Access Modes and Reclaim Policies

Storage / Guide 70 of 103 / Intermediate

• Kubernetes1.36.4
• Cluster4 nodes
• Runtimecontainerd 2.2.6
• CNICalico v3.32.1
• TimeAbout 35 min

Which access modes work depends entirely on the backend. The Released-blocks-rebinding behaviour does not.

• Provisionerrancher.io/local-path

This guide includes

Use this when a claim hangs, or when deleting one takes the data with it. This matters because an access mode is a request the backend may be unable to honour, and the reclaim policy decides whether a deleted claim is recoverable at all.

• asking a node-local provisioner for ReadWriteMany and watching the claim simply hang
• seeing reclaimPolicy: Delete remove the volume, and the data, along with the claim
• using Retain instead, and finding the volume Released rather than deleted
• discovering that a Released volume refuses every new claimant, even a perfectly matching one

Before you start

• The PersistentVolumes and claims guide, for the binding rules access modes participate in.
• The dynamic provisioning guide, for where reclaimPolicy: Delete comes from.
• Permission to patch PersistentVolumes, which is a cluster-scoped operation.

1. 1

   Access modes, and asking for one the backend cannot do

2. 2

   reclaimPolicy Delete means the data is gone

3. 3

   reclaimPolicy Retain: Released, not deleted

4. 4

   A Released volume refuses every new claimant

Official sources

• Access modes
• Reclaiming
• Phase
• Change the reclaim policy of a PersistentVolume
• Storage object in use protection