Static PV Releaser

A Kubernetes custom controller that automatically releases retained static PersistentVolumes when a new PersistentVolumeClaim fails to bind due to an existing claimRef.

Problem

In Kubernetes clusters using static / manually managed PersistentVolumes, it is common to hit the following situation:

• A PVC is deleted and later recreated

• The underlying static PV uses:

  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain

• The static PV transitions to Released

• A new PVC tries to bind but fails with:

  volume already bound to a different claim

This leaves the PVC stuck in Pending, requiring manual static PV editing.

What static-pv-releaser Does

static-pv-releaser automatically resolves this situation by:

1. Watching PVC Create and Update events only
2. Detecting PVCs stuck in Pending due to a bind conflict
3. Finding PVs that:
   • Have persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
   • Are in Released phase
   • Are still bound to a different PVC
4. Clearing the stale fields:

   spec:
     claimRef:
       name: foo-pvc
       namespace: foo
       uid: ""
       resourceVersion: ""

5. Letting Kubernetes re-bind the static PV to the new PVC