, there are a lot of examples.
kubectl create -f /tmp/examples/sample-hxcsi/
Connect to the Containers bash to see how the volume is mount to the container:
kubectl exec -ti test-647b4c8874-l5g5d -- /bin/bash
The Persistant Volume is, in this case, mounted on the /usr/mnt/test directory. If you write data to it, delete the container, start a new container and link it to this PVC, you still will see the data.
A WordPress Site with HyperFlex CSI
If you want to have a wordpress running in a container, please have a look at the following post:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/stateful-application/mysql-wordpress-persistent-volume/
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