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An important component outside of PowerFlex that enables a flexible consumption model for Kubernetes is the PowerFlex CSI driver, developed as a part of the Dell Kubernetes strategy. After loading the CSI driver for PowerFlex into Kubernetes, it can be used to provision persistent volumes from the underlying PowerFlex storage system.
The CSI driver connects the PowerFlex system and Kubernetes deployments. It is a storage broker which dynamically provisions volumes from PowerFlex through the PowerFlex API gateway to the Kubernetes cluster. Once the volume is available on PowerFlex, it is immediately mapped to the requesting pod. If a pod is destroyed or rescheduled, the CSI plug-in ensures that the volumes are remapped upon rescheduling of that pod.
Dell Container Storage Modules (CSM) for PowerFlex extend the standard CSI capabilities with additional key values, where each module is responsible for a different benefit. These modules help achieve the following:
These modules currently include observability, snapshots, authorization, application mobility, replication, and resiliency. For more information about CSM, see: Dell CSM
PowerFlex supports multiple operating systems, different deployment options on-premises and public cloud deployment models (available in AWS and Azure). PowerFlex is validated with leading Kubernetes distributions as shown in Figure 4.