Blog: Kubernetes v1.26: Alpha support for cross-namespace storage data sources
Author: Takafumi Takahashi (Hitachi Vantara)
Kubernetes v1.26, released last month, introduced an alpha feature that
lets you specify a data source for a PersistentVolumeClaim, even where the source
data belong to a different namespace.
With the new feature enabled, you specify a namespace in the dataSourceRef field of
a new PersistentVolumeClaim. Once Kubernetes checks that access is OK, the new
PersistentVolume can populate its data from the storage source specified in that other
namespace.
Before Kubernetes v1.26, provided your cluster had the AnyVolumeDataSource feature enabled,
you could already provision new volumes from a data source in the same
namespace.
However, that only worked for the data source in the same namespace,
therefore users couldn't provision a PersistentVolume with a claim
in one namespace from a data source in other namespace.
To solve this problem, Kubernetes v1.26 added a new alpha namespace field
to dataSourceRef field in PersistentVolumeClaim the API.
How it works
Once the csi-provisioner finds that a data source is specified with a dataSourceRef that
has a non-empty namespace name,
it checks all reference grants within the namespace that's specified by the.spec.dataSourceRef.namespace
field of the PersistentVolumeClaim, in order to see if access to the data source is allowed.
If any ReferenceGrant allows access, the csi-provisioner provisions a volume from the data source.
Trying it out
The following things are required to use cross namespace volume provisioning:
Enable the AnyVolumeDataSource and CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource feature gates for the kube-apiserver and kube-controller-manager
Install a CRD for the specific VolumeSnapShot controller
Install the CSI Provisioner controller and enable the CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource feature gate
Install the CSI driver
Install a CRD for ReferenceGrants
Putting it all together
To see how this works, you can install the sample and try it out.
This sample do to create PVC in dev namespace from VolumeSnapshot in prod namespace.
That is a simple example. For real world use, you might want to use a more complex approach.
Assumptions for this example
Your Kubernetes cluster was deployed with AnyVolumeDataSource and CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource feature gates enabled
There are two namespaces, dev and prod
CSI driver is being deployed
There is an existing VolumeSnapshot named new-snapshot-demo in the prod namespace
The ReferenceGrant CRD (from the Gateway API project) is already deployed
Grant ReferenceGrants read permission to the CSI Provisioner
Access to ReferenceGrants is only needed when the CSI driver
has the CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource controller capability.
For this example, the external-provisioner needs get , list , and watch
permissions for referencegrants (API group gateway.networking.k8s.io ).
- apiGroups : ["gateway.networking.k8s.io" ]
resources : ["referencegrants" ]
verbs : ["get" , "list" , "watch" ]
Enable the CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource feature gate for the CSI Provisioner
Add --feature-gates=CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource=true to the csi-provisioner command line.
For example, use this manifest snippet to redefine the container:
- args :
- -v=5
- --csi-address=/csi/csi.sock
- --feature-gates=Topology=true
- --feature-gates=CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSource=true
image : csi-provisioner:latest
imagePullPolicy : IfNotPresent
name : csi-provisioner
Create a ReferenceGrant
Here's a manifest for an example ReferenceGrant.
apiVersion : gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind : ReferenceGrant
metadata :
name : allow-prod-pvc
namespace : prod
spec :
from :
- group : ""
kind : PersistentVolumeClaim
namespace : dev
to :
- group : snapshot.storage.k8s.io
kind : VolumeSnapshot
name : new-snapshot-demo
Create a PersistentVolumeClaim by using cross namespace data source
Kubernetes creates a PersistentVolumeClaim on dev and the CSI driver populates
the PersistentVolume used on dev from snapshots on prod.
apiVersion : v1
kind : PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata :
name : example-pvc
namespace : dev
spec :
storageClassName : example
accessModes :
- ReadWriteOnce
resources :
requests :
storage : 1Gi
dataSourceRef :
apiGroup : snapshot.storage.k8s.io
kind : VolumeSnapshot
name : new-snapshot-demo
namespace : prod
volumeMode : Filesystem
How can I learn more?
The enhancement proposal,
Provision volumes from cross-namespace snapshots , includes lots of detail about the history and technical implementation of this feature.
Please get involved by joining the Kubernetes Storage Special Interest Group (SIG)
to help us enhance this feature.
There are a lot of good ideas already and we'd be thrilled to have more!
Acknowledgments
It takes a wonderful group to make wonderful software.
Special thanks to the following people for the insightful reviews,
thorough consideration and valuable contribution to the CrossNamespaceVolumeDataSouce feature:
Michelle Au (msau42)
Xing Yang (xing-yang)
Masaki Kimura (mkimuram)
Tim Hockin (thockin)
Ben Swartzlander (bswartz)
Rob Scott (robscott)
John Griffith (j-griffith)
Michael Henriksen (mhenriks)
Mustafa Elbehery (Elbehery)
It’s been a joy to work with y'all on this.