Manage volumes

Manage volumes Volumes are block storage devices that you attach to instances to enable persistent storage. You can attach a volume to a running instance or detach a volume and attach it to another instance at any time. You can also create a snapshot from or delete a volume. Only administrative users can create volume types.

Create a volume Log in to the OpenStack dashboard, choose a project, and, click the Volumes category. Click Create Volume. In the window that opens, enter a name, an optional description, and the size in GBs for the volume. Click Create Volume to confirm your changes. The dashboard shows the volume in the Volumes category.

Attach volumes to instances After you create one or more volumes, you can attach them to instances. Log in to the OpenStack dashboard, choose a project, and click the Volumes category. Select the volume to add to an instance and click Edit Attachments. In the Manage Volume Attachments window, select an instance. Enter a device name under which the volume should be accessible on the virtual machine. Click Attach Volume to confirm your changes. The dashboard shows the instance to which the volume has been attached and the volume's device name. You can attach a volume to one instance at a time. View the status of a volume in the Instances & Volumes category of the dashboard. The volume is either available or In-Use. Now you can log in to the instance, mount the disk, format it, and use it.

Detach a volume from an instance Log in to the OpenStack dashboard, choose a project, and click the Volumes category. Select the volume and click Edit Attachments. Click Detach Volume and confirm your changes. A message indicates whether the action was successful.

Create volume snapshots Log in to the OpenStack dashboard, choose a project, and click the Instances & Volumes category. Select a volume from which to create a snapshot. From the Actions drop-down list, select Create Snapshot. In the window that opens, enter a snapshot name and a description. Confirm your changes. The dashboard shows the new volume snapshot in the Images & Snapshots category.

Delete volumes When you delete an instance, the data of its attached volumes is not destroyed. Log in to the OpenStack dashboard, choose a project, and click the Volumes category. Activate the check boxes in front of the volumes that you want to delete. Click Delete Volumes and confirm your choice in the pop-up that appears. A message indicates whether the action was successful.