Creating a Storage Class in Google Cloud

Introduction

For Google Cloud, Bunnyshell supports the following types of volumes:

• ReadWriteOnce (Disk) volumes

• ReadWriteMany (Network) volumes

Prerequisites

Kubectl requirements

• Make sure gcloud is installed - https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install + https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/initializing

• Make sure gcloud is authorised - https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/authorizing

• Make sure you're connected to the cluster and that the cluster is the current context. Install kubectl and configure cluster access

Permissions

Before creating your Storage Class in Google Cloud, make sure you have the following predefined roles:

• Kubernetes Engine Viewer

• Kubernetes Engine Admin

• Project IAM Admin

The command below helps you list all available GC storage classes present in the cluster, with information that can be used to create a new CSI:

kubectl get sc

Upon using the previous command, you should receive the following Output:

NAME                     PROVISIONER                    RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE      ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
premium-rwo              pd.csi.storage.gke.io          Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   true                   2d20h
premium-rwx              filestore.csi.storage.gke.io   Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   true                   2d20h
standard                 kubernetes.io/gce-pd           Delete          Immediate              true                   2d20h
standard-rwo (default)   pd.csi.storage.gke.io          Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   true                   2d20h
standard-rwx             filestore.csi.storage.gke.io   Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   true                   2d20h

Steps to create Disk and Network Volumes

DISK VOLUMES

The steps detailed below will help you create a Disk (ReadWriteOnce) Volume:

Setting the proper context

Starting here, you will work in the terminal. Make sure you're connected to the cluster and that the cluster is the current context. Use the command kubectl config --help to obtain the necessary information.

1. To create a storage class, first enter the content below in the csi.yaml file:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: bns-disk-sc
provisioner: pd.csi.storage.gke.io
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
allowVolumeExpansion: true
parameters:
  type: pd-balanced

Disk and machine types supported for Zonal and Regional persistent disks

Zonal Persistent Disks

The table below shows disk types and machine types supported for Zonal persistent disks.

Disk type	Supported machine types
pd-standard	All machine types
pd-balanced	All machine types
pd-ssd	All machine types
pd-extreme	n2-standard with 64 or more vCPUs, n2-highmem-64, n2-highmem-80, m1-megamem-96, m2-ultramem-208, m2-ultramem-416

Regional Persistent Disks

The following table shows disk types and machine types support for regional persistent disks:

Disk type	Supported machine types
pd-standard	N1, N2, N2D, E2
pd-balanced	N1, N2, N2D, E2
pd-ssd	N1, N2, N2D, E2

2. Apply the csi.yaml file

kubectl apply -f csi.yaml

// OUTPUT
storageclass.storage.k8s.io/bns-disk-sc created

3. Verify the presence of the bns-disk-sc storage class using the command below:

kubectl get sc

// OUTPUT
NAME                 PROVISIONER                                     RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE      ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
bns-disk-sc          pd.csi.storage.gke.io                           Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   true                   25m

Read more about this on the Google Cloud documentation website.

NETWORK VOLUMES

To demonstrate how to create a Network (ReadWriteMany)volume, we will use Google Cloud Filestore (an NFS implementation) in the following example:

1. Open the Filestore page using this link.

2. Enable Cloud Filestore API by clicking the Enable button.

3. Click CREATE INSTANCE. You can now retrieve the Google Filestore file path and the Google Filestore private IP.

Wait until the instance reaches the Ready status.

Setting the proper context

Starting here, make sure you're connected to the cluster and that the cluster is the current context. Use the command kubectl config --help to obtain the necessary information.

4. It's time to install the CSI driver using a Helm chart. Start with the command below:

➜ helm repo add nfs-subdir-external-provisioner https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/nfs-subdir-external-provisioner/

// OUTPUT
"nfs-subdir-external-provisioner" has been added to your repositories

Now perform the following:

➜ helm install nfs-subdir-external-provisioner nfs-subdir-external-provisioner/nfs-subdir-external-provisioner \
      --set nfs.server=FILESTORE_IP \
      --set nfs.path=/FILESTORE_PATH \
      --set storageClass.name=bns-network-sc

// OUTPUT
NAME: nfs-subdir-external-provisioner
LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jul 21 12:03:06 2022
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None

• Replace the FILESTORE_IP with the Google Filestore private IP

• Replace the FILESTORE_PATH with the Google Filestore file path

5. Verify the presence of the bns-network-sc storage class using the command below:

kubectl get sc

// OUTPUT
NAME                 PROVISIONER                                     RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE      ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
bns-network-sc       cluster.local/nfs-subdir-external-provisioner   Delete          Immediate              true                   117s

Read more on the Google Cloud docs platform.