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Scenario #25
Cluster Management
K8s v1.20, CSI storage on vSphere
Orphaned PVs Causing Unscheduled Pods
PVCs were stuck in Pending state due to existing orphaned PVs in Released state.
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What Happened
After pod deletion, PVs went into Released state but were never cleaned up due to missing ReclaimPolicy logic. When new PVCs requested the same storage class, provisioning failed.
Diagnosis Steps
- 1Ran kubectl get pvc – saw Pending PVCs.
- 2kubectl get pv – old PVs stuck in Released.
- 3CSI driver logs showed volume claim conflicts.
Root Cause
ReclaimPolicy set to Retain and no manual cleanup.
Fix/Workaround
• Manually deleted orphaned PVs.
• Changed ReclaimPolicy to Delete for similar volumes.Lessons Learned
PV lifecycle must be actively monitored.
How to Avoid
- 1Add cleanup logic in storage lifecycle.
- 2Implement PV alerts based on state.