infra/docs/architecture/storage.md

Storage Architecture

Last updated: 2026-04-15

Overview

The cluster uses two storage backends: Proxmox CSI for database block storage and Proxmox NFS for application data.

Block storage (Proxmox CSI): ~95 PVCs for databases and stateful apps use two StorageClasses provisioned from the same local-lvm thin pool (sdc, 10.7TB RAID1 HDD):

• proxmox-lvm: Unencrypted block storage for non-sensitive workloads (~67 PVCs)
• proxmox-lvm-encrypted: LUKS2-encrypted block storage for all sensitive data (~28 PVCs) — databases, auth, email, password managers, git repos, health data, etc. Uses Argon2id key derivation with passphrase from Vault KV.

All services storing sensitive data were migrated to proxmox-lvm-encrypted on 2026-04-15. This eliminates the previous double-CoW (ZFS + LVM-thin) path and ensures data-at-rest encryption.

NFS storage (Proxmox host): ~100 NFS shares for media libraries (Immich, audiobookshelf, servarr, navidrome), backup targets (*-backup/ directories), and app data are served directly from the Proxmox host at 192.168.1.127. Two NFS export roots exist:

• HDD NFS: /srv/nfs on ext4 LV pve/nfs-data (2TB) — bulk media and backup targets
• SSD NFS: /srv/nfs-ssd on ext4 LV ssd/nfs-ssd-data (100GB) — high-performance data (Immich ML)

Both StorageClass: nfs-truenas and StorageClass: nfs-proxmox point to the Proxmox host and are functionally identical. The nfs-truenas name is historical — it was retained because StorageClass names are immutable on bound PVs (48 PVs reference it) and renaming would force mass PV churn across the cluster.

Backup storage (sda): 1.1TB RAID1 SAS disk, VG backup, LV data (ext4), mounted at /mnt/backup on PVE host. Dedicated backup disk for weekly PVC file backups, auto SQLite backups, pfSense backups, and PVE config. NFS data syncs directly to Synology via inotify change tracking (not stored on sda). Independent of live storage (sdc).

History (2026-04-02): iSCSI block volumes migrated from democratic-csi (TrueNAS iSCSI → ZFS → LVM-thin) to Proxmox CSI (direct LVM-thin hotplug). democratic-csi iSCSI driver removed.

History (2026-04-13): TrueNAS (VM 9000, 10.0.10.15) fully decommissioned. NFS storage migrated to the Proxmox host (192.168.1.127). ZFS datasets under /mnt/main/ and /mnt/ssd/ moved to ext4 LVs at /srv/nfs/ and /srv/nfs-ssd/. Legacy PVs referencing /mnt/main/ paths still work (bind-mounted or symlinked on the Proxmox host); new PVs use /srv/nfs/ and /srv/nfs-ssd/. TrueNAS VM still exists in stopped state on PVE pending user decision on deletion.

Architecture Diagram

graph TB
    subgraph Proxmox["Proxmox Host (192.168.1.127)"]
        sdc["sdc: 10.7TB RAID1 HDD<br/>VG pve, LV data (thin pool)<br/>~67 proxmox-lvm PVCs<br/>~28 proxmox-lvm-encrypted PVCs"]
        sda["sda: 1.1TB RAID1 SAS<br/>VG backup, LV data (ext4)<br/>/mnt/backup"]
        NFS_HDD["LV pve/nfs-data (2TB ext4)<br/>/srv/nfs<br/>~100 NFS shares<br/>Media + backup targets"]
        NFS_SSD["LV ssd/nfs-ssd-data (100GB ext4)<br/>/srv/nfs-ssd<br/>High-performance data<br/>(Immich ML)"]
        NFS_Exports["NFS Exports<br/>managed by /etc/exports"]
        NFS_HDD --> NFS_Exports
        NFS_SSD --> NFS_Exports
    end

    subgraph K8s["Kubernetes Cluster"]
        CSI_NFS["nfs-csi driver<br/>StorageClass: nfs-proxmox (+ legacy nfs-truenas)<br/>soft,timeo=30,retrans=3"]
        CSI_PVE["Proxmox CSI plugin<br/>StorageClass: proxmox-lvm<br/>StorageClass: proxmox-lvm-encrypted"]

        NFS_PV["NFS PersistentVolumes<br/>RWX, ~100 volumes"]
        Block_PV["Block PersistentVolumes<br/>RWO, ~67 PVCs (unencrypted)"]
        Enc_PV["Encrypted Block PVs<br/>RWO, ~28 PVCs (LUKS2)"]

        Pods["Application Pods"]
        DBPods["Database Pods<br/>PostgreSQL CNPG<br/>MySQL InnoDB"]
    end

    NFS_Exports -->|NFS mount| CSI_NFS
    sdc -->|LVM-thin hotplug| CSI_PVE

    CSI_NFS --> NFS_PV
    CSI_PVE --> Block_PV
    CSI_PVE --> Enc_PV

    NFS_PV --> Pods
    Block_PV --> Pods
    Enc_PV --> DBPods

    style Proxmox fill:#e1f5ff
    style K8s fill:#fff4e1
    style NFS_HDD fill:#c8e6c9
    style NFS_SSD fill:#ffe0b2

Components

Component	Version/Config	Location	Purpose
Proxmox CSI plugin	Helm chart	Namespace: proxmox-csi	Block storage via LVM-thin hotplug
StorageClass proxmox-lvm	RWO, WaitForFirstConsumer	Cluster-wide	Non-sensitive stateful apps
StorageClass proxmox-lvm-encrypted	RWO, WaitForFirstConsumer, LUKS2	Cluster-wide	All sensitive data (databases, auth, email, passwords, git)
Proxmox NFS (HDD)	LV pve/nfs-data, 2TB ext4	192.168.1.127:/srv/nfs	Bulk NFS data for all services
Proxmox NFS (SSD)	LV ssd/nfs-ssd-data, 100GB ext4	192.168.1.127:/srv/nfs-ssd	High-performance data (Immich ML)
nfs-csi	Helm chart	Namespace: nfs-csi	NFS CSI driver
StorageClass nfs-proxmox	RWX, soft mount	Cluster-wide	NFS storage, points to Proxmox host
StorageClass nfs-truenas	RWX, soft mount	Cluster-wide	Historical name — functionally identical to nfs-proxmox, points to the Proxmox host. Kept because SC names are immutable on 48 bound PVs.
TF module nfs_volume	modules/kubernetes/nfs_volume/	Infra repo	Static NFS PV/PVC factory
TrueNAS VM	DECOMMISSIONED 2026-04-13	Was VM 9000 at 10.0.10.15	Replaced by Proxmox NFS. VM still in stopped state pending deletion.
democratic-csi-iscsi	REMOVED	Was namespace: iscsi-csi	Replaced by Proxmox CSI (2026-04-02)
StorageClass iscsi-truenas	REMOVED	Was cluster-wide	Replaced by proxmox-lvm

How It Works

NFS Storage Flow

1. Directory creation: NFS share directories are created under /srv/nfs/<service> (HDD) or /srv/nfs-ssd/<service> (SSD) on the Proxmox host
2. Export configuration: /etc/exports on the Proxmox host lists per-directory NFS exports
3. Terraform module: Stacks use modules/kubernetes/nfs_volume/ to declaratively create static PV + PVC pairs:

   module "nfs_data" {
     source     = "../../modules/kubernetes/nfs_volume"
     name       = "immich-data"
     namespace  = kubernetes_namespace.immich.metadata[0].name
     nfs_server = var.nfs_server  # 192.168.1.127
     nfs_path   = "/srv/nfs/immich"
   }
   

4. Pod mount: Applications reference PVCs in their deployment specs
5. Mount options: All NFS mounts use soft,timeo=30,retrans=3 (set in StorageClass) to prevent indefinite hangs

Note: Some legacy PVs still reference /mnt/main/<service> paths. These work via compatibility symlinks/bind-mounts on the Proxmox host. New PVs should use /srv/nfs/<service> or /srv/nfs-ssd/<service>.

CRITICAL: Never use inline nfs {} blocks in pod specs — they default to hard,timeo=600 which causes 10-minute hangs on network issues. Always use the nfs-proxmox StorageClass (or the legacy nfs-truenas for existing PVs) via PVCs.

Block Storage Flow (Proxmox CSI) — NEW

1. PVC creation: Pod requests a PVC with storageClass: proxmox-lvm
2. CSI provisioning: Proxmox CSI plugin calls the Proxmox API to create a thin LV in the local-lvm storage
3. SCSI hotplug: The thin LV is hotplugged as a VirtIO-SCSI disk directly into the K8s node VM
4. Filesystem: CSI formats the disk as ext4 and mounts it into the pod
5. Exclusive access: RWO only — disk is attached to one VM at a time
6. Topology: Nodes are labeled with topology.kubernetes.io/region=pve and zone=pve for scheduling

Key advantage: Single CoW layer (LVM-thin only). No ZFS, no iSCSI network hop, no double-CoW corruption.

Proxmox API token: csi@pve!csi-token with CSI role (VM.Audit VM.Config.Disk Datastore.Allocate Datastore.AllocateSpace Datastore.Audit). Stored in Vault at secret/viktor.

Encrypted Block Storage Flow (proxmox-lvm-encrypted) — 2026-04-15

1. PVC creation: Pod requests a PVC with storageClass: proxmox-lvm-encrypted
2. CSI provisioning: Same as proxmox-lvm — thin LV created in local-lvm
3. LUKS encryption: CSI node plugin reads the encryption passphrase from K8s Secret proxmox-csi-encryption (namespace kube-system), formats the disk with LUKS2 (Argon2id key derivation), then creates ext4 on top
4. Transparent mounting: Application sees a normal ext4 filesystem — encryption/decryption is handled by dm-crypt in the kernel
5. Passphrase management: ExternalSecret syncs passphrase from Vault KV (secret/viktor/proxmox_csi_encryption_passphrase) → K8s Secret. Backup key at /root/.luks-backup-key on PVE host.

Services on encrypted storage (2026-04-15 migration): vaultwarden, dbaas (mysql+pg+pgadmin), mailserver, nextcloud, forgejo, matrix, n8n, affine, health, hackmd, redis, headscale, frigate, meshcentral, technitium, actualbudget, grampsweb, owntracks, wealthfolio, monitoring (alertmanager)

Services migrated later (post-audit catch-up): paperless-ngx (2026-04-25 — sensitive document scans had been left on plain proxmox-lvm by an abandoned attempt; rsync swap cleaned up the orphan and re-did via Terraform). Vault raft cluster (2026-04-25 — all 3 voters migrated from nfs-proxmox to proxmox-lvm-encrypted after the 2026-04-22 raft-leader-deadlock post-mortem found NFS fsync semantics incompatible with raft consensus log; rolled non-leader-first with force-finalize on the pvc-protection finalizer to avoid pod-recreating on the old PVCs).

CSI node plugin memory: Requires 1280Mi limit for LUKS2 Argon2id key derivation (~1GiB). Set via node.plugin.resources in Helm values (not node.resources).

Terraform stack: stacks/proxmox-csi/ manages both StorageClasses, the ExternalSecret, and CSI plugin resources.

iSCSI Storage Flow (DEPRECATED — replaced 2026-04-02)

This section is historical. All iSCSI PVCs have been migrated to Proxmox CSI (proxmox-lvm). The democratic-csi iSCSI driver is pending removal.

1. Zvol creation: democratic-csi creates ZFS zvols under main/iscsi/<pvc-name> via SSH commands
2. Target setup: TrueNAS iSCSI service exposes zvols as iSCSI LUNs
3. Initiator connection: K8s nodes connect via open-iscsi

SQLite on NFS — Why It Fails

SQLite uses fsync() to guarantee durability. NFS's soft mount + async semantics break this:

• Soft mount returns success even if data is still in client cache
• Network blips during fsync → incomplete writes → corruption
• WAL mode helps but doesn't eliminate the race

Solution: Use Proxmox CSI (proxmox-lvm) for any SQLite database (Vaultwarden, plotting-book) or local disk (ephemeral).

Democratic-CSI Sidecar Resources (HISTORICAL — democratic-csi removed)

Democratic-csi has been removed along with TrueNAS decommissioning (2026-04). This section is kept for historical reference only.

Configuration

Key Files

Path	Purpose
/etc/exports (on Proxmox host)	NFS export configuration for all service shares
stacks/proxmox-csi/	Terraform stack for Proxmox CSI plugin + StorageClass
stacks/nfs-csi/	NFS CSI driver + StorageClasses (nfs-proxmox + legacy nfs-truenas)
modules/kubernetes/nfs_volume/	Reusable module for static NFS PV/PVC creation
config.tfvars	Variable nfs_server = "192.168.1.127" shared by all stacks

Vault Paths

Path	Contents
secret/viktor/proxmox_csi_encryption_passphrase	LUKS2 encryption passphrase for proxmox-lvm-encrypted StorageClass
secret/viktor/truenas_ssh_key	REMOVED — was SSH key for democratic-csi SSH driver (TrueNAS decommissioned 2026-04-13)
secret/viktor/truenas_root_password	REMOVED — was TrueNAS root password (TrueNAS decommissioned 2026-04-13)
secret/viktor/truenas_api_key	REMOVED — was TrueNAS API key (TrueNAS decommissioned 2026-04-13)
secret/viktor/truenas_ssh_private_key	REMOVED — was TrueNAS SSH private key (TrueNAS decommissioned 2026-04-13)

Terraform Stacks

• stacks/proxmox-csi/: Deploys Proxmox CSI plugin + proxmox-lvm and proxmox-lvm-encrypted StorageClasses + ExternalSecret for encryption passphrase + node topology labels
• stacks/nfs-csi/: Deploys NFS CSI driver + StorageClasses for Proxmox NFS
• All application stacks reference NFS volumes via module "nfs_<name>" calls
• Database PVCs use storageClass: proxmox-lvm (CNPG, MySQL Helm VCT, Redis Helm, standalone PVCs)

NFS Export Management

NFS exports are NOT managed by Terraform. To add a new service:

1. SSH to Proxmox host: ssh root@192.168.1.127
2. Create the directory: mkdir -p /srv/nfs/<service> && chmod 777 /srv/nfs/<service>
3. Edit /etc/exports — add the export entry
4. Reload exports: exportfs -ra
5. Verify: showmount -e 192.168.1.127

Decisions & Rationale

Why NFS for Most Workloads?

• Simplicity: No volume provisioning delays, instant mounts
• RWX support: Multiple pods can share one volume (Nextcloud, Immich)
• Good enough: For SQLite on NFS specifically, we accept the risk for low-value data (logs, caches) but mandate proxmox-lvm for critical DBs

Why Proxmox CSI for Databases? (formerly iSCSI)

• ACID guarantees: Block device + local filesystem = real fsync
• Performance: No NFS protocol overhead for random I/O, no network hop (LVM-thin hotplug direct to VM)
• Tested: PostgreSQL CNPG and MySQL InnoDB Cluster both run on proxmox-lvm, zero corruption
• Single CoW layer: LVM-thin only, no ZFS double-CoW issues

Why Soft Mount for NFS?

Hard mounts with default timeo=600 (10 minutes) cause:

• 10-minute pod startup delays if NFS server is unreachable
• kubectl delete pod hangs for 10 minutes
• Kernel task hangs blocking node operations

Soft mount (soft,timeo=30,retrans=3) trades availability for responsiveness:

• Max 90s hang (30s × 3 retries)
• Operations return EIO after timeout → app can handle error
• Acceptable for non-critical data paths

Critical paths: Databases use proxmox-lvm (not NFS), so soft mount never affects data integrity.

Troubleshooting

NFS Mount Hangs

Symptom: Pod stuck in ContainerCreating, df -h hangs on NFS mount

Diagnosis:

# On K8s node
mount | grep nfs
showmount -e 192.168.1.127

# Check NFS server (Proxmox host)
ssh root@192.168.1.127
ls -la /srv/nfs/<service>
cat /etc/exports | grep <service>

Fix:

1. Verify directory exists: ls /srv/nfs/<service> (or /srv/nfs-ssd/<service>)
2. Verify export: grep <service> /etc/exports
3. If missing: add to /etc/exports and run exportfs -ra
4. Restart NFS server: systemctl restart nfs-server

iSCSI Session Drops (HISTORICAL — iSCSI removed)

iSCSI was replaced by Proxmox CSI (2026-04-02) and TrueNAS has been decommissioned. This section is kept for historical reference only.

SQLite Corruption on NFS

Symptom: database disk image is malformed, checksum errors

Diagnosis:

# In pod
sqlite3 /data/db.sqlite "PRAGMA integrity_check;"

Fix: Migrate to proxmox-lvm

1. Create proxmox-lvm PVC in Terraform stack
2. Restore from backup to new volume
3. Update deployment to use new PVC
4. Delete old NFS PVC

Slow NFS Performance

Symptom: High latency on file operations, iostat shows NFS wait times

Diagnosis:

# On Proxmox host
ssh root@192.168.1.127
iostat -x 5
lvs --reportformat json pve/nfs-data ssd/nfs-ssd-data

# On K8s node
nfsiostat 5

Optimization:

1. Move hot data to SSD NFS: relocate from /srv/nfs/<service> to /srv/nfs-ssd/<service> and update PV path
2. Tune NFS mount: add rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576 to StorageClass mountOptions

Related

• Runbooks:
  • docs/runbooks/restore-postgresql.md
  • docs/runbooks/restore-mysql.md
  • docs/runbooks/recover-nfs-mount.md
• Architecture: docs/architecture/backup-dr.md (backup strategy using LVM snapshots and Proxmox host scripts)
• Reference: .claude/reference/service-catalog.md (which services use NFS vs proxmox-lvm)