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The Dell PowerMax storage system delivers high levels of performance and efficiency with an integrated machine learning (ML) engine. For more information, see
Dell PowerMax.
Ensure that:
To provision Dell PowerMax storage, create the namespace and secret using this sample YAML file and run:
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc create -f powermax.secrets.yaml
Note: Specify the secret name as powermax-creds and ensure that the username and password are in base64 format, as shown in the sample file.
Note: PowerMax supports either the FC or iSCSI protocol using Dell CSI drivers. PowerMax does not support FC and iSCSI storage provisioning simultaneously. If a CSI driver for PowerMax is already installed, delete this driver from the OpenShift console by selecting Installed Operators > CSI Operator > CSI Driver > PowerMax Instance and then clicking Delete.
Create the iSCSI PowerMax driver file by following the steps in this sample file in GitHub. Then:
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc create -f <YAML file>
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc get pods -n powermax -o wide
Note: There are two powermax-controller pods and one powermax-node pod for every compute node that is running.
[core@csah-pri pmax]$ oc get sc
NAME PROVISIONER AGE
powermax-iscsi csi-powermax.dellemc.com 67s
To create a YAML file with which to create a PVC:
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc create -f <YAML file>
Note: Ensure that the storage class name designates an FC configuration. This guide uses powermax-iscsi as the iSCSI storage class name.
NAME
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc get pvc -n powermax
STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
dynamic-iscsi-powermax-pvc Bound pmax-17517a474c 2Gi RWO powermax-iscsi 64s
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc exec -it powermax-iscsi-pod -n powermax -- cat /mnt/keys
file data
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc exec -it powermax-iscsi-pod -n powermax -- df -h /mnt/keys
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/mpathb 976M 2.6M 907M 1% /mnt
To configure FC PowerMax:
Note: PowerMax supports either the FC or iSCSI protocol using Dell CSI drivers but does not support FC and iSCSI storage provisioning simultaneously.
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc create -f <secret YAML file>
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc get pods -n powermax -o wide
Note: There are two powermax-controller pods and one powermax-node pod for every compute node that is running.
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc get sc
NAME PROVISIONER RECLAIMPOLICY VOLUMEBINDINGMODE ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION AGE
powermax-bronze csi-powermax.dellemc.com Delete Immediate true 3d14h
It is not necessary to create a volume manually when you use a dynamic volume. The PV is created automatically and is attached to the PVC through a YAML file.
[core@csah-pri powermax] $ oc create -f <YAML file>
Note: Ensure that the storage class name designates an FC configuration. This guide uses powermax-bronze as the FC storage class name.
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc get pvc
NAME STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
dynamic-fc-powermax-pvc Bound pmax-0ffc23c3a1 7Gi RWO powermax-bronze 10s
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc exec -it powermax-fc-pod -n powermax -- cat /mnt/keys
file data
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc exec -it powermax-fc-pod -n powermax -- df -h /mnt/keys
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/mpathc 976M 2.6M 907M 1% /mnt
PowerMax CSI drivers support snapshots of volumes. Create snapshots to back up either the iSCSI or the FC volume you created, and then use the snapshots to create a volume and attach it to the pod.
Note: The following example uses snapshots that were taken using the PowerMax FC volumes and pod that you created. The name of the volume snapshot class is provided in the FC driver file. For guidance, see this sample FC driver in GitHub.
[core@csah-pri powermax]$ oc get volumesnapshotclass
NAME DRIVER DELETIONPOLICY AGE
powermax-snap csi-powermax.dellemc.com Delete 3d14h
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc create -f <yaml file>
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc get volumesnapshot -n powermax
NAME READYTOUSE SOURCEPVC SOURCESNAPSHOTCONTENT RESTORESIZE SNAPSHOTCLASS SNAPSHOTCONTENT CREATIONTIME AGE
powermax-fc-snapshot true dynamic-fc-powermax-pvc 0 powermax-snap snapcontent-60aed1c1-b438-4457-8a52-36f616bbf27a 12m 12m
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc exec -it powermax-fc-pod -n powermax -- cat /mnt/keys
file data
[core@csah-pri ~]$ oc exec -it powermax-fc-pod -n powermax -- df -h /mnt
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/mpathc 976M 2.6M 907M 1% /mnt
Notes:
If the procedure runs successfully, the contents of the source PVC used for the snapshot are transferred to the newly created pod.
Use this sample file in GitHub to create iSCSI snapshots. Ensure that the values referenced match the configuration for the environment. Perform a validation by using the preceding steps.