Volumes¶

Create volume¶

1. Log in to ScienceCloud Web Interface: https://cloud.science-it.uzh.ch
2. Go to Volumes > Volumes.
3. Click Create Volume.
4. Enter: Volume Name and Size (GB).
5. Click Create Volume.

Manage volumes on instances¶

Attach a volume to an instance¶

1. On Volumes tab, select your volume.
2. From drop-down Edit Volume list, select Manage Attachments.
3. From Attach to Instance list, choose the instance you wish to attach the volume to.
4. Press Attach Volume.

First-time use: mount and format¶

Once a volume is attached to an instance, it becomes visible to the operating system but may be in a blank state (without a filesystem). To use it, you need to identify the device, format it only once, and then mount it.

1. Identify the volume device name. In the ScienceCloud Web Interface, go to Volumes > Volumes and check the Attached To field for device names like /dev/vd{x} or /dev/sd{x}, where {x} is a lowercase latin letter like a, b, etc. Alternatively, use the following commands inside your instance to list all block devices attached to the instance:

   lsblk
   

   or

   sudo parted -l
   

2. Format the volume (if new/empty). Format your new disk into ext4 (recommended file system).

   sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/vd{x}
   

   or

   sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sd{x}
   

   Replace {x} with the correct device name.
3. Mount the volume. Once the volume has a file system, mount it using:

   sudo mount /dev/vd{x} /mnt
   

4. Verify the mount

   df -h
   

   You should see a line starting with /dev/vd{x} or /dev/sd{x}.
5. Set permissions for the default user (Ubuntu example: ubuntu). To get non-root access to the file system, you may need to set the ownership of mounted volume to allow ubuntu user for read/write:

   sudo chown -R ubuntu:ubuntu /mnt
   

Subsequent use: mount¶

Once a volume has a file system and user permissions are set, you only need to mount it again each time the instance starts:

sudo mount /dev/vd{x} /mnt

Auto-mount volume¶

For detailed instructions, please refer to the following articles in ScienceCloud (Legacy) documentation:

• the user guide section Using volumes / Other uses
• the article How to automatically mount a volume at instance startup
• the FAQ on troubleshooting an issue related to enabling auto-mount Not able to find my files on attached volume after instance resize

Safely detach a volume¶

To unmount a volume from the instance, run:

sudo umount /mnt

1. On Volumes tab, select your volume.
2. From drop-down Edit Volume list, select Manage Attachments.
3. Select your volume
4. Press Detach Volume.

Volume operations¶

Extend or resize a volume¶

For detailed instructions, please refer to the article How to resize a volume.

Delete volumes¶

For issues related to volume deletion, please refer to the article How to delete a volume that returns error: "Volume still has 1 dependent snapshots. (HTTP 400)".

Volume transfer¶

For detailed instructions, please refer to the article How to transfer volumes between projects.

Volume backup and recovery¶

Create snapshot¶

Create backup¶