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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 by itself

Going beyond basic provisioning and snapshots in standard CSI requires vendor-specific driver customization. This introduces several problems

Inconsistent capabilities and manual operations

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. Initial synthetic benchmarks may seem performant but can miss issues that real-world workloads at scale eventually surface.

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 and compliance

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.

Achieve data at scale for Kubernetes

How do you fill the gaps in CSI?

Using storage arrays with CSI drivers creates critical bottlenecks and scale limitations. Enterprises need container-native storage that streamlines the workflow of managing data with Kubernetes

  • One single interface, not a plague of drivers
  • Self-service automation, not manual configuration
  • Full lifecycle management with security and scaling
  • Unified storage across local and cloud environments
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You need a platform for cloud native storage

Portworx is the bridge to cloud native storage that begins where CSI ends. Unlike a disjointed set of hardware-specific drivers, Portworx delivers automation for hybrid and multi-cloud consistency.

  • Aggregates storage across premises and clouds into a single fabric without manual CSI driver workflows
  • Manages data lifecycle, protection, and mobility with no disruption to applications
  • Goes beyond CSI with data protection, backup, disaster recovery, and more
  • Supports any vendor’s block or cloud storage
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Customer Stories

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  • BCBS Alabama
https://portworx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/health-insurance-company.webp
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Accelerates Time to Market with Portworx Enterprise
"They solved several problems for us with pod workloads starting up faster. Migration of VMs? Way faster. Portworx Enterprise is second to none."

Victor Williams, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama

Read the Case Study
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