Chapter 10. Volumes

A volume is a block storage device that you can attach to or detach from an instance to manage the storage available to that instance. Volumes are managed through storage managers, which are added automatically to Red Hat CloudForms when the corresponding provider is added.

10.1. Amazon Elastic Block Store Manager Volumes

This section outlines the actions that you can perform on Amazon Elastic Block Store manager volumes.

10.1.1. Creating Volumes

You can create and attach volumes to your storage manager.

To create a volume:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click 1862 (Add a new Cloud Volume).
  3. Select the Amazon Elastic Block Store manager from the Storage Manager list.
  4. Select an availability zone from the Availability Zone list.
  5. Enter a Volume Name.

  6. Select the type of the volume from the Cloud Volume Type list.

    Note

    See Amazon EBS Volume Types for more information on volume types.

  7. Enter the size of the volume in gigabytes (GB).
  8. Select whether the volume should be encrypted using the Encryption toggle.
  9. Click Add.

The volume appears in the list of volumes after it has been provisioned.

10.1.2. Creating a Snapshot of a Volume

You can create a snapshot of a volume to preserve the state of the volume at a specific point in time. The snapshot can be used to create a duplicate of the volume.

To create a snapshot of a volume:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Click the volume to snapshot to open the volume’s summary page.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Create a Snapshot of this Cloud Volume (Create a Snapshot of this Cloud Volume).
  4. Enter a name for the snapshot in Snapshot Name.
  5. Click Save.

Click Cloud Volume Snapshots on the summary page of a volume to view the snapshots for that volume.

10.1.3. Attaching a Volume to an Instance

To attach a volume to an instance:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to attach.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Attach selected Cloud Volume to an Instance (Attach selected Cloud Volume to an Instance) to open the Attach Cloud Volume screen.
  4. Select an instance from the list.
  5. Optionally, enter a Device Mountpoint.
  6. Click Attach.

10.1.4. Detaching a Volume from an Instance

To detach a volume from an instance:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to detach.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Detach selected Cloud Volume from an Instance (Detach selected Cloud Volume from an Instance) to open the Detach Cloud Volume screen.
  4. Select an instance from the list.
  5. Click Detach.

10.1.5. Editing a Volume

You can edit several properties of existing volumes.

To edit a volume:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to edit to open its summary page.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Edit this Cloud Volume (Edit this Cloud Volume).
  4. Enter a new Volume Name.

  5. Select a new volume type from the Cloud Volume Type list.

    Note

    See Amazon EBS Volume Types for more information on each of the volume types.

  6. Enter a new size in gigabytes.
  7. Click Save.

10.1.6. Deleting a Volume

To delete a volume from a storage manager:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to delete.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click 1861 (Delete selected Cloud Volumes).

10.2. OpenStack Block Storage Manager Volumes

This section outlines the actions that you can perform on OpenStack Block Storage manager volumes.

10.2.1. Creating Volumes

You can create and attach volumes to your storage manager.

To create a volume:

Important

After creating a volume, only the volume name can be edited.

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click 1862 (Add a new Cloud Volume).
  3. Select the OpenStack Block Storage manager from the Storage Manager list.
  4. Enter a Volume Name.
  5. Enter the size of the volume in gigabytes (GB).
  6. Under Placement, select the cloud tenant to attach it to.
  7. Click Add.

The volume appears in the list of volumes after it has been provisioned.

10.2.2. Creating a Backup of a Volume

You can create a backup of a volume to protect against data loss, and restore it in the future.

Important

For OpenStack Block Storage managers, the openstack-cinder-backup service must be enabled on the OpenStack Block Storage manager to create a volume backup.

To create a backup of a volume:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Click the volume you want to back up to open the volume’s summary page.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Create a Backup of this Cloud Volume (Create a Backup of this Cloud Volume).
  4. Enter a name for the backup in Backup Name.

  5. (Optional) Select Incremental? to take an incremental backup of the volume instead of a full backup.

    Note

    You can take an incremental backup of a volume if you have at least one existing full backup of the volume. An incremental volume saves resources by capturing only changes made to the volume since its last backup. See Create an Incremental Volume Backup in the Storage Guide for more information.

  6. (Optional) Select Force? to allow backup of a volume attached to an instance.

    Note

    Selecting the Force option will back up the volume whether its status is available or in-use. Backing up an in-use volume ensures data is crash-consistent.

  7. Click Save.

View a volume’s backups by clicking Cloud Volume Backups on the volume’s summary page.

Note

See Back Up and Restore a Volume in the Storage Guide for more information about backups.

10.2.3. Restoring a Volume from a Backup

In case of data loss, you can restore a volume from a backup with the following steps:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Click the volume whose backup you want to restore. This will open the volume’s summary page.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Restore from a Backup of this Cloud Volume (Restore from a Backup of this Cloud Volume).
  4. Select the volume to restore from in the Cloud Volume Backup list.
  5. Click Save.

10.2.4. Restoring a Cloud Volume from a Backup

In case of data loss, you can restore from a cloud volume backup with the following steps:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volume Backups.
  2. Select a Cloud Volume Backup to restore.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Restore backup to Cloud Volume (Restore backup to Cloud Volume).
  4. Select the Volume to restore from the backup.
  5. Click Save.

10.2.5. Deleting a Cloud Volume Backup

Delete unnecessary cloud volume backups through the following steps:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volume Backups.
  2. Select the Cloud Volume Backups to delete.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Delete selected Backups (Delete selected Backups).
  4. Click OK to confirm your choice.

10.2.6. Creating a Snapshot of a Volume

You can create a snapshot of a volume to preserve the state of the volume at a specific point in time. The snapshot can be used to create a duplicate of the volume.

To create a snapshot of a volume:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Click the volume to snapshot to open the volume’s summary page.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Create a Snapshot of this Cloud Volume (Create a Snapshot of this Cloud Volume).
  4. Enter a name for the snapshot in Snapshot Name.
  5. Click Save.

Click Cloud Volume Snapshots on the summary page of a volume to view the snapshots for that volume.

Note

See Create, Use, or Delete Volume Snapshots in the Storage Guide for more information about snapshots.

10.2.7. Attaching a Volume to an Instance

To attach a volume to an instance:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to attach.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Attach selected Cloud Volume to an Instance (Attach selected Cloud Volume to an Instance) to open the Attach Cloud Volume screen.
  4. Select an instance from the list.
  5. Optionally, enter a Device Mountpoint.
  6. Click Attach.

10.2.8. Detaching a Volume from an Instance

To detach a volume from an instance:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to detach.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Detach selected Cloud Volume from an Instance (Detach selected Cloud Volume from an Instance) to open the Detach Cloud Volume screen.
  4. Select an instance from the list.
  5. Click Detach.

10.2.9. Editing a Volume

Only the volume name can be edited on an existing volume.

To edit a volume’s name:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to edit to open its summary page.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Edit this Cloud Volume (Edit this Cloud Volume).
  4. Enter the new Volume Name.
  5. Click Save.

10.2.10. Deleting a Volume

To delete a volume from a storage manager:

  1. Navigate to Storage → Block Storage → Volumes.
  2. Select the volume to delete.
  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click 1861 (Delete selected Cloud Volumes).