OpenEBS 3.0: Container-Native Storage Evolution

Introduction

OpenEBS 3.0, released on November 25, 2022, represents a major milestone in container-native storage for Kubernetes. This release improves performance, enhances multi-cloud support, and delivers better observability for stateful workloads.

This release is most relevant in day‑2 operations—when you’re upgrading, scaling, or troubleshooting in real clusters. The goal is the same: fewer surprises and more predictable behavior under load.

Performance Improvements

• I/O performance optimizations reduce latency and increase throughput.
• Storage engine improvements provide better performance for different workload types.
• Caching enhancements improve read performance for frequently accessed data.
• Compression support reduces storage requirements and improves efficiency.

Multi-Cloud Support

1. Cloud provider integrations improve support for AWS, GCP, and Azure.
2. Storage backend expansion enables more storage options and configurations.
3. Data migration improvements simplify moving data between cloud providers.
4. Backup and restore enhancements enable better disaster recovery.

Observability & Monitoring

• Metrics expansion provides detailed storage metrics for Prometheus.
• Health monitoring improvements track storage health and performance.
• Alerting enhancements notify operators of storage issues.
• Dashboard support provides visualization of storage topology and usage.

Operational Features

• Provisioning improvements simplify creating and managing storage volumes.
• Snapshot support enables point-in-time volume backups.
• Clone support simplifies duplicating volumes for testing and development.
• Documentation expansion includes comprehensive guides for common scenarios.

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 3.0 continues to evolve as a leading container-native storage solution, providing teams with flexible storage options for Kubernetes workloads.