Scale your storage performance with Hyperdisk

Autopilot Standard

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The Compute Engine Persistent Disk CSI driver is the primary way for you to access Hyperdisk storage with GKE clusters.

Note: Hyperdisk support is based on the machine type of your nodes. For the most up-to-date information, see Machine type support in the Compute Engine documentation.

Before you begin

Before you start, make sure you have performed the following tasks:

• Enable the Google Kubernetes Engine API.
Enable Google Kubernetes Engine API
• If you want to use the Google Cloud CLI for this task, install and then initialize the gcloud CLI. If you previously installed the gcloud CLI, get the latest version by running gcloud components update.
  Note: For existing gcloud CLI installations, make sure to set the compute/region and compute/zone properties. By setting default locations, you can avoid errors in gcloud CLI like the following: One of [--zone, --region] must be supplied: Please specify location.

• Set your default region and zone to one of the supported values.

Requirements

To use Hyperdisk volumes in GKE, your clusters must meet the following requirements:

• Use Linux clusters running GKE version 1.26 or later. If you use a release channel, ensure that the channel has the minimum GKE version or later that is required for this driver.
• Make sure that the Compute Engine Persistent Disk CSI driver is enabled. The Compute Engine Persistent Disk driver is enabled by default on new Autopilot and Standard clusters and cannot be disabled or edited when using Autopilot. If you need to manually add or remove the Compute Engine Persistent Disk CSI driver from your cluster, see Enabling the Compute Engine Persistent Disk CSI Driver on an existing cluster.

Create a Hyperdisk volume for GKE

This section provides an overview of creating a Hyperdisk volume backed by the Compute Engine CSI driver in GKE.

Note: When you create the PersistentVolumeClaim associated with the StorageClass, GKE automatically creates the underlying Google Cloud Hyperdisk backing storage and attaches the storage to a node. You don't need to separately create and attach Google Cloud Hyperdisk storage to your nodes.

Create a StorageClass

The following Persistent Disk storage Type fields are provided by the Compute Engine Persistent Disk CSI driver to support Hyperdisk:

• hyperdisk-balanced
• hyperdisk-throughput
• hyperdisk-extreme

To create a new StorageClass with the throughput or IOPS level you want, use pd.csi.storage.gke.io in the provisioner field, and specify one of the Hyperdisk storage types.

Each Hyperdisk type has default values for performance determined by the initial disk size provisioned. When creating the StorageClass, you can optionally specify the following parameters depending on your Hyperdisk type. If you omit these parameters, GKE uses the capacity based disk type defaults instead.

Parameter	Hyperdisk Type	Usage
provisioned-throughput-on-create	Hyperdisk Balanced, Hyperdisk Throughput	Express the throughput value in MiBps using the "Mi" qualifier; for example, if your required throughput is 250 MiBps, specify "250Mi" when creating the StorageClass.
provisioned-iops-on-create	Hyperdisk Balanced, Hyperdisk IOPS	The IOPS value should be expressed without any qualifiers; for example, if you require 7,000 IOPS, specify "7000" when creating the StorageClass.

For guidance on allowable values for throughput or IOPS, see Plan the performance level for your Hyperdisk volume.

The following examples show how you can create a StorageClass for each Hyperdisk type:

Hyperdisk Balanced

1. Save the following manifest in a file named hdb-example-class.yaml:

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
     name: balanced-storage
   provisioner: pd.csi.storage.gke.io
   volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
   allowVolumeExpansion: true
   parameters:
     type: hyperdisk-balanced
     provisioned-throughput-on-create: "250Mi"
     provisioned-iops-on-create: "7000"
   

2. Create the StorageClass:

   kubectl create -f hdb-example-class.yaml
   

Hyperdisk Throughput

1. Save the following manifest in a file named hdt-example-class.yaml:

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
     name: throughput-storage
   provisioner: pd.csi.storage.gke.io
   volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
   allowVolumeExpansion: true
   parameters:
     type: hyperdisk-throughput
     provisioned-throughput-on-create: "50Mi"
   

2. Create the StorageClass:

   kubectl create -f hdt-example-class.yaml
   

Hyperdisk Extreme

1. Save the following manifest in a file named hdx-example-class.yaml:

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
     name: extreme-storage
   provisioner: pd.csi.storage.gke.io
   volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
   allowVolumeExpansion: true
   parameters:
     type: hyperdisk-extreme
     provisioned-iops-on-create: "50000"
   

2. Create the StorageClass:

   kubectl create -f hdx-example-class.yaml
   

To find the name of the StorageClasses available in your cluster, run the following command:

kubectl get sc

Create a PersistentVolumeClaim

You can create a PersistentVolumeClaim that references the Compute Engine Persistent Disk CSI driver's StorageClass.

Hyperdisk Balanced

In this example, you specify the targeted storage capacity of the Hyperdisk Balanced volume as 20 GiB.

1. Save the following PersistentVolumeClaim manifest in a file named pvc-example.yaml:

   kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
   apiVersion: v1
   metadata:
     name: podpvc
   spec:
     accessModes:
     - ReadWriteOnce
     storageClassName: balanced-storage
     resources:
       requests:
         storage: 20Gi
   

2. Apply the PersistentVolumeClaim that references the StorageClass you created from the earlier example:

   kubectl apply -f pvc-example.yaml
   

Hyperdisk Throughput

In this example, you specify the targeted storage capacity of the Hyperdisk Throughput volume as 2 TiB.

1. Save the following PersistentVolumeClaim manifest in a file named pvc-example.yaml:

   kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
   apiVersion: v1
   metadata:
     name: podpvc
   spec:
     accessModes:
     - ReadWriteOnce
     storageClassName: throughput-storage
     resources:
       requests:
         storage: 2Ti
   

2. Apply the PersistentVolumeClaim that references the StorageClass you created from the earlier example:

   kubectl apply -f pvc-example.yaml
   

Hyperdisk Extreme

In this example, you specify the minimum storage capacity of the Hyperdisk Extreme volume as 64 GiB.

1. Save the following PersistentVolumeClaim manifest in a file named pvc-example.yaml:

   kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
   apiVersion: v1
   metadata:
     name: podpvc
   spec:
     accessModes:
     - ReadWriteOnce
     storageClassName: extreme-storage
     resources:
       requests:
         storage: 64Gi
   

2. Apply the PersistentVolumeClaim that references the StorageClass you created from the earlier example:

   kubectl apply -f pvc-example.yaml
   

Create a Deployment to consume the Hyperdisk volume

When using Pods with PersistentVolumes, we recommend that you use a workload controller (such as a Deployment or StatefulSet).

1. The following example creates a manifest that configures a Pod for deploying a Nginx web server using the PersistentVolumeClaim created in the previous section. Save the following example manifest as hyperdisk-example-deployment.yaml:

   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: Deployment
   metadata:
     name: web-server-deployment
     labels:
       app: nginx
   spec:
     replicas: 1
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: nginx
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: nginx
       spec:
         containers:
         - name: nginx
           image: nginx
           volumeMounts:
           - mountPath: /var/lib/www/html
             name: mypvc
         volumes:
         - name: mypvc
           persistentVolumeClaim:
             claimName: podpvc
             readOnly: false
   

2. To create a Deployment based on the hyperdisk-example-deployment.yaml manifest file, run the following command:

   kubectl apply -f hyperdisk-example-deployment.yaml
   

3. Confirm the Deployment was successfully created:

   kubectl get deployment
   

   It might take a few minutes for Hyperdisk instances to complete provisioning. When the deployment completes provisioning, it reports a READY status.

4. You can check the progress by monitoring your PersistentVolumeClaim status by running the following command:

   kubectl get pvc
   

Provision a Hyperdisk volume from a snapshot

To create a new Hyperdisk volume from an existing Persistent Disk snapshot, use the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, or the Compute Engine API. To learn how to create a Persistent Disk snapshot, see Creating and using volume snapshots.

Console

1. Go to the Disks page in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to Disks

2. Click Create Disk.

3. Under Disk Type, choose one of the following for disk type:

   • Hyperdisk Balanced
   • Hyperdisk Extreme
   • Hyperdisk Throughput

4. Under Disk source type, click Snapshot.

5. Select the name of the snapshot to restore.

6. Select the size of the new disk, in GiB. This number must be equal to or larger than the original source disk for the snapshot.

7. Set the Provisioned throughput or Provisioned IOPS you want for the disk, if different from the default values.

8. Click Create to create the Hyperdisk volume.

gcloud

Run the gcloud compute disks create command to create the Hyperdisk volume from a snapshot.

Hyperdisk Balanced

gcloud compute disks create DISK_NAME \
    --size=SIZE \
    --source-snapshot=SNAPSHOT_NAME \
    --provisioned-throughput=TRHROUGHPUT_LIMIT \
    --provisioned-iops=IOPS_LIMIT \
    --type=hyperdisk-balanced

Replace the following:

• DISK_NAME: the name of the new disk.
• SIZE: the size, in gibibytes (GiB) or tebibytes (TiB), of the new disk. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest capacity limitations.
• SNAPSHOT_NAME: the name of the snapshot being restored.
• THROUGHPUT_LIMIT: Optional. For Hyperdisk Balanced disks, this is an integer that represents the throughput, measured in MiBps, that the disk can handle. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest limitations.
• IOPS_LIMIT: Optional. For Hyperdisk Balanced disks, this is the number of IOPS that the disk can handle. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest performance limitations.

Hyperdisk Throughput

gcloud compute disks create DISK_NAME \
    --size=SIZE \
    --source-snapshot=SNAPSHOT_NAME \
    --provisioned-throughput=TRHROUGHPUT_LIMIT \
    --type=hyperdisk-throughput

Replace the following:

• DISK_NAME: the name of the new disk.
• SIZE: the size, in gibibytes (GiB or GB) or tebibytes (TiB or TB), of the new disk. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest capacity limitations.
• SNAPSHOT_NAME: the name of the snapshot being restored.
• THROUGHPUT_LIMIT: Optional: For Hyperdisk Throughput disks, this is an integer that represents the throughput, measured in MiBps, that the disk can handle. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest performance limitations.

Hyperdisk Extreme

gcloud compute disks create DISK_NAME \
    --size=SIZE \
    --source-snapshot=SNAPSHOT_NAME \
    --provisioned-iops=IOPS_LIMIT \
    --type=hyperdisk-iops

Replace the following:

• DISK_NAME: the name of the new disk.
• SIZE: the size, in gibibytes (GiB or GB) or tebibytes (TiB or TB), of the new disk. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest capacity limitations.
• SNAPSHOT_NAME: the name of the snapshot being restored.
• IOPS_LIMIT: Optional: For Hyperdisk Extreme disks, this is the number of I/O operations per second that the disk can handle. Refer to the Compute Engine documentation for the latest performance limitations.

Create a snapshot for a Hyperdisk volume

To create a snapshot from a Hyperdisk volume, follow the same steps as creating a snapshot for a Persistent Disk volume:

• Create a snapshot in Google Cloud console
• Create a snapshot using the gcloud CLI

Update the provisioned throughput or IOPS of an existing Hyperdisk volume

This section covers how to modify provisioned performance for Hyperdisk volumes.

Throughput

Updating the provisioned throughput is supported for Hyperdisk Balanced and Hyperdisk Throughput volumes only.

To update the provisioned throughput level of your Hyperdisk volume, follow the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, or Compute Engine API instructions in Changing the provisioned performance for a Hyperdisk volume.

You can change the provisioned throughput level (up to once every 4 hours) for a Hyperdisk volume after volume creation. New throughput levels might take up to 15 minutes to take effect. During the performance change, any performance SLA and SLO are not in effect. You can change the throughput level of an existing volume at any time, regardless of whether the disk is attached to a running instance or not.

The new throughput level you specify must adhere to the supported values for Hyperdisk volumes.

IOPS

Updating the provisioned IOPS is supported for Hyperdisk Balanced and Hyperdisk Extreme volumes only.

To update the provisioned IOPS level of your Hyperdisk volume, follow the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, or Compute Engine API instructions in Changing the provisioned performance for a Hyperdisk volume.

You can change the provisioned IOPS level (up to once every 4 hours) for a Hyperdisk IOPS volume after volume creation. New IOPS levels might take up to 15 minutes to take effect. During the performance change, any performance SLA and SLO are not in effect. You can change the IOPS level of an existing volume at any time, regardless of whether the disk is attached to a running instance or not.

The new IOPS level you specify must adhere to the supported values for Hyperdisk volumes.

To update the provisioned IOPS level for a Hyperdisk volume, you must identify the name of the Persistent Disk backing your PersistentVolumeClaim and PersistentVolume resources:

1. Go to the Object browser in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to Object Browser

2. Find the entry for your PersistentVolumeClaim object.

3. Click the Volume link .

4. Open the YAML tab of the associated PersistentVolume. Locate the CSI volumeHandle value in this tab.

5. Note the last element of this handle (it should have a value like "pvc-XXXXX"). This is the name of your PersistentVolumeClaim. You should also take note of the project and zone.

Monitor throughput or IOPS on a Hyperdisk volume

To monitor the provisioned performance of your Hyperdisk volume, see Analyze provisioned IOPS and throughput in the Compute Engine documentation.

Troubleshooting

This section provides troubleshooting guidance to resolve issues with Hyperdisk volumes on GKE.

Cannot change performance or capacity: ratio out of range

The following error occurs when you attempt to change the provisioned performance level or capacity, but the performance level or capacity that you picked is outside of the range that is acceptable for the volume:

• Requested provisioned throughput cannot be higher than <value>.
• Requested provisioned throughput cannot be lower than <value>.
• Requested provisioned throughput is too high for the requested disk size.
• Requested provisioned throughput is too low for the requested disk size.
• Requested disk size is too high for current provisioned throughput.

The throughput provisioned for Hyperdisk Throughput volumes must meet the following requirements:

• At least 10 MiBps per TiB of capacity, and no more than 90 MiBps per TiB of capacity.
• At most 600 MiBps per volume.

To resolve this issue, correct the requested throughput or capacity to be within the allowable range and reissue the command.

Cannot change performance: rate limited

The following error occurs when you attempt to change the provisioned performance level, but the performance level has already been changed within the last 4 hours:

Cannot update provisioned throughput due to being rate limited.
Cannot update provisioned iops due to being rate limited.

Hyperdisk Throughput and IOPS volumes can have their provisioned performance updated once every 4 hours. To resolve this issue, wait for the cool-down timer for the volume to elapse, and then reissue the command.

What's next

• Learn how to migrate Persistent Disk volumes to Hyperdisk.
• Learn how to use volume expansion.
• Learn how to use volume snapshots.
• Read more about the driver on GitHub.