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Import volumes

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You can import existing storage volumes as a Kubernetes PV using tridentctl import.

Drivers that support volume import

This table depicts the drivers that support importing volumes and the release they were introduced in.

Driver Release

ontap-nas

19.04

ontap-nas-flexgroup

19.04

solidfire-san

19.04

aws-cvs

19.04

azure-netapp-files

19.04

gcp-cvs

19.04

ontap-san

19.04

Why should I import volumes?

There are several use cases for importing a volume into Trident:

  • Containerizing an application and reusing its existing data set

  • Using a clone of a data set for an ephemeral application

  • Rebuilding a failed Kubernetes cluster

  • Migrating application data during disaster recovery

How does the import work?

The Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) file is used by the volume import process to create the PVC. At a minimum, the PVC file should include the name, namespace, accessModes, and storageClassName fields as shown in the following example.

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: my_claim
  namespace: my_namespace
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  storageClassName: my_storage_class

The tridentctl client is used to import an existing storage volume. Trident imports the volume by persisting volume metadata and creating the PVC and PV.

$ tridentctl import volume <backendName> <volumeName> -f <path-to-pvc-file>

To import a storage volume, specify the name of the Astra Trident backend containing the volume, as well as the name that uniquely identifies the volume on the storage (for example: ONTAP FlexVol, Element Volume, CVS Volume path). The storage volume must allow read/write access and be accessible by the specified Astra Trident backend. The -f string argument is required and specifies the path to the YAML or JSON PVC file.

When Astra Trident receives the import volume request, the existing volume size is determined and set in the PVC. After the volume is imported by the storage driver, the PV is created with a ClaimRef to the PVC. The reclaim policy is initially set to retain in the PV. After Kubernetes successfully binds the PVC and PV, the reclaim policy is updated to match the reclaim policy of the Storage Class. If the reclaim policy of the Storage Class is delete, the storage volume will be deleted when the PV is deleted.

When a volume is imported with the --no-manage argument, Trident does not perform any additional operations on the PVC or PV for the lifecycle of the objects. Because Trident ignores PV and PVC events for --no-manage objects, the storage volume is not deleted when the PV is deleted. Other operations such as volume clone and volume resize are also ignored. This option is useful if you want to use Kubernetes for containerized workloads but otherwise want to manage the lifecycle of the storage volume outside of Kubernetes.

An annotation is added to the PVC and PV that serves a dual purpose of indicating that the volume was imported and if the PVC and PV are managed. This annotation should not be modified or removed.

Trident 19.07 and later handle the attachment of PVs and mounts the volume as part of importing it. For imports using earlier versions of Astra Trident, there will not be any operations in the data path and the volume import will not verify if the volume can be mounted. If a mistake is made with volume import (for example, the StorageClass is incorrect), you can recover by changing the reclaim policy on the PV to retain, deleting the PVC and PV, and retrying the volume import command.

ontap-nas and ontap-nas-flexgroup imports

Each volume created with the ontap-nas driver is a FlexVol on the ONTAP cluster. Importing FlexVols with the ontap-nas driver works the same. A FlexVol that already exists on an ONTAP cluster can be imported as a ontap-nas PVC. Similarly, FlexGroup vols can be imported as ontap-nas-flexgroup PVCs.

Important An ONTAP volume must be of type rw to be imported by Trident. If a volume is of type dp, it is a SnapMirror destination volume; you should break the mirror relationship before importing the volume into Trident.
Important The ontap-nas driver cannot import and manage qtrees. The ontap-nas and ontap-nas-flexgroup drivers do not allow duplicate volume names.

For example, to import a volume named managed_volume on a backend named ontap_nas, use the following command:

$ tridentctl import volume ontap_nas managed_volume -f <path-to-pvc-file>

+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
|                   NAME                   |  SIZE   | STORAGE CLASS | PROTOCOL |             BACKEND UUID             | STATE  | MANAGED |
+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
| pvc-bf5ad463-afbb-11e9-8d9f-5254004dfdb7 | 1.0 GiB | standard      | file     | c5a6f6a4-b052-423b-80d4-8fb491a14a22 | online | true    |
+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+

To import a volume named unmanaged_volume (on the ontap_nas backend), which Trident will not manage, use the following command:

$ tridentctl import volume nas_blog unmanaged_volume -f <path-to-pvc-file> --no-manage

+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
|                   NAME                   |  SIZE   | STORAGE CLASS | PROTOCOL |             BACKEND UUID             | STATE  | MANAGED |
+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
| pvc-df07d542-afbc-11e9-8d9f-5254004dfdb7 | 1.0 GiB | standard      | file     | c5a6f6a4-b052-423b-80d4-8fb491a14a22 | online | false   |
+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+

When using the --no-manage argument, Trident does not rename the volume or validate if the volume was mounted. The volume import operation fails if the volume was not mounted manually.

Note A previously existing bug with importing volumes with custom UnixPermissions has been fixed. You can specify unixPermissions in your PVC definition or backend configuration, and instruct Astra Trident to import the volume accordingly.

ontap-san import

Astra Trident can also import ONTAP SAN FlexVols that contain a single LUN. This is consistent with the ontap-san driver, which creates a FlexVol for each PVC and a LUN within the FlexVol. You can use the tridentctl import command in the same way as in other cases:

  • Include the name of the ontap-san backend.

  • Provide the name of the FlexVol that needs to be imported. Remember, this FlexVol contains only one LUN that must be imported.

  • Provide the path of the PVC definition that must be used with the -f flag.

  • Choose between having the PVC managed or unmanaged. By default, Trident will manage the PVC and rename the FlexVol and LUN on the backend. To import as an unmanaged volume, pass the --no-manage flag.

Tip When importing an unmanaged ontap-san volume, you should make sure that the LUN in the FlexVol is named lun0 and is mapped to an igroup with the desired initiators. Astra Trident automatically handles this for a managed import.

Astra Trident will then import the FlexVol and associate it with the PVC definition. Astra Trident also renames the FlexVol to the pvc-<uuid> format and the LUN within the FlexVol to lun0.

Tip It is recommended to import volumes that do not have existing active connections. If you are looking to import an actively used volume, clone the volume first and then do the import.

Example

To import the ontap-san-managed FlexVol that is present on the ontap_san_default backend, run the tridentctl import command as:

$ tridentctl import volume ontapsan_san_default ontap-san-managed -f pvc-basic-import.yaml -n trident -d

+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
|                   NAME                   |  SIZE  | STORAGE CLASS | PROTOCOL |             BACKEND UUID             | STATE  | MANAGED |
+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
| pvc-d6ee4f54-4e40-4454-92fd-d00fc228d74a | 20 MiB | basic         | block    | cd394786-ddd5-4470-adc3-10c5ce4ca757 | online | true    |
+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
Important An ONTAP volume must be of type rw to be imported by Astra Trident. If a volume is of type dp, it is a SnapMirror destination volume; you should break the mirror relationship before importing the volume into Astra Trident.

element import

You can import NetApp Element software/NetApp HCI volumes to your Kubernetes cluster with Trident. You need the name of your Astra Trident backend, and the unique name of the volume and the PVC file as the arguments for the tridentctl import command.

$ tridentctl import volume element_default element-managed -f pvc-basic-import.yaml -n trident -d

+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
|                   NAME                   |  SIZE  | STORAGE CLASS | PROTOCOL |             BACKEND UUID             | STATE  | MANAGED |
+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
| pvc-970ce1ca-2096-4ecd-8545-ac7edc24a8fe | 10 GiB | basic-element | block    | d3ba047a-ea0b-43f9-9c42-e38e58301c49 | online | true    |
+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
Note The Element driver supports duplicate volume names. If there are duplicate volume names, Trident’s volume import process returns an error. As a workaround, clone the volume and provide a unique volume name. Then import the cloned volume.

aws-cvs import

Tip To import a volume backed by the NetApp Cloud Volumes Service in AWS, identify the volume by its volume path instead of its name.

To import an aws-cvs volume on the backend called awscvs_YEppr with the volume path of adroit-jolly-swift, use the following command:

$ tridentctl import volume awscvs_YEppr adroit-jolly-swift -f <path-to-pvc-file> -n trident

+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
|                   NAME                   |  SIZE  | STORAGE CLASS | PROTOCOL |             BACKEND UUID             | STATE  | MANAGED |
+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
| pvc-a46ccab7-44aa-4433-94b1-e47fc8c0fa55 | 93 GiB | aws-storage   | file     | e1a6e65b-299e-4568-ad05-4f0a105c888f | online | true    |
+------------------------------------------+--------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
Note The volume path is the portion of the volume’s export path after the :/. For example, if the export path is 10.0.0.1:/adroit-jolly-swift, the volume path is adroit-jolly-swift.

gcp-cvs import

Importing a gcp-cvs volume works the same as importing an aws-cvs volume.

azure-netapp-files import

To import an azure-netapp-files volume on the backend called azurenetappfiles_40517 with the volume path importvol1, run the following command:

$ tridentctl import volume azurenetappfiles_40517 importvol1 -f <path-to-pvc-file> -n trident

+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
|                   NAME                   |  SIZE   | STORAGE CLASS | PROTOCOL |             BACKEND UUID             | STATE  | MANAGED |
+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
| pvc-0ee95d60-fd5c-448d-b505-b72901b3a4ab | 100 GiB | anf-storage   | file     | 1c01274f-d94b-44a3-98a3-04c953c9a51e | online | true    |
+------------------------------------------+---------+---------------+----------+--------------------------------------+--------+---------+
Note The volume path for the ANF volume is present in the mount path after the :/. For example, if the mount path is 10.0.0.2:/importvol1, the volume path is importvol1.