OpenEBS is a container-native storage platform that provides persistent volumes for stateful applications running on Kubernetes. It operates through a Kubernetes-native microservice architecture, where storage controllers are managed entirely with kubectl and standard Kubernetes APIs, and offers both local and replicated block storage options.
The platform distinguishes itself through synchronous NVMe-TCP replication, which replicates block data across nodes to enable pod rescheduling after node failure without data loss. It also includes a snapshot and clone engine for capturing point-in-time volume states, integrates with Velero for scheduled backups and restores, and supports online volume expansion without disrupting running workloads. Capacity-aware pod scheduling ensures stateful pods are placed on nodes with sufficient free local storage for their persistent volume claims.
OpenEBS abstracts host paths, attached drives, and existing LVM or ZFS pools into Kubernetes persistent volumes with no data-path overhead, and provides enterprise-grade storage features including snapshots, cloning, and volume expansion for both local and replicated volumes. The platform is administered through standard Kubernetes tooling such as Helm charts, Prometheus metrics, and Grafana dashboards.