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Kubernetes

Simplyblock runs natively on Kubernetes, where it is deployed and managed by the simplyblock operator through Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). Workloads consume storage through the simplyblock CSI driver using standard Kubernetes objects such as StorageClass, PersistentVolumeClaim, and VolumeSnapshot. Provisioning, snapshotting, cloning, and resizing therefore become part of the regular application lifecycle instead of a separate administrative task.

Both hyper-converged and disaggregated topologies are supported. In a hyper-converged deployment, simplyblock storage services share Kubernetes worker nodes with application workloads. In a disaggregated deployment, they run on dedicated workers, either within the same cluster or in a separate one. A wide range of Kubernetes distributions is supported, including OpenShift, SUSE Rancher (RKE2 and K3s), and Talos.

Before deploying, review the node sizing, network, and erasure coding guidance in Deployment Preparation. That guidance applies to all deployment models, with additional sizing notes for hyper-converged clusters where compute and storage share nodes.

What This Section Covers

  • Install Simplyblock: Install the operator with its Helm chart, deploy the control plane and storage plane through CRDs, install the CSI driver, and apply distribution-specific configuration.
  • Usage: Configure storage classes and quality of service, and provision, expand, snapshot, clone, encrypt, and remove logical volumes using Kubernetes resources.
  • Operations: Monitor cluster health, scale capacity, back up and restore volumes, replicate asynchronously, coordinate node drains, and run cluster operations through the operator.

Info

To attach simplyblock storage to hosts outside of Kubernetes, or to run the storage cluster itself on plain Linux, Proxmox, or OpenStack, see Non-Kubernetes.