What storage works best if my app writes files from both Linux VMs and Kubernetes pods?

If both your Linux VMs and Kubernetes pods need to read/write the same files, the best fit is usually shared network storage rather than local disk.

Best options

1. NFS / file storage

Best overall for shared files.

• Works well with both VMs and pods
• Supports a normal POSIX-like filesystem model
• Easy to mount from Linux
• Common choice for:
  • app uploads
  • shared working directories
  • config/assets
  • pipelines that need a common filesystem

Good when: your app expects “a folder” that multiple machines can use.

Watch out for:

• single-server NFS can be a bottleneck or SPOF
• performance may be limited for very high IOPS workloads
• permissions/locking need to be handled carefully

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2. Managed file shares

Examples:

• AWS EFS
• Azure Files
• Google Filestore

These are cloud-managed versions of the NFS/shared-files approach.

Pros

• easier ops than self-managed NFS
• mountable from both VMs and Kubernetes
• often scalable and highly available

Good when: you want shared filesystem semantics without running storage servers yourself.

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3. Distributed file systems

Examples:

• CephFS
• GlusterFS (less common now)

Pros

• more scalable and resilient than basic NFS
• can support many clients

Cons

• more complex to operate

Good when: you need shared filesystem access at scale and can handle extra complexity.

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Usually not the best for this use case

Block storage

Examples:

• AWS EBS
• Azure Disk
• GCE Persistent Disk

These are attached to one VM/node at a time, so they’re not a good shared-write solution for multiple VMs/pods.

Object storage

Examples:

• S3
• Azure Blob
• GCS

Great for files, backups, media, and artifacts, but not a true filesystem. If your app needs POSIX file semantics, object storage is usually a poor direct fit.

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Kubernetes-specific note

For pods, you’d typically use:

• a PersistentVolume backed by NFS/EFS/Azure Files/Filestore/CephFS
• or mount the same shared storage via a CSI driver

For VMs, the same storage can be mounted directly over the network.

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Simple recommendation

If your app needs a shared writable directory from both Linux VMs and Kubernetes pods:

Use managed shared file storage (NFS-style), such as EFS / Azure Files / Filestore, or self-managed NFS if you prefer control.

If you want, I can recommend the best choice for your specific cloud provider and workload pattern.