289 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
289 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
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-brand-name "Permalink to this headline")
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===========================================================================================================================================================================
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In this tutorial, you will create a volume which is larger than 2 TB. Then, you will attach it to a VM and format it in the appropriate way.
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Note
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If you want to create and attach a volume that has less 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 less than 2TB on Linux on 3Engines Cloud](How-to-attach-a-volume-to-VM-less-than-2TB-on-Linux-on-3Engines-Cloud.html.md).
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What We Are Going To Cover[🔗](#what-we-are-going-to-cover "Permalink to this headline")
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> * Creating a new volume
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> * Attaching the new volume to a VM
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> * Formatting and mounting of the new volume
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Prerequisites[🔗](#prerequisites "Permalink to this headline")
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-------------------------------------------------------------
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No. 1 **Hosting**
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You need a 3Engines Cloud hosting account with Horizon interface <https://horizon.3Engines.com>.
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No. 2 Linux VM running on 3Engines Cloud cloud
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Instructions for creating and accessing a Linux VM using default images can be found here:
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[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:
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[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).
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The instructions included in this article are designed for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
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No. 3 **Basic knowledge of the Linux terminal**
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You will need basic knowledge of the Linux command line.
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No. 4 **SSH access to the VM**
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[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).
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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>.
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Go to the section **Volumes -> Volumes**:
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Click **Create Volume**.
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The following window should appear:
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In it provide the **Volume Name** of your choice.
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Choose the **Type** of your volume - SSD or HDD.
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Enter the size of your volume in gigabytes.
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When you’re done, click **Create Volume**.
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You should now see the volume you just created. In our case it is called **my-files**:
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Step 2: Attach the Volume to VM[🔗](#step-2-attach-the-volume-to-vm "Permalink to this headline")
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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.
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In the **Actions** menu for that volume select the option **Manage Attachments**:
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You should now see the following window:
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Select the virtual machine to which the volume should be attached:
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Click **Attach Volume**.
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Your volume should now be attached to the VM:
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Step 3: Create the Partition Table[🔗](#step-3-create-the-partition-table "Permalink to this headline")
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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It is time to access your virtual machine to prepare the volume for data storage.
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Connect to your virtual machine using SSH or the web console.
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Execute the following command to make sure that the volume has been attached:
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```
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lsblk
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```
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You should see the output similar to this:
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In this example, the attached volume that was previously called **my-files** is represented by the device file **sdb**. Its size is 2.4 TB. Memorize the name of the *device file* or write it somewhere down; it will be needed in the next step, which involves starting **gdisk**.
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In order to be able to use the volume as storage, you will need to use **gdisk** to create a partition table. If you do not have this program, you can install it using the following command:
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```
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sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt install gdisk
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```
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Start **gdisk** (replace **sdb** with the name of the device file provided to you previously by the **lsblk** command):
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```
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sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
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```
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You should see the output similar to this:
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```
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GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.8
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Partition table scan:
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MBR: not present
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BSD: not present
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APM: not present
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GPT: not present
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Creating new GPT entries in memory.
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Command (? for help):
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```
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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.
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```
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Command (? for help): n
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Partition number (1-128, default 1):
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First sector (34-5033164766, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
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Last sector (2048-5033164766, default = 5033164766) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
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Current type is 8300 (Linux filesystem)
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Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300):
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Changed type of partition to 'Linux filesystem'
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```
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You will see the prompt **Command (? for help):** again. Answer it with **w**. You will now see the following question:
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```
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Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
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PARTITIONS!!
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Do you want to proceed? (Y/N):
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```
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Answer with **Y** to confirm. You should get the following confirmation:
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```
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OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sdb.
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```
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In the end, you should receive this message:
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```
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The operation has completed successfully.
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```
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Execute the following command again to confirm that the partition was created successfully:
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```
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lsblk
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```
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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.
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Step 5: Create the File System[🔗](#step-5-create-the-file-system "Permalink to this headline")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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.
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It can be created by executing the following command:
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```
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sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
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```
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Replace **sdb1** with the name of the device file of the partition provided to you previously by the **lsblk** command.
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This process took less than a minute for a 2,4 terabyte volume.
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Step 6: Create the mount point[🔗](#step-6-create-the-mount-point "Permalink to this headline")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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.
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Below are the instructions for the **nano** text editor. If you prefer to use different software, please modify them accordingly.
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Before using **nano**, create the directory in which you wish to mount your volume - your mount point - (if it doesn’t exist yet). In this example, we will use the **/my\_volume** directory which can be created using the following command:
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```
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sudo mkdir /my_volume
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```
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Install **nano** if you haven’t already:
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```
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sudo apt install nano
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```
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Open the **/etc/fstab** file using **nano**:
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```
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sudo nano /etc/fstab
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```
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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.
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```
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/dev/sdb1 /my_volume ext4 defaults 0 1
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```
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To save that file in **nano**, use the following combination of keys: CTRL+X, Y, Enter.
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Warning
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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.
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Mount the volume to your system (replace **/my\_volume** with the mount point you previously created):
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```
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sudo mount /my_volume
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```
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To check whether it was successfully mounted, execute:
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```
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df -h
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```
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The output should contain the line with the device file representing your volume and its mount point. It can look like this:
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The volume is owned by **root**, so **eouser** does not have access without **sudo**. To make it accessible to **eouser**, execute this command:
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```
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sudo chown eouser:eouser /my_volume
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```
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If you want everybody to have access to that directory (and you don’t care about security at all), use the following command:
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```
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sudo chmod 777 /my_volume
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```
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During the next boot of your virtual machine, the volume should be mounted automatically.
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What To Do Next[🔗](#what-to-do-next "Permalink to this headline")
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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You have successfully created a volume larger than 2 TB and prepared it for use on a Linux virtual machine.
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You can now copy files to your new volume. If you want to move the data, attach the volume to a different machine. |