Pass the Pure Storage Portworx Enterprise Portworx-Enterprise-Professional Questions and answers with CertsForce

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Portworx uses node labeling as a mechanism to control on which Kubernetes nodes Portworx is installed and allowed to operate. To restrict Portworx installation on specific nodes, those nodes should be labeled with px/enabled=false. This label tells the Portworx Operator or installation scripts to exclude these nodes from Portworx deployment, preventing Portworx daemons from running there. This feature is useful for reserving nodes for non-storage workloads or avoiding unsupported hardware. Labels like px/service=stop or px/storage-node=false are not recognized by Portworx as controls for installation exclusion. The official Portworx deployment and node labeling documentation specify px/enabled=false as the standard method for controlling node participation in the storage cluster, offering administrators fine-grained control over cluster topology and resource allocation【Pure Storage Portworx Deployment Guide†source】.

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In Kubernetes, StorageClasses define how persistent volumes are dynamically provisioned. A Portworx StorageClass enables automated provisioning of Portworx volumes in response to Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) requests. This eliminates the need for administrators to manually create volumes, improving agility and scalability. The StorageClass encapsulates volume parameters such as replication factor, encryption, and IO profiles, ensuring consistent storage policies across deployments. While Portworx offers monitoring and backup capabilities, these are outside the scope of the StorageClass resource itself. Kubernetes and Portworx documentation detail the StorageClass as a critical abstraction for enabling self-service storage provisioning, allowing applications to request storage with specific attributes dynamically and Portworx to satisfy these requests seamlessly【Pure Storage Portworx Kubernetes Guide†source】.

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When integrating Portworx with an S3 Object Store secured by a custom or third-party certificate that is not signed by a public Certificate Authority (CA), administrators must manually provide the relevant CA certificate to Portworx. This involves creating a Kubernetes secret that contains the custom CA certificate and referencing this secret in the StorageCluster manifest through environment variables. This allows Portworx components to trust the certificate during TLS handshake with the S3 endpoint, avoiding connection failures due to untrusted certificates. Without this step, Portworx cannot securely communicate with the object store. The Portworx security and installation documentation highlights this practice as essential for secure Object Store integration in private or regulated environments where internal or custom PKIs are used【Pure Storage Portworx Security Guide†source】.

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The command pxctl cluster status provides a concise summary of the Portworx cluster’s health and operational status. This includes node states, storage pool information, volume statuses, and quorum information. It is the primary CLI command for administrators to quickly assess cluster health and detect any issues affecting storage availability or performance. helm list --px is a Helm package management command unrelated to cluster status, and kubectl get pxstatus is not a valid Kubernetes or Portworx command. Portworx documentation recommends pxctl cluster status as an essential monitoring command during routine operations and troubleshooting to ensure the cluster is functioning properly and that all nodes are communicating and healthy【Pure Storage Portworx CLI Guide†source】

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Portworx requires a minimum Linux kernel version of 3.10 or greater to operate properly. This requirement stems from Portworx’s dependencies on certain kernel features and modules that became standard from kernel version 3.10 onwards. The kernel version affects support for device-mapper, overlay filesystems, network stack enhancements, and other low-level capabilities essential for Portworx’s block storage functionality and performance. Although newer kernels (like 4.15+) offer additional features and improvements, Portworx maintains compatibility back to 3.10 to support a wide range of enterprise Linux distributions such as RHEL, CentOS, and Ubuntu LTS releases. The official Portworx system requirements document explicitly states kernel 3.10 as the minimum supported version to ensure stability and compatibility in production environments【Pure Storage Portworx System Requirements†source】.

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Enabling Alertmanager in Portworx involves creating a Kubernetes Secret containing the Alertmanager configuration (such as alert routing rules and notification channels) and referencing this secret in the Portworx StorageCluster manifest. This integration allows Portworx’s monitoring stack to forward alerts to Alertmanager for centralized alert processing and notifications. Unlike ConfigMaps, which are generally used for non-sensitive data, Secrets protect sensitive alert configuration. Enabling Alertmanager via pxctl CLI is not supported as Portworx relies on Kubernetes declarative configuration for monitoring components. Additionally, deploying Alertmanager independently and integrating through webhooks requires manual setup but is not the recommended or integrated approach. Portworx official observability documentation details the secret-based configuration as the standard and secure method to enable and manage Alertmanager within Portworx clusters for robust alert handling【Pure Storage Portworx Monitoring Guide†source】.

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When security is enabled in Portworx, all commands, including those issued via the pxctl CLI, require authentication to access the cluster. If pxctl returns an “access denied” error, it means the CLI does not have valid credentials. To regain access, administrators must provide authentication details using the --user and --password flags or configure a context with an authentication token. The username and password are stored securely within the Kubernetes secret px-admin-token. Using these credentials ensures pxctl commands are authorized to perform management operations. Without authentication, Portworx enforces strict access controls to protect sensitive storage operations and data. While creating new contexts via pxctl context create is a valid method, initially supplying credentials is mandatory. Failure to authenticate prevents any management activity, reinforcing Portworx’s security posture. Official security guides outline these steps as fundamental to transitioning from unsecured to secured cluster operation and managing authenticated access effectively【Pure Storage Portworx Security Guide†source】.

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Portworx alerts are generated for several resource types within the storage cluster environment, primarily including Nodes, Disks, Pods, Namespaces, and Volumes. These alerts provide real-time notifications of events such as node failures, disk health degradation, volume status changes, pod crashes, or namespace-level issues affecting storage consumption or performance. Monitoring these resource types helps administrators proactively manage cluster health, maintain high availability, and troubleshoot faults before they impact applications. The Portworx alerting framework aggregates data from these resources and integrates with external monitoring systems for centralized alert management. Official Portworx observability and alerting documentation list these resource categories as the core focus of Portworx alerting mechanisms, critical for operational awareness and automation【Pure Storage Portworx Observability Guide†source】.

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To perform an ApplicationBackup in Portworx, two Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) are essential: BackupLocation and ApplicationBackup. The BackupLocation CRD defines the target backup storage, such as an S3 bucket or NFS share, including credentials and endpoints. ApplicationBackup defines the specifics of the backup operation, including which application volumes to back up, schedules, and retention policies. Together, they enable declarative backup management within Kubernetes, allowing administrators to configure, automate, and monitor backups of stateful applications using Portworx. These CRDs provide flexibility and integration with Kubernetes-native tools, improving disaster recovery capabilities. Portworx backup documentation describes these CRDs as the foundation of its application-aware backup and restore system【Pure Storage Portworx Backup Docs†source】.

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The Kubernetes secret named px-kvdb-auth is used to store external KVDB certificates in a Portworx deployment. These certificates enable mutual TLS authentication for the KVDB pods, ensuring secure and authenticated communication between the distributed KVDB instances running on different nodes. The px-kvdb-auth secret includes private keys and certificate chains that are essential for encrypting KVDB traffic and verifying peer identities within the cluster. This security feature prevents unauthorized access and protects sensitive KVDB data in transit. Portworx’sofficial security and KVDB documentation detail the use of this secret, highlighting its role in certificate management and enabling encryption for high-availability clusters running on Kubernetes environments【Pure Storage Portworx Security Guide†source】.