AWS Elastic Block Store CSI Driver Operator

Overview

OKD is capable of provisioning persistent volumes (PVs) using the Container Storage Interface (CSI) driver for AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS).

Familiarity with persistent storage and configuring CSI volumes is recommended when working with a Container Storage Interface (CSI) Operator and driver.

To create CSI-provisioned PVs that mount to AWS EBS storage assets, OKD installs the AWS EBS CSI Driver Operator and the AWS EBS CSI driver by default in the openshift-cluster-csi-drivers namespace.

  • The AWS EBS CSI Driver Operator provides a StorageClass by default that you can use to create PVCs. You also have the option to create the AWS EBS StorageClass as described in Persistent storage using AWS Elastic Block Store.

  • The AWS EBS CSI driver enables you to create and mount AWS EBS PVs.

If you installed the AWS EBS CSI Operator and driver on an OKD 4.5 cluster, you must uninstall the 4.5 Operator and driver before you update to OKD 4.12.

About CSI

Storage vendors have traditionally provided storage drivers as part of Kubernetes. With the implementation of the Container Storage Interface (CSI), third-party providers can instead deliver storage plugins using a standard interface without ever having to change the core Kubernetes code.

CSI Operators give OKD users storage options, such as volume snapshots, that are not possible with in-tree volume plugins.

OKD defaults to using an in-tree (non-CSI) plugin to provision AWS EBS storage.

In future OKD versions, volumes provisioned using existing in-tree plugins are planned for migration to their equivalent CSI driver. CSI automatic migration should be seamless. Migration does not change how you use all existing API objects, such as persistent volumes, persistent volume claims, and storage classes. For more information about migration, see CSI automatic migration.

After full migration, in-tree plugins will eventually be removed in future versions of OKD.

For information about dynamically provisioning AWS EBS persistent volumes in OKD, see Persistent storage using AWS Elastic Block Store.

Additional resources