Create a Manila Share in Exosphere and Mount It for All JupyterHub Users

Download sourceContribute

This tutorial shows how to create a Manila share in Exosphere and mount it into all JupyterHub single-user pods on Jetstream 2. This provides a ReadWriteMany (RWX) shared filesystem suitable for shared datasets and tools.

0. Clone the JupyterHub deployment repo and locate the Manila examples

These steps reuse the example manifests included in the JupyterHub deployment repository:

git clone https://github.com/zonca/jupyterhub-deploy-kubernetes-jetstream.git
cd jupyterhub-deploy-kubernetes-jetstream
ls manila

You will use:

• manila/cephfs-csi-values.yaml for the CephFS CSI Helm chart values
• manila/cephfs-csi-pv.yaml for the static PV
• manila/cephfs-csi-pvc.yaml for the static PVC
• manila/cephfs-csi-test-pod.yaml for a quick mount test
• manila/jupyterhub_manila.yaml for the Z2JH Helm values snippet

1. Create a Manila share in Exosphere

Exosphere supports Manila shares as an Experimental feature. Enable Experimental features in Exosphere settings, then create a share from the allocation dashboard (Create → Share). After creation, open the share’s status page and copy:

• Share path
• Access rule name
• Access key (one read/write and one read-only)

These are shown in the “Mount Your Share” section on the share status page.

2. Install CephFS CSI with Helm (required on Kubernetes 1.31+)

Kubernetes 1.31 removed the in-tree CephFS plugin, so you must use the CephFS CSI driver. This tutorial uses the official Helm chart.

First, edit manila/cephfs-csi-values.yaml with your Manila values:

sed -n '1,120p' manila/cephfs-csi-values.yaml

Fill in:

• <CEPH_FSID>: Ceph cluster FSID (request from Jetstream support)
• <ACCESS_RULE_NAME>: the Manila access rule name (no client. prefix)
• <ACCESS_KEY>: read/write or read-only key, depending on the mount you want

Install the chart:

helm repo add ceph-csi https://ceph.github.io/csi-charts
helm repo update
helm upgrade --install ceph-csi-cephfs ceph-csi/ceph-csi-cephfs \
  --namespace default --create-namespace \
  --values manila/cephfs-csi-values.yaml

Verify the CSI pods are running:

kubectl -n default get pods -l app=csi-cephfsplugin-provisioner
kubectl -n default get pods -l app=csi-cephfsplugin

3. Create a static PV/PVC for the Manila share

Edit the files below to add your CEPH_FSID and Share path (the path portion after the monitors):

sed -n '1,200p' manila/cephfs-csi-pv.yaml
sed -n '1,200p' manila/cephfs-csi-pvc.yaml

Apply them:

kubectl apply -f manila/cephfs-csi-pv.yaml
kubectl apply -f manila/cephfs-csi-pvc.yaml

4. Test the mount with a pod

kubectl apply -f manila/cephfs-csi-test-pod.yaml
kubectl exec --stdin -n jhub --tty cephfs-csi-test -- /bin/sh
cd /mnt/cephfs

If you want a shared read/write directory for users, create it and assign jovyan ownership:

mkdir readwrite
chown 1000:100 readwrite

5. Mount the share in all JupyterHub user pods (edit manila/jupyterhub_manila.yaml)

Edit manila/jupyterhub_manila.yaml to reference the PVC created above. The file already contains a persistentVolumeClaim reference.

Then upgrade JupyterHub:

helm upgrade --install jhub jupyterhub/jupyterhub \
  --namespace jhub --create-namespace \
  --values config_standard_storage.yaml \
  --values secrets.yaml \
  --values manila/jupyterhub_manila.yaml

Users will now see /share inside their notebooks, and it will be shared across all users and all nodes.

Notes and cautions

• Manila shares are optimized for shared data and software. Metadata-heavy workloads can be problematic, so avoid workflows that create or modify huge numbers of small files.
• If you need the raw mount command for a VM (outside Kubernetes), Exosphere provides it on the share status page.