Getting started with managing volumes in the OpenStack API

Knowledge Base

KB0051228

Getting started with managing volumes in the OpenStack API


Icons/System/eye-open Created with Sketch. 600 Views 19.05.2021 Configuration

Objective

You can use the OpenStack API to generate various scripts in order 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.

This guide will help you manage your volumes using the OpenStack API and the Python client.

Requirements

Instructions

Cinder documentation

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

admin@server-1:~$ openstack help

Here is the list of the main commands:

CommandDescription
volume createCreate a new volume
volume deleteDelete a volume
list volumeList volumes
volume snapshot createCreate a snapshot of a volume

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

admin@server-1:~$ 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:
admin@server-1:~$ 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:
admin@server-1:~$ 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:

admin@server-1:~$ 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             | ...                                  |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+

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

Attaching a volume to an instance

  • List the additional volumes:
admin@server-1:~$ 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:
admin@server-1:~$ 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:
admin@serveur-1:~$ 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:
admin@server-1:~$ openstack server remove volume 46aec29f-fe50-4562-b3f9-2e6665a7270d f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8
  • Delete volume:
admin@server-1:~$ openstack volume delete f75d60b3-4179-4ca9-8bc7-8e5f7a1682f8

Go further

Join our community of users.

Related articles