Understanding Kubernetes: Part 11 -Persistent Volume (PV)

If you’ve been following our Kubernetes series 2025, welcome back! For new readers, check out Part 10: Understanding Kubernetes: StorageClass

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What is a Persistent Volume (PV) in Kubernetes?

A Persistent Volume (PV) in Kubernetes is a storage resource that exists independently of pods and provides a way to store data persistently. Unlike ephemeral pod storage, a PV allows data to persist even if the pod is deleted or restarted. It abstracts the underlying storage system, such as NFS, AWS EBS, or local disks, and provides a unified way to manage storage in Kubernetes.

For example:

If you have an application that requires a database, like MySQL, the database data must be retained across restarts. A Persistent Volume ensures that the data is stored on durable storage, allowing the database to recover its state after any disruption.

Persistent Volume Capabilities:

• Abstraction: Supports multiple storage backends (e.g., local disks, cloud storage).

• Decoupled from Pods: A PV exists independently of pods, providing persistent storage.

• Access Modes: Supports ReadWriteOnce, ReadOnlyMany, or ReadWriteMany for different usage scenarios.

• Lifecycle Management: A PV is provisioned and bound to Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs) by users or dynamically created by storage classes.

In my previous role:

As a Senior DevOps Engineer, I used Persistent Volumes to manage storage for our Jenkins CI/CD setup. Jenkins required durable storage for build artifacts and configurations. I configured an NFS-backed Persistent Volume, which ensured data availability across pod restarts. By combining PVs with Persistent Volume Claims, I provided teams with seamless access to shared storage while maintaining strict isolation between workloads. This setup ensured high reliability for our build and deployment processes.

Here’s a simple YAML for a Persistent Volume:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: pv-storage
spec:
  capacity:
    storage: 10Gi
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
  hostPath:
    path: /mnt/data

This Persistent Volume provides 10GB of storage with a ReadWriteOnce access mode. The hostPath configuration binds it to the /mnt/data directory on the host machine, ensuring durability for applications like databases or CI/CD pipelines. This makes PVs an essential component for persistent storage in Kubernetes.

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