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Getting started with managing volumes in the OpenStack API

Stephanie R.
Updated

Learn how to manage your volumes using the OpenStack API and the Python client.

You can use the OpenStack API to generate various scripts to automate your actions on the Public Cloud.
For example, you can create a new high-performance volume to attach to a Public Cloud instance.

 

Requirements

 

Instructions

Cinder documentation

You can get a list of possible commands by reading the OpenStack client documentation:

openstack help

Here is the list of the main commands:

Command Description
volume create Create a new volume
volume delete Delete a volume
list volume List volumes
volume snapshot create Create a snapshot of a volume

You can also get information about a specific command by adding help to it:

openstack help volume snapshot create
usage: openstack volume snapshot create [-h] [-f {json,shell,table,value,yaml}] [-c COLUMN] [------noindent] [------prefix PREFIX] [------max-width <integer>] [------fit-width] [------print-empty] [------volume <volume>] [------description <description>] [------force] [------property <key=value]
                                        [--remote-source <key=value>]
                                        <snapshot-name>

Create new volume snapshot

positional arguments:
  <snapshot-name> Name of the new snapshot

optional arguments:
  -h, ------help show this help message and exit
  --volume <volume>     Volume to snapshot (name or ID) (default is <snapshot-name>)
  ------description <description>
                        Description of the snapshot
  ------force Create a snapshot attached to an instance. Default is False

You can also consult the OpenStack documentation available on the OpenStack website.

 

Basic operations

Creating a high-performance volume

  • List the volume types:
openstack volume type list
+--------------------------------------+------------+-----------+
| ID                                   | Name       | Is Public |
+--------------------------------------+------------+-----------+
| e9551830-6362-4bf8-92e5-391829456b03 | classic    | True      |
| 6fc8e512-3cac-4f39-b9a8-af098d710506 | high-speed | True      |
+--------------------------------------+------------+-----------+
  • Create the 10GB high-speed volume named volume1:
openstack volume create --type high-speed --size 10 volume1

+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field               | Value                                |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| attachments         | []                                   |
| availability_zone   | nova                                 |
| bootable            | false                                |
| consistencygroup_id | None                                 |
| created_at          | 2021-05-18T14:16:28.658308           |
| description         | None                                 |
| encrypted           | False                                |
| id                  | f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8 |
| multiattach         | False                                |
| name                | volume1                              |
| properties          |                                      |
| replication_status  | disabled                             |
| size                | 10                                   |
| snapshot_id         | None                                 |
| source_volid        | None                                 |
| status              | creating                             |
| type                | high-speed                           |
| updated_at          | None                                 |
| user_id             | ...                                  |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+

You can install an image on a volume using the --image argument:

In this command, be66762f-b849-43e1-b57c-005d9fe28088 is the Debian 10 image ID.

openstack volume create --type high-speed --image be66762f-b849-43e1-b57c-005d9fe28088 --size 20 volume_debian
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field               | Value                                |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| attachments         | []                                   |
| availability_zone   | nova                                 |
| bootable            | false                                |
| consistencygroup_id | None                                 |
| created_at          | 2021-05-18T14:26:38.887508           |
| description         | None                                 |
| encrypted           | False                                |
| id                  | 442d9dff-7df5-41b2-95e9-fa8ac5f4784a |
| multiattach         | False                                |
| name                | volume_debian                        |
| properties          |                                      |
| replication_status  | disabled                             |
| size                | 20                                   |
| snapshot_id         | None                                 |
| source_volid        | None                                 |
| status              | creating                             |
| type                | high-speed                           |
| updated_at          | None                                 |
| user_id             | ...                                  |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+

 

Attaching a volume to an instance

  • List the additional volumes:
openstack volume list
+--------------------------------------+---------------+-----------+------+-------------+
| ID                                   | Name          | Status    | Size | Attached to |
+--------------------------------------+---------------+-----------+------+-------------+
| 442d9dff-7df5-41b2-95e9-fa8ac5f4784a | volume_debian | available |   20 |             |
| f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8 | volume1       | available |   10 |             |
+--------------------------------------+---------------+-----------+------+-------------+

The majority of subsequent commands will require the volume ID rather than the name.

  • Mount the volume on an instance with the OpenStack client:
openstack server add volume 46aec29f-fe50-4562-b3f9-2e6665a7270d f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a166 82f8
  • Check that the volume has been properly attached to the instance with the OpenStack client:
openstack volume list
+--------------------------------------+---------------+-----------+------+-----------------------------------------+
| ID                                   | Name          | Status    | Size | Attached to                             |
+--------------------------------------+---------------+-----------+------+-----------------------------------------+
| 442d9dff-7df5-41b2-95e9-fa8ac5f4784a | volume_debian | available |   20 |                                         |
| f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8 | volume1       | in-use    |   10 | Attached to cli-playground on /dev/sdb  |
+--------------------------------------+---------------+-----------+------+-----------------------------------------+

 

Deleting a volume

  • Detach volume from instance:
openstack server remove volume 46aec29f-fe50-4562-b3f9-2e6665a7270d f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8
  • Delete volume:
openstack volume delete f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8

 

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Public Cloud support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

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