K8S Reference - PersistentVolume (PV) YAML

The following table explains the major fields used when defining a PersistentVolume (PV) in Kubernetes.

Element	Required / Optional	Description	Example Syntax
apiVersion	Required	Specifies the Kubernetes API version. For PersistentVolumes, this is typically v1.	apiVersion: v1
kind	Required	Defines the Kubernetes resource type being created.	kind: PersistentVolume
metadata.name	Required	Unique name used to identify this PersistentVolume inside the cluster.	name: supavolume
spec.capacity.storage	Required	Total storage capacity exposed by this volume.	storage: 10Gi
spec.accessModes	Required	Determines how the storage can be mounted by nodes and Pods.	- ReadWriteOnce
spec.<storage-source>	Required	Defines the actual storage backend. Exactly one storage plugin must be chosen.	hostPath: path: "/mnt/data"
spec.storageClassName	Optional (Recommended)	Associates the PV with a particular StorageClass and enables PVC matching.	storageClassName: manual
spec.persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy	Optional (Recommended)	Controls what happens to the underlying storage after the PVC is deleted.	persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
spec.volumeMode	Optional	Determines whether the volume is mounted as a filesystem or exposed as a raw block device.	volumeMode: Filesystem

Important: A PersistentVolume must define exactly one storage backend such as hostPath, nfs, csi, awsElasticBlockStore, azureDisk, or another supported storage plugin.