Install and configure Portworx on VMware Tanzu


NOTE:

  • Portworx does not support Tanzu Community Edition
  • The installation steps below only apply if you’re running with Kubernetes on the TKG or TKGS platforms
  • For the underlying datastore for the PVs and VMs, do not enable Storage DRS. VSphere CSI driver and Cloud Native Storage does not currently support Storage DRS feature in vSphere

Prerequisites

  • A running Kubernetes cluster TKG or TKGS.
  • If you’re using TKGS, ensure all prerequisites are met based on VMware documentation.
  • Enable Workload Management according to VMware Best Practices.
  • Ensure the required ports in the 9001:9020 range are open on all nodes.

NOTE: If you’re using encrypted volumes on Tanzu clusters with PhotonOS, Portworx recommends that you install the following packages all nodes:

  • device-mapper
  • cryptsetup

You can install these packages using the following commands:

yum update -y
yum install device-mapper
yum install cryptsetup

Create the StorageClass

CSI cloud drive configuration requires a StorageClass with the CSI driver set as a provisioner to be installed in the Kubernetes cluster.

  1. Get a CSI provisioner name by running the following command on your Tanzu Kubernetes cluster. You will use this name in the next step:

    kubectl get csidriver
  2. Create a StorageClass on your specified datastore. In the provisioner field, enter the CSI driver name you got in the step above. Provide the datastore URL in the datastoreurl field from your VSpere client.

    kind: StorageClass
    apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
    metadata:
      name: vsphere-immediate-sc
      annotations:
         storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
    provisioner: <csi_driver_name>
    parameters:
      datastoreurl: "<your-datastore-url>" 
    allowVolumeExpansion: true
    reclaimPolicy: Delete
    volumeBindingMode: Immediate
    NOTE: You can also specify the SPBM policies in the StorageClass with the storagepolicyname parameter.

Install Portworx

As part of the installation, you’ll use the spec generator. Perform the following steps to create your Portworx spec and configure your Cloud Drives. This installation method uses the Operator.

To install Portworx with Kubernetes, you must first generate Kubernetes manifests that you will deploy in your cluster:

  1. Navigate to PX-Central and log in, or create an account.
  2. Select Portworx Enterprise and click Continue.
  3. On the Product Line page, choose any option depending on which license you intend to use, then click Continue.
  4. For Platform, select VMware Tanzu. Specify the storage class name you will use for drives, then click Save Spec to generate the specs.


Last edited: Tuesday, May 9, 2023