Part-110: 🗄️Deploying PVC and PV with Pods in Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Latchu@DevOps

In this guide, you’ll learn how to deploy a Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) and attach it to a Pod using a Persistent Volume (PV) — all automatically managed by Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

Step 1: Introduction

When your pods restart, their data is lost because ephemeral storage doesn’t persist.
To make data persistent across pod restarts, we use:

• StorageClass → Defines the storage type (e.g., SSD, Balanced Disk)
• PersistentVolume (PV) → The actual disk created in GCP
• PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) → A request for storage
• Pod → Uses the PVC to attach and use the PV

We’ll use the predefined GKE Storage Class: standard-rwo, which provisions balanced persistent disks.

Step 2: Check Storage Classes in GKE

# List available Storage Classes
kubectl get sc

In your GKE console:

• Go to Cluster → DETAILS → FEATURES
• Ensure Compute Engine persistent disk CSI Driver is enabled

Step 3: Persistent Volume Claim (PVC)

File: 01-persistent-volume-claim.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: mypvc1
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  storageClassName: standard-rwo
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi

This requests a 1GB persistent volume using the standard-rwo storage class.

Step 4: Pod with PVC Mounted

File: 02-mypod1.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: mypod1
spec:
  containers:
    - name: pod-demo
      image: nginx
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: "/usr/share/nginx/html"
          name: pvc-demo-vol
  volumes:
    - name: pvc-demo-vol
      persistentVolumeClaim:
        claimName: mypvc1

This pod mounts the PVC at /usr/share/nginx/html.

Step 5: Deploy and Verify

# Deploy PVC
kubectl apply -f kube-manifests/01-persistent-volume-claim.yaml

# Check Storage Class details
kubectl describe sc standard-rwo

Observation:

VolumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer

Means: GKE waits until a pod is scheduled before creating the PV (to ensure the disk is created in the same zone).

# List PVC and PV
kubectl get pvc
kubectl get pv

PVC will show as Pending (no pod yet).

Now deploy the pod:

kubectl apply -f kube-manifests/02-mypod1.yaml

After pod creation:

kubectl get pods
kubectl get pvc
kubectl get pv

PV will be automatically created once the pod is running.

Check in your GCP console:

Compute Engine → Storage → Disks → You’ll see a new persistent disk provisioned.

Step 6: Test Data Persistence

# Access the pod
kubectl exec -it mypod1 -- /bin/bash

# Inside the pod
echo "PVC and PV Demo 101" > /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html
cat /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html
ls /usr/share/nginx/html
curl localhost
exit

Now delete the pod:

kubectl delete pod mypod1

Check:

kubectl get pvc
kubectl get pv

Both should still exist — data is safe!
(Disks remain even if pods are deleted.)

Step 7: Reattach PVC to Another Pod

File: 03-mypod2.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: mypod2
spec:
  containers:
    - name: pod-demo
      image: nginx
      ports:
        - containerPort: 80
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: "/usr/share/nginx/html"
          name: pvc-demo-vol
  volumes:
    - name: pvc-demo-vol
      persistentVolumeClaim:
        claimName: mypvc1

Deploy the new pod:

kubectl apply -f kube-manifests/03-mypod2.yaml

Then verify:

kubectl exec -it mypod2 -- /bin/bash
cat /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html
ls /usr/share/nginx/html
curl localhost
exit

You’ll still find index.html created earlier — showing that your data persisted.

Step 8: Clean Up

kubectl delete -f kube-manifests/01-persistent-volume-claim.yaml
kubectl delete -f kube-manifests/02-mypod1.yaml
kubectl delete -f kube-manifests/03-mypod2.yaml
kubectl get pvc
kubectl get pv

Check your GCP Console:

Compute Engine → Storage → Disks → The PV-backed disk should now be deleted.

Summary

Visual Flow

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│        StorageClass          │
│  Defines type of disk        │
│  (standard-rwo, SSD, etc.)   │
└──────────────┬───────────────┘
               │
               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│    Persistent Volume (PV)    │
│  Actual GCE Persistent Disk  │
│  automatically provisioned   │
└──────────────┬───────────────┘
               │
               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Persistent Volume Claim (PVC)│
│  Requests storage with size  │
│  and access mode             │
└──────────────┬───────────────┘
               │
               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│             Pod              │
│  Uses PVC to attach the PV   │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Now you’ve successfully deployed persistent storage in GKE!

Your applications can now retain data even if pods or nodes are recreated.

Thanks for reading! If this post added value, a like , follow, or share would encourage me to keep creating more content.

— Latchu | Senior DevOps & Cloud Engineer

AWS | GCP | Kubernetes | Security | Automation
Sharing hands-on guides, best practices & real-world cloud solutions

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Latchu@DevOps