Supported features of cloudkit

Know the different public clouds, operating system versions, IBM Storage Scale features, and cloudkit commands that are supported.

Prerequisites

  • Access to Red Hat base repository, a repository created by using the local ISO image.
  • Ability to read/write into the user home directory.
Table 1. Supported public clouds

Public cloud

Support

Limitations

 Description
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Yes

Red Hat Enterprise Linux® only

Limited stock options of RHEL versions are available through the cloudkit.

Custom images that contain any RHEL version that is supported by base IBM Storage Scale can be pointed through the cloudkit.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Yes

Red Hat Enterprise Linux only

Limited stock options of RHEL versions are available through the cloudkit.

Custom images that contain any RHEL version that is supported by base IBM Storage Scale can be pointed through the cloudkit.
IBM Cloud Yes

Red Hat Enterprise Linux only

Limited stock options of RHEL versions are available through the cloudkit.

Custom images that contain any RHEL version that is supported by base IBM Storage Scale can be pointed through the cloudkit.
Microsoft Azure Yes

Red Hat Enterprise Linux only

Limited stock options of RHEL versions are available through the cloudkit.

Custom images that contain any RHEL version that is supported by base IBM Storage Scale can be pointed through the cloudkit.

Note: IBM's statements about its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM's sole discretion. The provided information is intended to outline IBM's general product direction and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.
Table 2. Operating systems that the cloudkit installer nodes support
Supported operating system Version Limitations Additional information
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.8, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5 and 9.6 N/A On-premises physical host or VM only.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.6 N/A Cloud VM only.
Table 3. IBM Storage Scale features
IBM Storage Scale function Automatic configuration through cloudkit Manual operation after cloudkit usage
Storage cluster creation option, compute cluster creation option, combined storage and compute cluster creation option Yes -
Remote mount storage cluster to client cluster Yes -
Remote mount from CNSA to cloudkit created cluster Prerequisites configured automatically Yes, through IBM Storage Scale Container Native Storage installation
Remote mount from Fusion to cloudkit created storage cluster Prerequisites configured automatically Yes, through Fusion installation
Data Management Edition license application Yes -
Data Access Edition license application Yes -
Developer Edition license application Yes -
Erasure Code Edition license application No (cloudkit not available for ECE) Not supported
Call home Not supported Yes, through installation toolkit or mm command CLI, if wanted
Performance Data collection Yes -
Storage cluster encryption Yes (Encryption at Rest) Yes, through mm command CLI and manually created key server that IBM Storage Scale supports
Quotas - Yes, through mm command CLI
ACLs - Yes, through mm command CLI
ILM No (single pool is configured) Not supported as only a single pool is configured
File clones - Yes, through mm command CLI
Snapshots - Yes, through mm command CLI
CSI volume snapshot - Yes, through CSI
GUI Yes -
REST-API server Yes (as part of the GUI) -
CSI - Yes, with manual setup through CSI documentation, prerequisites of open source Kubernetes (AKS, EKS, GKE are not supported), prerequisites of IBM Storage Scale CSI, and understanding of CSI networking requirements.
File Audit Logging - Yes, through mm command CLI
Clustered watch folder - Yes, through mm command CLI
CES protocols Yes Yes, on AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure
AFM Yes Yes, with manual setup as AFM cache through the cloud site
AFM-COS Yes Yes, on AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure
AFM-DR Yes Yes, through mm command CLI
AWS protocol Yes -
Microsoft Azure protocol Yes -
Compression - Not supported
GPU Direct storage - Not supported
Scale up (nodes) No Not supported
Scale up CNSA compute cluster - Supported through IBM Storage Scale Container Native Storage independent of storage cluster and cloudkit
Scale up (file system capacity) No Not supported
Scale down (nodes) No Not supported
Scale down (file system capacity) No Not supported
Scale out (adding new nodes) Yes -
Table 4. Feature matrix for cloudkit
Usage Feature Support Limitations Additional information
cloudkit create repository IBM Storage Scale or ZIMon RPMs static web-hosting, creates one of the following items:
  • AWS S3 bucket
  • GCP artifact registry
  • Azure blob
  • IBM® Cloud protocols bucket
 Yes Repository scope is limited to the target region.  
cloudkit create image Creates an IBM Storage Scale image by using a repository Yes   As the base image, you can use a stock or custom image of the AMI or GCP operating system, or a Microsoft Azure image or an IBM Cloud image.
cloudkit create network Creates a virtual private cloud or a virtual network Yes    
cloudkit create dns Creates a DNS domain Yes    
cloudkit create cluster Creates an IBM Storage Scale cluster Yes   Can create storage only cluster, compute only cluster, and combined storage and compute cluster.
cloudkit grant filesystem Remote mount file system from storage to compute cluster Yes   One remote mount relation per compute.
cloudkit edit cluster Scales out an IBM Storage Scale cloud cluster Yes    
cloudkit upgrade cluster Updates an IBM Storage Scale cluster Yes   Only AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure are supported.
cloudkit setup caching Configures the AFM relationship from a local IBM Storage Scale cluster to a remote cluster or cloud object storage Yes   Only AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure are supported.
cloudkit setup protocol Enables NFS, SMB, and S3 protocols on an IBM Storage Scale cloud cluster. Yes   Only AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure are supported.