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Scenario #360
Storage
Kubernetes v1.23, AWS EBS

PVs Not Deleted After PVC Cleanup Due to Retain Policy

After PVCs were deleted, underlying PVs and disks remained, leading to cloud resource sprawl.

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What Happened

Retain policy on the PV preserved the disk after PVC was deleted.

Diagnosis Steps
  • 1kubectl get pv showed status Released.
  • 2Disk still visible in AWS console.
Root Cause

PV reclaimPolicy was Retain, not Delete.

Fix/Workaround
• Manually deleted PVs and EBS volumes.
Lessons Learned

Retain policy needs operational follow-up.

How to Avoid
  • 1Use Delete policy unless manual cleanup is required.
  • 2Audit dangling PVs regularly.
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