OpenEBS 2.0: Container-Native Storage

Introduction

Stateful workloads are where “Kubernetes is portable” meets reality: disks live somewhere, failure domains matter, and performance tuning suddenly becomes application tuning. Container-native storage projects like OpenEBS exist to make those tradeoffs explicit — and manageable — using Kubernetes primitives.

OpenEBS 2.0, released on August 25, 2020, continues that trajectory with refreshed engines, performance work, and tighter Kubernetes integration. The key operational question is no longer “can I provision volumes?” but “which engine matches my workload and failure model?”

Picking the right engine (quick guidance)

• LocalPV: strong fit when you want simple, node-local performance and you can tolerate/handle node-level failure at the platform or app layer.
• Replicated engines (Jiva/cStor): useful when you want storage-level redundancy and snapshot/backup workflows managed as part of the storage system.
• Mayastor: aimed at higher-performance scenarios where the underlying hardware and network can support it.

Enhanced Storage Engines

• Mayastor engine provides high-performance storage with NVMe-oF support.
• Jiva engine improvements offer better performance and reliability for block storage.
• LocalPV enhancements provide efficient local storage management.
• cStor engine continues to evolve with better data protection features.

Performance Improvements

1. I/O performance optimizations reduce latency and improve throughput.
2. Resource efficiency improvements reduce CPU and memory usage.
3. Scaling enhancements enable better handling of large-scale deployments.
4. Snapshot performance improvements accelerate backup and restore operations.

Kubernetes Integration

• CSI driver improvements provide better compatibility with Kubernetes storage APIs.
• Operator enhancements simplify deployment and management.
• Dynamic provisioning improvements enable better resource allocation.
• Volume management enhancements provide better lifecycle management.

Getting Started

kubectl apply -f https://openebs.github.io/charts/openebs-operator.yaml

Create a storage class:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: openebs-hostpath
provisioner: openebs.io/local
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer

Summary

OpenEBS 2.0 continues to evolve as a leading container-native storage solution, providing teams with flexible, high-performance storage for stateful Kubernetes applications.