Which statement about the Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers is true?

The Container Storage Interface (CSI) is a standard that enables third-party storage vendors to develop plugins for container orchestration systems like OpenShift without altering the core codebase. These CSI drivers are not part of the application or the core OpenShift installation. Instead, they are packaged and distributed as container images. A cluster administrator is responsible for deploying these containerized components—typically a controller plugin (as a Deployment) and a node plugin (as a DaemonSet)—onto the cluster. This "out-of-tree" model allows storage functionality to be added, updated, or removed independently of OpenShift releases.

A. CSI drivers are cluster-level infrastructure components, not application dependencies. Including them in an application image would be incorrect, inefficient, and violate the principle of separation of concerns.

B. The primary purpose of CSI is to move storage drivers "out-of-tree," meaning they are decoupled from the core OpenShift/Kubernetes code and release cycle, not integrated into it.

C. This is incomplete. The CSI controller component may run on master/control-plane nodes, but the CSI node component must run as a DaemonSet on all worker nodes that require storage access.

1. OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 Documentation: In the section on storage

it is stated: "To install a CSI driver

a cluster administrator must deploy a number of components on the cluster... CSI drivers are typically managed by an Operator that is installed from the OperatorHub." This confirms that drivers are installed by an administrator and deployed as components (containers) on the cluster.

Source: Red Hat OpenShift Documentation

"Storage > Understanding persistent storage > CSI drivers".

2. Kubernetes Official Documentation: The Kubernetes documentation

which forms the basis for OpenShift

explains the CSI architecture: "Third-party storage providers can write and deploy CSI Drivers on Kubernetes without ever needing to touch the core Kubernetes code... A typical CSI Driver deployment on Kubernetes consists of... a controller plugin... and a node plugin." This highlights the out-of-tree nature and component-based deployment.

Source: Kubernetes Documentation

"Concepts > Storage > Container Storage Interface (CSI)".

3. IBM Block CSI Driver Documentation: The installation guide for the IBM Block CSI driver

a specific implementation relevant to the IBM ecosystem

instructs the administrator to deploy the driver using an Operator

which in turn deploys the necessary container images for the controller and node pods.

Source: IBM Documentation

"IBM block storage CSI driver > Installing the CSI driver". Section 2.1

"Installing the operator from the OperatorHub UI".