How to attach a volume to VM less than 2TB on Linux on 3Engines Cloud[🔗](#how-to-attach-a-volume-to-vm-less-than-2tb-on-linux-on-brand-name "Permalink to this headline")
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In this tutorial, you will create a volume which is smaller than 2 TB. Then, you will attach it to a VM and format it in the appropriate way.

Note

If you want to create and attach a volume that has more than 2 TB of storage, you will need to use different software for its formatting. If this is the case, please visit the following article instead: [How to attach a volume to VM more than 2TB on Linux on 3Engines Cloud](How-to-attach-a-volume-to-VM-more-than-2TB-on-Linux-on-3Engines-Cloud.html.md).

What We Are Going To Cover[🔗](#what-we-are-going-to-cover "Permalink to this headline")
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> * Creating a new volume
> * Attaching the new volume to a VM
> * Formatting and mounting of the new volume

Prerequisites[🔗](#prerequisites "Permalink to this headline")
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No. 1 **Hosting**

You need a 3Engines Cloud hosting account with Horizon interface <https://horizon.3Engines.com>.

No. 2 Linux VM running on the 3Engines Cloud cloud

Instructions for creating and accessing a Linux VM using default images can be found here:

[How to create a Linux VM and access it from Linux command line on 3Engines Cloud](../cloud/How-to-create-a-Linux-VM-and-access-it-from-Linux-command-line-on-3Engines-Cloud.html.md)

or here:

[How to create a Linux VM and access it from Windows desktop on 3Engines Cloud](../cloud/How-to-create-a-Linux-VM-and-access-it-from-Windows-desktop-on-3Engines-Cloud.html.md).

The instructions included in this article are designed for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

No. 3 **Basic knowledge of the Linux terminal**

You will need basic knowledge of the Linux command line.

No. 4 **SSH access to the VM**

[How to connect to your virtual machine via SSH in Linux on 3Engines Cloud](../networking/How-to-connect-to-your-virtual-machine-via-SSH-in-Linux-on-3Engines-Cloud.html.md).

Step 1: Create a Volume[🔗](#step-1-create-a-volume "Permalink to this headline")
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Login to the Horizon panel available at <https://horizon.3Engines.com>.

Go to the section **Volumes -> Volumes**:

![volume-less-01_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-01_creodias.png)

Click **Create Volume**.

The following window should appear:

![volume-less-02_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-02_creodias.png)

In it provide the **Volume Name** of your choice.

Choose the **Type** of your volume - SSD or HDD.

Enter the size of your volume in gigabytes.

When you’re done, click **Create Volume**.

You should now see the volume you just created. In our case it is called **volume-small**:

![volume-less-03_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-03_creodias.png)

Step 2: Attach the Volume to VM[🔗](#step-2-attach-the-volume-to-vm "Permalink to this headline")
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Now that you have created your volume, you can use it as storage for one of your VMs. To do that, attach the volume to a VM.

In the **Actions** menu for that volume select the option **Manage Attachments**:

![volume-less-04_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-04_creodias.png)

You should now see the following window:

![volume-less-05_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-05_creodias.png)

Select the virtual machine to which the volume should be attached:

![volume-less-06_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-06_creodias.png)

Click **Attach Volume**.

Your volume should now be attached to the VM:

![volume-less-07_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-07_creodias.png)

Step 3: Partition the Volume[🔗](#step-3-partition-the-volume "Permalink to this headline")
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It is time to access your virtual machine to prepare the volume for data storage.

Connect to your virtual machine using SSH or the web console.

Execute the following command to make sure that the volume has been attached:

```
lsblk

```

You should see the output similar to this:

![volume-less-08_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-08_creodias.png)

In this example, the attached volume that was previously called **volume-small** is represented by the device file **sdb**. Its size is 100 GB. Memorize the name of the *device file* representing the drive you attached or write it somewhere down - it will be needed later during starting **fdisk**.

In order to be able to use the volume as storage, you will need to use **fdisk** to create a partition table.

Start **fdisk** (replace **sdb** with the name of the device file provided to you previously by the **lsblk** command):

```
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

```

You should now see the following prompt:

```
Command (m for help):

```

Answer with **n** and press Enter. A series of prompts similar to the ones below will appear on screen - keep pressing Enter on your keyboard to accept the default values.

```
Partition type
p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
e   extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p):

Using default response p.
Partition number (1-4, default 1):
First sector (2048-209715199, default 2048):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-209715199, default 209715199):

```

You should now see the confirmation similar to this:

```
Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 100 GiB.

```

After it you will see the following prompt again:

```
Command (m for help):

```

This time, answer with **w**. You will see the following message:

```
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

```

Execute the following command again to confirm that the partition was created successfully:

```
lsblk

```

The device file of the new partition should have the same name as the device file of the drive followed by the **1** digit. In this case, it will be **sdb1**. Memorize or write it somewhere down - it will be needed later during creation of the file system.

![volume-less-09_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-09_creodias.png)

Step 5: Create the File System[🔗](#step-5-create-the-file-system "Permalink to this headline")
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In order to save data on this volume, create **ext4** filesystem on it. **ext4** is arguably the most popular filesystem on Linux distributions.

It can be created by executing the following command:

```
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

```

Replace **sdb1** with the name of the device file of the partition provided to you previously by the **lsblk** command.

This process should take less than a minute.

Step 6: Create the mount point[🔗](#step-6-create-the-mount-point "Permalink to this headline")
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You need to specify the location in the directory structure from which you will access the data stored on that volume. In Linux it is typically done in the **/etc/fstab** config file.

Below are the instructions for the **nano** text editor. If you prefer to use different software, please modify them accordingly.

Install **nano** if you haven’t already:

```
sudo apt install nano

```

Open the **/etc/fstab** file using **nano**:

```
sudo nano /etc/fstab

```

Add the below line to the end of that file. Remember to replace **sdb1** with the name of the device file of your partition (it was provided to you previously be the **lsblk** command) and **/my\_volume** with the directory in which you want to mount it - the mounting point.

```
/dev/sdb1 /my_volume ext4 defaults 0 1

```

![volume-less-10_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-10_creodias.png)

To save that file in **nano**, use the following combination of keys: CTRL+X, Y, Enter.

Warning

Unless you know what you’re doing, you should not modify the lines which you already found in the **/etc/fstab** file. This file contains important information. Some or all of it might be required for the startup of the operating system.

Next, create a new or use an existing directory to use as your mounting point. If you need to create it anew, the command would be:

```
sudo mkdir /my_volume

```

Mount the volume to your system (replace **/my\_volume** with your mount point):

```
sudo mount /my_volume

```

To check whether it was successfully mounted, execute:

```
df -h

```

The output should look like this:

![volume-less-11_creodias.png](../_images/volume-less-11_creodias.png)

The volume is owned by **root**, so **eouser** does not have access without **sudo**. To make it accessible to **eouser**, execute this command:

```
sudo chown eouser:eouser /my_volume

```

If you want everybody to have access to that directory (and you don’t care about security at all), use the following command:

```
sudo chmod 777 /my_volume

```

During the next boot of your virtual machine, the volume should be mounted automatically.

What To Do Next[🔗](#what-to-do-next "Permalink to this headline")
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You have successfully created a volume and prepared it for use on a Linux virtual machine.

You can now copy files to your new volume. If you want to move the data, attach the volume to a different machine.