Everything you need to know about storing your Kubernetes distribution
Last Updated on July 22, 2022 by Andrew
In IT, users are always searching for easy, fast, and reliable ways to deploy and manage applications. Kubernetes is one of these tools. When your operation scales and your clusters follow, it can be tough to know what’s what in the world of Kubernetes storage.
Thankfully, with the right tool you can secure, provision, and back-up storage across any Kubernetes platform.
What is Kubernetes distribution storage?
Many business infrastructures in today’s world use containerized workloads. If a business is trying to expand its online software or services, Kubernetes is a container orchestrator that can help. Container orchestrators like this can be used to run containerized applications. They contain everything that is needed for an application to run. Kubernetes is one of the top options, with many helpful features available.
Ephemeral vs. persistent storage
Containers are typically quite temporary and therefore support ephemeral storage. A container only exists for as long as it is needed, meaning that it stores data in the host’s temporary storage, and this data is removed once the pod inevitably shuts down.
Luckily, Kubernetes also has options for persistent storage. Persistent storage essentially retains the data in the container even after the storage pod shuts down. Kubernetes has different persistent storage methods, including block storage, files, and object storage, to name a few. Two concepts are used to enable persistent storage: persistent volumes and persistent volume claims.
Persistent volumes (PV) vs. persistent volume claims (PVC)
A persistent volume (PV) is an element of storage in a cluster, often defined by an administrator. A PV contains storage details such as routers, IP addresses, usernames, and passwords. PVs have a separate lifecycle and are not typically portable between Kubernetes clusters.
A persistent volume claim (PVC) is a request from a user to describe the storage required for an application. PVCs can specify requirements such as storage capacity and access mode. Kubernetes identifies the storage capacity defined in the PV and works to bind the PVC to that storage if the conditions are compatible.
What is a storage class?
A storage class is a Kubernetes application programming interface (API). An API allows different software programs to communicate with each other. When using Kubernetes, an administrator can use a storage class to group a collection of PVs. The administrator can set different parameters for each storage class based on various factors, including volume plugin, cloud provider, or container storage interface (CSI).
Dynamic provisioning
Kubernetes allows users to create storage volumes on demand. Through this dynamic volume provisioning, cluster administrators can avoid the manual process of calling their storage provider to create new storage and then creating persistent volume objects to represent the storage in Kubernetes.
Wrap Up
Aside from helping anyone looking to improve their IT skills, Kubernetes is a container orchestrator that has many practically useful features. The ability to use persistent storage instead of ephemeral storage is particularly important for anyone wishing to easily secure their storage.
