Container Service for Kubernetes:Use dynamically provisioned cloud disk volumes

Step 1: Create a StorageClass

1. Log on to the ACK console and click Clusters in the left-side navigation pane.

2. On the Clusters page, click the cluster name, then choose Volumes > StorageClasses.

3. On the StorageClasses page, click Create.

4. In the Create dialog box, set the parameters.

   Specific ECS instance types do not support ESSDs or elastic ephemeral disks. See FAQ about Elastic Block Storage.

   Parameter	Required	Description
   Name	Yes	The StorageClass name.
   PV Type	Yes	Select Cloud Disk.
   Parameter	Yes	The disk category. Default: cloud_essd. Valid values: cloud_essd (Enterprise SSD), cloud_regional_disk_auto (Regional ESSDs), elastic_ephemeral_disk_premium (premium elastic ephemeral disk), elastic_ephemeral_disk_standard (standard elastic ephemeral disk), cloud_ssd (standard SSD), cloud_efficiency (ultra disk). Set multiple values for fallback, e.g. type: cloud_ssd,cloud_essd. The system tries each in order. Add zoneId to pin to specific zones, e.g. cn-beijing-a or cn-beijing-a, cn-beijing-b.
   Reclaim Policy	Yes	PV and disk behavior on PVC deletion. Default: Delete (both removed). Set to Retain to keep both — recommended when data loss would be costly.
   Binding Mode	No	Default: Immediate (disk is created before the pod is scheduled).

5. Click Create. The StorageClass appears on the StorageClasses page.

Step 2: Create a PVC

1. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Volumes > Persistent Volume Claims.

2. On the Persistent Volume Claims page, click Create.

3. In the Create PVC dialog box, set the parameters.

   Parameter	Required	Description
   PVC Type	Yes	Select Cloud Disk.
   Name	Yes	The PVC name. Must be unique within the namespace.
   Allocation Mode	Yes	Select Use StorageClass.
   Existing Storage Class	Yes	Click Select, find the StorageClass from Step 1, and click Select in the Actions column.
   Capacity	Yes	The storage capacity to claim. Minimum: 20 GiB.
   Access Mode	No	Default: ReadWriteOnce (single-node read/write).

4. Click Create. The PVC appears on the Persistent Volume Claims page with a bound PV.

Step 3: Deploy an application

1. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Workloads > StatefulSets.

2. On the StatefulSets page, click Create from Image.

3. Configure the application. Select Cloud Storage and mount the PVC created in Step 2. In this example, the disk mounts to /tmp , persisting data written to /tmp. See Use a StatefulSet to create a stateful application.

   

4. Click Create. The application is deployed with persistent disk storage.

Step 1: Create a StorageClass

In multi-zone clusters, the StorageClass determines the disk type before pod scheduling.

1. Create a file named storage-class-csi.yaml:

   Parameter	Required	Description
   provisioner	Yes	Set to diskplugin.csi.alibabacloud.com.
   type	Yes	The disk category. Valid values: cloud_auto (ESSD AutoPL disk), cloud_essd (ESSD, default), cloud_essd_entry (ESSD Entry disk), cloud_ssd (standard SSD), cloud_efficiency (ultra disk), elastic_ephemeral_disk_standard (standard elastic ephemeral disk), elastic_ephemeral_disk_premium (premium elastic ephemeral disk), cloud_regional_disk_auto (Regional ESSDs). Specify multiple values as a comma-separated fallback list. See EBS pricing, Block storage performance, and Overview of instance families.
   encrypted	No	Whether to encrypt the disk. Default: false.
   reclaimPolicy	Yes	PV and disk behavior on PVC deletion. Delete: both removed. Retain: both kept — use Retain when data loss would be costly. Default: Delete.
   allowVolumeExpansion	No	Set to true to allow online disk expansion.
   volumeBindingMode	No	Default: Immediate (disk is provisioned before the pod is scheduled).

   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   kind: StorageClass
   metadata:
     name: alicloud-disk-ssd-b
   # Use diskplugin.csi.alibabacloud.com as the provisioner for Alibaba Cloud disks.
   provisioner: diskplugin.csi.alibabacloud.com
   parameters:
     # Disk category fallback order: ESSD → standard SSD → ultra disk.
     # The system tries each value in sequence and stops when a disk is created.
     type: cloud_essd,cloud_ssd,cloud_efficiency
     # Optional. Set to "true" to encrypt the disk at rest.
     encrypted: "false"
   # Retain: keeps the PV and disk when the PVC is deleted (manual cleanup required).
   # Delete: removes the PV and disk automatically when the PVC is deleted.
   reclaimPolicy: Retain
   # Allows online disk expansion without downtime.
   allowVolumeExpansion: true
   # Immediate: provisions the disk before scheduling the pod.
   volumeBindingMode: Immediate

2. Apply the StorageClass:

   kubectl apply -f storage-class-csi.yaml

3. Verify in the ACK console: log on, click Clusters, click the cluster name, then choose Volumes > StorageClasses.

Step 2: Create a PVC

1. Create a file named pvc-ssd.yaml:

   Parameter	Required	Description
   name	Yes	The PVC name.
   accessModes	Yes	The PV access mode.
   volumeMode	No	Disk mount format. Filesystem is supported.
   storageClassName	Yes	The StorageClass for provisioning.
   storage	Yes	The storage capacity to claim. Minimum: 20 GiB.

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
   metadata:
     name: disk-pvc
   spec:
     accessModes:
     - ReadWriteOnce
     volumeMode: Filesystem
     resources:
       requests:
         storage: 25Gi
     storageClassName: alicloud-disk-ssd-b

2. Create the PVC:

   kubectl create -f pvc-ssd.yaml

3. Verify in the ACK console: choose Volumes > Persistent Volume Claims.

Step 3: Deploy an application

1. Create a file named pvc-dynamic.yaml:

   Parameter	Description
   mountPath	Container path for the disk mount.
   claimName	PVC name. Must match the PVC from Step 2.

   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: StatefulSet
   metadata:
     name: nginx-dynamic
   spec:
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: nginx
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: nginx
       spec:
         containers:
         - name: nginx
           image: nginx
           ports:
           - containerPort: 80
             name: web
           volumeMounts:
           - name: pvc-disk
             mountPath: /data    # Path inside the container where the disk is mounted.
         volumes:
           - name: pvc-disk
             persistentVolumeClaim:
               claimName: disk-pvc    # Must match the PVC name created in Step 2.

2. Deploy the application:

   kubectl create -f pvc-dynamic.yaml

3. Verify in the ACK console: choose Workloads > StatefulSets.