---
title: "Yandex-Cloud k8s-csi-s3 Driver With Wasabi"
slug: "yandex-cloud-k8s-csi-s3-driver-with-wasabi"
updated: 2026-09-25T18:14:15Z
published: 2026-09-25T18:14:15Z
canonical: "docs.wasabi.com/yandex-cloud-k8s-csi-s3-driver-with-wasabi"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wasabi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Yandex-Cloud k8s-csi-s3 Driver With Wasabi

The [yandex-cloud k8s-csi-s3](https://github.com/yandex-cloud/k8s-csi-s3) driver enables Kubernetes pods to mount S3-compatible buckets as persistent volumes via FUSE (GeeseFS and s3fs backends). This article details how to configure k8s-csi-s3 for use with Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage.

Note that although the Github page says k8s-csi-s3 supports Rclone, we found it to not be functional during our testing.

## Requirements

- Active [Wasabi Cloud Storage Account](https://wasabi.com/sign-up).
- Access to the [Wasabi Console](https://console.wasabisys.com/).
- Wasabi access and secret keys. It is recommended to create a sub-user with their own set of keys for this purpose rather than using your root keys. See [Creating a User](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/creating-a-user-account-and-access-key#creating-a-user) for more details. You may then restrict the sub-user’s access, such as to a specific bucket, using IAM policies. See [IAM and Bucket Policies](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/what-are-wasabis-recommended-general-user-security-best-practices#8-iam-and-bucket-policies) for details.
- A Wasabi bucket may be created to store your backups, or you can let the k8s-csi-s3 driver create buckets for you. Do not enable Object Lock or Versioning. See [Creating a Bucket](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/working-with-buckets-and-objects#creating-a-bucket) for details on this procedure.
- This solution was tested Kubernetes server version v1.34.6+k3s1 running on Ubuntu Linux version 24.04.4 LTS with k8s-csi-s3 version 0.43.6.
- Access to your Kubernetes server.

## Installing the Driver

If required, follow the instructions below to install the driver.

1. Log in to your Kubernetes server.
2. Issue the following commands (if the driver is not already installed).

```bash
helm repo add yandex-s3 https://yandex-cloud.github.io/k8s-csi-s3/charts
helm install csi-s3 yandex-s3/csi-s3 --namespace kube-system \
  --set secret.create=false
```

## Creating a Secret

1. Create a Kubernetes secret using your Wasabi Access Key and Secret Key pair. Generate an “s3-secret.yaml” file with the following information. Replace YOUR_ACCESS_KEY and YOUR_SECRET_KEY with your Wasabi keys.

> This configuration example discusses the use of Wasabi’s us-east-1 storage region. Use the region your bucket is in, or the region you want your bucket(s) to be in, if you allow the driver to create them for you. For a list of regions, see [Service URLs for Wasabi’s Storage Regions](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/what-are-the-service-urls-for-wasabi-s-different-storage-regions).

```plaintext
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: csi-s3-secret
  # Namespace depends on the configuration in the storageclass.yaml
  namespace: kube-system 
stringData:
  accessKeyID: YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
  secretAccessKey: YOUR_SECRET_KEY
  endpoint: https://s3.us-east-1.wasabisys.com
```
2. Issue the following command to create the Kubernetes secret.

```bash
kubectl apply -f s3-secret.yaml
```

## Creating the Storage Class

1. Create a Storage Class YAML file named “storageclass.yaml”. The example below is for the GeeseFS mounter, which is the preferred method as listed on the driver’s Github page and uses an existing Wasabi bucket.
2. Replace YOUR_EXISTING_BUCKET with the name of your bucket, or comment the bucket line out (by including a # character at the beginning of the line) if you want the driver to create your Wasabi bucket(s).

> If allowing the driver to create bucket(s) for you, it will create a bucket per Persistent Volume (PV). If you use your own preexisting bucket, it will create a folder per PV in that bucket.

```yaml
kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: csi-s3
provisioner: ru.yandex.s3.csi
parameters:
  mounter: geesefs 
  # you can set mount options here, for example limit memory cache size (recommended)
  options: "--memory-limit 1000 --dir-mode 0777 --file-mode 0666"
  # to use an existing bucket, specify it here:
  bucket: YOUR_EXISTING_BUCKET
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
```

The next example shows how to use the s3fs mounter. (The same bucket rules apply.)

```yaml
kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: csi-s3
provisioner: ru.yandex.s3.csi
parameters:
  mounter: s3fs
  # you can set mount options here, for example limit memory cache size (recommended)
  # options: "--memory-limit 1000 --dir-mode 0777 --file-mode 0666"
  # to use an existing bucket, specify it here:
  # bucket: some-existing-bucket
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-namespace: kube-system
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-name: csi-s3-secret
  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-namespace: kube-system
```
3. Issue the following commands to delete the default csi-s3 storage class and create the new storage class.

```bash
kubectl delete storageclass csi-s3
kubectl create -f storageclass.yaml
```

## Testing the S3 Driver

1. Create a “pvc.yaml” file with the following contents. Adjust the storage size as needed.

```plaintext
# Dynamically provisioned PVC:
# A bucket or path inside bucket will be created automatically
# for the PV and removed when the PV will be removed
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: csi-s3-pvc
  namespace: default
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteMany
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 5000Gi
  storageClassName: csi-s3
```
2. Issue the following commands.

```bash
kubectl create -f pvc.yaml
kubectl get pvc csi-s3-pvc
```

Below is an example output. The Status should show Bound.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/Screenshot_2026-04-23_at_7_11_32 AM(1).png)
3. Test the S3 driver by creating a test nginx pod. Generate a pod.yaml file with the following contents.

```plaintext
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: csi-s3-test-nginx
  namespace: default
spec:
  containers:
   - name: csi-s3-test-nginx
     image: nginx
     volumeMounts:
       - mountPath: /usr/share/nginx/html/s3
         name: webroot
  volumes:
   - name: webroot
     persistentVolumeClaim:
       claimName: csi-s3-pvc
       readOnly: false
```
4. Create the test nginx pod, mount the volume, and generate a test file by issuing the commands below.

```bash
kubectl create -f pod.yaml
kubectl exec -ti csi-s3-test-nginx -- bash
mount | grep fuse
touch /usr/share/nginx/html/s3/hello_world
ls -la /usr/share/nginx/html/s3/
exit
```

Below is the output from our testing.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/Screenshot_2026-04-22_at_11_16_13 AM.png)

## Validating Data in Wasabi

1. Log in to the [Wasabi Console](https://console.wasabisys.com/).
2. Click **Buckets**.
3. If you configured the driver to create buckets, you will see a bucket named after the Persistent Volume. Select the name of the bucket and observe the hello_world object in the bucket.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/Screenshot 2026-04-21 at 9.57.17 AM.png)
4. If you configured the driver to use an existing bucket, select the name of the bucket. You will see a folder named after the PV.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/Screenshot 2026-04-21 at 4.50.35 PM.png)
5. Select the name of the folder. You will see the hello_world object in the folder.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/Screenshot 2026-04-21 at 4.50.56 PM.png)

## Deleting the Test Environment

On your Kubernetes server, delete the test pod, Persistent Volume, and Storage Class by issuing the following command.

```bash
kubectl delete -f pod.yaml
kubectl delete -f pvc.yaml
kubectl delete -f storageclass.yaml
```

## Creating Your Own Environment

Edit the storageclass.yaml, pvc.yaml, and pod.yaml files to match your environment requirements. Issue the following commands.

```bash
kubectl create -f storageclass.yaml
kubectl create -f pvc.yaml
kubectl get pvc csi-s3-pvc
kubectl create -f pod.yaml
kubectl get pods
```

The status of all pods should be Running.