DEVOPSdigest

Portworx Enterprise 2.6 adds a series of new features and updates essential to the large scale operation of Kubernetes environments.

While not essential for smaller clusters of ten or less nodes, larger clusters can impair performance of less robust Kubernetes storage platforms. As such, Portworx recently added features such:

- Node capacity rebalancing –– Ensures no single node is allocated to full capacity when other nodes have space and are able to move replicas for a balanced state.

- Improved performance for complete etcd loss –– Ensures that the Portworx storage cluster continues to operate as expected during temporary etcd outages.

- K3s support –– K3s is a popular Kubernetes distribution for edge applications which often include hundreds or thousands of endpoints. Now the Portworx Storage Platform can be used with k3s clusters opening the door to the rapid growth of data services at the edge.

- Proxy Volumes –– Kubernetes application pods can now access external data sources (e.g. NFS shares) from Portworx Volumes.

Portworx also announced PX-Backup 1.1. The first significant update to PX-Backup brings streamlined support for recovery operations and user experience. The added depth of PX-Backup telemetry helps enterprises understand cluster environments, the number of backups they have, and the number of restores used across PX-Backup. Additionally, a new node based licensing plan and pay as you go options makes it easier for businesses to scale up and down as their data needs evolve. Additional capabilities include:

- Granular Restores –– Added capability to selectively restore individual resource types from a backup instead of the entire application.

- Generic CRD support –– Identify and support backups for any custom or generic CRDs.

- Support for namespace quotas –– Application CPU, Memory and Storage Quotas can be applied at the namespace level, ensuring restored applications are placed on clusters with sufficient resources.

- Backup procedure metrics –– New metrics like number of protected namespaces, size of backups and alert status for backups and restores.

- Default backups –– Allow admins to create policies to backup namespaces or applications in their Kubernetes clusters using wildcards for namespaces that get created later.

Portwork also announced PX-Autopilot for Capacity Management 1.3. Portworx previously announced PX-Autopilot for Capacity Management, enabling enterprises to cut their storage bills in half by automatically detecting when storage capacity is running low and provisioning more only when it's needed. Today's update adds requested improvements in the form of GKE pool management support, auto pool rebalance, and GitOps based approval workflow, where an action like volume resize will require approval from designated users before action is taken. As enterprises seek to reduce cloud spend during COVID-19, these features are seeing increased demand.

Portworx Enterprise 2.6 will be generally available on August 24. PX-Autopilot 1.3 will be generally available on August 31. PX-Backup 1.1 will be available in Tech Preview on August 19.