What is CSI?
The Container Storage Interface (CSI) is a connector that acts like a storage integration contract for Kubernetes. It decouples the storage driver lifecycle from the platform, which helps storage vendors release drivers independently of the Kubernetes release cycle. The standard CSI contract specifies common capabilities such as basic storage provisioning and volume lifecycle management. Each vendor extends the contract through plugins, enabling their own features and capabilities. With CSI, application developers and platform engineers have an entry point for Kubernetes storage management.
Limitations of CSI
Going beyond basic provisioning and snapshots in standard CSI requires vendor-specific driver customization. This introduces several problems that can be masked by small evaluation deployments and only become apparent during Day 2 operations at scale.
Inconsistent capabilities
Each vendor's driver has its own learning curve, making it difficult to standardize and automate developer and platform engineering workflows.
I/O patterns treated differently by CSI
CSI is an extension of traditional storage architectures and is not designed to support Kubernetes' level of dynamic, distributed scheduling.
Disruptive upgrades and data migrations
CSI sprawl, especially in multi-cloud, multi-storage environments, complicates upgrades, patching, and data migrations, which extends maintenance windows and builds technical debt.
Complicates data protection
It's difficult to enforce consistent security policies and audit trails across diverse storage arrays. Since basic CSI lacks topology awareness, availability across failure domains also becomes harder to manage.
Kubernetes-Native Automation Addresses the Day 2 Limits of CSI
CSI plugins provide only basic storage connectivity and volume lifecycle management. But enterprises need Kubernetes-native storage that streamlines the workflow of managing data.
Portworx delivers data management that extends to Day 2 operations. With Portworx, you can:
- Unify storage across premises and clouds into a single fabric
- Manage data lifecycle, protection, and mobility with no disruption to applications
- Go beyond CSI with data protection, backup, disaster recovery, and more
- Support any vendor’s block or cloud storage
Customer Success Stories
"CSI drivers haven't kept up with the innovations in the Kubernetes space and they're definitely pinning the customers to the hardware implementations."
Infrastructure Engineering, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama
10X
Faster VM Migrations
"We needed a [storage] platform that could retain data integrity. That’s what brought us to Portworx. It’s a valuable platform where we can build at scale."
Global Head of Engineering - Container Platforms, HSBC
Millions
of global transactions daily with resilience
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