Create and manage cloud volumes

The Volumes page provides a list of your volumes, as well as information, tools and actions you can perform on these volumes.

Read through the sections below for step-by-step guides on each action.

The volume overview provides a summary of information fields about your instance. This includes:

• Volume information, (name, IDs, status)
• Specs (Size, type, created date)
• Attached instances
• Volume source
• Metadata

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to view.
3. 3
   Click on the Volume Name (blue, hyperlinked text).
4. 4
   The Overview tab will load and display.
5. 5
   Scroll down to view the different overview sections.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to edit.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select Edit Volume.
4. 4
   The Edit Volume dialog will appear.
5. 5
   In the Volume Name field provide a new name for the volume.
6. 6
   In the Description field specify what this volume will be used for.
7. 7
   Update the Bootable selection box. This will toggle whether the volume can be used to launch an instance.
8. 8
   Click the Submit button to confirm the action.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to edit.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select the down ▼ button. A drop-down menu will appear.
4. 4
   Select the Extend Volume option. The Extend Volume dialog will appear.
5. 5
   In the New Size (GiB) field, enter the new volume size.

• The new value size must be larger than the current size.
• This must be within the volume size limits.

1. 6
   Click the Extend Volume button to confirm the action.

After extending a volume you will need to ensure that the operating system is able to detect and use the additional storage space. Follow the steps on how to resize a volume partition.

An existing volume cannot be directly decreased in size once created. Volumes are block storage devices; once created, the disk size is allocated and set on the platform.

There are other ways to decrease volume size. A new smaller volume can be created, and the data can be migrated from the old to new volume. Follow the steps below.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Click on the + Create Volume button.
3. 3
   Follow the steps to create a new volume, at the decreased size.
4. 4
   You can then migrate the data from the original volume to the new volume, using your own tools or procedures. 
5. 5
   Delete the original volume.

Up to 26 volumes can be attached to an instance. A volume can only be attached to a single instance at one time.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to attach.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select the down ▼ button. A drop-down menu will appear.
4. 4
   Select the Manage Attachments option. The Manage Volume Attachments dialog will appear.
5. 5
   In the Attach To Instance field, Select An Instance from your available instances.
6. 6
   Click the Attach Volume button to confirm the action.
7. 7
   On the Volumes page the volume will be updated.

• The Attached To column will display the attached instance.
• That Status column will display ‘In-use’.

The newly attached volume will not be immediately available for use as a file system. The volume must first be formatted, partitioned and mounted. Follow the steps on how to mount a new volume to an instance.

You can detach a volume from one instance and reattach it to another instance, without losing the data stored on the volume.

Note: When detaching a volume, ensure that there are no running applications actively using the volume as it can result in data loss or corruption.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to detach.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select the down ▼ button. A drop down menu will appear.
4. 4
   Select the Manage Attachments option. The Manage Volume Attachments dialog will appear.
5. 5
   Select the instance to detach from the list of attached instances.
6. 6
   Click the Detach Volume button.
7. 7
   A Confirm Detach Volume dialog will appear.
8. 8
   Click the Detach Volume button to confirm the action.
9. 9
   On the Volumes page the volume will be updated.

• The Attached To column will be empty.
• That Status column will display ‘Available’.

The detached volume can now be attached to any other instance.

This will create a volume snapshot, as a point-in-time copy of a volume. 

You can use snapshots to roll a volume back to the state it was in at the time the snapshot was created. However, because snapshots are a point-in-time copy of the data you cannot mount them directly as a volume, but instead use the snapshot to provision a new volume.

This is only recommended on unattached volumes. Creating a snapshot of an attached volume is a risky action; in some cases, this can result in a corrupted snapshot, if the volume changes during the upload process.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to take a snapshot of.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select the down ▼ button. A drop down menu will appear.
4. 4
   Select the Create Snapshot option. The Create Volume Snapshot dialog will appear. If this is an attached volume, a warning message will be displayed.
5. 5
   In the Snapshot Name field provide a name for the snapshot.
6. 6
   In the Description field specify what this snapshot will be used for.
7. 7
   Click on the Create Volume Snapshot button to confirm the action. If this is an attached volume the button text will display ‘Create Volume Snapshot (Force)’.
8. 8
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Snapshots.
9. 9
   The new volume snapshot will be listed.

This allows you to view the snapshots associated with a volume, and perform actions on those snapshots.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to view.
3. 3
   Click on the Volume Name (blue, hyperlinked text).
4. 4
   The Overview tab will load and display.
5. 5
   Click on the Snapshots tab.
6. 6
   The snapshots associated with the volume will be displayed.

You can then perform actions on these snapshots.

This will create a new machine image from an existing volume.

This is only recommended on unattached volumes. Creating an image from an attached volume is a risky action; in some cases, this can result in a corrupted image if the volume changes during the upload process.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to edit.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select the down ▼ button. A drop down menu will appear.
4. 4
   Select the Upload to Image option. The Upload Volume to Image dialog will appear.
5. 5
   In the Image Name field provide a name for the new volume.
6. 6
   The Force checkbox will appear if the volume status is in ‘in-use’. Select the Force box to proceed.
7. 7
   Click the Upload button to confirm the action.

When deleting a volume all data stored on the volume will be permanently lost. The deleted volume cannot be recovered, as it is removed entirely from the platform.

You will not be able to delete a volume that has an associated snapshot.

Only available (unattached) volumes can be deleted.

1. 1
   Using the menu on the left, navigate to Storage > Volumes.
2. 2
   Find the volume that you want to edit.
3. 3
   In the Actions column, select the down ▼ button. A drop-down menu will appear.
4. 4
   Select the Delete Volume option. The Confirm Delete Volume dialog will appear.
5. 5
   Click the Delete Volume button to confirm the action.