Add additional disks to Kubernetes nodes with Talos Linux

This is useful when you want to expand the storage capabilities of your Kubernetes cluster, no matter which storage provisioner you’re using.

Configuration

This configuration has to be done only on the node where you are mounting the disk.

The configuration will focus mostly on setting this up on a Raspberry Pi. If you are not doing this on a Raspberry Pi, you can just mount the disk and proceed with the configuration.

However, if you are doing it on a Raspberry Pi, you need to prepare the disk first:

• Connect the disk via USB to your machine.

• Check the name of the disk with:

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  lsblk

• Now, you need to wipe the disk completely, including the partition table information on it:

  Warning

  Make sure you do a backup first if the disk is not empty. This will wipe it clean.

  1	sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdX

• Now, you need to create a partition of type XFS before proceeding. We will use gparted for this:

  1. Install gparted

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     # Debian based systems sudo apt install gparted # Arch based systems sudo pacman -S gparted

  2. Open gparted, select the disk from the dropdown in the top right.

  3. In the menu, select Device -> Create Partition Table -> Type GPT.

  4. Then, select Partition.

  5. In the menu, leave everything as default, except File system -> XFS.

  6. Click apply and wait for the disk to get partitioned, then you can eject it from the machine.

• Plug the disk on the node you wish to configure, and proceed.

Here is the configuration (click to expand):

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machine:
  kubelet:
    extraMounts:
      - destination: /var/mnt/storage
        type: bind
        source: /var/mnt/storage
        options:
          - bind
          - rshared
          - rw

  disks:
      - device: /dev/sdX # The name of the disk to use.
        partitions:
          - mountpoint: /var/mnt/storage # Where to mount the partition.