What Is Docker REX - RAY Plugin ?

The Docker REX- RAY plugin is mainly used to attach the external volumes to our containers which are running in the containerization platforms. REX-RAY is a plugin that is written in the go-language it will not be available locally you need to download the plugin. REX - RAY plugin provides EBS volumes to the docker containers.

What is the Docker Rexray Plugin?

Docker REX-RAY is a storage orchestration engine that is used to provide persistent storage for containerized workloads to the docker containers and any other containerization platform like Kubernetes, open shift docker-compose, etc. Docker REX - RAY plugin can be used to attach the volumes to a container in cloud platforms like AWS.

Installation and Configuration Of Rexray Plugin In Docker

Follow the steps mentioned below to install the docker REX- RAY plugin.

Step 1: Connect to the terminal and make sure that docker is installed by using the following command.

docker version

Step 2: To install the docker rex ray plugin execute the following commands.

$ docker plugin install rexray/ebs \

EBS_ACCESSKEY=abc \

EBS_SECRETKEY=123

In the place of EBS_ACCESSKEY and EBS_SECRETKEY give your own AWS keys. After that install the rex ray plugin as show in the image below.

Step 3: Check the docker rex ray plugin was installed as shown in the image below. Use the command mentioned below.

docker plugin ls

Steps To Create EBS Volume Uisng REX-RAY Plugin In Docker

Follow the steps mentioned below to create ebs volume

Step 1: Use the following command to create ebs volume using rex ray plugin.

docker volume create -d rexray/ebs mongobdbsvolumenew

• rexray/ebs : Name of the Driver.
• mongobdbsvolumenew: Name of the volume to create.

As shown in the image below the volume will be created.

Step 3: Go to the AWS Console and check the volume was created or not as show in the image below.

Supported Storage Backends by Rex-Ray Plugin

Docker rex ray is the plugin which will acts as an plugin framework for the storage providers to integrate the container orchestration like docker and kubernetes. Following the storage supported by the rex ray plugin.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Elastic Block Storage (EBS)
  • Amazon S3
• Microsoft Azure
  • Azure Managed Disks
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  • Google Compute Engine Persistent Disks
  • Google Cloud Storage

And there are many more storage back ends supported by the REX-RAY plugin.

Use Cases and Benefits of Docker Rex-Ray Plugin

Following are the use cases of docker REX-RAY plugin.

• Persistent Storage: Docker REX-RAY plugin can be used to attach the Persistent Storage to the containerised application. Persistent storage will helps to reatin the data even when the container is terminated or restarted.
• Data Protection: REX-RAY plugin will performs automated backups, snapshots and also it replicates the data across the refions in the clouds. So there will be high data protection.
• Storage Scaling: REX-RAY plugin will helps us to scale the storage up and down based on the incoming data. By which there you accomidate more data according to the needs.
• Storage Flexibility: The volume which is created using REX-RAY plugin can attached to the different containers by depending up on the needs. If you want to the copy the files of two different container you do that using the volume created by the REX-RAY plugin.

Steps To Install REX-RAY Plugin in Kubernetes

Follow the steps mentioned below to isntall the REX-RAY Plugin in Kubernetes.

Step 1: Make sure that docker is installed in the kubernetes nodes. You can use the following command to check the docker installed or not.

docker version 

Step 2: Create the yaml file for the demoset to deploy the REX-RAY plugin to make sure that the rex-ray plugin is runnin on the eaxh node for that you can use the following yaml file.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: DaemonSet
metadata:
  name: rexray
  namespace: kube-system
  labels:
    app: rexray
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      name: rexray
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        name: rexray
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: rexray
        image: rexray/rexray:latest
        securityContext:
          privileged: true
        volumeMounts:
        - name: lib-modules
          mountPath: /lib/modules
          readOnly: true
      volumes:
      - name: lib-modules
        hostPath:
          path: /lib/modules

Apply the yaml file by using the following command. '

kubectl apply -f rexray-daemonset.yaml

Docker Installation