Kubernetes: Can't delete PersistentVolumeClaim

Question

I created the following persistent volume by calling

kubectl create -f nameOfTheFileContainingTheFollowingContent.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: pv-monitoring-static-content
spec:
  capacity:
    storage: 100Mi
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  hostPath:
    path: "/some/path"

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: pv-monitoring-static-content-claim
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  storageClassName: ""
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 100Mi

After this I tried to delete the pvc. But this command stuck. when calling kubectl describe pvc pv-monitoring-static-content-claim I get the following result

Name:          pv-monitoring-static-content-claim
Namespace:     default
StorageClass:
Status:        Terminating (lasts 5m)
Volume:        pv-monitoring-static-content
Labels:        <none>
Annotations:   pv.kubernetes.io/bind-completed=yes
               pv.kubernetes.io/bound-by-controller=yes
Finalizers:    [foregroundDeletion]
Capacity:      100Mi
Access Modes:  RWO
Events:        <none>

And for kubectl describe pv pv-monitoring-static-content

Name:            pv-monitoring-static-content
Labels:          <none>
Annotations:     pv.kubernetes.io/bound-by-controller=yes
Finalizers:      [kubernetes.io/pv-protection foregroundDeletion]
StorageClass:
Status:          Terminating (lasts 16m)
Claim:           default/pv-monitoring-static-content-claim
Reclaim Policy:  Retain
Access Modes:    RWO
Capacity:        100Mi
Node Affinity:   <none>
Message:
Source:
    Type:          HostPath (bare host directory volume)
    Path:          /some/path
    HostPathType:
Events:            <none>

There is no pod running that uses the persistent volume. Could anybody give me a hint why the pvc and the pv are not deleted?

Answer 1

I'm not sure why this happened, but after deleting the finalizers of the pv and the pvc via the kubernetes dashboard, both were deleted. This happened again after repeating the steps I described in my question. Seems like a bug.

Answer 2

The PV is protected. Delete the PV before deleting the PVC. Also, delete any pods/ deployments which are claiming any of the referenced PVCs. For further information do check out Storage Object in Use Protection

Answer 3

in my case a pvc was not deleted because missing namespace (I deleted the namespace before deleting all resources/pvc) solution : create namespace with the same name as it was before and then I was able to remove the finalizers and finally pvc

Answer 4

Just met this issue hours ago.

I deleted deployments that used this references and the PV/PVCs are automatically terminated.

Answer 5

This happens when persistent volume is protected. You should be able to cross verify this:

Command:

kubectl describe pvc PVC_NAME | grep Finalizers

Output:

Finalizers: [kubernetes.io/pvc-protection]

You can fix this by setting finalizers to null using kubectl patch:

kubectl patch pvc PVC_NAME -p '{"metadata":{"finalizers": []}}' --type=merge

Ref; Storage Object in Use Protection

Answer 6

You can get rid of editing your pvc! Remove pvc protection.

1. kubectl edit pvc YOUR_PVC -n NAME_SPACE
2. Manually edit and put # before this line
3. All pv and pvc will be deleted