IBM Ubiquity Versions Save

GA v2.1.0

IBM Storage Enabler for Containers allows IBM storage systems to be used as persistent volumes for stateful applications running in Kubernetes clusters. The IBM official solution for Kubernetes, based on the Ubiquity project, is referred to as IBM Storage Enabler for Containers. The solution supports both IBM block- and file-based storage systems.

• IBM block storage is supported via IBM Spectrum Connect. Enabler for Containers communicates with the IBM storage systems through Spectrum Connect. Spectrum Connect creates a storage profile (for example, gold, silver or bronze) and makes it available for Kubernetes.
• IBM Spectrum Scale is supported via a direct communication link between Enabler for Containers and Spectrum Scale REST API v2.

You can download the installation package for and its documentation from IBM Fix Central. This release introduces a Helm chart named 'ibm-storage-enabler-for-containers-dev' available in IBM Helm chart repository.

New in this release

• Helm chart in ICP catalog

  • New Helm-based installation method replaced the script-based procedure.
  • The 'ibm-storage-enabler-for-containers-dev' Helm chart is available in the IBM Helm chart repository and can be fetched as detailed below: #> helm repo add ibm-stable https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IBM/charts/master/repo/stable #> helm fetch ibm-stable/ibm-storage-enabler-for-containers-dev
  • List of related PRs

• Expanded support matrix:

  • Support for IBM Cloud Private v3.1.1, v3.1.2.
  • Support for Kubernetes v1.13.
  • Support for DS8K storage systems on zLinux k8s worker nodes.

• Improvements:

  • Improved FC host rescanning https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/294.
  • Resolved issues with host cluster operations https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/292.
  • And other issues

• Docker images As part of Helm chart support, two new images were added:

  • ibm-storage-flex-volume-sidecar-for-kubernetes: A sidecar, updating the Ubiquity service address inside Flex.

  • ibm-storage-enabler-for-containers-helm-utils: Helm pre-delete hooks.

  • Full IBM Storage Enabler for Containers DockerHub repositories are as follows:

    Ubiquity component	manifest	x86	Power	s390x
    ubiquity	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-db	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-flex	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-provisioner	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-flex sidecar	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity helm hook	link	link	link	link

  • For full details about support matrix, see the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers release notes in IBM Fix Central.

GA v2.0.0

IBM Storage Enabler for Containers allows IBM storage systems to be used as persistent volumes for stateful applications running in Kubernetes clusters. The IBM official solution for Kubernetes, based on the Ubiquity project, is referred to as IBM Storage Enabler for Containers. The solution supports both IBM block- and file-based storage systems.

• IBM block storage is supported via IBM Spectrum Connect. Ubiquity communicates with the IBM storage systems through Spectrum Connect. Spectrum Connect creates a storage profile (for example, gold, silver or bronze) and makes it available for Kubernetes.
• New - Support for IBM Spectrum Scale. Ubiquity communicates with Spectrum Scale system directly via Spectrum Scale REST API v2.

You can download the installation package and its documentation from IBM Fix Central.

New in this release

• Spectrum Scale Support

  • Support for the IBM Spectrum Scale (v5.x.x). Ubiquity communicates directly with the Spectrum Scale through IBM Spectrum Scale™ management REST API (version 2). Filesets are created on Spectrum Scale and made available to Kubernetes.
  • Pull requests related PRs-ubiquity-k8s and PRs-ubiquity

• RBAC for Dynamic Provisioner

  • Utilize k8s RBAC for ubiquity-k8s-provisioner instead of using a dedicated ~kube/config file during the installation.
  • The installer creates automatically a dedicated provisioner service account, roleCluster and roleClusterBinding which simplifies the installation and improves security aspects of the Ubiquity dynamic provisioning.
  • PRs related PRs-ubiquity-k8s

• Expanded support matrix:

  • Support for Kubernetes v1.12
  • Support for IBM Cloud Private v3.1.x
  • Support iSCSI and FC storage connectivity to the same Kubernetes cluster (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/254, https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/254). Ubiquity Flex automatically identifies if iSCSI rescan is needed on the host in addition to the regular SCSI rescans operations. Note: The skipRescanIscsi param in configmap is deprecated.
  • For full details about support matrix, see the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers release notes in IBM Fix Central.

• Stability improvements:

  • Improve idempotent aspects in Flex APIs: mount, unmount, attach, detach and isattach.
    Pull requests related: PRs-ubiquity and PRs-ubiquity-k8s and also https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/248.
  • Upgrade to Alpine 3.8, openssl-1.0.2q-r0 and ca-certificates-20171114-r3 (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/251, https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/217).
  • Other improvements related to the original installer (PR-ubiquity-k8s).
  • Automatic DS8K and Spectrum Virtualize rescan of Luin0. No need to map lun0 manually, as a prerequisite. (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/265).
  • Other bug fixes: https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/259, db_scalability and https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/286.

• Helm Chart (not officially ready yet - its a tech preview)

  • Ubiquity installer is still the official way to install the solution. But in this release we started to develop basic Helm Chart for Ubiquity for Tech Preview only. In later releases it will replace the installer script.
  • How to use the Helm Chart for Tech Preview see the detail of the https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/213.
  • Pull requests related PRs-ubiquity-k8s

GA v1.2.0

The IBM block storage is supported for Kubernetes via IBM Spectrum Connect. Ubiquity communicates with the IBM storage systems through Spectrum Connect. Spectrum Connect creates a storage profile (for example, gold, silver or bronze) and makes it available for Kubernetes. For details about supported storage systems, refer to the latest Spectrum Connect release notes.

The IBM official solution for Kubernetes, based on the Ubiquity project, is referred to as IBM Storage Enabler for Containers. You can download the installation package and its documentation from IBM Fix Central. For details on the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers, see the relevant sections in the Spectrum Connect user guide.

New in this release

• Expanded support matrix:

  • Support for Kubernetes v1.10 and v1.11.

  • Support for IBM Cloud Private v2.1.0.3. (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/203)

  • Support for IBM Z architecture s390x (ubiquity related PRs). Full Ubiquity DockerHub repositories are as follows (introducing the new s390x images):

    Ubiquity component	manifest	x86	Power	s390x
    ubiquity	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-db	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-flex	link	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-provisioner	link	link	link	link

  • For full details about support matrix, see the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers release notes in IBM Fix Central.

• Stability improvements:

  • Improve idempotent aspects in Flex APIs: mount \ unmount \ attach \ detach \ isattach. (PRs-ubiquity-k8s and PRs-ubiquity)
  • Improve logging style to ease the troubleshooting (PRs-ubiquity-k8s and PRs-ubiquity)
  • Change Flex log directory (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/166)
  • Upgrade to openssl-1.0.2o-r1 in Ubiqutiy image (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/244)

• Refactors:

  • Code style improvement, aligning all code to gofmt (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/209)
  • Increase unit test coverage
  • Update glide with specific versions (PRs-ubiquity and PRs-ubiquity-k8s)
  • Clean up old deployment method (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/221, https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/201)
  • Remove sqlite (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/207)

GA v1.1.1

The IBM block storage is supported for Kubernetes via IBM Spectrum Connect (3.4.0), previously known as IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition. Ubiquity communicates with the IBM storage systems through Spectrum Connect. Spectrum Connect creates a storage profile (for example, gold, silver or bronze) and makes it available for Kubernetes. For details about supported storage systems, refer to the latest Spectrum Connect release notes.

The IBM official solution for Kubernetes, based on the Ubiquity project, is referred to as IBM Storage Enabler for Containers. You can download the installation package and its documentation from IBM Fix Central. For details on the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers, see the relevant sections in the Spectrum Connect user guide.

New in this release

• Support for IBM Power Systems architecture

  • Enables Ubiquity to be run on Kubernetes nodes, based on IBM Power Systems. This supplements the existing x86 capability.

  • To support several architecture type (Power and x86), the Ubiquity Docker images in DockerHub are now published as Docker manifests in ibmcom/[ubiquity component] DockerHub repository. Pulling the manifest automatically downloads the image relevant for your architecture. Full Ubiquity DockerHub repositories are as follows:

    Ubiquity component	manifest	x86	Power
    ubiquity	link	link	link
    ubiquity-db	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-provisioner	link	link	link
    ubiquity-k8s-flex	link	link	link

• OpenSSL package upgrade OpenSSL package in Ubiqutiy image was upgraded from version 1.0.2n-r0 to 1.0.2o-r0.

This GA v1.1.1 is compatible with Ubiquity Kubernetes v1.1.1

GA v1.1.0

The IBM block storage is supported for Kubernetes via IBM Spectrum Connect (3.4.0), previously known as IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition. Ubiquity communicates with the IBM storage systems through Spectrum Connect. Spectrum Connect creates a storage profile (for example, gold, silver or bronze) and makes it available for Kubernetes. For details about supported storage systems, refer to the latest Spectrum Connect release notes.

The IBM official solution for Kubernetes, based on the Ubiquity project, is referred to as IBM Storage Enabler for Containers. You can download the installation package and its documentation from IBM Fix Central. For details on the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers, see the relevant sections in the Spectrum Connect user guide.

Features introduced in this release for IBM block storage systems

• DS8K support In addition to Spectrum Accelerate and Spectrum Virtualize, Ubiquity supports DS8000 Family storage systems. (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/186 and https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/167)

• Kubernetes v1.9 support. Ubiquity supports the following Kubernetes versions: 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9.

• IBM Spectrum Connect v3.4.0 support. Ubiquity supports IBM Spectrum Connect v3.4.0, previously known as IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition v3.3.0.

• Upgrade image to alpine 3.7 The ubiquity, ubiquity-k8s-provisioner and ubiquity-k8s-flex images were upgraded to Alpine 3.7. The openssl and ca-certificates versions in the Ubiquity image were upgraded as well. (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/189 and https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/170)

• Reduced the FlexVolume driver logging noise  The irrelevant logging for GetVolumeName was silenced. (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity-k8s/pull/167)

• XIV volume discovery fix  Resolved an issue with XIV volume discovery in the FlexVolume driver. (https://github.com/IBM/ubiquity/pull/195)

This GA v1.1.0 is compatible with Ubiquity Kubernetes v1.1.0

GA v1.0.0

IBM block storage is supported for Kubernetes via IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition (SCBE) version 3.3.0 and later. Ubiquity communicates with the IBM storage systems through SCBE. SCBE creates a storage profile (for example, gold, silver or bronze) and makes it available for Kubernetes. For details about supported storage systems, refer to the latest SCBE release notes.

The IBM official solution for Kubernetes, based on the Ubiquity project, is referred to as IBM Storage Enabler for Containers. You can download the installation package and its documentation from IBM Fix Central. For details on the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers, see the relevant sections in the SCBE user guide.

Features introduced in this release for IBM block storage systems

• Seamless Kubernetes integration: Using Kubernetes Dynamic Provisioner and FlexVolume Driver.
• Simplified volume provisioning: No storage skills are needed for a Kubernetes persona to provision a volume, using SCBE storage policies as Kubernetes storage classes.
• Support matrix:
  • IBM Block storage portfolio (iSCSI and FC connectivity) via SCBE 3.3.0 and later.
  • RHEL 7.x and Ubuntu 16.04.
  • Kubernetes 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8.
  • ext4 and xfs filesystems for new Persistent Volumes.
  • Native Linux multipathing.
  • For full details, see the SCBE 3.3.0 release notes.
• Deployment experience:
  • Containerized: Ubiquity is provided as Docker images from DockerHub:
    • ubiquity: IBM Storage Enabler for Containers
    • ubiqutiy-db : IBM Storage Enabler for Containers Database
    • ubiquity-k8s-provisioner: Storage Dynamic Provisioner for Kubernetes
    • ubiquity-k8s-flex: IBM Storage Flex Volume for Kubernetes
  • Simple installation: An installer script is provided to deploy the solution in a Kubernetes cluster. You can download the formal installation package and its documentation from IBM Fix Central. For details on the IBM Storage Enabler for Containers, see the relevant sections in the SCBE user guide.
• High availability:
  • Ubiquity components: Achieves high availability and rolling updates by using Kubernetes Deployment for ubiquity, ubiquity-db and ubiquity-k8s-provisioner. And using Kubernetes Daemonset for ubiquity-k8s-flex.
  • Database resiliency: Ubiquity-db volume is created on the fly as a PV on IBM storage (part of the installer bootstrap). In addition, the ubiquity-db has improved performance using PostgreSQL 9.6.
  • Worker node crash recovery: Supports volume migration from a crashed worker node to another node in the cluster automatically. However, the user has to delete the crashed node in order to free up the pods (Kubernetes best practice). Using controller-attach-detach-enabled=true configuration.
• Security:
  • HTTPS: Ubiquity components communicate over HTTPS TLS 1.2.
  • Authentication: Allows to introduce your own certificates in the SSL_MODE=verify-full mode. By using SSL_MODE=require, the solution uses self-signed certificates in order to simplify the installation procedure.
  • Authorization: Flex and Provisioner are authorized on Ubiquity server with SCBE interface credentials.
  • Namespace: Ubiquity is installed in a dedicated namespace and uses credentials as Kubernetes secrets.
• Other:
  • Latest golang:1.9.1.
  • Comprehensive automation testing CI pipeline.
  • Ubiquity, flex and provisioner Docker images based on alpine:3.7.

This GA v1.0.0 is compatible with Ubiquity Kubernetes v1.0.0

Related blogs:

• IBM Storage systems go cloud native
• IBM Spectrum Access for ICP
• Containers, Persistent storage, IBM
• CSS community

Enabling the following IBM block storage systems to be used as persistent storage for Kubernetes (Dynamic Provisioner and FlexVolume Driver) via Ubiquity service:

• IBM Spectrum Accelerate Family products:
  • IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R
  • IBM XIV
• IBM Spectrum Virtualize Family products:
  • IBM FlashSystem V9000
  • IBM SAN Volume Controller
  • IBM Storwize Family

This pre-release 0.4.0 is compatible with Ubiquity Kubernetes v0.4.0 and Ubiquity Docker Plugin v0.4.0

Ubiquity service communicates with the IBM block storage systems through IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition (SCBE) 3.2.0.

In addition, this release introduces the following features for IBM block storage systems:

• Enabling Kubernetes Dynamic Provisioner (creating and deleting volumes) and Kubernetes FlexVolume Driver (attaching and detaching volumes to host). See examples.
• Ubiquity Dynamic Provisioner and FlexVolume Driver tested on Kubernetes version: 1.5.6, 1.6.1 and 1.7.1.
• Hassle-free volume provisioning, using SCBE storage services. When a volume is being provisioned on SCBE storage service, the volume acquires all storage capabilities defined for the service. See example.
• Concurrent usage of multiple IBM block storage systems in the same Kubernetes cluster.
• Sharing a storage system pool between different Ubiquity instances.
• Running Ubiquity on SLES 12+ or RHEL 7+.
• Native Linux multipathing (device mapper).
• FC and iSCSI host connectivity.
• ext4 or xfs filesystems for new Persistent Volumes.
• Using a volume by one host at a time.
• Volume provisioning defaults: volume size, filesystem type, SCBE service, volume instance prefix.
• Improved documentation: README, IBM block storage, IBM Spectrum Scale

In addition, this pre-release enables IBM Spectrum Scale to be used with Kubernetes versions 1.6 and 1.7. The previous pre-release supported Kubernetes version 1.5 only.

This release enables the following IBM block storage systems to be used as persistent storage for Docker containers via Ubiquity service:

• IBM Spectrum Accelerate Family products:
  • IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R
  • IBM XIV
• IBM Spectrum Virtualize Family products:
  • IBM FlashSystem V9000
  • IBM SAN Volume Controller
  • IBM Storwize Family

Ubiquity service communicates with the IBM block storage systems through IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition (SCBE) 3.2.0.

In addition, this release introduces the following features for IBM block storage systems:

• Enabling standard Docker actions: create, delete, list and inspect volumes; mount and umount volumes to a host. See examples.
• Hassle-free volume provisioning, using SCBE storage services. When a volume is being provisioned on SCBE storage service, the volume acquires all storage capabilities defined for the service. See example.
• Concurrent usage of multiple IBM block storage systems in the same Docker container cluster.
• Sharing a storage system pool between different Ubiquity instances.
• Running Ubiquity on SLES 12+ or RHEL 7+.
• Docker volume plugin tested on Docker version 17.03.
• Native Linux multipathing (device mapper).
• FC and iSCSI host connectivity.
• ext4 or xfs filesystems for new Docker volumes.
• Using a volume by one host at a time.
• Volume provisioning defaults: volume size, filesystem type, SCBE service, volume instance prefix.
• Improved documentation: README, IBM block storage, IBM Spectrum Scale

This release is a stabilization one:

• Enhancing logs
• Refactoring ubiquity to have support for: 1- Activating just the desired backend 2- Adding hostname to attach/detach 3- Support for SpectrumScale Rest V2 connector (experimental)

Ubiquity provides access to persistent storage for Docker containers

• supports Docker volumes through Docker plugin framework using Ubiquity Docker plugin
• supports Kubernetes volumes through a dynamic provisioner and flex driver
• supports persistent storage based on Spectrum-Scale
• NFS client as an alternative to Spectrum-Scale client based on NFS Ganesha

Volume type supported

• Fileset Volume
• Lightweight Volume