Kubernetes tip: How to use the ‘storageClass' attribute 🤔

This is a short blog post that covers an aspect of Kubernetes dynamic provisioning which often trips up folks when they are first exploring it (confused me for sure!)

In order to use a StorageClass, all you need to do is reference it from a PersistentVolumeClaim. But StorageClass is not a mandatory field - so it is possible to not use it at all, or provide an empty string ("") as its value. It's important to understand these options and the impact they'll have.

Let's clarify these permutations and combinations, once and for all!

Kubernetes StorageClass concepts (and more) were covered in-depth in "The definitive guide to Kubernetes Volumes (Part 2)"

Just like a PersistentVolume encapsulates storage related details, a StorageClass provides a way to describe the "classes" of storage. Here is an example of a StorageClass for an Azure Disk.

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  labels:
    kubernetes.io/cluster-service: "true"
  name: default
parameters:
  cachingmode: ReadOnly
  kind: Managed
  storageaccounttype: Standard_LRS
provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-disk
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: Immediate

When storageClass attribute is absent

You can choose not to include storageClass attribute in your PersistentVolumeClaim if you want to use the default Storage Class in your cluster. For example, Azure Kubernetes Service includes two pre-seeded storage classes.

You can check the same by running kubectl get storageclass command

NAME                PROVISIONER                AGE
default (default)   kubernetes.io/azure-disk   6d10h
managed-premium     kubernetes.io/azure-disk   6d10h

• default storage class: provisions a standard Azure Disk backed by a Standard HDD
• managed-premium storage class: provisions a premium Azure Disk backed by Premium SSD

In this case, the default Storage Class (and its associated provisioner) is used even if a PersistentVolume exists and it matches the requirements in the PersistentVolumeClaim.

When storageClass attribute is set to an empty string

This is a tricky one!

You already have a PersistentVolume along with the corresponding storage medium provisioned and want to use that (without referring to a custom Storage Class or the default one)

In this case, just set storageClass to an empty string ("") in the PersistentVolumeClaim. This will suppress dynamic provisioning!

Check out "How to add persistent storage to your Kubernetes apps on Azure" to see this in action

When a specific storageClass attribute is referenced

The "How to use custom Storage Classes in Kubernetes" blog post demonstrates this scenario with an example

In many cases, you might want to create custom Storage Classes in addition to what's already installed in your Kubernetes cluster e.g. to change the way you want to handle removal of your PersistentVolume and storage medium once the PersistentVolumeClaim is deleted.

In this case, the provisioner specified in your custom Storage Class will be used to create the storage medium (and the corresponding PersistentVolume object) to satisfy the storage request details in the PersistentVolumeClaim.

Note: If you reference an invalid storage class from a PersistentVolumeClaim, dynamic provisioning will fail

That's all for now. I would love to have your feedback and suggestions! Just tweet or drop a comment. Also, don't forget to like and follow 😃😃