Comparing the FUSE POSIX and Loopback NFS Plugins
This page compares the two types of Container Storage Interface (CSI) Storage Plugins and describes when to use them.
Features Common to Both Plugins
- Create a volume
- Delete a volume
- Expand a volume
- Clone a volume
- Create a snapshot
- Delete a snapshot
- Restore a snapshot
Current versions of both plugins include the release 6.2 binaries and can be used with
releases 6.1 or 6.2. In addition, both plugins can exist on the same Kubernetes cluster at
the same time. Both plugins can also be used without a license; however, the FUSE POSIX
plugin provides a license
parameter that allows you to control the number
of resources used, as described in Example: Mounting a PersistentVolume for Static Provisioning.
How the Loopback NFS Plugin is Different
The Loopback NFS plugin leverages the loopbacknfs POSIX Client. For more information about this client, see HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric loopbacknfs POSIX Client.
The plugins differ in how they handle I/O. The Loopback NFS plugin uses asynchronous I/O, allowing more I/O operations. The Loopback NFS plugin also uses less memory and provides better performance for small-file writes and raw block storage.
How the FUSE POSIX Plugin is Different
The FUSE POSIX plugin leverages the FUSE-Based POSIX Client. For more information about this client, see HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric FUSE-Based POSIX Client.
The FUSE POSIX plugin uses synchronous I/O. FUSE POSIX runs with at most five clients (platinum license) and incurs resource overhead because of the high number of client threads, but works better for use cases that require high throughput.