Local Storage - File and Block

Set up persistent storage using local block or file volumes for IBM Cloud Satellite® clusters. You can use Satellite storage templates to create storage configurations. When you assign a storage configuration to your clusters, the storage drivers of the selected storage provider are installed in your cluster.

Prerequisites

Before you can create a local storage configuration, you must identify the worker nodes in your clusters that have the required available disks. Then, label these worker nodes so that the local storage drivers are installed on only these worker nodes.

Make sure you have the following permissions.
- Editor for the Billing service.
- Manager and Editor for Kubernetes service.
- Satellite Link Administrator and Reader for the Satellite service.
Create a Satellite location.
Create a Satellite cluster.
- Make sure that you select the Enable cluster admin access for Satellite Config option when you create the cluster. If you don't enable Administrator (admin) access for Satellite Config when creating your cluster, you must re-create your cluster and enable admin access before you can deploy storage.
Deploy the Local Storage Operator. To set up local file or block storage, you must deploy the Local Storage Operator.
Ensure that the worker nodes in your cluster that you want to use in your storage configuration have at least one available local disk in addition to the disks required by Satellite. The extra disks must be unformatted.
Get the device details of your worker nodes.
Label the worker nodes that have an available disk and that you want to use in your configuration. The local storage drivers are installed only on the labeled worker nodes.

Getting the device details for your local storage configuration

When you create your local storage configuration, you must specify which devices that you want to use. The device paths that you retrieve in the following steps are specified as parameters when you create your configuration.

Log in to your cluster and get a list of available worker nodes. Make a note of the worker nodes that you want to use in your configuration.
```
oc get nodes
```
Log in to each worker node that you want to use for your local storage configuration.
```
oc debug node/<node-name>
```
When the debug pod is deployed on the worker node, run the following commands to list the available disks on the worker node.
1. Allow host binaries.
```
chroot /host
```
2. List your devices.
```
lsblk
```
3. Get the details of your devices. Verify that the devices that you want to use are unmounted and unformatted.
```
fdisk -l
```

List available block storage disks on your worker node. You must use unmounted disks for the local storage configuration. In the following example output from the lsblk command, the nvme2n1 disk is unmounted and has no partitions.

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
nvme0n1     259:3    0   100G  0 disk 
|-nvme0n1p1 259:4    0     1M  0 part 
`-nvme0n1p2 259:5    0   100G  0 part /
nvme1n1     259:0    0    20G  0 disk 
nvme2n1     259:1    0    20G  0 disk 
nvme3n1     259:2    0 139.7G  0 disk /var/data

Repeat the previous steps for each worker node that you want to use for your local storage configuration.

Labeling your worker nodes

After you have retrieved the device paths for the disks that you want to use in your configuration, label the worker nodes where the disks are located.

Get the worker node IP addresses.
```
oc get nodes
```
Label the worker nodes that you retrieved earlier. The local storage drivers are deployed to the worker nodes with this label. You can use the storage=local-block label in the example command or you can create your own label in the key=value format.
```
oc label nodes <worker-IP> <worker-IP> <worker-IP> "storage=local-block"
```
Example output
```
node/<worker-IP> labeled
node/<worker-IP> labeled
node/<worker-IP> labeled
```
Verify that the label is added to the worker nodes that you want to use. Run the following command to display the labels on your worker nodes and highlight the label that you added previous step.
```
oc get nodes --show-labels | grep --color=always storage=local-block
```

Creating and assigning a configuration in the console

Review the parameter reference.
From the Locations console, select the location where you want to create a storage configuration.
Select Storage > Create storage configuration
Enter a name for your configuration.
Select the Storage type.
Select the Version and click Next
If the Storage type that you selected accepts custom parameters, enter them on the Parameters tab.
If the Storage type that you selected requires secrets, enter them on the Secrets tab.
On the Storage classes tab, review the storage classes that are deployed by the configuration or create a custom storage class.
On the Assign to service tab, select the service that you want to assign your configuration to.
Click Complete to assign your storage configuration.

Creating a configuration in the CLI

Review the parameter reference for the template version that you want to use.
Log in to the IBM Cloud CLI.
```
ibmcloud login
```
List your Satellite locations and note the Managed from column.
```
ibmcloud sat location ls
```
Target the Managed from region of your Satellite location. For example, for wdc target us-east. For more information, see Satellite regions.
```
ibmcloud target -r us-east
```
If you use a resource group other than default, target it.
```
ibmcloud target -g <resource-group>
```

Copy one of the following example command for the template version that you want to use. For more information about the command, see ibmcloud sat storage config create in the command reference.

Example command to create a version 1.0.0 configuration.

ibmcloud sat storage config create --location LOCATION --name NAME --template-name local-storage --template-version 1.0.0 --param "install-local-storage-file=INSTALL-LOCAL-STORAGE-FILE"  --param "auto-discover-devices-file=AUTO-DISCOVER-DEVICES-FILE"  [--param "file-nodes-label-key=FILE-NODES-LABEL-KEY"]  [--param "file-nodes-label-value=FILE-NODES-LABEL-VALUE"]  [--param "file-devicepath=FILE-DEVICEPATH"]  --param "fstype=FSTYPE"  --param "install-local-storage-block=INSTALL-LOCAL-STORAGE-BLOCK"  --param "auto-discover-devices-block=AUTO-DISCOVER-DEVICES-BLOCK"  [--param "block-nodes-label-key=BLOCK-NODES-LABEL-KEY"]  [--param "block-nodes-label-value=BLOCK-NODES-LABEL-VALUE"]  [--param "block-devicepath=BLOCK-DEVICEPATH"]

Customize the command based on the settings that you want to use.
Run the command to create a configuration.

Verify your configuration was created.

ibmcloud sat storage config get --config CONFIG

Creating a configuration in the API

Generate an API key, then request a refresh token. For more information, see Generating an IBM Cloud IAM token by using an API key.
Review the parameter reference for the template version that you want to use.

Copy one of the following example requests and replace the variables that you want to use.

Example request to create a version 1.0.0 configuration.

curl -X POST "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/createStorageConfigurationByController" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{ \"config-name\": \"string\", \"controller\": \"string\", \"storage-class-parameters\": [ { \"additionalProp1\": \"string\", \"additionalProp2\": \"string\", \"additionalProp3\": \"string\" } ], \"storage-template-name\": \"local-storage\", \"storage-template-version\": \"1.0.0\", \"update-assignments\": true, \"user-config-parameters\": { \"entry.name\": \"INSTALL-LOCAL-STORAGE-FILE\", { \"entry.name\": \"AUTO-DISCOVER-DEVICES-FILE\", { \"entry.name\": \"FILE-NODES-LABEL-KEY\", { \"entry.name\": \"FILE-NODES-LABEL-VALUE\", { \"entry.name\": \"FILE-DEVICEPATH\", { \"entry.name\": \"FSTYPE\", { \"entry.name\": \"INSTALL-LOCAL-STORAGE-BLOCK\", { \"entry.name\": \"AUTO-DISCOVER-DEVICES-BLOCK\", { \"entry.name\": \"BLOCK-NODES-LABEL-KEY\", { \"entry.name\": \"BLOCK-NODES-LABEL-VALUE\", { \"entry.name\": \"BLOCK-DEVICEPATH\",\"user-secret-parameters\": }

Creating an assignment in the CLI

List your storage configurations and make a note of the storage configuration that you want to assign to your clusters.
```
ibmcloud sat storage config ls
```
Get the ID of the cluster, cluster group, or service that you want to assign storage to.

To make sure that your cluster is registered with Satellite Config or to create groups, see Setting up clusters to use with Satellite Config.

Example command to list cluster groups.
```
ibmcloud sat group ls
```
Example command to list clusters.
```
ibmcloud oc cluster ls --provider satellite
```
Example command to list Satellite services.
```
ibmcloud sat service ls --location <location>
```
Assign your storage configuration to the cluster, group, or service that you retrieved earlier. For more information, see the ibmcloud sat storage assignment create command.

Example command to assign a configuration to a cluster group.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment create --group GROUP --config CONFIG --name NAME
```
Example command to assign a configuration to a cluster.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment create --cluster CLUSTER --config CONFIG --name NAME
```
Example command to assign a configuration to a service cluster.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment create --service-cluster-id CLUSTER --config CONFIG --name NAME
```

Verify that your assignment is created.

ibmcloud sat storage assignment ls (--cluster CLUSTER | --config CONFIG | --location LOCATION | --service-cluster-id CLUSTER)

Creating a storage assignment in the API

Copy one of the following example requests.

Example request to assign a configuration to a cluster.

curl -X POST "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/createAssignmentByCluster" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{ \"channelName\": \"CONFIGURATION-NAME\", \"cluster\": \"CLUSTER-ID\", \"controller\": \"LOCATION-ID\", \"name\": \"ASSIGNMENT-NAME\"}"

Example request to assign configuration to a cluster group.

curl -X POST "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/createAssignment" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{ \"channelName\": \"CONFIGURATION-NAME\", \"cluster\": \"string\", \"groups\": [ \"CLUSTER-GROUP\" ], \"name\": \"ASSIGNMENT-NAME\"}"

Replace the variables with your details and run the request.

Verify the assignment was created by listing your assignments.

curl -X GET "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/getAssignments" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN"

Updating storage assignments in the console

You can use the Satellite console to apply the latest patch updates to your assignments.

From the Locations page in the Satellite console, select your location.
Click the Storage tab to view your configurations.
Click the configuration you want to update.
Click information Information (i) icon to apply the latest revision or patch.
Optional: Enable automatic patch updates for your storage assignment. Enabling automatic patch updates ensures that your assignment always has the latest security fixes.

If you enable automatic patch updates, you must still apply major updates manually.

Manually upgrading assignments in the CLI

Upgrade an assignment to use the latest storage template revision.

List your Satellite storage assignments, make a note of the Satellite assignment you want to upgrade.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment ls
```
List the Satellite storage templates to see the latest available versions.
```
ibmcloud sat storage template ls
```
Upgrade the Satellite assignment.

Example command to upgrade an assignment.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment upgrade --assignment ASSIGNMENT
```

Enabling automatic patch updates for configurations and assignments in the CLI

You can use the sat storage assignment autopatch enable CLI to enable automatic patch updates for your assignments. Enabling automatic patch updates applies the latest storage template revisions (patches) automatically. You must still apply major updates manually.

List your Satellite storage configurations. Make a note of the configuration ID.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment ls
```
Run one of the following example commands to enable automatic patch updates for your configuration and its associated assignments. Enter the configuration ID that you retrieved in the previous step.

Example command to enable automatic patch updates for an assignment.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment autopatch enable --config CONFIG  (--all | --assignment ASSIGNMENT-ID [--assignment ASSIGNMENT-ID])
```
Example command to enable automatic patch updates for all storage assignments under a given configuration.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment autopatch enable --config CONFIG --all
```
Example command to disable automatic patch updates for all assignments under a specific configuration.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment autopatch disable --config CONFIG --all
```
Example command to disable automatic patch updates for an single assignment and a specific configuration.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment autopatch disable --config CONFIG --assignment ASSIGNMENT-ID
```
Example command to disable automatic patch updates for an multiple assignment and a specific configuration.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment autopatch disable --config CONFIG --assignment ASSIGNMENT-ID --assignment ASSIGNMENT-ID
```

Manually upgrading configurations in the CLI

You can upgrade your Satellite storage configurations to get the latest storage template revision within the same major version.

List your Satellite storage configurations, make a note of the Satellite configuration you want to upgrade.
```
ibmcloud sat storage config ls
```
Upgrade the Satellite configuration. Note, only the configuration is updated. If you want to upgrade the assignments that use this configuration, you can specify the --include-assignments option or you can manually update each assignment using the assignment update command.

Example command to upgrade a configuration to the latest revision.
```
ibmcloud sat storage config upgrade --config CONFIG [--include-assignments]
```
Example command to upgrade a configuration and it's associated assignments to the latest revision.
```
ibmcloud sat storage config upgrade --config CONFIG --include-assignments
```

Upgrading a configuration and assignments in the API

You can use the /v2/storage/satellite/updateAssignment API to update your assignments with new clusters or cluster groups. Set updateConfigVersion to true to apply the revision update.

Copy the following example request and replace the variables for the cluster groups and assignments that you want to update.

curl -X PATCH "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/updateAssignment" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{ \"groups\": [ \"CLUSTER-GROUPS\" ], \"name\": \"ASSIGNMENT-NAME\", \"updateConfigVersion\": true, \"uuid\": \"ASSIGNMENT-ID\"}"

Run the request.

Get the details of you assignment to verify the update.

curl -X GET "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/getAssignment?uuid=ASSIGNMENT-ID" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN"

Enabling automatic patch updates for assignments in the API

You can use the /v2/storage/satellite/setAssignmentAutoupgrade API to enable automatic patch updates for your assignments. Enabling automatic patch updates applies the latest storage template revisions (patches) automatically. You must still apply major updates manually.

Copy the following example request and replace the variables for the cluster groups and assignments that you want to update.

curl -X PATCH "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/setAssignmentAutoupgrade" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d { "config": "string", "controller": "string", "autopatch": boolean,"assignment" : { "all": boolean, "uuid": ["string", "string", ...], } }

Run the request.

Get the details of you assignment to verify the upgrade.

curl -X GET "https://containers.cloud.ibm.com/global/v2/storage/satellite/getAssignment?uuid=ASSIGNMENT-ID" -H "accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN"

Deploying an app that uses local storage

After you create a local storage configuration and assign it to your clusters, you can then create an app that uses your local block storage.

You can map your PVCs to specific persistent volumes by adding labels to your persistent volumes. For more information, see the Kubernetes documentation for selectors.

Save the following PVC YAML file on your local machine called local-pvc.yaml.

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: local-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  volumeMode: Block
  resources:
  requests:
    storage: 20Gi # Important: Ensure that size of your claim is not larger than the local disk.
  storageClassName: sat-local-block-gold

Create the PVC in your cluster.
```
oc create -f local-pvc.yaml
```
Verify that your PVC is created. Note that the volumeBindingMode for the sat-local-block-gold storage class is waitForFirstConsumer.
```
oc get pvc | grep local
```
To ensure that your pods are scheduled to worker nodes with storage, or to ensure that the apps that require storage are not preempted by other pods, you can specify nodeAffinity and set up pod priority. For more information, see the Kubernetes documentation for pod priority and preemption and setting node affinity.

Deploy an app pod that uses your local storage PVC. Save the following example app YAML as a file on your local machine called app.yaml. In this example, the nodeAffinity spec ensures that this pod is scheduled only to a worker node with the specified label.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: app
spec:
  affinity:
  nodeAffinity:
    requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
      nodeSelectorTerms:
      - matchExpressions:
        - key: storage # Enter the 'key' of the worker node label created earlier.
          operator: In
          values:
          - local-block # Enter the 'value' of the worker label that you created earlier.
  containers:
    - name: nginx
      image: nginx
      volumeDevices:
        - name: data
          devicePath: "/dev/nvme2n1" # Enter the path to your local device.
  volumes:
    - name: data
      persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: local-pvc

Create the app pod in your cluster.
```
oc create -f app.yaml
```
Log in to your app pod and verify that you can write to your local disk.
```
kubectl exec <pod_name> -it bash
```
Change directories to the dev folder.
```
cd dev
```
Run the ls -lR <device-path> command to verify your device details and that your app pod can read and write permissions to your block device, which is indicated by brw in the command output.
```
ls -lR /dev/nvme2n1
```
Example output
```
brw-rw-rw-. 1 root disk 202, 32 Mar  3 21:24 /dev/nvme2n1
```
Optional Run the following commands to write data to your block device.
1. Write "block_data" to the local storage device that you mounted to your app. Replace <device-path> with the path to your storage device. Example: /dev/nvme2n1.
```
kubectl exec <pod_name> -- bash -c "echo "block_data" | dd conv=unblock of=<device-path>"
```
2. Verify the data is written to your device. Replace <device-path> with the path to your storage device. Example: /dev/nvme2n1.
```
kubectl exec <pod_name> -- bash -c "od -An -c -N 10 <device-path>"
```
  Example output
```
b   l   o   c   k   _   d   a   t   a
```
Delete the test pod.
```
oc delete pod <pod_name>
```

Removing a storage configuration from the console

From the Satellite storage dashboard, select the storage configuration you want to delete.
Select Actions > Delete.
Enter the name of your storage configuration.
Select Delete.

Removing local storage configuration from the command line

List the resources in the local-storage namespace. When you delete your storage assignment, these resources are removed.

oc get all -n local-storage

Example output

NAME                                         READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/local-disk-local-diskmaker-clvg6         1/1     Running   0          29h
pod/local-disk-local-diskmaker-kqddq         1/1     Running   0          29h
pod/local-disk-local-diskmaker-p6z9q         1/1     Running   0          29h
pod/local-disk-local-provisioner-dw5g7       1/1     Running   0          29h
pod/local-disk-local-provisioner-hxd9n       1/1     Running   0          29h
pod/local-disk-local-provisioner-tfg95       1/1     Running   0          29h
pod/local-storage-operator-df4994656-7826l   1/1     Running   0          29h

NAME                             TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)     AGE
service/local-storage-operator   ClusterIP   172.21.147.17   <none>        60000/TCP   29h

NAME                                          DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   NODE SELECTOR   AGE
daemonset.apps/local-disk-local-diskmaker     3         3         3       3            3           <none>          29h
daemonset.apps/local-disk-local-provisioner   3         3         3       3            3           <none>          29h

NAME                                     READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/local-storage-operator   1/1     1            1           29h

NAME                                               DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/local-storage-operator-df4994656   1         1         1       29h

List your storage assignments and find the one that you used for your cluster.

ibmcloud sat storage assignment ls (--cluster CLUSTER | --config CONFIG | --location LOCATION | --service-cluster-id CLUSTER)

Remove the assignment. After the assignment is removed, the local storage driver pods and storage classes are removed from all clusters that were part of the storage assignment.
```
ibmcloud sat storage assignment rm --assignment <assignment_ID>
```
List the resources in the local-storage namespace and verify that the local storage driver pods are removed.
```
oc get all -n local-storage
```
Example output
```
No resources found in local-storage namespace.
```
List of the storage classes in your cluster and verify that the local storage classes are removed.
```
oc get sc
```
Optional: Remove the storage configuration.
1. List the storage configurations.
```
ibmcloud sat storage config ls
```
2. Remove the storage configuration.
```
ibmcloud sat storage config rm --config <config_name>
```
List your PVCs and note the name of the PVC that you want to remove.
```
oc get pvc
```
Remove any pods that currently mount the PVC.
1. List all the pods that currently mount the PVC that you want to delete. If no pods are returned, you do not have any pods that currently use your PVC.
```
oc get pods --all-namespaces -o=jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{"\n"}{.metadata.name}{":\t"}{range .spec.volumes[*]}{.persistentVolumeClaim.claimName}{" "}{end}{end}' | grep "<pvc_name>"
```
  Example output
```
app    sat-local-block-gold
```
2. Remove the pod that uses the PVC. If the pod is part of a deployment, remove the deployment.
```
oc delete pod <pod_name>
```
```
oc delete deployment <deployment-name>
```
3. Verify that the pod or the deployment is removed.
```
oc get pods
```
```
oc get deployments
```
Delete the PVC. Because all IBM-provided local block storage classes are specified with a Retain reclaim policy, the PV and PVC are not automatically deleted when you delete your app or deployment.
```
oc delete pvc <pvc-name>
```
Verify that your PVC is removed.
```
oc get pvc
```
List your PVs and note the name of the PVs that you want to remove.
```
oc get pv
```
Delete the PVs. Deleting your PVs will make your disks available for other workloads.
```
oc delete pv <pv-name>
```
Verify that your PV is removed.
```
oc get pv
```

Parameter reference

1.0.0 parameter reference

1.0.0 parameter reference
Display name	CLI option	Type	Description	Required?	Default value
Install file storage driver	`install-local-storage-file`	Config	Set to `true` to install the file storage driver.	true	`true`
Automatic volume discovery for file storage	`auto-discover-devices-file`	Config	Set to `true` if you want to automatically discover and use the volumes on your worker nodes for file storage.	true	`false`
File storage worker node label key	`file-nodes-label-key`	Config	The `key` of the worker node `key=value` label that you want to use for file storage.	false	N/A
File storage worker node label value	`file-nodes-label-value`	Config	The `value` of the worker node `key=value` label that you want to use for file storage.	false	N/A
Device path for file storage	`file-devicepath`	Config	The path to the storage devices on your worker node that you want to use for file storage. Example: `/dev/sdc`. This option is required when `auto-discover-devices-file` is set to `false`.	false	N/A
File system type	`fstype`	Config	The file system type. Specify `ext3`, `ext4`, or `xfs`.	true	`ext4`
Install block storage driver	`install-local-storage-block`	Config	Set to `true` to install the block storage driver.	true	`true`
Automatic volume discovery for block storage	`auto-discover-devices-block`	Config	Set to `true` if you want to automatically discover and use the volumes on your worker nodes for block storage.	true	`false`
Block storage worker node label key	`block-nodes-label-key`	Config	The `key` of the worker node `key=value` label that you want to use for block storage.	false	N/A
Block storage worker node label value	`block-nodes-label-value`	Config	The `value` of the worker node `key=value` label that you want to use for block storage.	false	N/A
Device Path for Local Storage Block	`block-devicepath`	Config	The path to the storage devices on your worker node that you want to use for block storage. Example: `/dev/sdc`. This option is required when `auto-discover-devices-block` is set to false.	false	N/A