Block Storage

Distributed File System - User Guide | Block Storage Section

What Is Block Storage?

Block storage in Karios DFS provides raw block devices - virtual disks that behave like physical hard drives. Unlike file storage (files and folders) or object storage (objects), block storage provides a low-level disk that your OS, hypervisor, or application formats and uses directly.

In Karios DFS, block storage is delivered through RBD (RADOS Block Device). An RBD image is a thin-provisioned virtual disk backed by a storage pool.

What thin-provisioned means:

  • A large virtual disk can be created upfront.

  • Physical cluster capacity is consumed as data is written, not at creation.

When to use block storage:

  • VM boot and data disks

  • Kubernetes persistent volumes requiring block access

  • Applications that need raw block devices

  • Workloads requiring isolated disk performance

Block Storage Subsections

Primary coverage in this guide:

  • Block Images (RBD)

iSCSI and mirroring features are expected to release as they are currently in beta phase.

Note

This guide focuses on block images. iSCSI and mirroring workflows will be expanded after general availability.