kubespray/docs/CSI/vsphere-csi.md

# vSphere CSI Driver

vSphere CSI driver allows you to provision volumes over a vSphere deployment. The Kubernetes historic in-tree cloud provider is deprecated and will be removed in future versions.

## Prerequisites

The vSphere user for CSI driver requires a set of privileges to perform Cloud Native Storage operations. Follow the [official guide](https://vsphere-csi-driver.sigs.k8s.io/driver-deployment/prerequisites.html#roles_and_privileges) to configure those.

## Kubespray configuration

To enable vSphere CSI driver, uncomment the `vsphere_csi_enabled` option in `group_vars/all/vsphere.yml` and set it to `true`.

To set the number of replicas for the vSphere CSI controller, you can change `vsphere_csi_controller_replicas` option in `group_vars/all/vsphere.yml`.

You need to source the vSphere credentials you use to deploy your machines that will host Kubernetes.

| Variable                                        | Required | Type    | Choices         | Default                 | Comment                                                                                                                     |
|-------------------------------------------------|----------|---------|-----------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| external_vsphere_vcenter_ip                     | TRUE     | string  |                 |                         | IP/URL of the vCenter                                                                                                       |
| external_vsphere_vcenter_port                   | TRUE     | string  |                 | "443"                   | Port of the vCenter API                                                                                                     |
| external_vsphere_insecure                       | TRUE     | string  | "true", "false" | "true"                  | set to "true" if the host above uses a self-signed cert                                                                     |
| external_vsphere_user                           | TRUE     | string  |                 |                         | User name for vCenter with required privileges (Can also be specified with the `VSPHERE_USER` environment variable)         |
| external_vsphere_password                       | TRUE     | string  |                 |                         | Password for vCenter (Can also be specified with the `VSPHERE_PASSWORD` environment variable)                               |
| external_vsphere_datacenter                     | TRUE     | string  |                 |                         | Datacenter name to use                                                                                                      |
| external_vsphere_kubernetes_cluster_id          | TRUE     | string  |                 | "kubernetes-cluster-id" | Kubernetes cluster ID to use                                                                                                |
| external_vsphere_version                        | TRUE     | string  |                 | "7.0u1"                 | Vmware Vsphere version where located all VMs                                                                                |
| external_vsphere_cloud_controller_image_tag     | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v1.31.0"               | CPI manager image tag to use                                                                                                |
| vsphere_syncer_image_tag                        | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v3.3.1"                | Syncer image tag to use                                                                                                     |
| vsphere_csi_attacher_image_tag                  | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v4.3.0"                | CSI attacher image tag to use                                                                                               |
| vsphere_csi_controller                          | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v3.3.1"                | CSI controller image tag to use                                                                                             |
| vsphere_csi_controller_replicas                 | TRUE     | integer |                 | 1                       | Number of pods Kubernetes should deploy for the CSI controller                                                              |
| vsphere_csi_liveness_probe_image_tag            | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v2.10.0"               | CSI liveness probe image tag to use                                                                                         |
| vsphere_csi_provisioner_image_tag               | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v2.1.0"                | CSI provisioner image tag to use                                                                                            |
| vsphere_csi_node_driver_registrar_image_tag     | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v3.5.0"                | CSI node driver registrar image tag to use                                                                                  |
| vsphere_csi_driver_image_tag                    | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v3.3.1"                | CSI driver image tag to use                                                                                                 |
| vsphere_csi_resizer_tag                         | TRUE     | string  |                 | "v1.8.0"                | CSI resizer image tag to use                                                                                                |
| vsphere_csi_aggressive_node_drain               | FALSE    | boolean |                 | false                   | Enable aggressive node drain strategy                                                                                       |
| vsphere_csi_aggressive_node_unreachable_timeout | FALSE    | int     |                 | 300                     | Timeout till node will be drained when it in an unreachable state                                                           |
| vsphere_csi_aggressive_node_not_ready_timeout   | FALSE    | int     |                 | 300                     | Timeout till node will be drained when it in not-ready state                                                                |
| vsphere_csi_namespace                           | TRUE     | string  |                 | "kube-system"           | vSphere CSI namespace to use; kube-system for backward compatibility, should be change to vmware-system-csi on the long run |

## Usage example

To test the dynamic provisioning using vSphere CSI driver, make sure to create a [storage policy](https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere/blob/master/docs/book/tutorials/kubernetes-on-vsphere-with-kubeadm.md#create-a-storage-policy) and [storage class](https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere/blob/master/docs/book/tutorials/kubernetes-on-vsphere-with-kubeadm.md#create-a-storageclass), then apply the following manifest:

```yml
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: csi-pvc-vsphere
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi
  storageClassName: mongodb-sc

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: nginx
spec:
  containers:
  - image: nginx
    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
    name: nginx
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80
      protocol: TCP
    volumeMounts:
      - mountPath: /usr/share/nginx/html
        name: csi-data-vsphere
  volumes:
  - name: csi-data-vsphere
    persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: csi-pvc-vsphere
      readOnly: false
```

Apply this conf to your cluster: ```kubectl apply -f nginx.yml```

You should see the PVC provisioned and bound:

```ShellSession
$ kubectl get pvc
NAME              STATUS   VOLUME                                     CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS   AGE
csi-pvc-vsphere   Bound    pvc-dc7b1d21-ee41-45e1-98d9-e877cc1533ac   1Gi        RWO            mongodb-sc     10s
```

And the volume mounted to the Nginx Pod (wait until the Pod is Running):

```ShellSession
kubectl exec -it nginx -- df -h | grep /usr/share/nginx/html
/dev/sdb         976M  2.6M  907M   1% /usr/share/nginx/html
```

## More info

For further information about the vSphere CSI Driver, you can refer to the official [vSphere Cloud Provider documentation](https://cloud-provider-vsphere.sigs.k8s.io/container_storage_interface.html).