CSI on Support Tools

Setting Up the Linode (Akamai) Cloud Provider for RKE2

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Introduction

RKE2 runs fine on plain Linode instances, but without a cloud provider the cluster knows nothing about the platform underneath it. Service type=LoadBalancer stays <pending> forever, nodes have no provider ID or region labels, and there is no way to get a Block Storage Volume attached to a pod.

Two upstream projects fill that gap:

Linode Cloud Controller Manager (CCM): sets node addresses and region/zone labels, and turns LoadBalancer services into NodeBalancers.
Linode Block Storage CSI driver: provisions, attaches and resizes Block Storage Volumes for PersistentVolumeClaims.

This guide covers:

CSI Driver Development for Kubernetes: Complete Implementation Guide

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 -0500

The Container Storage Interface (CSI) standardizes storage provisioning in Kubernetes, enabling third-party storage vendors to develop plugins without modifying Kubernetes core. This comprehensive guide covers CSI driver architecture, complete implementation in Go, testing strategies, and production deployment patterns.

Setting Up Hetzner Cloud Provider for RKE2

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

The Hetzner Cloud Provider for RKE2 allows seamless integration with Hetzner’s cloud infrastructure, enabling automatic provisioning of LoadBalancer services and persistent storage using Hetzner’s CSI driver.

This guide covers the necessary steps to set up the Hetzner Cloud Provider in an RKE2 cluster, ensuring full compatibility with Kubernetes networking and storage requirements.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

A Hetzner Cloud account with an active project.
An RKE2 cluster running on Hetzner Cloud instances.
API Token for Hetzner Cloud.
Kubernetes CLI (kubectl) installed.
Helm installed on your local machine.

Step 1: Create an API Token

Log in to your Hetzner Cloud account.
Navigate to Access > API Tokens.
Click Generate API Token.
Assign necessary permissions (Read & Write for networking and storage).
Copy and securely store the generated API token.

Step 2: Deploy the Hetzner Cloud Controller Manager (CCM)

Add the Hetzner Helm repository:

sh
helm repo add hetzner https://helm.hetzner.cloud
helm repo update

Create a values.yaml file for the Helm deployment:

yaml
apiToken: "YOUR_HETZNER_API_TOKEN"
network: "your-network-id"
location: "nbg1"

Install the CCM using Helm:

sh
helm install hcloud-cloud-controller hetzner/hcloud-cloud-controller-manager -n kube-system -f values.yaml

Step 3: Configure the Hetzner CSI Driver

Install the CSI driver via Helm:

sh
helm install hcloud-csi hetzner/hcloud-csi-driver -n kube-system

Verify that the driver is running:

sh
kubectl get pods -n kube-system | grep hcloud

Step 4: Deploy a LoadBalancer Service

Create a sample LoadBalancer service:

Setting Up IBM Cloud Provider for RKE2

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

The IBM Cloud Provider for RKE2 enables seamless integration between Kubernetes clusters and IBM Cloud infrastructure. This setup allows automatic provisioning of LoadBalancer services and persistent storage using IBM Cloud’s CSI driver.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to set up the IBM Cloud Provider in an RKE2 cluster.

Prerequisites

Ensure the following requirements are met before proceeding:

An IBM Cloud account with an active project.
An RKE2 cluster deployed on IBM Cloud Virtual Servers.
IBM Cloud API key.
Kubernetes CLI (kubectl) installed.
Helm installed on your local machine.

Step 1: Create an IBM Cloud API Key

Log in to the IBM Cloud Console.
Navigate to Manage > Access (IAM).
Click API Keys and then Create API Key.
Assign the necessary permissions.
Download and securely store the API key.

Step 2: Deploy the IBM Cloud Controller Manager (CCM)

Add the IBM Helm repository:

sh
helm repo add ibm https://icr.io/helm/charts
helm repo update

Create a values.yaml file for the Helm deployment:

yaml
ibmCloud:
 apiKey: "YOUR_IBM_CLOUD_API_KEY"
 clusterID: "YOUR_CLUSTER_ID"
 region: "us-south"

Install the CCM using Helm:

sh
helm install ibm-cloud-controller ibm/ibm-cloud-controller-manager -n kube-system -f values.yaml

Step 3: Install the IBM Cloud CSI Driver

Install the CSI driver via Helm:

sh
helm install ibm-csi ibm/ibm-cloud-block-storage-plugin -n kube-system

Verify that the driver is running:

sh
kubectl get pods -n kube-system | grep ibm

Step 4: Deploy a LoadBalancer Service

Create a sample LoadBalancer service:

Setting Up Oracle Cloud Provider for RKE2

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

The Oracle Cloud Provider for RKE2 enables seamless integration with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), allowing Kubernetes to manage cloud resources such as LoadBalancers and Persistent Volumes. This guide will walk you through setting up the Oracle Cloud Provider for an RKE2 cluster.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure you have:

An Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) account.
An RKE2 cluster running on OCI.
An API key configured for authentication.
The Oracle Cloud CLI (oci) installed.
kubectl and Helm installed.

Step 1: Generate API Credentials

Log in to your Oracle Cloud account.
Navigate to Identity & Security > Users.
Click your user and create a new API key.
Download the private key and note your User OCID, Tenancy OCID, and Region.

Step 2: Create a Secret for OCI Configuration

Create a Kubernetes secret to store the OCI configuration:

Setting Up the Out-of-Tree VMware vSphere Cloud Provider in RKE2

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

As Kubernetes moves away from in-tree cloud providers, VMware vSphere now provides an out-of-tree Cloud Provider Interface (CPI) and Cloud Storage Interface (CSI) for integrating vSphere resources with Kubernetes.

The out-of-tree vSphere Cloud Provider enables: ✅ Dynamic Persistent Volume provisioning using vSphere storage.
✅ Automated Load Balancer creation for Kubernetes services.
✅ Better maintainability with independent plugin updates.

This guide walks through the installation and configuration of the vSphere CPI and CSI in RKE2.

Deep Dive: Kubernetes CSI Drivers

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers provide a standardized way to expose storage systems to container orchestrators like Kubernetes. This deep dive explores CSI architecture, implementation, and best practices.