Overview¶

SUSE Rancher provides a platform to deploy Kubernetes-as-a-service everywhere. HPE partners with SUSE Rancher to provide effortless management of the CSI driver on managed Kubernetes clusters. This allows our joint customers and channel partners to enable hybrid cloud stateful workloads on Kubernetes.

Deployment considerations¶

Rancher is capable of managing Kubernetes across a broad spectrum of managed and BYO clusters. It's important to understand that the HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes does not support the same amount of combinations Rancher does. Consult the support matrix on the CSI driver overview page for the supported combinations of the HPE CSI Driver, Kubernetes and supported node operating systems.

Supported versions¶

Rancher uses Helm to deploy and manage partner software. The concept of a Helm repository in Rancher is organized under "Apps" in the Rancher UI. The HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes is a partner solution present in the official Partner repository.

Rancher release	Install methods	Recommended CSI driver
2.5	Cluster Manager, Cluster Explorer	latest
2.6	New Cluster Manager	latest
2.7	Cluster Manager App Chart	latest

HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes¶

The HPE CSI Driver is part of the official Partner repository in Rancher. The CSI driver is deployed on managed Kubernetes clusters like any ordinary "App" in Rancher.

Rancher Cluster Manager (2.6 and newer)¶

Navigate to "Apps" and select "Charts", search for "HPE".

Rancher Cluster Explorer

Rancher Cluster Explorer (2.5)¶

In Rancher 2.5, the "Apps & Marketplace" in the "Cluster Explorer" may be used to install the HPE CSI Driver. This is recommended for new installs.

Rancher Cluster Explorer

Rancher Cluster Manager (2.4 and older)¶

In Rancher 2.5 and earlier, the "Apps" interface is the default method of installing the HPE CSI Driver.

Rancher Cluster Manager

Rancher CLI install¶

Switch to the project you want to install the CSI driver. For this example, the default project on a managed cluster is being used.

$ rancher context current
Cluster:torta Project:Default

Steps to install the CSI driver.

$ rancher app install hpe-csi-driver hpe-csi-driver --no-prompt
run "app show-notes hpe-csi-driver" to view app notes once app is ready
$ rancher app
ID                       NAME             STATE     CATALOG         TEMPLATE         VERSION
p-k28xd:hpe-csi-driver   hpe-csi-driver   active    helm3-library   hpe-csi-driver   1.3.1

Post install steps¶

For Rancher workloads to make use of persistent storage from HPE, a supported backend needs to be configured with a Secret along with a StorageClass. These procedures are generic regardless of Kubernetes distribution and install method being used.

• Go ahead and add an HPE storage backend

Ancillary HPE Storage Apps¶

Introduced in Rancher v2.7 and HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes v2.3.0 is the ability to deploy the HPE Storage Array Exporter for Prometheus and HPE CSI Info Metrics Provider for Prometheus directly from the same Rancher Apps interface. These Helm charts have been enhanced to include support for Rancher Monitoring.