Accessing App PVCs on TrueNAS SCALE

Where are my application files?

Your files are held within the container
They are not visible from your server’s file structure without first mounting that PVC

Mounting PVC Data

HeavyScript

One option is to use HeavyScript.

If you plan on mounting PVC storage more than just a couple of times this may be the best option for you.

The script will list all of your PVC information for each application
Safely shut down your application before mounting
Mount your PVC to /mnt/temporary/STORAGE-NAME

Manual Method - New User Guide

Manually mounting PVC storage takes a little bit more time than the script method.

However, I know some users like to know exactly what commands they are running etc.

Recommended Items

A terminal that allows copying and pasting
An open notepad

1. STOP the application you plan on mounting

2. Run the following command to view your PVC data

k3s kubectl get pvc -A | sort -u | awk '{print "\t" $1 "\t" $2 "\t" $4}' | column -t

3. Find the application you would like to mount

This can be confusing at first because many applications will have many different instances of PVC.

pvc_list

You’ll see in this photo, Nextcloud has many different PVC’s.
- However, if you break it down by looking at the middle column, it’s not too confusing.
1. data-nextcloud-redis-0
  - This is your Redis PVC
2. db-nextcloud-postgresql-0
  - This is your PostgreSQL PVC
3. nextcloud-data
  - This is your Data PVC

4. After finding which PVC you would like to mount, copy the far right column (The Volume) that starts with pvc- into a notepad for use in the next command

If I was wanting to mount nextcloud-data, I would use:
pvc-cd84394b-7812-43c3-a6d9-1a5693592cbe

5. Run the following command to find the full path to your applications PVC

zfs list | grep PVC_VOLUME

Going off of the Nextcloud example, I would simply replace PVC_VOLUME with pvc-cd84394b-7812-43c3-a6d9-1a5693592cbe

Example:

zfs list | grep pvc-cd84394b-7812-43c3-a6d9-1a5693592cbe

Here is what the output should look like nextcloud_volumes

6. Mount your PVC

zfs set mountpoint=/temporary/NAME FULL_PVC_PATH

Example:

zfs set mountpoint=/temporary/nextcloud-data speed/ix-applications/releases/nextcloud/volumes/pvc-cd84394b-7812-43c3-a6d9-1a5693592cbe

This command will produce no output if it’s successful
Now you should be able to do whatever you want within the app’s PVC

7. Remounting

zfs set mountpoint=legacy POOL_NAME/ix-applications/releases/APPLICATION_NAME/volumes/VOLUME-NAME

Example:

zfs set mountpoint=legacy speed/ix-applications/releases/nextcloud/volumes/pvc-cd84394b-7812-43c3-a6d9-1a5693592cbe

Afterwards, I always like to rmdir on the directory that was created when mounting

In my case I would run:

rmdir /mnt/temporary/nextcloud-data

This just helps keep your temporary folder clean, and lets you know what is or is not currently mounted.
Do not worry, rmdir cannot delete mounted folders, or folders with contents in them.

Manual Method - Advanced User Guide

ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE APP IS STOPPED WHILE MOUNTING THE PVC

To get the PVCNAME:

k3s kubectl get pvc -n ix-APPNAME

To get the PVCPATH:

zfs list | grep legacy | grep APPNAME

If you want to mount the PVC content:

zfs set mountpoint=/temporary PVCPATH

Your PVC will be mounted under /mnt/temporary

and when you’re done editing:

zfs set mountpoint=legacy PVCPATH