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vSphere CSI Driver Configuration

Purpose: For platform engineers, operators, shows how to configure the vSphere CSI driver in cluster repositories that consume the openCenter base.

Use this guide when a cluster repo needs to provide vCenter credentials, storage policies, snapshot support, or topology settings for the base vSphere CSI deployment.

What the Base Deploys

The base service deploys:

  • Namespace/vmware-system-csi

  • HelmRelease/vsphere-csi

  • base values from the service helm-values/ directory

  • optional Secret/vsphere-csi-values-override

The base does not create the vCenter credential Secrets required by the driver.

Required Supporting Inputs

Cluster repos normally provide:

  • vsphere-config-secret with csi-vsphere.conf

  • CPI configuration and working node `ProviderID`s

  • storage classes appropriate for the environment

  • snapshot classes if Velero or application workflows need CSI snapshots

Override Values Pattern

Example override.yaml:

controller:
  replicaCount: 3
  snapshotter:
    image:
      registry: registry.k8s.io
      repository: sig-storage/csi-snapshotter

snapshot:
  controller:
    enabled: true

Topology Guidance

If the cluster uses vSphere topology awareness:

  • tag inventory objects with region / zone labels

  • populate matching topology labels in csi-vsphere.conf

  • ensure workload scheduling and storage classes align to those labels

Verification

kubectl get helmrelease -n vmware-system-csi vsphere-csi
kubectl get pods -n vmware-system-csi
kubectl get csidrivers csi.vsphere.vmware.com
kubectl get volumesnapshotclass

Healthy signs:

  • controller and node Pods are Running

  • PVC provisioning succeeds

  • VolumeSnapshot resources reconcile when snapshot support is enabled

Common Failure Modes

PVC provisioning fails: - verify vCenter credentials and CPI / ProviderID setup

Snapshots do not work: - verify snapshot sidecars, snapshot controller, and snapshot class configuration

Topology-aware placement fails: - verify zone labels in both vSphere and driver config

  • ../../reference/services/vsphere-csi.md[vSphere CSI Service Reference]

  • velero-with-swift-vsphere-csi.md[Velero with Swift and vSphere CSI]