---
title: "Local Storage"
description: "Using local storage for Kubernetes workloads."
---

Using local storage for Kubernetes workloads implies that the pod will be bound to the node where the local storage is available.
Local storage is not replicated, so in case of a machine failure contents of the local storage will be lost.

## `hostPath` mounts

The simplest way to use local storage is to use `hostPath` mounts.
When using `hostPath` mounts, make sure the root directory of the mount is mounted into the `kubelet` container:

```yaml
machine:
  kubelet:
    extraMounts:
      - destination: /var/mnt
        type: bind
        source: /var/mnt
        options:
          - bind
          - rshared
          - rw
```

Both `EPHEMERAL` partition and user disks can be used for `hostPath` mounts.

## Local Path Provisioner

[Local Path Provisioner](https://github.com/rancher/local-path-provisioner) can be used to dynamically provision local storage.
Make sure to update its configuration to use a path under `/var`, e.g. `/var/local-path-provisioner` as the root path for the local storage.
(In Talos Linux default local path provisioner path `/opt/local-path-provisioner` is read-only).

For example, Local Path Provisioner can be installed using [kustomize](https://kustomize.io/) with the following configuration:

```yaml
# kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
- github.com/rancher/local-path-provisioner/deploy?ref=v0.0.26
patches:
- patch: |-
    kind: ConfigMap
    apiVersion: v1
    metadata:
      name: local-path-config
      namespace: local-path-storage
    data:
      config.json: |-
        {
                "nodePathMap":[
                {
                        "node":"DEFAULT_PATH_FOR_NON_LISTED_NODES",
                        "paths":["/var/local-path-provisioner"]
                }
                ]
        }
- patch: |-
    apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
    kind: StorageClass
    metadata:
      name: local-path
      annotations:
        storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
- patch: |-
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Namespace
    metadata:
      name: local-path-storage
      labels:
        pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce: privileged
```

Put `kustomization.yaml` into a new directory, and run `kustomize build | kubectl apply -f -` to install Local Path Provisioner to a Talos Linux cluster.
There are three patches applied:

* change default `/opt/local-path-provisioner` path to `/var/local-path-provisioner`
* make `local-path` storage class the default storage class (optional)
* label the `local-path-storage` namespace as privileged to allow privileged pods to be scheduled there

As for the `hostPath` mounts (see above), this will require the `kubelet` to bind mount the node's folder you chose (eg: `/var/local-path-provisioner`).
Otherwise, you'll have erratic behavior, especially when using the `subPath` statement in a `volumeMount`, which may lead to data loss and/or data never freed after PV deletion.

```yaml
machine:
  kubelet:
    extraMounts:
      - destination: /var/local-path-provisioner
        type: bind
        source: /var/local-path-provisioner
        options:
          - bind
          - rshared
          - rw
```

To test the Local Path Provisioner, you can refer to the [Usage section of the official guide](https://github.com/rancher/local-path-provisioner?tab=readme-ov-file#usage).

You can check that directories for PVCs are created on the node's filesystem with the `talosctl ls /var/local-path-provisioner` command.