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Version: 3.1

Integrate external storage systems with CubeCOS

External storage overview​

Integrate your existing SAN and NAS infrastructure with CubeCOS to host VM disks and images. This hybrid architecture lets your internal SDS focus on critical cluster data while external systems handle the primary VM and image workloads.

Hybrid storage architecture limitations​

Though SDS requirements can be reduced, it remains essential for initial setup and the following critical services.

Cluster service requiring internal SDS storage​

  • First-time setup logic: The installation process requires local data disks to initialize and deploy the SDS layer.
  • K3S (CSI driver): Powers authentication and other cluster-critical services through the k8s-volumes RBD pool.
  • Cinder: Manages the mandatory cinder-volumes RBD pool.
  • Glance: Hosts the Glance images RBD pool for virtual machine (VM) images.
  • Nova: Provides ephemeral storage for virtual machines via the ephemeral-vms RBD pool.
  • Manila: Operates as the default file sharing service.
  • Swift (via RGW): Provides the default object storage service.
  • CMP: Manages critical database backups.
  • Ceph (Backup): Manages the volume-backups RBD pool for volume backup services.
  • Cluster Service Storage: Utilizes /mnt/cephfs (CephFS) for persistent cluster service storage.

External storage integration process overview​

Integrate Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or NFS systems (such as NetApp or Dell SC Series) with CubeCOS:

  • External storage requirements: Hardware and network prerequisites, including HBA specifications, iSCSI, network isolation, and zoning.
  • Configure external storage: Modify OpenStack configuration files (Cinder, Glance, and Manila) to define backends and enable vendor-specific drivers.
  • Utilize external storage spaces: Verify connectivity with CLI tools (systool, iscsiadm), manage multipath devices, and validate storage for VMs.
Last updated on by Brian Su