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Additional Disks

Additional disks help you get more disk space without having to switch to another plan and paying for resources you are not going to use, such as CPU, RAM, and so on. Instead, you can choose an offer and pay only for extra space you need.

In this topic, you'll learn how to add, resize, change the name, and delete an additional disk from an existing virtual server.

Prerequisites

  • All disks of a virtual server must have the same storage type. For example, if the primary disk has the LVM storage type, all additional disks must be LVM as well. Currently it's impossible to have disks with different storage types on one virtual server.
  • Additional disks are available if offers are created on a virtual server.

  • To perform actions related to additional disks, you must have the following permissions:

    • The "Add additional disk" permission to create an additional disk on a virtual server.
    • The "Get offers" permission to apply offers for additional disks.
    • The "Resize additional disk" to change the size of an additional disk.
    • The "Delete additional disk" permission to delete an additional disk from a virtual server.

  • When you add, resize, or delete an additional disk, SolusVM automatically deletes all existing virtual server's backups and snapshots. Afterwards, backups for additional disks will be created in a simultaneous manner, while snapshots will be created one after another and can be inconsistent.

Adding an Additional Disk to an Existing Virtual Server

You can add an additional disk on an existing virtual server or while creating a new one. You can add up to 22 additional disks to one virtual server. In our example, we provide the steps to create an additional disk on an existing server:

  1. Go to Virtual Servers > your server, and then go to the "Disks" tab.

  2. Click Add disk.

  3. Give your disk a recognizable name.

  4. Select an offer for additional disks that suits your needs best.

    Note

    While creating an additional disk offer, the SolusVM 2 administrator can set limits on its maximum size, read/write bandwidth, and input/output operations per second.

  5. Set the volume size for your additional disk (in GiB).

  6. Click Save.

Now SolusVM 2 starts creating the additional disk on your virtual server.

Creating and Mounting a File System

After the disk is created, you need to create and mount a file system for it. Here's how to do it:

  1. Log in to your server via SSH as the root user.
  2. Get the list of all disks available on your server by running the # lsblk command.
  3. Create a mount point by running the # mdkir /mnt/<disk_name> command.
  4. Install the XFS file system for the additional disk by running the # mkfs.xfs /dev/<disk_name> command.
  5. Mount the new directory by running the # mount /dev/<disk_name> /mnt/<disk_name> command.

Now your additional disk is mounted on your server and ready for further use.

Managing an Additional Disk

You can change the name or size of an additional disk. Here's how to do it:

  1. Go to Virtual Servers > your server, and then go to the "Disks" tab.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Click the icon next to the required additional disk. In the window that opens, specify the new name, and then click Save.
    • Click the icon next to the required additional disk. In the window that opens, specify the desired disk size, and then click Save.

Deleting an Additional Disk

You can delete an additional disk from your server if you no longer need it. Pay attention that all the data stored on an additional disk will be permanently deleted along with the disk and you will not be able to restore it using backups and snapshots. After you delete an additional disk, SolusVM 2 will stop charging the server owner for that disk.

Here's how to delete an additional disk:

  1. Log in to your server via SSH as the root user.
  2. Get the list of all disks available on your server by running the # lsblk command.
  3. Unmount the additional disk directory by running the # unmount /dev/<disk_name> command.
  4. In the SolusVM 2 graphic interface, go to Virtual Servers > your server, and then go to the "Disks" tab.
  5. Click the icon next to the additional disk you want to delete.
  6. In the confirmation window, click Delete.

Now the additional disk is deleted and the server owner will be no longer charged for its usage.