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Updating Volumes using pxctl

This section will walk you through the commands for updating your Portworx volumes. First, let’s use the built-in help that to discover the available commands:

sudo /opt/pwx/bin/pxctl volume update --help
Update volume settings

Usage:
  pxctl volume update [flags]

Examples:
pxctl volume update [flags] volName

Flags:
      --async_io string                     Enable async IO to backing storage (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "off")
      --cow_ondemand string                 Enable On-demand COW on volume (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "on")
      --early_ack string                    Reply to async write requests after it is copied to shared memory (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "off")
      --export_options string               set export options
  -g, --group string                        Set/Reset the Group field on a Volume
  -h, --help                                help for update
      --io_priority string                  IO Priority (Valid Values: [high medium low]) (default "low")
      --io_profile string                   IO Profile (Valid Values: [sequential cms db db_remote sync_shared auto none]) (default "auto")
      --journal string                      Journal data for this volume (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "off")
  -l, --label string                        list of comma-separated name=value pairs to update (use empty label value to remove label)
      --mount_options string                Set mount options for a volume. Provide the mount options as a comma-separated key=value pairs. (Use empty value to reset mount options)
      --nodiscard string                    Disable discard support for this volume (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "off")
      --queue_depth uint                    block device queue depth (Valid Range: [1 256]) (default 128)
      --scale uint                          New scale factor (Valid Range: [1 1024]) (default 1)
      --sharedv4 string                     set sharedv4 setting (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "off")
      --sharedv4_failover_strategy string   set sharedv4 failover strategy. (Use empty value to clear this setting) (Valid Values: [aggressive normal ])
      --sharedv4_mount_options string       Set sharedv4 client mount options for a volume. Provide the mount options as a comma-separated key=value pairs. (Use empty value to reset mount options)
      --sharedv4_service_type string        set sharedv4 service type. (Use empty value to clear this setting) (Valid Values: [ClusterIP NodePort LoadBalancer ])
  -s, --size uint                           New size for the volume (GiB) (default 1)
      --sticky string                       set sticky setting (Valid Values: [on off]) (default "off")

Global Flags:
      --ca string            path to root certificate for ssl usage
      --cert string          path to client certificate for ssl usage
      --color                output with color coding
      --config string        config file (default is $HOME/.pxctl.yaml)
      --context string       context name that overrides the current auth context
  -j, --json                 output in json
      --key string           path to client key for ssl usage
      --output-type string   use "wide" to show more details
      --raw                  raw CLI output for instrumentation
      --ssl                  ssl enabled for portworx

Sharing and unsharing volumes

You can use the --sharedv4 flag to share or unshare a given volume across multiple namespaces.

Say we’ve created a volume named clitest. You can see its settings using this command:

pxctl volume inspect clitest
Volume	:  970758537931791410
	Name            	 :  clitest
	Size            	 :  1.0 GiB
	Format          	 :  ext4
	HA              	 :  1
	IO Priority     	 :  LOW
	Shared          	 :  no
	Status          	 :  up
	State           	 :  detached
	Reads           	 :  0
	Reads MS        	 :  0
	Bytes Read      	 :  0
	Writes          	 :  0
	Writes MS       	 :  0
	Bytes Written   	 :  0
	IOs in progress 	 :  0
	Bytes used      	 :  33 MiB
	Replica sets on nodes:
		Set  0
			Node 	 :  10.99.117.133

Note that the shared field is shown as no, indicating that clitest is not a sharedv4 volume.

Before turning on sharing, make sure no applications are actively using the volume. Kubernetes users can scale down their application pods so that the volume is in a detached state.

Next, let’s turn on sharing:

pxctl volume update clitest --sharedv4=on

At this point, the volume’s sharing settings should have been updated. We can easily check by running pxctl volume inspect on the volume again:

pxctl volume inspect clitest
Volume	:  970758537931791410
	Name            	 :  clitest
	Size            	 :  1.0 GiB
	Format          	 :  ext4
	HA              	 :  1
	IO Priority     	 :  LOW
	Shared          	 :  v4
	Status          	 :  up
	State           	 :  detached
	Reads           	 :  0
	Reads MS        	 :  0
	Bytes Read      	 :  0
	Writes          	 :  0
	Writes MS       	 :  0
	Bytes Written   	 :  0
	IOs in progress 	 :  0
	Bytes used      	 :  33 MiB
	Replica sets on nodes:
		Set  0
			Node 	 :  10.99.117.133

As shown above, the shared field is set to v4 indicating that clitest is now a sharedv4 volume.

  • For more information about creating shared Portworx volumes through Kubernetes, refer to the Create sharedv4 PVCs page.

Changing a volume’s sticky option

For adding the --sticky attribute to a volume, use the following command:

pxctl volume update clitest --sticky=on

Doing a subsequent inspect on the volume shows the attributes field set to sticky:

pxctl volume inspect clitest
Volume	:  970758537931791410
	Name            	 :  clitest
	Size            	 :  1.0 GiB
	Format          	 :  ext4
	HA              	 :  1
	IO Priority     	 :  LOW
	Creation time   	 :  Feb 26 08:17:20 UTC 2017
	Shared          	 :  yes
	Status          	 :  up
	State           	 :  detached
	Attributes      	 :  sticky
	Reads           	 :  0
	Reads MS        	 :  0
	Bytes Read      	 :  0
	Writes          	 :  0
	Writes MS       	 :  0
	Bytes Written   	 :  0
	IOs in progress 	 :  0
	Bytes used      	 :  33 MiB
	Replica sets on nodes:
		Set  0
			Node 	 :  10.99.117.133

Increase volume size

Here is an example of how to increase the size of an existing volume.

First, let’s create a volume with the default parameters (1 GiB):

pxctl volume create vol_resize_test
Volume successfully created: 485002114762355071

Next, we would want inspect our new volume:

pxctl volume inspect vol_resize_test
Volume	:  485002114762355071
	Name            	 :  vol_resize_test
	Size            	 :  1.0 GiB
	Format          	 :  ext4
	HA              	 :  1
	IO Priority     	 :  LOW
	Creation time   	 :  Apr 10 18:53:11 UTC 2017
	Shared          	 :  no
	Status          	 :  up
	State           	 :  detached
	Reads           	 :  0
	Reads MS        	 :  0
	Bytes Read      	 :  0
	Writes          	 :  0
	Writes MS       	 :  0
	Bytes Written   	 :  0
	IOs in progress 	 :  0
	Bytes used      	 :  32 MiB
	Replica sets on nodes:
		Set  0
			Node 	 :  172.31.55.104

Note the default volume size - 1 GiB.

In order to update the size of a given volume, you should first mount it. If it’s a shared volume, then this operation can be done from any of the nodes where the volume is attached.

Now that we’ve created a new volume, let’s attach it to resize it.

pxctl host attach vol_resize_test
Volume successfully attached at: /dev/pxd/pxd485002114762355071

With vol_resize_test attached, the next steps are to create a new directory:

sudo mkdir /var/lib/osd/mounts/voldir

and then mount the volume:

pxctl host mount vol_resize_test /var/lib/osd/mounts/voldir
Volume vol_resize_test successfully mounted at /var/lib/osd/mounts/voldir

Lastly, to update the size of this volume to 5 GB do:

pxctl volume update vol_resize_test --size=5
Update Volume: Volume update successful for volume vol_resize_test

Let’s verify the size with the following command:

pxctl volume inspect vol_resize_test
Volume	:  485002114762355071
	Name            	 :  vol_resize_test
	Size            	 :  5.0 GiB
	Format          	 :  ext4
	HA              	 :  1
	IO Priority     	 :  LOW
	Creation time   	 :  Apr 10 18:53:11 UTC 2017
	Shared          	 :  no
	Status          	 :  up
	State           	 :  Attached: 43109685-e98a-448f-9805-293128e2d78b
	Device Path     	 :  /dev/pxd/pxd485002114762355071
	Reads           	 :  138
	Reads MS        	 :  108
	Bytes Read      	 :  974848
	Writes          	 :  161
	Writes MS       	 :  1667
	Bytes Written   	 :  68653056
	IOs in progress 	 :  0
	Bytes used      	 :  97 MiB
	Replica sets on nodes:
		Set  0
			Node 	 :  172.31.55.104

For more information about dynamically resizing a volume (PVC) using Kubernetes and Portworx, refer to the Resize a Portworx PVC page.

Update a volume’s replication factor

You can use the pxctl volume ha-update command to increase or decrease the replication factor for a given Portworx volume.

NOTE: The maximum replication factor is 3.

Increase the replication factor

Follow the instructions below to increase a volume’s replication factor and create replicas on a node or storage pool:

  1. Identify a node or pool you want to create a replica on. The following example uses a node ID found using the cluster list command:

    pxctl cluster list
    Cluster ID: MY_CLUSTER_ID
Status: OK

Nodes in the cluster:
ID                  DATA IP     CPU     MEM TOTAL   MEM FREE    CONTAINERS  VERSION     STATUS
fa18451d-9091-45b4-a241-d816357f634b    10.99.117.133   0.5     8.4 GB  7.9 GB      N/A     1.1.6-a879596   Online
b1aa39df-9cfd-4c21-b5d4-0dc1c09781d8    10.99.117.137   0.250313    8.4 GB  7.9 GB      N/A     1.1.6-a879596   Online
bb605ca6-c014-4e6c-8a23-55c967d1a963    10.99.117.135   0.625782    8.4 GB  7.9 GB      N/A     1.1.6-a879596   Online

  2. Begin replicating your volume to your target node or storage pool by entering the following pxctl volume ha-update command, specifying:

    • --repl= with the new number of replicas you want to create. This must be equal to your volume’s current replication factor plus one.
    • --node with the node ID, node IP address, or pool UUID you want to create the replica(s) on.

    • The volume you want to increase the replication factor for.

      pxctl volume ha-update \
--repl=2 \
--node <node-ID|pool-uuid|node-IP>
<volume-name>

  3. Monitor the replication operation by entering the following pxctl alerts show command:

    pxctl alerts show --type volume
    AlertID VolumeID        Timestamp           Severity    AlertType           Description
25  970758537931791410  Feb 26 22:02:04 UTC 2017    NOTIFY      Volume operation success    Volume (Id: 970758537931791410 Name: exampleVolume) HA updated from 1 to 2

  4. Once the replication completes and the new node is added to the replication set, enter the pxctl volume inspect command to verify the new replica exists:

    pxctl volume inspect <volume-name>
    Volume  :  970758537931791410
    Name                 :  exampleVolume
    Size                 :  1.0 GiB
    Format               :  ext4
    HA                   :  2
    IO Priority          :  LOW
    Creation time        :  Feb 26 08:17:20 UTC 2017
    Shared               :  yes
    Status               :  up
    State                :  detached
    Attributes           :  sticky
    Reads                :  0
    Reads MS             :  0
    Bytes Read           :  0
    Writes               :  0
    Writes MS            :  0
    Bytes Written        :  0
    IOs in progress      :  0
    Bytes used           :  33 MiB
    Replica sets on nodes:
        Set  0
            Node     :  10.99.117.133
            Node     :  10.99.117.137

Decreasing the replication factor

The ha-update command can be used to reduce the replication factor as well. Follow the instructions below to decrease a volume’s replication factor and remove replicas from a node or storage pool:

  1. Begin removal of your volume’s replica from your target node or storage pool by entering the following pxctl volume ha-update command, specifying:

    • --repl= with the new number of replicas. This must be equal to your volume’s current replication factor minus one.
    • --node with the node ID, node IP address, or pool UUID you want to remove a replica from.

    • The volume you want to decrease the replication factor for.

      pxctl volume ha-update  \
--repl=1 \
--node <node-ID|pool-uuid|node-IP> \
<volume-name>
      Update Volume Replication: Replication update started successfully for volume exampleVolume

  2. Monitor the replication operation by entering the following pxctl alerts show command:

    pxctl alerts show --type volume
    26  970758537931791410  Feb 26 22:58:17 UTC 2017    NOTIFY      Volume operation success    Volume (Id: 970758537931791410 Name: exampleVolume) HA updated

  3. Once the replica reduction completes, enter the pxctl volume inspect command to verify the target replica has been removed:

    pxctl volume inspect exampleVolume
    Volume  :  970758537931791410
    Name                 :  exampleVolume
    Size                 :  1.0 GiB
    Format               :  ext4
    HA                   :  1
    IO Priority          :  LOW
    Creation time        :  Feb 26 08:17:20 UTC 2017
    Shared               :  yes
    Status               :  up
    State                :  detached
    Attributes           :  sticky
    Reads                :  0
    Reads MS             :  0
    Bytes Read           :  0
    Writes               :  0
    Writes MS            :  0
    Bytes Written        :  0
    IOs in progress      :  0
    Bytes used           :  33 MiB
    Replica sets on nodes:
        Set  0
            Node     :  10.99.117.133

Update a volume’s group ID

To update or a new group ID to a volume, enter the pxctl volume update command with the --group option and the new group name:

pxctl volume update --group <groupName> <volumeName>
Update Volume: Volume update successful for volume exampleVolume
Warning: Updating group field will not affect the replica placement of already provisioned volumes.

Access a sharedv4 volume outside of a Kubernetes cluster

By default, sharedv4 volumes can be accessed only within the Portworx cluster. However, you may need to access a sharedv4 volume outside of your Portworx/Kubernetes cluster. For example, a traditional non-Kubernetes application running on a VM needs to access data from a Kubernetes app running in the Kubernetes cluster.

To access a sharedv4 volume outside of the Kubernetes cluster, add the allow_ips label to the volume you wish to export, specifying a semi-colon separated list of IP addresses of non-Portworx Kubernetes nodes you wish to mount your sharedv4 volume to:

pxctl volume update <vol_name> --label "allow_ips=<Kubernetes-IP-1>;<Kubernetes-IP-2>"

Enable NFSv4 for a sharedv4 volume

By default, sharedv4 volumes use the NFSv3 protocol. You can instruct Portworx to use NFSv4 for a specific sharedv4 volume by adding the following label:

pxctl volume update <vol_name> --label nfs_v4=true
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Last edited: Tuesday, May 9, 2023
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