Use the LVM Operator with LVMCluster
custom resources to deploy and manage LVM storage on OpenShift clusters.
The LVM Operator leverages the TopoLVM CSI Driver on the backend to dynamically create LVM physical volumes, volume groups and logical volumes, and binds them to PersistentVolumeClaim
resources.
This allows applications running on the cluster to consume storage from LVM logical volumes backed by the TopoLVM CSI Driver.
The LVM Operator, in conjunction with the TopoLVM CSI Driver, Volume Group Manager, and other related components, collectively comprise the Logical Volume Manager Storage (LVMS) solution.
Here is a brief overview of how the Operator works. See here for the architecture diagram.
graph LR
LVMOperator((LVMOperator))-->|Manages| LVMCluster
LVMOperator-->|Manages| StorageClass
StorageClass-->|Creates| PersistentVolumeA
StorageClass-->|Creates| PersistentVolumeB
PersistentVolumeA-->LV1
PersistentVolumeB-->LV2
LVMCluster-->|Comprised of|Disk1((Disk1))
LVMCluster-->|Comprised of|Disk2((Disk2))
LVMCluster-->|Comprised of|Disk3((Disk3))
subgraph Logical Volume Manager
Disk1-->|Abstracted|PV1
Disk2-->|Abstracted|PV2
Disk3-->|Abstracted|PV3
PV1-->VG
PV2-->VG
PV3-->VG
LV1-->VG
LV2-->VG
end
Due to the absence of a CI pipeline that builds this repository, you will need to either build it yourself or use a pre-built image that has been made available. Please note that the pre-built image may not be in sync with the current state of the repository.
If you are comfortable using the pre-built images, simply proceed with the deployment steps.
To build the Operator, install Docker or Podman and log into your registry.
-
Set the following environment variables to the repository where you want to host your image:
$ export IMAGE_REGISTRY=<quay/docker etc> $ export REGISTRY_NAMESPACE=<registry-username> $ export IMAGE_TAG=<some-tag>
-
Build and push the container image:
$ make docker-build docker-push
Building the Operator for OLM deployment
If you intend to deploy the Operator using the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM), there are some additional steps you should follow.
-
Build and push the bundle image:
$ make bundle-build bundle-push
-
Build and push the catalog image:
$ make catalog-build catalog-push
Ensure that the OpenShift cluster has read access to that repository. Once this is complete, you are ready to proceed with the next steps.
You can begin the deployment by running the following command:
$ make deploy
Deploying the Operator with OLM
You can begin the deployment using the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) by running the following command:
$ make deploy-with-olm
The process involves the creation of several resources to deploy the Operator using OLM. These include a custom CatalogSource
to define the Operator source, the openshift-storage
namespace to contain the Operator components, an OperatorGroup
to manage the lifecycle of the Operator, a Subscription
to subscribe to the Operator catalog in the openshift-storage
namespace, and finally, the creation of a ClusterServiceVersion
to describe the Operator's capabilities and requirements.
Wait until the ClusterServiceVersion
(CSV) reaches the Succeeded
status:
$ kubectl get csv -n openshift-storage
NAME DISPLAY VERSION REPLACES PHASE
lvms-operator.v0.0.1 LVM Storage 0.0.1 Succeeded
After the previous command has completed successfully, switch over to the openshift-storage
namespace:
$ oc project openshift-storage
Wait until all pods have started running:
$ oc get pods -w
Once all pods are running, create a sample LVMCluster
custom resource (CR):
$ oc create -n openshift-storage -f https://github.com/openshift/lvm-operator/raw/main/config/samples/lvm_v1alpha1_lvmcluster.yaml
After the CR is deployed, the following actions are executed:
- A Logical Volume Manager (LVM) volume group named
vg1
is created, utilizing all available disks on the cluster. - A thin pool named
thin-pool-1
is created withinvg1
, with a size equivalent to 90% ofvg1
. - The TopoLVM Container Storage Interface (CSI) plugin is deployed, resulting in the launch of the
topolvm-controller
andtopolvm-node
pods. - A storage class and a volume snapshot class are created, both named
lvms-vg1
. This facilitates storage provisioning for OpenShift workloads. The storage class is configured with theWaitForFirstConsumer
volume binding mode that is utilized in a multi-node configuration to optimize the scheduling of pod placement. This strategy prioritizes the allocation of pods to nodes with the greatest amount of available storage capacity. - The LVMS system also creates two additional internal CRs to support its functionality:
LVMVolumeGroup
is generated and managed by LVMS to monitor the individual volume groups across multiple nodes in the cluster.LVMVolumeGroupNodeStatus
is created by the Volume Group Manager. This CR is used to monitor the status of volume groups on individual nodes in the cluster.
Wait until the LVMCluster
reaches the Ready
status:
$ oc get lvmclusters.lvm.topolvm.io my-lvmcluster
NAME STATUS
my-lvmcluster Ready
Wait until all pods are active:
$ oc get pods -w
The topolvm-node
pod remains in the initialization phase until the vg-manager
completes all the necessary preparations.
Once all the pods have been launched, the LVMS is ready to manage your logical volumes and make them available for use in your applications.
Prior to the deployment of the Logical Volume Manager Storage (LVMS), there are no pre-existing LVM physical volumes, volume groups, or logical volumes associated with the disks.
sh-4.4# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sdb 8:16 0 893.8G 0 disk
|-sdb1 8:17 0 1M 0 part
|-sdb2 8:18 0 127M 0 part
|-sdb3 8:19 0 384M 0 part /boot
`-sdb4 8:20 0 893.3G 0 part /sysroot
sr0 11:0 1 987M 0 rom
nvme0n1 259:0 0 1.5T 0 disk
nvme1n1 259:1 0 1.5T 0 disk
nvme2n1 259:2 0 1.5T 0 disk
sh-4.4# pvs
sh-4.4# vgs
sh-4.4# lvs
After successful deployment, the necessary LVM physical volumes, volume groups, and thin pools are created on the host.
sh-4.4# pvs
PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree
/dev/nvme0n1 vg1 lvm2 a-- <1.46t <1.46t
/dev/nvme1n1 vg1 lvm2 a-- <1.46t <1.46t
/dev/nvme2n1 vg1 lvm2 a-- <1.46t <1.46t
sh-4.4# vgs
VG #PV #LV #SN Attr VSize VFree
vg1 3 0 0 wz--n- <4.37t <4.37t
sh-4.4# lvs
LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta% Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
thin-pool-1 vg1 twi-a-tz-- <3.93t 0.00 1.19
Once you have completed the deployment steps, you can proceed to create a basic test application that will consume storage.
To initiate the process, create a Persistent Volume Claim (PVC):
$ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
name: lvms-test
labels:
type: local
spec:
storageClassName: lvms-vg1
resources:
requests:
storage: 5Gi
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
volumeMode: Filesystem
EOF
Upon creation, you may observe that the PVC remains in a Pending
state.
$ oc get pvc
NAME STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
lvms-test Pending lvms-vg1 7s
This behavior is expected as the storage class awaits the creation of a pod that requires the PVC.
To move forward, create a pod that can utilize this PVC:
$ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: lvms-test
spec:
volumes:
- name: storage
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: lvms-test
containers:
- name: container
image: public.ecr.aws/docker/library/nginx:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 80
name: "http-server"
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: "/usr/share/nginx/html"
name: storage
EOF
Once the pod has been created and associated with the corresponding PVC, the PVC is bound, and the pod transitions to the Running
state.
$ oc get pvc,pods
NAME STATUS VOLUME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES STORAGECLASS AGE
persistentvolumeclaim/lvms-test Bound pvc-a37ef71c-a9b9-45d8-96e8-3b5ad30a84f6 5Gi RWO lvms-vg1 3m2s
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
pod/lvms-test 1/1 Running 0 28s
To perform a full cleanup, follow these steps:
-
Remove all the application pods which are using PVCs created with LVMS, and then remove all these PVCs.
-
Ensure that there are no remaining
LogicalVolume
custom resources that were created by LVMS.$ oc get logicalvolumes.topolvm.io No resources found
-
Remove the
LVMCluster
CR.$ oc delete lvmclusters.lvm.topolvm.io my-lvmcluster lvmcluster.lvm.topolvm.io "my-lvmcluster" deleted
If the previous command is stuck, it may be necessary to perform a forced cleanup procedure.
-
Verify that the only remaining resource in the
openshift-storage
namespace is the Operator.oc get pods -n openshift-storage NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE lvms-operator-8bf864c85-8zjlp 3/3 Running 0 125m
-
To begin the undeployment process of LVMS, use the following command:
make undeploy
There are a few steps required to run the end-to-end tests for LVMS.
You will need the following environment variables set:
IMAGE_REGISTRY={{REGISTRY_URL}} # Ex: quay.io
REGISTRY_NAMESPACE={{REGISTRY_NAMESPACE}} # Ex: lvms-dev, this should be your own personal namespace
Once the environment variables are set, you can run
# build and deploy your local code to the cluster
$ make deploy-local
# Wait for the lvms-operator to have status=Running
$ oc -n openshift-storage get pods
# NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
# lvms-operator-579fbf46d5-vjwhp 3/3 Running 0 3m27s
# run the e2e tests
$ make e2e
# undeploy the operator from the cluster
$ make undeploy
To enable monitoring on OpenShift clusters, assign the openshift.io/cluster-monitoring
label to the same namespace that you deployed LVMS to.
$ oc patch namespace/openshift-storage -p '{"metadata": {"labels": {"openshift.io/cluster-monitoring": "true"}}}'
LVMS provides TopoLVM metrics and controller-runtime
metrics, which can be accessed via OpenShift Console.
Here is a list of the types of devices that are excluded by LVMS. To get more information about the devices on your machine and to check if they fall under any of these filters, run:
$ lsblk --paths --json -o NAME,ROTA,TYPE,SIZE,MODEL,VENDOR,RO,STATE,KNAME,SERIAL,PARTLABEL,FSTYPE
-
Read-Only Devices:
- Condition: Devices marked as
read-only
are unsupported. - Why: LVMS requires the ability to write and modify data dynamically, which is not possible with devices set to read-only mode.
- Filter:
ro
is set totrue
.
- Condition: Devices marked as
-
Suspended Devices:
- Condition: Devices in a
suspended
state are unsupported. - Why: A suspended state implies that a device is temporarily inactive or halted, and attempting to incorporate such devices into LVMS can introduce complexities and potential issues.
- Filter:
state
issuspended
.
- Condition: Devices in a
-
Devices with Invalid Partition Labels:
- Condition: Devices with partition labels such as
bios
,boot
, orreserved
are unsupported. - Why: These labels indicate reserved or specialized functionality associated with specific system components. Attempting to use such devices within LVMS may lead to unintended consequences, as these labels may be reserved for system-related activities.
- Filter:
partlabel
has eitherbios
,boot
, orreserved
.
- Condition: Devices with partition labels such as
-
Devices with Invalid Filesystem Signatures:
- Condition: Devices with invalid filesystem signatures are unsupported. This includes:
- Devices with a filesystem type set to
LVM2_member
(only valid if no children). - Devices with no free capacity as a physical volume.
- Devices already part of another volume group.
- Devices with a filesystem type set to
- Why: These conditions indicate that either this device is already used by another volume group or have no free capacity to be used within LVMS.
- Filter:
fstype
is notnull
, orfstype
is set toLVM2_member
and has children block devices, orpvs --units g -v --reportformat json
returnspv_free
for the block device set to0G
.
- Condition: Devices with invalid filesystem signatures are unsupported. This includes:
-
Devices with Children:
- Condition: Devices with children block devices are unsupported.
- Why: LVMS operates optimally with standalone block devices that are not part of a hierarchical structure. Devices with children can complicate volume management, potentially causing conflicts, errors, or difficulties in tracking and managing logical volumes.
- Filter:
children
has children block devices.
-
Devices with Bind Mounts:
- Condition: Devices with bind mounts are unsupported.
- Why: Managing logical volumes becomes more complex when dealing with devices that have bind mounts, potentially causing conflicts or difficulties in maintaining the integrity of the logical volume setup.
- Filter:
cat /proc/1/mountinfo | grep <device-name>
returns mount points for the device in the 4th or 10th field.
-
ROM Devices:
- Condition: Devices of type
rom
are unsupported. - Why: Such devices are designed for static data storage and lack the necessary read-write capabilities essential for dynamic operations performed by LVMS.
- Filter:
type
is set torom
.
- Condition: Devices of type
-
LVM Partitions:
- Condition: Devices of type
LVM
partition are unsupported. - Why: These partitions are already dedicated to LVM and are managed as part of an existing volume group.
- Filter:
type
is set tolvm
.
- Condition: Devices of type
-
Loop Devices:
- Condition: Loop Devices must not be used if they are already in use by Kubernetes.
- Why: When loop devices are utilized by Kubernetes, they are likely configured for specific tasks or processes managed by the Kubernetes environment. Integrating loop devices that are already in use by Kubernetes into LVMS can lead to potential conflicts and interference with the Kubernetes system.
- Filter:
type
is set toloop
, andlosetup <loop-device> -O BACK-FILE --json
returns aback-file
which containsplugins/kubernetes.io
.
Devices meeting any of these conditions are filtered out for LVMS operations.
NOTE: It is strongly recommended to perform a thorough wipe of a device before using it within LVMS to proactively prevent unintended behaviors or potential issues.
LVMS does not support the reconciliation of multiple LVMCluster custom resources simultaneously.
It is not possible to upgrade from release-4.10 and release-4.11 to a newer version due to a breaking change that has been implemented. For further information on this matter, consult the relevant documentation.
Currently, LVM Operator forces all LVMClusters to work with a thinly provisioned volume in order to support Snapshotting and Cloning on PVCs.
This is backed by an LVM Logical Volume of type thin
, which is reflected in the LVM flags as an attribute.
When trying to use LVM's inbuilt RAID capabilities, it conflicts with this thin
attribute as the same flag is also indicative whether a volume is part of LVM RAID configurations (r
or R
flag).
This means that the only way to support RAID configuration from within LVM
would be to do a conversion from two RAID Arrays into a thinpool with lvconvert
, after which the RAID is no longer recognized by LVM (due to said conflict in the volume attributes).
While this would enable initial synchronization and redundancy, all repair and extend operations would not longer respect the RAID topology in the Volume Group, and operations like lvconvert --repair
are not even supported anymore.
This means that it would be quite a complex situation to recover from.
Instead of doing LVM based RAIDs, we recommend using the mdraid
subsystem in linux instead of the LVM RAID capabilities.
Simply create a RAID array with mdadm
and then use this in your deviceSelector
within LVMCluster
:
- For a simple RAID1, you could use
mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdc1
- Then you can reference
/dev/md0
in thedeviceSelector
as normal - Any recovery and syncing will then happen with
mdraid
: Replacing Disks and Repairing will work transparently of LVMS and can be covered by a sysadmin of the Node.
NOTE: Currently, RAID Arrays created with mdraid
are not automatically recognized when not using any deviceSelector
, thus they MUST be specified explicitly.
In general, since LVMCluster does not ensure data replication, VolumeSnapshots
and consumption of them is always limited to the original dataSource.
Thus, snapshots must be created on the same node as the original data. Also, all pods relying on a PVC that is using the snapshot data will have to be scheduled
on the node that contained the original LogicalVolume
in TopoLVM.
It should be noted that snapshotting is based on Thin-Pool Snapshots from upstream TopoLVM and are still considered experimental in upstream.
This is because multi-node Kubernetes clusters have the scheduler figure out pod placement logically onto different nodes (with the node topology from the native Kubernetes Scheduler responsible for deciding the node where Pods should be deployed),
and it cannot always be guaranteed that Snapshots are provisioned on the same node as the original data (which is based on the CSI topology, known by TopoLVM) if the PersistentVolumeClaim
is not created upfront.
If you are unsure what to make of this, always make sure that the original PerstistentVolumeClaim
that you want to have Snapshots on is already created and Bound
.
With these prerequisites it can be guaranteed that all follow-up VolumeSnapshot
Objects as well as PersistentVolumeClaim
objects depending on the original one are scheduled correctly.
The easiest way to achieve this is to use precreated PersistentVolumeClaims
and non-ephemeral StatefulSet
for your workload.
NOTE: All of the above also applies for cloning the PersistentVolumeClaims
directly by using the original PersistentVolumeClaims
as data source instead of using a Snapshot.
When creating an LVMCluster
CR outside the openshift-storage
namespace by installing it via ClusterServiceVersion
, the Operator will not be able to validate the CR.
This is because the ValidatingWebhookConfiguration
is restricted to the openshift-storage
namespace and does not have access to the LVMCluster
CRs in other namespaces.
Thus, the Operator will not be able to prevent the creation of invalid LVMCluster
CRs outside the openshift-storage
namespace.
However, it will also not pick it up and simply ignore it.
This is because Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) does not allow the creation of ClusterServiceVersion
with installMode OwnNamespace
while also not restricting the webhook configuration.
Validation in the openshift-storage
namespace is processed normally.
See the troubleshooting guide.
See the contribution guide.