14.8. Create a Share Type for the Defined Back End

The Shared File System service allows you to define share types that you can use to create shares with specific settings. Share types work exactly like Block Storage volume types: each type has associated settings (namely, extra specifications), and invoking the type during share creation applies those settings.

When creating a share on a non-default back end, you need to explicitly specify which back end to use. To make the process seamless for users, create a share type and associate it with the share_backend_name value of your back end (whichever you chose in Section 14.6, “Define the Shared File System Service Back End”).

To create a share type named TYPENAME, run the following as an OpenStack admin:

# manila type-create TYPENAME SHAREHANDLING

SHAREHANDLING specifies whether or not the share type will use the driver to handle the life cycle of shares. This should be the value set in driver_handles_share_servers of your back end definition. With driver_handles_share_servers=False, SHAREHANDLING should also be false. So, to create a share type called share1:

# manila type-create share1 false

Next, associate the share1 type to a specific back end. You can specify the back end through its share_backend_name value. For example, to associate the share type share1 to a back end named GENERIC, run:

# manila type-key share1 set share_backend_name='GENERIC'

Users should now be able to invoke the SHARE1 type to create a share from the GENERIC back end.