# Pure Storage FlashBlade driver

The Pure Storage FlashBlade driver provides support for managing filesystem shares on the Pure Storage FlashBlade storage systems.

The driver is compatible with Pure Storage FlashBlades that support REST API version 1.6 or higher (Purity//FB v2.3.0 or higher). This section explains how to configure the FlashBlade driver.

## Supported operations

- Create and delete NFS shares.

- Extend/Shrink a share.

- Create and delete filesystem snapshots (No support for create-from or mount).

- Revert to Snapshot.

- Both RW and RO access levels are supported.

- Set access rights to NFS shares.

  Note the following limitations:

  - Only IP (for NFS shares) access types are supported.

## External package installation

The driver requires the `purity_fb` package for communicating with FlashBlade systems. Install the package from PyPI using the following command:

    $ pip install purity_fb

## Driver configuration

Edit the `manila.conf` file, which is usually located under the following path `/etc/manila/manila.conf`.

- Add a section for the FlashBlade driver back end.

- Under the `[DEFAULT]` section, set the `enabled_share_backends` parameter with the name of the new back-end section.

Configure the driver back-end section with the parameters below.

- Configure the driver name by setting the following parameter:

      share_driver = manila.share.drivers.purestorage.flashblade.FlashBladeShareDriver

- Configure the management and data VIPs of the FlashBlade array by adding the following parameters:

      flashblade_mgmt_vip = FlashBlade management VIP
      flashblade_data_vip = FlashBlade data VIP(s)

- Configure user credentials:

  The driver requires a FlashBlade user with administrative privileges. We recommend creating a dedicated OpenStack user account that holds an administrative user role. Refer to the FlashBlade manuals for details on user account management. Configure the user credentials by adding the following parameters:

      flashblade_api = FlashBlade API token for admin-privileged user

- (Optional) Configure File System and Snapshot Eradication:

  The option, when enabled, all FlashBlade file systems and snapshots will be eradicated at the time of deletion in Manila. Data will NOT be recoverable after a delete with this set to True! When disabled, file systems and snapshots will go into pending eradication state and can be recovered. Recovery of these pending eradication snapshots cannot be accomplished through Manila. These snapshots will self-eradicate after 24 hours unless manually restored. The default setting is True.

      flashblade_eradicate = { True | False }

- The back-end name is an identifier for the back end. We recommend using the same name as the name of the section. Configure the back-end name by adding the following parameter:

      share_backend_name = back-end name

## Configuration example

    [DEFAULT]
    enabled_share_backends = flashblade-1

    [flashblade-1]
    share_driver = manila.share.drivers.purestorage.flashblade.FlashBladeShareDriver
    share_backend_name = flashblade-1
    driver_handles_share_servers = false
    flashblade_mgmt_vip = 10.1.2.3
    flashblade_data_vip = 10.1.2.4
    flashblade_api = pureuser API

## Driver options

Configuration options specific to this driver:

Description of Pure Storage FlashBlade share driver configuration options
Configuration option = Default value | Description
--- | ---
[DEFAULT] |
`flashblade_mgmt_vip` = `None` | (String) The name (or IP address) for the Pure Storage FlashBlade storage system management port.
`flashblade_data_vip` = `None` | (String) The names (or IP address) for the Pure Storage FlashBlade storage system data ports.
`flashblade_api` = `None` | (String) API token for an administrative level user account.
`flashblade_eradicate` = `True` | (Boolean) Enable or disable filesystem and snapshot eradication on delete.

this page last updated: 2026-03-20 00:20:57

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