Introduction¶

The HPE 3PAR and Primera Container Storage Provider integrates as part of the HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes. The CSP abstract the data management capabilities of the array for use by Kubernetes.

Platform requirements¶

Always check the corresponding CSI driver version in compatibility and support and SPOCK for latest support matrix for the HPE 3PAR and Primera Container Storage Provider.

CSI	Linux OS	OpenShift	Kubernetes	3PAR and Primera OS
v1.3.0	- CentOS: 7.7 - RHEL: 7.6, 7.7 / RHCOS	OpenShift 4.2/4.3 with RHEL 7.6 or 7.7 or RHCOS as worker nodes	K8s 1.16, 1.17, 1.18	- 3PAR OS: 3.3.1 (FC & iSCSI) - Primera OS: 4.0.0, 4.1.0 (FC only), 4.2.0

SPOCK¶

Refer to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) for HPE storage products for specific platform details (requires a HPE Passport account).

• 3PAR
• Primera

User role requirements¶

The CSP requires access to a user with either edit or the super role. It's recommended to use the edit role for least privilege practices.

StorageClass example¶

A StorageClass is used to provision an HPE 3PAR or Primera Storage-backed persistent volume. Please see using the HPE CSI Driver for additional base StorageClass examples like CSI snapshots and clones.

Here is an example of a StorageClass using the HPE 3PAR and Primera CSP. Please see common parameters for additional parameter options.

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: 3par-sc
provisioner: csi.hpe.com
allowVolumeExpansion: true
parameters:
  csi.storage.k8s.io/fstype: ext4
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-expand-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-expand-secret-namespace: kube-system
  cpg: FC_r6
  provisioning_type: tpvv
  accessProtocol: iscsi

StorageClass parameters¶

All parameters enumerated reflects the current version and may contain unannounced features and capabilities.

Common parameters for provisioning¶

These parameters are used for volume provisioning and supported platforms.

Parameter	Option	Description	3PAR	Primera
accessProtocol (required)	fc	The access protocol to use when accessing the persistent volume.	X	X
	iscsi	The access protocol to use when accessing the persistent volume. Requires Primera OS 4.2+	X	X
cpg	Text	The name of existing CPG to be used for volume provisioning. If the cpg parameter is not specified, the CSP will automatically set cpg parameter based upon a CPG available to 3PAR or Primera array.	X	X
snap_cpg	Text	The name of the snapshot CPG to be used for volume provisioning. Defaults to value of cpg if not specified.	X	X
compression	Boolean	Indicates that the volume should be compressed.	X
provisioning_type	tpvv	Indicates Thin provisioned volume type. Default: tpvv	X	X
	full	Indicates Full provisioned volume type.	X
	dedup	Indicates Thin Deduplication volume type.	X
	reduce	Indicates Thin Deduplication/Compression volume type.		X
importVol	Text	Name of the volume to import.	X	X
importVolAsClone	Text	Name of the volume to clone and import.	X	X
cloneOf	Text	Name of the PersistentVolumeClaim to clone.	X	X
virtualCopyOf	Text	Name of the PersistentVolumeClaim to snapshot.	X	X
qosName	Text	Name of the volume set which has QoS rules applied.	X	X
remoteCopyGroup	Text	Name of a new or existing remote copy group on HPE Primera/3PAR array.	X	X
replicationDevices	Text	Indicates name of custom resource of type hpereplicationdeviceinfos.	X	X
iscsiPortalIps	Text	Comma separated list of HPE Primera/3PAR iSCSI port IPs.	X	X

Primera Data Reduction volumes¶

These parameters are used to create Primera Data Reduction (Thinly Provisioned with Deduplication/Compression enabled) volumes. Please see Common Parameters for more details.

Parameter	Option	Description
accessProtocol	fc	The access protocol to use when accessing the persistent volume.
cpg	Text	The name of existing CPG to be used for volume provisioning.
snap_cpg	Text	The name of the snapshot CPG to be used for volume provisioning. Defaults to value of cpg if not specified.
provisioning_type	reduce	Required

Example StorageClass for provisioning Primera Data Reduction volumes

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: primera-reduce-sc
provisioner: csi.hpe.com
allowVolumeExpansion: true
parameters:
  csi.storage.k8s.io/fstype: ext4
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-expand-secret-name: primera3par-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-expand-secret-namespace: kube-system
  cpg: SSD_r6
  provisioning_type: reduce
  accessProtocol: fc

Pod inline volume parameters (Local Ephemeral Volumes)¶

These parameters are applicable only for Pod inline volumes and to be specified within Pod spec.

Parameter	String	Description
csi.storage.k8s.io/ephemeral	Boolean	Indicates that the request is for ephemeral inline volume. This is a mandatory parameter and must be set to "true".
inline-volume-secret-name	Text	A reference to the secret object containing sensitive information to pass to the CSI driver to complete the CSI NodePublishVolume call.
inline-volume-secret-namespace	Text	The namespace of inline-volume-secret-name for ephemeral inline volume.
size	Text	The size of ephemeral volume specified in MiB or GiB. If unspecified, a default value will be used.
accessProtocol	Text	Storage access protocol to use, "iscsi" or "fc".

Import volume¶

During the import volume process, any legacy (non-container volumes) or existing docker/k8s volume defined in the ImportVol parameter, within a StorageClass, will be renamed to match the PersistentVolumeClaim that leverages the StorageClass. The new volumes will be exposed through the HPE CSI Driver and made available to the Kubernetes cluster. Note: All previous Access Control Records and Initiator Groups will be removed from the volume when it is imported.

Parameter	Option	Description
accessProtocol	fc or iscsi	The access protocol to use when accessing the persistent volume.
importVol	Text	The name of the HPE Primera or 3PAR volume to import.

Cloning parameters¶

Cloning supports two modes of cloning. Either use cloneOf and reference a PersistentVolumeClaim in the current namespace to clone or use importVolAsClone and reference a HPE Primera or 3PAR volume name to clone and import to Kubernetes.

Parameter	Option	Description
cloneOf	Text	The name of the PersistentVolumeClaim to be cloned. cloneOf and importVolAsClone are mutually exclusive.
importVolAsClone	Text	The name of the HPE Primera or 3PAR volume to clone and import. importVolAsClone and cloneOf are mutually exclusive.
accessProtocol	fc or iscsi	The access protocol to use when accessing the persistent volume.

Snapshotting a volume¶

During snapshotting process, any existing PersistentVolumeClaim defined in the virtualCopyOf parameter within a StorageClass, will be snapped as PersistentVolumeClaim and exposed through the HPE CSI Driver and made available to the Kubernetes cluster.

Parameter	Option	Description
accessProtocol	fc or iscsi	The access protocol to use when accessing the persistent volume.
virtualCopyOf	Text	The name of existing PersistentVolumeClaim to be snapped

Applying QOS Rules (qosName)¶

In the HPE Primera or 3PAR Storage system, the QoS rules are applied to a volume set. To apply QoS rules to a PersistentVolumeClaim, create a volume set in the HPE Primera or 3PAR, apply QoS rules to the volume set and set the qosName parameter within a StorageClass to the name of the HPE Primera or 3PAR volume set.

Parameter	Option	Description
qosName	Text	Name of the HPE Primera or 3PAR volume set which has QoS rules. This parameter is optional. If specified, the PersistentVolumeClaim will be associated with the HPE Primera or 3PAR volume set, for purposes of applying the QoS rules.

Remote Copy with Peer Persistence synchronous replication¶

To enable replication within the HPE CSI Driver, the following steps must be completed:

• Create Secrets for both primary and target HPE Primera or 3PAR arrays. Refer to Adding additional backends.
• Create replication custom resource.
• Create replication enabled StorageClass.

For a tutorial on how to enable replication, check out the blog Enabling Remote Copy using the HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes on HPE Primera

A Custom Resource Definition (CRD) of type hpereplicationdeviceinfos.storage.hpe.com must be created to define the target array information. The CRD object name will be used to define the StorageClass parameter replicationDevices.

apiVersion: storage.hpe.com/v1
kind: HPEReplicationDeviceInfo
metadata:
  name: r1
spec:
  target_array_details:
  - targetCpg: <cpg_name>
    targetSnapCpg: <snapcpg_name> #optional
    targetName: <target_array_name>
    targetSecret: <target_secret_name>
    targetSecretNamespace: kube-system

These parameters are applicable only for replication. Both parameters are mandatory. If the remote copy volume group (RCG) name, as defined within the StorageClass, does not exist on the HPE Primera or 3PAR array, then a new RCG will be created.

Parameter	Option	Description
remoteCopyGroup	Text	Name of new or existing remote copy group on the HPE Primera/3PAR array.
replicationDevices	Text	Indicates name of hpereplicationdeviceinfos Custom Resource Definition (CRD).

Target Portal IPs¶

This parameter allows the ability to specify a subset of HPE Primera/3PAR iSCSI ports for iSCSI sessions. By default, the HPE CSI Driver uses all available iSCSI ports.

Parameter	Option	Description
iscsiPortalIps	Text	Comma separated list of target portal IPs.

VolumeSnapshotClass parameters¶

These parameters are for VolumeSnapshotClass objects when using CSI snapshots. The external snapshotter needs to be deployed on the Kubernetes cluster and is usually performed by the Kubernetes vendor. Check enabling CSI snapshots for more information.

How to use VolumeSnapshotClass and VolumeSnapshot objects is elaborated on in using CSI snapshots.

Parameter	String	Description
read_only	Boolean	Indicates if the snapshot is writable on the 3PAR or Primera array.

Import Snapshot¶

During the import snapshot process, any legacy (non-container snapshot) or an existing docker/k8s snapshot defined in the ImportVol parameter, within a VolumeSnapshotClass, will be renamed with the prefix "snapshot-". The new snapshot will be exposed through the HPE CSI Driver and made available to the Kubernetes cluster. Note: All previous Access Control Records and Initiator Groups will be removed from the snapshot when it is imported.

Parameter	Option	Description
importVol	Text	The name of the 3PAR or Primera snapshot to import.

Support¶

Please refer to the HPE 3PAR and Primera Container Storage Provider support statement.