Chapter 4. Supported configurations

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage is deployed as a minimal cluster of 3 worker nodes. Spread the nodes across three different availability zones to ensure availability.

4.1. Using dynamically created storage

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage supports different storage disk sizes with a capacity of 0.5 TiB, 2 TiB and 4 TiB when storage is dynamically created.

4.1.1. Storage class requirements

Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage makes use of the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform default storage class, and expects a certain default storage class depending on your infrastructure provider.

These classes are configured on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform nodes automatically, but if your Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform node uses a different storage class as the default, you must change the default storage class back to the appropriate storage class for your infrastructure provider.

  • On Amazon Web Services, the default storage class must be gp2.
  • On VMware vSphere, the default storage class must be thin.

4.1.2. Sizing and scaling for dynamic storage

The initial cluster of 3 nodes can later be expanded to a maximum of 9 nodes that can support up to 27 disks (3 disks on each node). In case of more than 3 worker nodes, the distribution of the disks depends on OpenShift scheduling and available resources.

Expand the cluster in sets of three nodes to ensure that your storage is replicated, and to ensure you can use at least three availability zones.

Note

You can expand the storage capacity only in the increment of the capacity selected at the time of installation.

The following tables shows the supported configurations for Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage.

Table 4.1. Initial configuration across 3 nodes

DisksDisks per nodeTotal capacityUsable storage capacity

0.5 TiB

1

1.5 TiB

0.5 TiB

2 TiB

1

6 TiB

2 TiB

4 TiB

1

12 TiB

4 TiB

Table 4.2. Expanded configuration of up to 9 nodes

Disk size (N)Maximum disks per nodeMaximum total capacity (= 27 disks x N)Maximum usable storage capacity

0.5 TiB

3

13.5 TiB

4.5 TiB

2 TiB

3

54 TiB

18 TiB

4 TiB

3

108 TiB

36 TiB

Warning

Always ensure that you have plenty of storage capacity.

If storage ever fills completely, it is not possible to add capacity or to delete or migrate content away from the storage to free up space. Completely full storage is very difficult to recover.

Capacity alerts are issued when cluster storage capacity reaches 75% (near-full) and 85% (full) of total capacity. Always address capacity warnings promptly, and review your storage regularly to ensure that you do not run out of storage space.

If you do run out of storage space completely, contact Red Hat Customer Support.

As of Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage 4.3, installation is supported only on existing Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform nodes. See Deploying OpenShift Container Storage for more information.

4.2. Using local storage devices

Use of local devices requires the installation of the local storage operator using Operator Hub. See Installing OpenShift Container Storage using local storage devices.

4.2.1. Storage sizing and scaling for local devices

For local storage deployment, any disk size of 4 TiB or lesser can be used, and all disks must be in the same size and type.

The initial cluster of 3 nodes can later be expanded to a maximum of 9 nodes that can support up to 27 disks (3 disks on each node). In case of more than 3 worker nodes, the distribution of the disks depend on OpenShift scheduling and available resources. Maximum you can increase the cluster size to 108 TiB with a usable capacity of 36 TiB upon expansion.

Warning

Always ensure that you have plenty of storage capacity.

If storage ever fills completely, it is not possible to add capacity or to delete or migrate content away from the storage to free up space. Completely full storage is very difficult to recover.

Capacity alerts are issued when cluster storage capacity reaches 75% (near-full) and 85% (full) of total capacity. Always address capacity warnings promptly, and review your storage regularly to ensure that you do not run out of storage space.

If you do run out of storage space completely, contact Red Hat Customer Support.