---
name: vmwaresolutions-vcs-openshift-storage
title: Storage options on IBM Cloud and Red Hat OpenShift
description: As of 17 July 2025, new automated installations of Red Hat® OpenShift® for VMware® are no longer available for new or existing deployments of VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances. You can still use or delete your existing Red Hat OpenShift for VMware automated installations until 16 July 2026. The service will no longer be available from 17 July 2026.
last-updated: 2025-10-24
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Storage options on IBM Cloud and Red Hat OpenShift
{: #vcs-openshift-storage}

As of 17 July 2025, new automated installations of Red Hat® OpenShift® for VMware® are no longer available for new or existing deployments of VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances. You can still use or delete your existing Red Hat OpenShift for VMware automated installations until 16 July 2026. The service will no longer be available from 17 July 2026.
{: deprecated}

In the VMware Solutions console, click **Resources > VCF for Classic** from the left navigation panel.

## vSphere storage for Kubernetes
{: #vcs-openshift-storage-kubernetes}

You can use the VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic datastores as a location for storing persistent volumes for Kubernetes by using the VMware® Cloud Provider.

Complete the following steps to create a new volume:

1. From the bastion host, use `govc` to enable the vSphere connection.

   ```bash
   export GOVC_URL='10.208.17.2'
   export GOVC_USERNAME='administrator@vsphere.local'
   export GOVC_PASSWORD='xxx'
   export GOVC_INSECURE=1
   export GOVC_NETWORK='SDDC-DPortGroup-Mgmt'
   export GOVC_DATASTORE='vsanDatastore'
   ```
   {: pre}

2. Create a folder on the specified datastore.

   ```bash
   govc datastore.mkdir ocp-volumes
   ```
   {: pre}

3. Create a new persistent volume (vmdk).

   ```bash
   govc datastore.disk.create -size 10G volumes/ocp-pv-001.vmdk
   ```
   {: pre}

4. Log in to your Kubernetes environment from the command line.

   ```bash
   oc login
   ```
   {: pre}

5. Create a persistent volume in Kubernetes, for the recently created vdmk. Replace volumePath with your vmdk, in the example file called vsphere-volume-pv.yaml.

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: PersistentVolume
   metadata:
   name: ocpvsan002
   spec:
    capacity:
      storage: 10Gi
    accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
    persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
    vsphereVolume:
      volumePath: "[ESX_OCP] volumes/ocp-pv-001.vmdk"
      fsType: ext4
    storageClassName: "vsphere-standard"

   ```
   {: pre}

   ```bash
   kubectl create -f  vsphere-volume-pvc.yaml
   ```
   {: pre}

6. Create a Persistent Volume Claim in Kubernetes. Replace volumePath with your Persistent Volume name, in the example file called vsphere-volume-pvc.yaml.

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: "v1"
   kind: "PersistentVolumeClaim"
   metadata:
     name: "pvcvsan002"
   spec:
     accessModes:
       - "ReadWriteOnce"
     resources:
       requests:
         storage: "1Gi"
     storageClassName: "vsphere-standard"
     volumeName: "ocpvsan002"
   ```
   {: pre}

   ```bash
   kubectl create -f vsphere-volume-pv.yaml
   ```
   {: pre}

Now you have a persistent volume claim that can be mapped to the container application.

## Related links
{: #vcs-openshift-storage-related}

* [VCF for Classic and Red Hat OpenShift architecture overview](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vcs-openshift-intro&format=markdown)
* [System context for VCF for Classic and Red Hat OpenShift architecture](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vcs-openshift-syscontext&format=markdown)
* [Red Hat OpenShift architecture](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vcs-openshift-redhat-arch&format=markdown)
* [IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions SDDC architecture](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vcs-openshift-arch&format=markdown)
* [IBM Cloud networking and infrastructure](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vcs-openshift-sddc-infra&format=markdown)