Hands-on Lab·Certified Kubernetes Administrator
CSI Drivers
Kubernetes has no storage code of its own. A CSI driver is a plugin plus a set of sidecars that translate Kubernetes objects into gRPC calls, and installing one without a StorageClass gives you a driver nothing can use.
Storage Guide 72 of 103 Advanced
- Kubernetes1.36.4
- Driverhostpath.csi.k8s.io
- Cluster4 nodes
- Runtimecontainerd 2.2.6
- TimeAbout 40 min
- Reviewed21 August 2026
Written against the versions above. The reference hostpath driver is for testing only, never production. What it demonstrates about the CSI architecture applies to every driver.
| Server Name | IP Address | OS | Roles | CPU | RAM | HDD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CKA1001 | 192.168.0.175 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Control Plane Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA1001-NODE01 | 192.168.0.176 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA1001-NODE02 | 192.168.0.177 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA1001-NODE03 | 192.168.0.178 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
Before you start
- The PersistentVolumes and claims guide.
- The StorageClasses and dynamic provisioning guide.
- The Custom resources and operators guide, since CSI adds CRDs.
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What the cluster has before, and why local-path is not CSI
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Snapshot support is an add-on, not a feature
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A driver is a plugin plus sidecars
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The trap: a driver with no StorageClass
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With a class, the whole chain works
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Expansion, and the resize that waits for a restart