Connect Azure Elastic SAN volumes to an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster
This article explains how to connect an Azure Elastic storage area network (SAN) volume from an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. To make this connection, enable the Kubernetes iSCSI CSI driver on your cluster. With this driver, you can access volumes on your Elastic SAN by creating persistent volumes on your AKS cluster, and then attaching the Elastic SAN volumes to the persistent volumes.
About the driver
The iSCSI CSI driver is an open source project that allows you to connect to a Kubernetes cluster over iSCSI. Since the driver is an open source project, Microsoft won't provide support from any issues stemming from the driver, itself.
The Kubernetes iSCSI CSI driver is available on GitHub:
Licensing
The iSCSI CSI driver for Kubernetes is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.
Prerequisites
- Use either the latest Azure CLI or install the latest Azure PowerShell module
- Meet the compatibility requirements for the iSCSI CSI driver
- Deploy an Elastic SAN
- Configure a virtual network endpoint
- Configure virtual network rules
Limitations
- Dynamic provisioning isn't currently supported
- Only
ReadWriteOnce
access mode is currently supported
Get started
Driver installation
curl -skSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-csi/csi-driver-iscsi/master/deploy/install-driver.sh | bash -s master --
After deployment, check the pods status to verify that the driver installed.
kubectl -n kube-system get pod -o wide -l app=csi-iscsi-node
Get volume information
You need the volume's StorageTargetIQN, StorageTargetPortalHostName, and StorageTargetPortalPort.
You can get them with the following Azure PowerShell command:
Get-AzElasticSanVolume -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -ElasticSanName $sanName -VolumeGroupName $searchedVolumeGroup -Name $searchedVolume
You can also get them with the following Azure CLI command:
az elastic-san volume show --elastic-san-name --name --resource-group --volume-group-name
Cluster configuration
Once you've retrieved your volume's information, you need to create a few yaml files for your new resources on your AKS cluster.
Storageclass
Use the following example to create a storageclass.yml file. This file defines your persistent volume's storageclass.
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
name: san-volume
provisioner: manual
Persistent volume
After you've created the storage class, create a pv.yml file. This file defines your persistent volume. In the following example, replace yourTargetPortal
, yourTargetPortalPort
, and yourIQN
with the values you collected earlier, then use the example to create a pv.yml file. If you need more than 1 gibibyte of storage and have it available, replace 1Gi
with the amount of storage you require.
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: iscsiplugin-pv
labels:
name: data-iscsiplugin
spec:
storageClassName: san-volume
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
capacity:
storage: 1Gi
csi:
driver: iscsi.csi.k8s.io
volumeHandle: iscsi-data-id
volumeAttributes:
targetPortal: "yourTargetPortal:yourTargetPortalPort"
portals: "[]"
iqn: "yourIQN"
lun: "0"
iscsiInterface: "default"
discoveryCHAPAuth: "true"
sessionCHAPAuth: "false"
After creating the pv.yml file, create a persistent volume with the following command:
kubectl apply -f pathtoyourfile/pv.yaml
Persistent volume claim
Next, create a persistent volume claim. Use the storage class we defined earlier with the persistent volume we defined. The following is an example of what your pvc.yml file might look like:
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
name: iscsiplugin-pvc
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
storageClassName: san-volume
selector:
matchExpressions:
- key: name
operator: In
values: ["data-iscsiplugin"]
After creating the pvc.yml file, create a persistent volume claim.
kubectl apply -f pathtoyourfile/pvc.yaml
To verify your PersistentVolumeClaim is created and bound to the PersistentVolume, run the following command:
kubectl get pvc pathtoyourfile
Finally, create a pod manifest. The following is an example of what your pod.yml file might look like. You can use it to make your own pod manifest, replace the values for name
, image
, and mountPath
with your own:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: nginx
spec:
containers:
- image: maersk/nginx
imagePullPolicy: Always
name: nginx
ports:
- containerPort: 80
protocol: TCP
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/www
name: iscsi-volume
volumes:
- name: iscsi-volume
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: iscsiplugin-pvc
After creating the pod.yml file, create a pod.
kubectl apply -f pathtoyourfile/pod.yaml
To verify your Pod was created, run the following command:
kubectl get pods
You've now successfully connected an Elastic SAN volume to your AKS cluster.